MSI’s X870E Motherboards Are Fully ATX 3.1 Ready With Dedicated 8-Pin Connector Supplementing GPU Power Needs

MSI’s X870E Motherboards Are Fully ATX 3.1 Ready With Dedicated 8-Pin Connector Supplementing GPU Power Needs

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MSI’s X870E Motherboards Are Fully ATX 3.1 Ready With Dedicated 8-Pin Connector Supplementing GPU Power Needs
MSI's X870E Motherboards Are Fully ATX 3.1 Ready With Dedicated 8-Pin Connector Supplementing GPU Power Needs 1

MSI has detailed the use cases of the supplementary 8-pin power connector featured on its X870E motherboards, providing extra juice to GPUs.

Last month, it was reported that MSI will have a dedicated 8-pin connector across all of its X870E motherboards. When MSI introduced its X870E motherboard lineup at IFA 2024, we expected to learn more about this dedicated connector and how it can be used but the information was very limited. Now, MSI has put up a new blog post that details how this connector can be leveraged.

Referred to as a "Supplemental PCIe Power" feature, the dedicated 8-pin connector from MSI is built upon the ATX 3.1 standards and can sustain power excursions of up to 2.5x while delivering better efficiency and power delivery, directly taking the power to the necessary components such as GPUs, Fans and RGB accessories.

But the question remains, why was there a need for such a connector, & haven't all motherboards to this date had enough power fed to them already to sustain multiple hardware? The answer is that currently, the 12V 24-pin ATX power connector handles everything on the motherboard.

In some extreme cases, the PCIe lanes require more power such as multi-GPU instances in AI, content creation, and mainstream workstation setups. Considering everyone involved in AI is moving to at least two GPU setups, it has become necessary to dial up the power features on high-end boards.

The example given by MSI is fascinating which shows a single 12V ATX connector providing 14A / 168W of power alone which might be enough for basic tasks on a high-end setup such as a RTX 4090 paired with a Ryzen 9 9950X but as soon as you push everything to the limit, more power is required. The supplemental 12V 8-pin connector provides an additional 21A / 252W of power and raises the max power wall to 420W which can provide an additional 66W of power to the GPU via the PCIe lanes and up to 165W when power excursions are applied.

Let’s take the MAG X870 TOMAHAWK WIFI motherboard as an example of how MSI is pushing the boundaries of performance for demanding users. Imagine stacking it with the powerful AMD Ryzen™ 9950X processor alongside the cutting-edge GeForce RTX™ 4090 SUPRIM X 24G GPU. At maximum load, these components demand a lot of power. Usually, the motherboard’s 24-pin 12V power connector can only supply a maximum of 168W. While this might be enough for basic operations, it falls short when trying to drive everything to its peak—especially with fans, RGB lighting, and a beastly GPU like the 4090 connected.

That’s where MSI’s 8-pin Supplemental PCIe Power Connector steps in. On the MAG X870 TOMAHAWK WIFI, this additional connector provides up to 252W of extra power, ensuring everything have enough power to run at their full potential. The 24-pin and 8-pin connectors deliver a combine total of 420W, giving the entire system plenty of power headroom to operate smoothly, even under the most demanding conditions.

via MSI

This is an interesting feature incorporated by MSI for its X870E-class motherboards and we might even see similar solutions equipped on next-gen Intel options. From what we know, the NVIDIA RTX 50 "Blackwell" GPUs will be able to take advantage of the extra power immensely considering that they are getting a raise in power requirements. MSI will have a full suite of ATX 3.1 & PCIe 5.1-ready hardware in time for the next-gen GPU launch. The first wave of MSI AM5 800-series motherboards will be available on the 30th of September on retail shelves.

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