MSI prepping new GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs with 'unlocked' voltage control

MSI is prepping to launch new high-end GeForce RTX 50 Series graphics card with more direct control over voltages for extreme overclocking.

MSI prepping new GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs with 'unlocked' voltage control
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TL;DR: MSI Afterburner is testing beta support for future MSI GeForce RTX 50x0 graphics cards with unlocked triple channel voltage control, enabling advanced core, memory, and auxiliary voltage adjustments. This feature targets upcoming flagship RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 Special Edition GPUs, promising enhanced overclocking and performance beyond reference designs.

"We've got first working samples of future MSI 50x0 graphics cards with unlocked extended voltage control and currently testing new beta with it," writes MSI Afterburner developer Unwinder over on the Guru3D forums. According to the developer, Afterburner is adding "triple channel voltage control and monitoring" for future MSI graphics cards.

MSI teased a GeForce RTX 5090 LIGHTNING GPU with five fans at CES 2025.
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MSI teased a GeForce RTX 5090 LIGHTNING GPU with five fans at CES 2025.

If you're wondering what triple channel voltage control refers to, well, Unwinder explains that it includes "core voltage control (direct PWM access mode with +-100mV range instead of default NVIDIA's GPU boost voltage control on reference design cards, which is allowing you to get just 0 to ~20mV (0 to 100%) overvoltage range)" alongside memory voltage control and auxiliary (MSVDD) voltage control."

Now, Unwinder notes that this level of control won't work with the current GeForce RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 reference designs, as that access is locked and unavailable. In a nutshell, it means MSI is prepping to launch new flagship GeForce RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 graphics cards, which could be 'Special Edition' LIGHTNING GPUs we saw back at CES 2025.

At the show, MSI teased new custom Special Edition GeForce RTX 5090 cards featuring five fans and a unique cooler design that operates in a similar manner to NVIDIA's impressive dual-slot GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition.

Now, enough time has passed that the GPU samples Unwinder is referring to could be part of the new GeForce RTX 50 Series SUPER refresh, specifically the GeForce RTX 5080 SUPER, where fine-grain control over voltages and overclocking could push performance even higher than reference-spec or standard OC designs. With the recent announcement of ASUS's new flagship ROG Matrix GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card, which can push 800W with dual power inputs, our best guess is that this "triple channel voltage control" update to MSI Afterburner is related to something similar from the house of dragons.