MSI shuns AMD GPUs with some of its newest power supplies

MSI’s new high-wattage MPG A1000GS and MPG A1250GS power supplies don’t support all modern GPUs

Yesterday, we reviewed the new MPG A1000GS PCIE5 power supply from MSI, and it left us confused. Unlike almost all other high-wattage PSUs on the market, it only features one 8-pin (6+2-pin) PCIe power connector. As such, it cannot power GPUs that require multiple 8-pin PCIe power connectors. In fact, this problem seems to affect two newly released MSI power supplies.

Upon further investigation, we found that the MSI MPG A1250GS (the 1250W version of the MPG A1000GS) also has only one 8-pin PCIe power connector. This means that two of MSI’s high-end PSU models cannot support most of AMD’s Radeon RX 9070 series GPU lineup, with Sapphire’s 16-pin powered RX 9070 XT Nitro+ being the only exception that we know of.

While we have highlighted AMD’s RX 9070 XT series as unsupported, this is the case for all GPUs that require more than one 6+2-pin PCIe power connector. This includes older Nvidia GPUs (most RTX 3090 GPUs, for example) and some Intel ARC graphics cards.

Has MSI built anti-AMD power supplies?

Let’s face it: MSI probably didn’t make their PSUs “Anti-AMD” intentionally. MSI wanted to build power supplies with multiple 16-pin (12V-2×6) connectors, and that resulted in a design trade-off. Their second 16-pin power connector came at the cost of an additional 6+2-pin connectors, resulting in high-wattage power supplies that ship with one 6+2-pin power connector. How have we come to this conclusion? MSI’s MPG A850GS PCIE5 power supply only has one 16-pin power connector, and it has three 6+2-pin power connectors.

With Nvidia going all-in with the 16-pin power connector, it makes sense for MSI to explore having more of these connectors on their high-wattage PSUs. The problem is that they have forgotten that many GPUs still use 8-pin/6+2-pin power connectors. MSI’s MPG A1000GS/A1250GS PCIE5 PSUs don’t support MSI’s RX 7900 XT/XTX GPUs, and those GPUs aren’t that old.

To make a long story short, if you think you will ever need multiple 8-pin/6+2-pin power connectors, don’t buy these power supplies.

(Sapphire’s Radeon RX 9070 Series Nitro+ GPUs may be the only RDNA 4 GPUs to use 16-pin GPU power (review here))

Be careful when buying a new PSU – Make sure you are getting the connectors you need

If you are buying a new power supply, you must ensure you are getting the connectors you need. If you think you will ever need 8/6+2-pin PCIe power connectors, you will need to make sure your PSU has them. This should no longer be considered a guaranteed feature for 1000W+ power supplies.

If I am honest, all power supplies intended for high-end gaming PCs should feature at least three 8/6+2-pin connectors. That’s enough connectors to support all RX 9070 XT GPUs and all RTX 3090-series GPUs. If you ship a PSU that doesn’t have enough 8-pin PCIe cables, it is not suitable for all modern gaming PCs.

You can join the discussion on how some new PSUs don’t support all modern graphics cards on the OC3D Forums.