ASUS demos PCIe concept delivering 250W power without GPU cables

ASUS has introduced another idea for eliminating visible PCIe cabling.

The reality is that modern GPUs increasingly need alternative power delivery methods. Companies like NVIDIA continue raising TDP targets for their flagship models. For example, the RTX 5090 requires four 8-pin connectors for its 16-pin adapter.

ASUS previously developed the GC-HPWR connector (pictured above), which hides the 16-pin cable by relocating it to the PCIe interface side. This improves aesthetics and reduces the risk of melted connectors, but it doesn’t remove cabling altogether. The motherboard still uses a 16-pin connector, and the PSU must remain connected in the standard way, it’s just hidden from view.

Source: ASUS/Tony Yu

The new concept doesn’t solve that limitation either. Motherboards still need extra power, and no alternative has yet been proposed for that. Current high-end boards already use 24+8+8 pins just for the main system, and some add 8-pin connectors for GPUs to stabilize current, which is useful in multi-GPU setups.

ASUS’s new approach modifies the PCIe ×16 slot and the GPU to deliver up to 250W directly through the slot , far above the standard 75W. It adds 12V lines to the PCIe edge connector, thickens copper layers, and uses more conductive materials. The motherboard supplies the higher load with an extra 8-pin connector feeding power into the slot. Like GC-HPWR, this doesn’t eliminate cabling, it simply moves it elsewhere.

Source: ASUS/Tony Yu

In a demo, ASUS presented a TUF GeForce RTX 5060 Ti concept card drawing nearly 250W entirely through the slot, with no external cables. This design targets GPUs in the 150–250W range, which today typically need one or two auxiliary connectors.

The modified slot is backward-compatible . Cards designed for it will still work in standard PCIe slots but fall back to the 75W limit and external connectors. On ASUS boards with the enhanced slot, they can use the full 250W.

Source: ASUS/Tony Yu

For now, this remains a concept, but it shows ASUS’s push toward cleaner, cable-free builds. If adopted, GPUs under 300W could eventually ship without external power connectors, relying solely on the motherboard.

Source: Bilibili