FRONTPAGE CES 2019: EVGA Showcases RTX 2080 Ti K|ngP|n, Z390 Dark, and Nu Audio Soundcard

[Overclockers.com]

Continuing CES 2019 coverage on day three (our last full day), we ran into our friends at EVGA who had some pretty cool things to show off. First, we saw their flagship RTX 2080 Ti K|ngP|n card which uses a hybrid CLC cooling solution, the impressive Z390 Dark motherboard adorned with gold plating and a 90° socket orientation, and finally, their first dip into sound cards with a high-end Nu Audio add-in-card.

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[Alaric]

First problem I see with the mobo layout is clearance for those with a radiator on the ceiling, along with fans. A nice innovation would be memory that mounts like an NVMe drive. That would solve all sorts of cooling clearance issues for big air coolers, help overall airflow across the board, etc..

Sound card by Audio Note is a big deal. Obviously have to wait and see how well it's implemented, but they are a reputable hi fi company. Not to be confused with Kondo Audio Note, who make extremely high end gear. Wonder where they hid the tubes....

 

[trents]

Looks like the main 24 pin PSU connector is at the back edge of that motherboard where the cut out area is. Are those other two conncectors next to it for he CPU power? Looks like a different CPU power connector configuration than we are used to, flat instead of rectangular. Is it two 4 pins or two 8 pins? Hard to tell from the angle.

 

[freakdiablo]

Looks like the main 24 pin PSU connector is at the back edge of that motherboard where the cut out area is. Are those other two conncectors next to it for he CPU power? Looks like a different CPU power connector configuration than we are used to, flat instead of rectangular. Is it two 4 pins or two 8 pins? Hard to tell from the angle.

They could be. At first I thought they were front panel hookups as that looks like a USB 3 front panel connector on the other side, but I'm not seeing the CPU power anywhere else

 

[Joe88]

I always wondered why not just put the cpu power connector next to the 24 pin.

 

[freakdiablo]

I always wondered why not just put the cpu power connector next to the 24 pin.

My guess is by having the CPU power connector as close as possible to the CPU means not having to deal with trying to run beefy traces capable of handling the current around the motherboard. Just an idea.

 

[trents]

My guess is by having the CPU power connector as close as possible to the CPU means not having to deal with trying to run beefy traces capable of handling the current around the motherboard. Just an idea.

That would be my guess as well. At any rate, I like the fact that the power connectors are parallel to the board rather than perpendicular to it. Neater and better air flow. As Alaric pointed out, the location and orientation of the memory sockets are not optimum for top mounted water coolers and air flow through the rad.

 

[Alaric]

Not particularly good for airflow over the RAM, either. And they put the two 8 pin CPU connectors next to the 24 pin ATX. I like the orientation for cable management and airflow, but freakdiablo makes a good point about power traces. The connectors are now a long way from the VRMs. Start putting the screws to a 9900k on that board and the heat flow over the RAM combined with the current flow from one side of the board to the other should make for a right toasty rig. Not that I was in the market, but I'll pass on that board. The sound card, on the other hand, has my interest.

 

[EarthDog]

There shouldn't be a worry with memory height. The slots are at/below where a heatsink is normally...

 

[Alaric]

They'd block at least one of my rad fans if I hadn't moved my radiator to the top chamber, and I have a pretty big case. And since OC'ing the RAM was one of the selling points (that's why only two slots) they'd be bleeding heat directly in to the airflow. Innovative? Sure, but I wouldn't want it.