Sapphire Nitro+ X870EA PhantomLink Review

We saw the Sapphire Nitro+ X870EA PhantomLink motherboard along with its matching graphics card at Computex 2025, and it has taken almost a full year for review hardware to arrive. This is an implementation of the power system used in Asus BTF hidden connector graphics cards, except that here we have a Radeon 9070 XT rather than an RTX 5090. It might seem a bit odd but we have plenty to discuss…

Timestamps

00:00 Intro
00:44 Setting the scene – GPU power connectors
02:40 What is PhantomLink?
04:01 The motherboard package + specs
06:58 BIOS updates…
09:09 BIOS setup and options
10:08 RGB control in TriXX-M
11:00 Performance testing
11:53 Leo’s closing thoughts
14:29 Pros and cons

Specification:

• CPU support: AMD Socket AM5 for AMD Ryzen 9000 / 8000 / 7000 Series processors
• Chipset: AMD X870E
• VRMs: 16+2+1 phases, 90A Monolithic Power MPS2432; controller: Monolithic Power MPS2515
• Memory: DDR5 up to 8400 (O.C.), 4x DIMM slots up to 256GB; dual-channel, non-ECC unbuffered DIMMs
• Expansion slots: 1x PCIe 5.0 x16 (PhantomLink), 2x PCIe 4.0 x16 (x4 mode)
• Storage: 2x M.2 PCIe 5.0 x4, 2x M.2 PCIe 4.0 x4, 4x SATA 6Gb/s
• USB (rear): 2x USB4 Type-C (40Gbps), 4x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A (10Gbps), 4x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A (5Gbps), 2x USB 2.0 Type-A
• USB (front): 1x USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type-C (20Gbps, up to 30W PD), 2x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A (5Gbps), 4x USB 2.0 Type-A
• Audio: Realtek ALC897 codec
• Ethernet: Realtek RTL8126 5GbE
• Wireless: Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4
• Fan headers: 5x PWM fan headers
• RGB headers: 3x ARGB headers, 2x RGB headers
• BIOS: 64MB flash BIOS
• PCB: 8-layer design
• Form factor: ATX, 305 x 244 mm

Testing and Performance

Test system:

Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
Memory: 32GB G.Skill Trident Z5 Royal Neo DDR5-6000
CPU Cooler: Phanteks Glacier One 360MPH
Graphics card: MSI GeForce 4090 Ventus 3X 24GB
Power supply: Antec Signature 2200
SSD: 1TB Samsung 9100 Pro M.2 NVMe
OS: Windows 11

Geekbench 6 Multi Core

In Geekbench 6 Multi Core the Sapphire Nitro+ X870EA PhantomLink does a decent job and closely tracks the ASRock X870E Taichi.

Geekbench 6 Single Core

It is a similar story in Geekbench 6 Single Core where the Sapphire again does well and again lags behind by one percent.

Cinebench 2026 Multi Core

The results are very close in Cinebench 2026 Multi Core, confirming that Sapphire has done a good job with this motherboard.

Closing Thoughts

This is a review of the Sapphire Nitro+ X870EA PhantomLink Polar Edition motherboard, however it is impossible to separate the motherboard from its matching PhantomLink graphics card. One without the other makes no sense, and when you put the two together you have a very satisfying package.

Sapphire has used a combination of technologies to offer the cleanest power connection for an RX 9070 XT graphics card that we can possibly imagine. Asus used the same hidden power approach with its BTF 2.5 ROG Astral RTX 5090 BTF and ROG Crosshair X870E Hero BTF and they cost plenty. By contrast these Sapphire products are very much the budget option, however the extra technology still adds a premium to the price.

Sapphire sent us the following MSRPs:

Sapphire Nitro+ X870EA PhantomLink Polar Edition for £319.99 inc VAT.
Sapphire Nitro+ RX 9070 XT PhantomLink Polar Edition £879.99 inc VAT.

Pros:

• The quality of the motherboard hardware is very sound.
• PhantomLink is clever (but somewhat pointless)
• Very user-friendly BIOS setup screen
• 5Gbit Ethernet and WiFi 7 networking

Cons:

• PhantomLink adds a hefty premium to both the motherboard and the graphics card
• Logically the connectors should be on the back of the board
• The accessory package is almost non-existent

KitGuru says: Sapphire PhantomLink is a clever idea that will likely appeal to a niche audience.

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