New Motherboards With PhantomLink Seen Powering A Radeon RX 9070 XT Without Cables

Ahead of CES 2026, Sapphire is showing off a pair of "PhantomLink" (its equivalent to ASUS' BTF) AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT GPUs and motherboards. Both will come in white or black colorways and are (for now) China-exclusives.

This launch from Sapphire shows a continued push from AIB GPU partners and motherboard manufacturers to minimize cable clutter and eliminate the problem of burnt 12VHPWR cables, by routing power directly through the motherboard instead. Based on the footage we've seen so far, PhantomLink seems to be cross-compatible ASUS' BTF motherboards, utilizing the same GC-HPWR compatible card edge and slot as ASUS motherboards, though Sapphire would obviously prefer if you paired its GPUs with its own board instead.


The main benefit of technologies like BTF and Sapphire PhantomLink-style GPUs and motherboards is that the graphics card can be installed without routing a separate power cable. While the Sapphire PhantomLink AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT GPU does also have a standard 12V-2x6 power connector onboard as well, it's optional, and there just for the sake of supporting motherboards without ASUS BTF or Sapphire PhantomLink functionality. We probably wouldn't recommend this use case though, since you'd be better-served with a lower-priced standard Radeon RX 9070 XT card at that point, but it is worth noting.


Pricing and specification information on the new Sapphire PhantomLink motherboards and GPU are not yet available. But we anticipate that information will be disclosed soon, and that Sapphire is likely to bring its PhantomLink GPUs stateside, if not the whole line-up with the motherboard duo included.