Sapphire X870EA NITRO+ motherboards feature PhantomLink
Sapphire’s “PhantomLink” X870E flagship board is marketed as Sapphire NITRO+ X870EA WiFi PhantomLink , with a white variant sold as NITRO+ X870EA PhantomLink Polar Edition.
PhantomLink is Sapphire’s branding for the ASUS GC-HPWR header placed next to the primary PCIe x16 slot. The idea is to feed the GPU from the motherboard, so a compatible graphics card does not need the usual visible 16-pin (12V-2×6) cable plugged into the card itself. Power still comes from the PSU, routed into the motherboard, then out through GC-HPWR.
NITRO+ X870EA PhantomLink motherboards, Source: SAPPHIRE
Sapphire has shown the concept paired with an RX 9070 XT NITRO+ PhantomLink card, and reports from the China launch describe the motherboard and GPU as a matched set (black board plus white Polar Edition board).
One thing to note is that this is not a full “rear-connector” hidden-cable layout. The 16-pin power connector is still on the board, in fact, it is very close to the GPU. Additionally, the board has the ASUS Q-Release PCIe Slim mechanism , which was known for scratching PCBs. ASUS has already replaced this mechanism with the old-gen button release design for its Neo 800-series update .
NITRO+ X870EA PhantomLink motherboards, Source: SAPPHIRE
Also, I noticed that the X870E NITRO+ Polar has a PURE-branded bracket. The company already has the PURE X870E board so from my understanding, they are simply using the same bracket, but that’s still quite strange for such an expensive motherboard. Perhaps someone just mixed the photos up.
NITRO+ X870EA PhantomLink, Source: SAPPHIRE
NITRO+ X870EA PhantomLink Polar Edition, Source: SAPPHIRE
Pricing and availability: I could not find a public US listing that confirms $559.99 in searches.
| Specification | |
|---|---|
| VideoCardz.com | Sapphire NITRO+ X870EA PhantomLink Series |
| CPU support | AMD Ryzen 7000, 8000, 9000 series desktop processors |
| Chipset | AMD X870E |
| CPU socket | AM5 |
| PCIe | 1x PCIe 5.0 x16, 2x PCIe 4.0 x4 |
| Display output | 1x HDMI |
| Memory | Dual-channel DDR5 8400 MT/s+ (OC), max capacity 64GB x4 |
| Storage | 2x PCIe 5.0 M.2, 2x PCIe 4.0 M.2, 4x SATA |
| Wired network | Realtek RTL8126 network controller |
| Wireless | Wi-Fi 7 + Bluetooth 5 |
| Audio | 1x audio output, 1x microphone input, 1x optical audio output |
| Form factor | ATX, 305 mm x 245 mm |
Source: Sapphire
Many thanks to OLDBOY_GR for the tip!
