Tired of jiggling your GPU to get it to fit in a small form factor PC? Maxsun reckons it has the answer to that problem around the back

Small form factor (aka SFF) builds are the PC equivalent of bespoke mechanical timepieces. Beautiful to look at and stylish to have around, but a bit of a pig to work inside them, especially when it comes to dealing with ever-larger graphics cards. You might therefore be interested to know about Maxsun's unique solution for the latter—shifting the PCIe graphics card slot to the back of its motherboard.

The mobo model in question is the snappily-titled MS-Terminator B760BKB D5 WIFI, a name that's possibly bigger than the Mini-ITX motherboard itself. At first glance, it just looks like every other teeny-tiny Intel board you can buy, but if you stare closer, you'll notice something is missing.

Well, appears to be missing. Rather than placing the main x16 PCIe slot for a graphics card directly under the CPU and the first M.2 slot, Maxsun has switched the connections around, so that the slot is now mounted to the rear of the motherboard. It's also a right-angled slot, resulting in the card becoming vertically mounted when installed.

Somewhat obviously, sticking the GPU slot here means that some SFF cases are off-limits to be used in such a build. To be honest, I'm a bit puzzled as to how Maxsun expects the motherboard to be mounted, because most PC cases, including SFF ones, have the board attached to stand-offs screwed into a panel. Here, it'll have to be nothing more than a frame, to allow space for the graphics card.

Then there's the fact that most PC cases that support vertically mounted GPUs have the opening in the chassis (for the card's IO plate) to the right of the motherboard's rear IO panel. Here, it's on the left. Oh, and it'll be upside-down, too.

I also think that having the backplate of a graphics card right next to the 'underside' of a CPU, with hardly any gap between the two, might cause a headache or two when it comes to cooling both components. Hopefully, all that happens is that the coolers for both parts just have to work a little harder to shift that heat out of the way.

Motherboards with rear-mounted connectors aren't new, and I've tested Asus' BTF system, which has all the fan and peripheral sockets on the back of the motherboard. The GPU slot, though, is very much traditionally located.

Obviously, Maxsun doesn't expect the MS-Terminator B760BKB D5 WIFI to be a motherboard for every SFF PC enthusiast out there, but this one is a lot more niche than most Mini-ITX boards. It doesn't help that the rest of the specifications are a bit mundane: no Gen 5 M.2 SSD slots, no Wi-Fi 7, no USB4.

To be expected, given that it uses Intel's B760 chipset, but I think it needs something a little more than just a goofy PCIe slot position. Still, I'm more than happy to be proved wrong about this one, and if anyone manages to get their hands on one and successfully builds a potent, pocket PC with Maxsun's motherboard, fire some pictures over.

Best Mini-ITX motherboard

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1. Best AMD AM5:
Asus ROG Strix X870-I Gaming WiFi

2. Best budget AMD AM5:
Gigabyte A620I AX

3. Best mid-range AMD AM5:
ASRock Phantom B850I Lightning Wi-Fi

4. Best budget AM4:
ASRock A520M-ITX/ac

5. Best Intel Core Ultra 200s:
ASRock Phantom Gaming B860I Lightning Wi-Fi

6. Best Intel 14th/13th Gen:
Asus ROG Strix Z790-I Gaming WiFi

7. Best budget Intel 14th/13th Gen:
ASRock B760I Lightning WiFi