For the overclockers and tweakers out there, system stability is absolutely paramount, and one of the keys to ultimate stability is good, clean and consistent power. Now, EVGA claims to have a new way to guarantee this is with the Power Boost, which will deliver power directly to the PCIe bus.
The little add-on uses a Molex power-connector and converts it into a plug that attaches to a PCIe slot to pump a little extra juice directly into the bus. It's designed to fit into any size slot, meaning that it can make use of any spare x1 or x16 slots on your motherboard, and is even small enough to squeeze into the gap between two dual-slot graphics cards.
Obviously a number of high-end motherboards now come with Molex connectors designed to supply extra power to the PCIe bus, so this will be a nice alternative for anyone installing demanding add-in cards to a lower-end system.
Of course, how much of an impact the Power Boost will actually have is open to debate - at least until it's been put through some proper tests. We can imagine a scenario where two or three overclocked GPUs could start to draw more power than the PCIe bus could normally provide, potentially impacting system stability. This could also be a problem for other add-in boards that don't have the dedicated power supplies that GPUs do, and so rely on consistent power from the PCIe slot.
For now we'll reserve judgement until we've had a chance to test a Power Boost out for ourselves. However, if you feel like your system is in need of more juice, EVGA's latest accessory is available from the company's webstore - although currently only in the US - for $19.95 (£15.56 inc VAT).