Computex 2016 – We're on the ground in Taipei for Computex, and we stopped by EVGA's booth this morning to see what the company is cooking up with the advent of Nvidia's GeForce GTX 1070 and GTX 1080 graphics cards. We took a fresh look at the company's cases, power supplies, and motherboards, too.
EVGA has updated its ACX cooler design for Pascal cards to version 3.0, and we think the design looks pretty fine this time around. The basic EVGA GTX 1080 uses a twin-fan cooler with handsome mesh and brushed-metal accents, along with a dual-layer backplate design. EVGA will be using a similar cooler design for its GTX 1070, too.
Stepping up from the base GTX 1080, EVGA's GeForce GTX 1080 FTW adds a second eight-pin power connector and more power phases—a 10+2 design, according to the company's specs—that could offer higher overclocking potential than the Founders Edition reference card and its 5+1-phase arrangement. FTW buyers also get RGB LED lighting and two BIOS chips for extra security during risky exercises like custom firmware flashing.
More ambitious overclockers may want to consider the GeForce GTX 1080 Classified. This card uses a beefier PCB with a 14-phase power arrangement, two eight-pin PCIe connectors, three BIOS chips, and the same RGB LED arrangement as the GTX 1080 FTW card.
The popular EVGA Hybrid liquid cooler is making a return on the GTX 1080, as well. That card uses a closed-loop liquid cooler with a 120-mm radiator to move hot air directly out of the case. EVGA adds an extra PCIe power connector to this card for more juice during overclocking attempts, too.
EVGA is also refining its popular range of power supplies this year. The new Supernova GL series features white LED-backlit power connectors for some extra flair, while the Supernova GX series uses a new platform that reduces the size and weight of the PSU while maintaining the same high-quality power delivery we've come to expect from these units.
We somehow failed to get a picture of it, but EVGA will be releasing a variety of case models in its DG based on a prototype it previewed at CES earlier this year as the DG series of enclosures. These monster ATX full-towers use an unconventional interior design that purportedly improves airflow and reduces graphics card temperatures. The design also hides most of the cabling and storage devices outside of the main chamber for a cleaner appearance.
Last but not least, the company is making a couple of products to make builders' lives easier. The Power Link accessory slots into the twin eight-pin power plugs on some of the company's graphics cards. This handy little gadget will allow builders to run PCIe power cables to the front of a card for a cleaner appearance.
Builders who want to maintain an all-EVGA look inside their systems will soon be able to get new HB SLI bridges to pair with multiple Pascal graphics cards, too. EVGA is offering bridges in three sizes to accommodate PCIe slot spacing on most any motherboard.