One of my favorite trends in desktop design over the past couple of years has been what we call the “war on cables,” where all the internal power and data cables are hidden on the back of the case. It makes the desktop look very clean, which is great when PC builders these days are so concerned with presentation. But at CES 2025, the latest incarnation of MSI Project Zero takes things even further.
Spy the new design that MSI is showing off on the CES floor. At first glance, this is exactly what builders dream of for this kind of “hide everything around the back” approach – all the better to show off those shiny white and aluminum components with a curved glass (or polycarbonate) shell. But look closely and you might notice that things are off a bit. 90 degrees off, that is.
MSI
As you can see, the Project Zero Ditto for the graphics card (specially installed via a PCI extender cable). This means that all power, video, and data cables must be routed out the bottom of the case as well.
I think this design was probably inspired by the Power Mac G4 Cube desktop from 2000. This thing was notorious for a number of reasons, not the least of which was that you had to connect all the cables to the bottom of the machine.
MSI
I have some other notes. If you’re using a blower GPU with Project Zero (But I assume it at least doesn’t require a specific compatible card, like some Asus designs.) It’s also a huge bag, devoting what appears to be more than half its total size to extra room for a hidden power supply and space for internal and external cables.
But to be fair to MSI, it doesn’t look like this device is ready for a retail release yet. The CES presentation didn’t even list the parts hiding under all those shrouds. So chalk this up as an experimental masterpiece.
We’ll likely see further refinements to the idea (perhaps at Computex later in the year?) before we see it in any form ready for buyers. In the meantime, you can try something a little less extreme with MSI’s existing Project Zero parts and cases.
Further reading: The best computers and home tech at CES 2025