Getting a graphics card out and in of a motherboard is usually a trouble, particularly now that they’re the approximate measurement, form, and weight of a cinderblock. Asus tried to make issues simpler with its Q-Launch system on 800-series motherboards, nevertheless it’s proving problematic — apparently, it’s scratching playing cards as they go out and in of the PCIe slot.
That’s in keeping with Andreas Schilling of German tech website HardwareLuxx, who shared a picture of a broken graphics card on BlueSky this morning. Schilling says the ROG Strix X870E-E, which makes use of the Q-Launch Slim attachment system, broken an RTX 5090 card after a number of insertions and some situations of sticking whereas testing. The picture reveals a visual chip taken out of the cardboard’s connector.
Bluesky
Asus launched this model of the Q-Launch system final 12 months, an replace to the unique Q-Launch from 2021. The primary model merely reroutes the discharge tab from the top of the slot (and sometimes underneath the majority of the cardboard) to a way more accessible spot.
However the Q-Launch Slim discovered on high-end 2024 motherboards is extra complicated, bodily gripping the cardboard’s connection space and releasing it with none buttons, solely with particular stress from the facet of the cardboard going through the rear of the case. Should you attempt to pull the cardboard out from the center or the rear, it received’t work. Right here’s an instance of it working… uh, type of:
No less than, that’s the thought. Schilling alleges that the system is much more finicky in observe, making it tougher to get a card out than meant. And naturally the injury within the picture will trigger any PC builder to wince, whether or not or not they see it on a $2,000 card. The injury seems to be beauty… however stress on that very same spot might be quite a bit worse, as there’s lower than an inch of PCB on that tab.
It’s value noting that {hardware} reviewers are tougher on these delicate parts than finish customers, as a matter after all. Whereas I’d set up a card three or 4 occasions over its lifetime with system upgrades and upkeep, a reviewer like Adam or Brad may carry out the identical variety of actions on a single card or motherboard in simply at some point.
Schilling mentioned that this explicit slot had playing cards out and in of it “a few dozen times” on the check motherboard. Uniko’s {Hardware} (by way of Tom’s {Hardware}) confirmed a Bilibili consumer picture with a Q-Launch Slim retention peg on the PCIe slot with seen injury after 60 actuations.
These examples of seen injury are comparatively restricted, however PCWorld’s Adam Patrick Murray agrees that Q-Launch Slim has some points. “Ever since I first started building PCs, I’ve learned to never yank on anything in that slot,” he informed me in our firm chat. “Now Asus is asking me to go against everything in my body to yank on it? No thanks. I’ve been yanking on it since CES and it NEVER feels okay.”
I don’t suppose that is one thing a daily consumer must be imminently petrified of. Even the few examples which have seen injury aren’t truly affecting the pins. And, once more, what we’re seeing is for utilization that’s far past any customary PC builder. That mentioned, if one thing DID occur to an costly graphics card or motherboard, I can think about it could be an enormous headache if two totally different producers began pointing fingers at one another throughout the RMA course of.
