This stealthy new Gigabyte PC case might be extra sneaky with an unlicensed design

Gigabyte stealth motherboard render
(Image credit: Gigabyte)

A tweet from the Gigabyte Aorus France Twitter account has revealed 3D renders of the company’s new project stealth case. It’s a nice matt black looking offering where the cabling is all orientated to the back of the motherboard. The idea is it will greatly improve cable management and also airflow, by not having a mess of cables coming out the front dangling all over your components.

But this isn’t where the stealth ends for this motherboard. GinjFo (spotted by Hot Hardware) has posted what look like legit product shots of an actual case. It shows how the wires would be contained as well as the orientation of the parts inside. It’s a nice clean, stealthy looking build.

Oh my, dear readers, but it could get even sneakier. According to Hot Hardware, this case is suspiciously similar to a patent held by Maingear since back in 2011. The patent designs and explanation reveal a very similar case design. While the extent to which this case borrows concepts from the Maingear patent cannot be confirmed, Maingear CEO, Wallace Santos appears to agree there are some similarities.

“While I’m not happy to see Gigabyte productized something based on my patent without proper licensing, especially since we reviewed our new design approach with them directly years ago, I’m more concerned with making sure we continue to take the industry forward with this new design innovation and its obvious advantages," Santos told Hot Hardware.

Chip chillers

CPU Coolers

(Image credit: Corsair, Noctua)

Best CPU cooler: keep your chip chilled in style
Best PC fans: super-silent and plastered in RGB
Best PC cases: big, little, and everything in-between.

"Our motherboard and case with hidden connectors design offers far superior cable routing and management, with better airflow across the front of the motherboard area. We would love to see the industry get on board with the design, so all PC OEMs can benefit, as well as DIY enthusiast PC builders."

Santos even revealed that he had even pitched the design to Gigabyte, along with several other companies back in the day. Despite interest from the companies, due to the nice clean design, the overall disruption in case design wasn’t desirable at the time. Nowadays, cases are in all sorts of cool and crazy configurations, so it does make sense that a company was more willing to adapt. Though if it is an unlicensed design, perhaps that’s not quite the best way to go about it.

Hope Corrigan
Hardware Writer

Hope’s been writing about games for about a decade, starting out way back when on the Australian Nintendo fan site Vooks.net. Since then, she’s talked far too much about games and tech for publications such as Techlife, Byteside, IGN, and GameSpot. Of course there’s also here at PC Gamer, where she gets to indulge her inner hardware nerd with news and reviews. You can usually find Hope fawning over some art, tech, or likely a wonderful combination of them both and where relevant she’ll share them with you here. When she’s not writing about the amazing creations of others, she’s working on what she hopes will one day be her own. You can find her fictional chill out ambient far future sci-fi radio show/album/listening experience podcast right here. No, she’s not kidding. 

Read more
A gaming PC built using MSI's Project Zero components. With a small illustrated 'living' computer pointing at it in the bottom left.
I built the mullet of gaming PCs with MSI's Project Zero 'Back-Connect' parts
MSI MAG Z890 Tomahawk WIFI PZ
MSI intros cheaper 'back connect' Project Zero Intel motherboards for super-clean PC builds you might actually be able to afford
A foldable Mini-ITX Flamingo model case design from Geometric Future, partially unfolded.
I love the look of this foldable 'backpack class' Mini-ITX case but it still looks like something I'd screw up at the last minute
Two SFF PCs on a table, using the Montech Heritage leather PC case.
This leather-wrapped PC case is trying to be all executive chic but it looks like Don Draper's gaming PC
Thermaltake's brightly coloured PC cases at its CES 2025 booth.
Colorful PC cases are so in this year
Two PC cases on a grey background with the PC Gamer recommends badge in the upper right corner.
The best PC cases in 2025: These are the chassis I'd use for my next gaming build
Latest in PC Cases
NZXT H7 Flow PC case being built into
NZXT H7 Flow review (2024 Edition)
Hyte's Persona 3 Reload Y70 Case
Hyte has announced another Persona-themed gaming PC case, and as a Persona die-hard, even I think it's a bit much
A gaming PC build using the Be Quiet Shadow Base 800 FX chassis, an Intel Core Ultra CPU and an RX 7900 XT GPU.
Be Quiet! Shadow Base 800 FX review
Fractal Design Era 2 PC case from different angles and different stages of the build process
Fractal Design Era 2 review
A foldable Mini-ITX Flamingo model case design from Geometric Future, partially unfolded.
I love the look of this foldable 'backpack class' Mini-ITX case but it still looks like something I'd screw up at the last minute
Hyte Y40 PC case in various states of the PC building process.
Hyte Y40 review
Latest in News
assassin's creed shadow naoe
We asked two parkour athletes to rate the realism of Assassin's Creed's acrobatics, and a surprising 'crime against parkour' might actually be one of the most realistic things they saw
Mechs fight on the outside of a spaceship
MechWarrior 5: Clans is getting DLC with playable Elementals and a fight on the outside of a spaceship
Aloy - Horizon
'I feel worried about this art form:' Unsurprisingly, the real Aloy from Horizon isn't a fan of AI Aloy
Crying laughing emoji with disturbing realistic elements for REPO
REPO's first update will add a new map and a 'duck bucket' so we can finally give that pesky quacker a time out
Man facing camera
The Day Before studio reportedly sues Russian website for calling infamous disaster-game a 'scam'
Will Poulter holding a CD ROM
'What are most games about? Killing': Black Mirror Season 7 includes a follow-up to 2018 interactive film Bandersnatch