The Nvidia board partners Asus, EVGA and MSI brought three RTX 2080 Ti top models with them to CES. The models are called Matrix, Kingpin and Lightning Z.
RTX 2080 Ti: The flagships are coming
With the introduction of the new Turing generation, Nvidia has also made a big adjustment to the price. The RTX 2080 Ti as a new top model is not available for less than 1000 Euros. As is well known, there are no upper limits. Top models like the Zotac GeForce RTX 2080 Ti AMP Extreme or the EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti FTW3 Ultra Gaming cost over 1,500 Euros. The crown, however, is on the even more extreme models of the board partners. Thus the company KFA2, which operates outside of Europe as GALAX, introduced some time ago already the GALAX GeForce RTX 2080 Ti HOF OC Lab WC Edition, which costs around 1,800 Euros. Now the board partners Asus, EVGA and MSI are following and present their own flagship models. The CES 2019 is a good place for this.
Asus ROG GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Matrix: built-in water cooling without external radiator
Asus has introduced the ROG GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Matrix, probably one of the most exciting models. From the outside, the graphics card looks like a normal graphics card with a very thick air cooler. Inside, however, there is an integrated all-in-one water cooler called Infinity Loop. Water coolers built into graphics cards have not been unusual for quite some time. Inno3D, for example, installs a 240 millimeter radiator in the top model Inno3D RTX 2080 Ti iChill Black Edition. However, the integrated way that Asus has now introduced is a completely new approach. The narrow radiator sits directly under the fans that are built into the cover. From there, a closed water circuit leads to a cooling head that sits directly on the GPU chip. The VRM phases have their own passive cooler. According to Asus, the RTX 2080 Ti matrix should be cooled as well by this cooling method as by a 240 mm radiator. But the manufacturer has installed this cooler directly in the three slot graphic card. On the side, the backplate and the cooler itself there is an eye-catching RGB backlight.
The RTX 2080 Ti Matrix is also an absolute high-end model in terms of technical data. It is still equipped with 19 phases and the same PCB as the ROG Strix variants, but the cooler should allow a boost clock rate of 1,815 MHz. So far only the Zotac GeForce RTX 2080 Ti AMP Extreme comes close to this value. However, this fails due to the low power limit of 300 watts. The Asus ROG GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Matrix could exceed this value, but the exact power limit is not yet known. How the graphics card performs in independent tests will be shown this month. Asus plans to launch the RTX 2080 Ti Matrix in January, but the price is still unknown.
EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Kingpin Edition: 520 watts TDP for highest OC demands
EVGA is also preparing another high-end model of the Turing generation. As every year, the board partner is also launching a Kingpin edition as an absolute flagship on the market. EVGA cooperates with the overclocker Vince Lucido, better known as Kingpin. The graphics card is designed for extreme overclockers. Nevertheless, EVGA uses a quite normal cooler. The rather simple card comes with a hybrid cooler. The actual GPU is cooled by a 120 mm radiator through cooling liquid, while the VRM phases are cooled by a fan directly on the card and a cooling block.
Technically, the EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Kingpin Edition has it all. Power is supplied by 19 VRM phases and three 8-pin connectors. Thus a TDP of 520 Watt is possible. The graphics chip and also the memory are hand-picked, also the remaining electronic components should be only the best of the best. Especially for Overclocker there are some features directly on the cooler. An LCD display is built in, which can show different values. There are also diagnostic LEDs, voltage measuring points, a BIOS switch and a header for the EVGA tool EVBot. With this combination EVGA wants to enable overclockers to get the most out of the RTX 2080 Ti Kingpin Edition. When the graphics card comes on the market is still unknown, as is the price. However, this will probably be beyond 1,500 Euros.
MSI Geforce RTX 2080 Ti Lightning Z: carbon, gold and high power target
This year, MSI is again in the absolute high-end class. At the CES 2019 the board partner exhibited the MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Lightning Z. The design and the cooler stand out above all. MSI does not use a water or hybrid cooler like the competition, but uses an air cooler with a height of three slots. The fan design is reminiscent of the Gaming X Trio models. A smaller 80 mm fan sits in the middle, while two 120 mm fans do their work on the side. MSI’s design is based on a combination of a black cooler with gold accents and genuine carbon. The two outer fans are of course also equipped with RGB lighting, as is the side. On the side there is also an LCD display on which information or your own animations can be displayed.
There is not too much to say about the technical data at the moment. The exhibited models are still in prototype status. However, the power supply is likely to be very abundant. MSI has built three 8-pin connectors in the Lightning Z, which would allow a total TDP of 525 watts. Correspondingly good VRM phases should also be installed. The Lightning Z should also have a significantly higher power target, which has already become a problem with other graphics cards. Thus MSI and EVGA target the extreme overclocker market. Despite the fact that the exhibition product is not yet finished, the manufacturer has already announced a release date. On January 22nd the MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Lightning Z should already come on the market.
Be the first to comment