Maxsun demos Z890 Mini-ITX workstation with MCIO GPU connector

Last week, at the Intel Connection 2026 conference in Suzhou, China, Maxsun showcased more devices featuring MCIO (Mini Cool Edge I/O) tech. MCIO was initially developed by Amphenol as a high-speed internal PCI wiring standard for storage solutions back in 2021, but Maxsun is among the first consumer motherboard makers to implement this standard and adapt it to GPU solutions. Maxsun’s MCIO implementation focuses on mini-ITX systems where the alternative PCI wiring allows for more compact chassis designs as the GPUs can be placed parallel with the motherboard instead of connecting perpendicularly through the regular PCIe connector.

Maxsun already presented some of its MCIO motherboards designed for mini PCs earlier this year in June, yet the implementation demoed last week is designed for slightly larger compact workstations featuring more powerful GPUs. The showcased system featured a mini-ITX Z890 motherboard supporting Intel’s Arrow Lake-S processors coupled with an Intel ARC Battlemage GPU inside the new Cooler Master i100 Air chassis with a vertical orientation. The system also featured a Cooler Master Hyper 510 low-profile CPU cooler and an SFX Gold PSU.

For now, Maxsun offers mini PC mobos with MCIO connectors in x8+x8 or x8+(x4+x4) PCIe 5.0 lane configurations and the company is planning to implement PCIe 6.0 solutions soon, as well. Prices and availability information for Maxsun’s MCIO motherboards has not yet been disclosed.