MSI has announced its latest line of X870E motherboards, featuring an 8-pin power connector designed to significantly enhance GPU performance and stability. This innovative feature addresses the growing demand for high-power GPUs and helps to prevent power fluctuations during high workloads.
The 8-pin power connector acts as a supplemental PCIe power source, providing wattage to a motherboard’s PCIe lanes. This is particularly beneficial for GPUs that require a lot of power and may experience power surges during peak times. By incorporating this connector, MSI ensures that the motherboard can support even the most demanding GPUs, whether for gaming or professional applications.
The MSI X870E series also supports the ATX 3.1 and PCIe 5.1 standards, which introduce stricter power regulations. PCIe 5.1, in particular, features an updated power connector that aligns with the power requirements of modern GPUs.
8-pin power demonstration
MSI has provided an example of how the 8-pin power connector works. When paired with a Ryzen 9 9950X processor and an RTX 4090 SUPRIM X GPU, the MSI X870 MAG Tomahawk motherboard can deliver up to 420W of total power to the GPU. The 24-pin connector contributes 168W, while the 8-pin connector adds an additional 252W.
When will they launch?
The release date for the MSI X870E motherboards with Supplemental PCIe Power has been confirmed for September 26 according to VideoCardz, quoting MSI directly. However, there have been rumors suggesting that reviews of these boards might be published on September 30, with sales starting on the same day.
This could either indicate that MSI may be planning to launch a 700-series motherboard with this feature or that there may still be some uncertainty regarding the release timeline. For now, we will just have to wait and see.
