MSI's X870/X870E motherboards have an 8-pin auxiliary power connector. This could indicate some frightening next-generation GPU power consumption levels

MSI announced its upcoming X870E and X870 motherboards at Gamescom 2024. Cowcotland noticed an interesting addition on these boards when he visited MSI's stand. All of them had an 8-pin power connector for PCIe located at the bottom. Why, you may ask?

Cowcotland reports that these connectors will be able to handle the needs of next-generation Nvidia and AMD graphic cards. This indicates that some of these graphics cards will consume a lot of power. MSI, assuming that such cards will be released in a few months, is likely to already know the requirements for such cards.

Secondary power connectors have been around for a while. Usually, they are found on motherboards that are geared towards overclocking or high-end. They are designed to give extra power to high-power graphic cards, but it is interesting to see them on mainstream motherboards.

A standard PCIe slot can deliver up to 75W. You can get 225W just from the motherboard if you add 150W to an 8-pin connector. If you add up to 600W using a 12V-2x6 connector or 12VHPWR, the math suggests that 800W or even more is possible.

This would only be applicable to the flagship cards, like the RTX5090. However, it is possible to install a couple of less demanding cards, for example, to handle AI or productivity workloads. In this case, an 8-pin connector can also be beneficial. A pair of cards that pull 150W each from just two PCIe slots would be a strain on the motherboard. So, a little backup power is a good idea.

Even so, it appears that the power consumption and TDPs for flagship graphics cards are still increasing. A card such as the RTX 4090 can pull up to 450W or even higher in overclocked versions. I'd bet that Nvidia will not release a monster card that is lower than 450W. If history is any indication, a standard RTX-5090 with a 500W+ TDP is a definite option.

Other manufacturers do not include 8-pin connectors in their ranges. However, enthusiast boards such as the Asus Crosshair X870E Hero do. Is MSI being cautious or will next-gen GPUs need such headroom to run? It will be interesting to see how many boards include the additional connector. This is especially true when Intel's Z890 boards are officially unveiled in the coming weeks.