Wednesday, January 8th 2025
ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 9070 XT Comes with Three 8-pin Power Connectors
At the 2025 International CES, ASUS showed off its Radeon RX 9070 XT TUF Gaming graphics card. This card was part of a multi-brand showcase AMD set up in its booth. The card features the latest generation of TUF Gaming board design that the company is debuting with the GeForce RTX 50-series and Radeon RX 90-series. The card features a triple slot cooling solution, with its Axial-Tech fans taking up an entire slot (thicker fans mean lower RPM). The PCB is 2/3 the length of the card, so all airflow from the third fan is vented through the heatsink and out a large cutout on the backplate.
Perhaps the most striking feature of the ASUS TUF Gaming RX 9070 XT is its power connectors. The card calls for three 8-pin PCIe power connectors. We've only seen one other custom RX 9070 XT come with three connectors, and that is the XFX RX 9070 XT Merc 319 Black. The question then arises, what is a small performance-segment GPU going to do with 525 W of power on tap? Most other cards, including the PowerColor Red Devil, come with just two 8-pin connectors (375 W), so does the presence of three connectors mean that the board power of overclocked RX 7090 XT exceed 300 W, and board partners are trying to reduce the load on the 75 W put out by the PCIe slot, by sneaking in a third 8-pin input? This isn't the only oddball power connector configuration we've seen at CES for the RX 9070 series. The ASRock RX 9070 XT Taichi comes with a 16-pin 12V2x6 power connector, although there's no way of telling yet if this is configured for 600 W—it could even be keyed for 300 W.
Perhaps the most striking feature of the ASUS TUF Gaming RX 9070 XT is its power connectors. The card calls for three 8-pin PCIe power connectors. We've only seen one other custom RX 9070 XT come with three connectors, and that is the XFX RX 9070 XT Merc 319 Black. The question then arises, what is a small performance-segment GPU going to do with 525 W of power on tap? Most other cards, including the PowerColor Red Devil, come with just two 8-pin connectors (375 W), so does the presence of three connectors mean that the board power of overclocked RX 7090 XT exceed 300 W, and board partners are trying to reduce the load on the 75 W put out by the PCIe slot, by sneaking in a third 8-pin input? This isn't the only oddball power connector configuration we've seen at CES for the RX 9070 series. The ASRock RX 9070 XT Taichi comes with a 16-pin 12V2x6 power connector, although there's no way of telling yet if this is configured for 600 W—it could even be keyed for 300 W.
77 Comments on ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 9070 XT Comes with Three 8-pin Power Connectors
nvidia: here is a smaller card like you ask
amd: here is a mid range card as big as the previous high end and bigger than the 5090
amd fans: coping mode entering warp speed
lets call it for what it is, AMD is just selling based on marketing: the number change, the size and 8 pin connectors, smells like desperation.
The wildest fantasy so far is that RDNA4 is to make a difference. RDNA4 is a filler episode and AMD have already admitted that by refusing to release anything higher than high mid tier.
Sure we still don't know the prices, it could be a bargain, but we all know why they didn't mentioned them at CES. There is still time for a 180 but i doubt it and it doesn't seem good from where I'm standing, They double down on what drove them to the ground.
The massive aib cards are selling based on what consumers want, excessively large cards so they can wave the e-peen in a glass rgb case. As for the 8 pin connector, it's a good thing IMO, I would rather plug 3 of those in than use the new connector, and most psu's now have at least 3 8 pins.
And does it even really need 3? 525w on a 9070XT.... talk about pushing far into inefficiency for a hundred mhz or two.
For reference, a single 12V Yellow line is capable (if good quality) of up to 12Amps. Times 3 is 36 amps or simply 430W alone. Times two is up to 860W and we're not even counting the PCI-E slot power with that.
It's only to distribute or balance power, esp the weaker PSU's or wiring used could suffer or even melt, but who builds a PC with high end components and skimps out on the PSU if i may ask?
If it consumes more than 300W then AMD have really f***ed up.
Awfully nice that there's variety for consumers to pick what's best for them.
Don't know if it's confirmed but it feels like nvidia is dictating the power plug on vendor cards which sucks for choice but also seems like weird priorities - why should they care?
There is no way that would ever make its way into my system.
Have fun with that fellas.
Powering the 5090 would be rough with 8 pins. I had a look at the 4xxx series and I was incorrect, some did use 8 pin. 4060s and 4070s, but can't find 4070 ti with them.
So I guess on the nvidia side the same logic applied, that the lower end is made to accommodate pre-existing PSUs without need of adapters.
After your 6th comment in this thread talking trash I wonder why you even care?