MSI Afterburner’s developer has shared details of upcoming GeForce RTX 50 Series graphics cards that will undoubtedly attract the interest of overclockers. Sporting ‘unlocked extended voltage control’ and other features, these SKUs could push the performance of Nvidia’s current generation stock to new heights.
Posting on the Guru3D forums, Unwinder shared that they’ve received the “first working samples of future MSI 50×0 graphics cards with unlocked extended voltage control.” It’s unclear how far along these samples are in development terms, but it’s intriguing that the developer doesn’t specify a particular SKU.
Unwinder elaborates that these upcoming cards will feature extended triple channel voltage control and monitoring, auxiliary and memory voltage control, as well as VRM temperature monitoring. Such features will be exclusive to these models, as Nvidia locks access to necessary controllers on reference designs.
Accessing the MP2988 and MP29816A controllers will allow for 100mV adjustments of voltage, providing more control relative to Nvidia’s GPU Boost. I’d expect to see some enticing overclocks and underclocks from enthusiasts using these cards.
This isn’t the first instance of Nvidia allowing partners to tinker with GeForce RTX 50 Series GPU power limits. The brand previously allowed Asus to push ROG Matrix 5090 all the way up to 800W, far exceeding the card’s default 575W.
The next Afterburner beta will arrive with these features, but we’ll need to wait for compatible cards to hit the market before we can see them in action. Without further details from MSI or Unwinder, I’m guessing these SKUs will be special editions of sorts, complete with an understandable premium.
Perhaps we’ll see MSI bring back its ‘Lightning’ SKU, which has been absent from the market since the days of GeForce RTX 20 Series. The brand’s upcoming GeForce RTX 5090 32GB Special Editions are also prime candidates. Regardless, the GPU overclocking landscape should get more interesting in the near-future.
