- Sapphire has adopted the 16-pin 12V-2×6 power connector on its Radeon RX 9070 XT Nitro+, extending its use beyond NVIDIA.
- To mitigate potential issues with the 16-pin connector, Sapphire has integrated a dual-fuse protection system directly behind the power input, safeguarding against major damage.
- The Sapphire Nitro RX 9070 XT Nitro+ features a robust cooling system, factory overclocking, and a user-friendly design with features like Quick Connect fans and an L-shaped support bracket.
Sapphire is one of the first manufacturers to implement a 16-pin connector on an AMD graphics card, specifically on its Radeon RX 9070 XT Nitro+. In this way, the 16-pin connector expands beyond the NVIDIA ecosystem. In this case, using the 16-pin 12VHPWR connector in its most modern version is called 12V-2×6. Which has seen its design improved to eliminate connectivity problems from the equation.
Sapphire knows what it means to use this connector after what happened. That is why it adds additional information. Going so far as to highlight that just behind the power connector, a fuse protection system has been added using two small fuses. So in case a serious problem occurs, these fuses will end up avoiding large-caliber damage.
Sapphire Radeon RX 9070 XT Nitro+ Looks Amazing!
The Sapphire Nitro RX 9070 XT Nitro+ is the company’s top-of-the-line graphics card for now. It boasts a massive cooling system and a decent factory overclock to deliver more performance. According to AMD in the official announcement, factory-overclocked Radeon RX 9070 XTs manage to be 2% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti. So this is one of those cases.
The Sapphire Nitro RX 9070 XT Nitro+ comes with 4,096 Stream Processors with a “Game” frequency of 2,520 MHz, which represents an overclock of 120 Hz compared to the factory frequencies. As for the Turbo frequency, it reaches 3,060 MHz, which represents an increase of 90 MHz. The interesting thing is how much additional overclock the user will be able to get out of it.
To ensure that this overclock doesn’t affect the temperature, this GPU has no less than six heat pipes, each 6 mm thick. These pass through a huge aluminium radiator, which is accompanied by a triple-fan configuration that is mounted on the PCB of the graphics card. A high-density PCB has been used, which uses a 12-layer design of 2-ounce copper.
Specifications And Other Details
In terms of maintenance, the Sapphire Nitro RX 9070 XT Nitro+ is quite practical. The fans use the Quick Connect connection system. The fans are attached to a bracket with a pressure-type power connector. This allows them to be removed quickly and easily for easy cleaning and even future replacement in case they stop working or for general maintenance.
The graphics card comes with an L-shaped bracket. A metal piece that you will attach to the rest of the PCI slots to support the weight of the GPU and prevent it from bending. It includes ARGB LED lighting, and let’s get to what matters, the power section.
As we mentioned, the Sapphire Nitro RX 9070 XT Nitro+ is powered by a 16-pin PCIe power connector. This is accompanied by double protection in the form of two fuses built into the external PCIe power circuit to avoid any problems.
This graphics card consumes 330W of power, which is 26W more than the reference design, occupies 3.2 PCI expansion slots and measures 330.8 mm long.
The most important thing of all, its price, is not yet known. We will have to wait until next week. Let’s hope there are no “surprises“.
What are your thoughts on Sapphire’s decision to use the controversial 16-pin on 330W GPU? I believe it was solely for aesthetic purposes where there will be only cable instead of 3×8-pin and as power consumption is also in a very safe range coupled with two fuses to protect the main PCB everything seems good at the moment. Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
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[Editor-in-Chief]
Sajjad Hussain is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Tech4Gamers.com. Apart from the Tech and Gaming scene, Sajjad is a Seasonal banker who has delivered multi-million dollar projects as an IT Project Manager and works as a freelancer to provide professional services to corporate giants and emerging startups in the IT space.
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