The DIY home-built PC crowd will be delighted to learn that GPU upgrades just became effortless. The Gigabyte X670 EZ-Latch Plus motherboard is a new screwless and latchless system for easy GPU and SSD swaps.
Tom’s Hardware noticed two new Gigabyte motherboards surface on Twitter, a PCIe EZ-Latch Plus and an M.2 EZ-Latch Plus. Both are built with the upcoming Ryzen 7000-series processors with Zen 4 architecture in mind.
Both the PCIe and M.2 EZ-Latch Plus motherboards finally do away with those small, annoying screws that always manage to drop off the magnetic screwdriver and roll into the computer somewhere. Instead, both motherboards have their own unique system for easily attaching and removing GPUs.
The PCIe system features a physical button near the edge of the motherboard and away from those narrow DIMM slots. No more getting fat fingers stuck in a motherboard (although I’m sure some of us will still find a way). A single push of the button releases the GPU. This new button system on the PCIe motherboard also opens up more space for manufacturers to pack more PCIe slots in, especially next to big and bulky components.
Over on the M.2 board, things are just as simple. The M.2 features a pressure mechanism, allowing you to snap a GPU into place by gently lowering it onto the motherboard. Rotate the latch to release the card.
Twitter user @momomo_us posted links to GIFs of the new motherboards in action. The GIFs show a man’s hand popping cards on and off both the PCIe board and the M.2 board.
https://twitter.com/momomo_us/status/1557366939927777286
This represents a massive quality of life upgrade for PC builders and tinkerers and is something other motherboard makers should implement. There are rumors AMD and Asus have similar projects in the works, although nothing official has been released.
If major manufacturers jump on board, we could finally kiss those tiny screws goodbye.
