EK Water Blocks, the premium computer liquid cooling gear manufacturer, is introducing its new generation of extended compatibility high-performance water blocks specially designed for reference design based NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics cards. The EK-Vector RE high-performance water blocks are an evolution of the original EK-Vector water block where the cooling engine is tweaked for even more performance with an optimized flow pattern.

The RE water blocks use the signature EK single slot slim look and cover the entire PCB length. This sophisticated cooling solution will transform your powerful NVIDIA graphics card into a minimalistic, elegant piece of hardware with accented RGB LED lighting in RGB variants. The block also features a unique aesthetic cover over the block Terminal which is designed to showcase the graphics card model via LEDs, visible from the side.

EVGA today released its flagship graphics card, the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti KINGPIN, designed by the legendary Vince "KINGPIN" Lucido himself. Unlike past generations of KINGPIN-branded flagships by EVGA, this card features an all-in-one closed-loop liquid cooling solution that's factory-fitted. The cold-plate of this CLC cools the GPU and memory, while a dedicated copper heatsink pulls heat from the VRM, and is ventilated by a 100 mm fan. Dissipating heat is a 240 mm x 120 mm radiator with two included high air-flow fans. For DIY liquid-cooling enthusiasts, EVGA is separately selling the Hydro Copper full-coverage water-block for this card. KINGPIN Cooling may offer LN2 evaporators for this card.

The PCB of this card has been designed by legendary volt-modder Illya "TiN" Tsemenko, and is an outstanding 12-layer thick, with high dispersion of electrical and signal traces to minimize interference. A 16+3 phase VRM powers the beast, made up of the most expensive components the industry has to offer. The VRM pulls power from three 8-pin PCIe power connectors.

The EK Vector Trio RTX water blocks are specially designed for multiple MSI Trio GeForce RTX Turing based graphics cards. The water block itself uses the signature EK single slot slim look, and it covers the entire PCB length. This sophisticated cooling solution will transform your powerful ROG graphics card into a minimalistic, elegant piece of hardware with accented RGB LED lighting. The block also features a unique aesthetic cover over the block Terminal which is designed to showcase the graphics card model via LEDs, visible from the side.

The water block comes in two different models tailor-made for either MSI Gaming Trio 2080 and MSI Gaming Trio 2080 Ti cards including the Gaming X variants which are factory overclocked. Each of them directly cools the GPU, VRAM and the VRM (voltage regulation module) as cooling liquid is channeled directly over these critical areas. This allows the graphics card to remain stable at high overclocks, intensive workloads and also enables it to run at its maximum Boost Clock. Ultimately, you can enjoy gaming at the highest possible performance of your graphics card, stutter-free in a low noise environment.

Colorful rolled out its flagship liquid-cooled graphics card, the iGame GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Neptune. The card comes with a factory-fitted all-in-one closed-loop liquid cooling solution. Unlike most other cards of this type, Colorful deployed a larger 240 mm x 120 mm radiator with two included 120 mm RGB LED fans. The business-end of the cooler includes a large pump-block on the card that makes direct contact with the RTX 2080 Ti GPU, and a base-plate which pulls some of the heat from the memory chips. The VRM area has its own aluminium channel-type heatsink that's ventilated by a lateral-blower.

The PCB of this card features silver-plated contacts for improved conductivity. The card pulls power from a combination of three 8-pin PCIe power connectors, conditioning it using a massive 19-phase VRM. It also features dual-BIOS, with the default BIOS running the card at reference clock-speeds of 1545 MHz GPU Boost, while the second "OC BIOS" spools up GPU Boost to 1740 MHz and increases power limit. Display outputs include three DisplayPort 1.4, one HDMI 2.0, and a USB-C VirtualLink port. The company didn't reveal pricing.

Update April 4th: This post has been corrected based on new information provided by ASUS, EKWB, as well as other parties. The original story mentioned a silent change to the glue used on the PCB which, as we now believe, is no longer the case in that ASUS is not to blame.

Update April 5th: ASUS has confirmed to us that there has been no PCB change (in terms of components and their heights), it's only a problem of tolerances due to the glue being liquid during production.

ASUS has glued the GPU die to the PCB for many generations, which helps ensure contact and avoids microfractures in the solder balls from physical force or thermal expansion. The nature of this glue, typically an epoxy resin, means that aftermarket cooling solutions, such as full cover or die-only water blocks, have to accommodate for this around the holes around the die. Previous graphics cards had no issue here, because the mounting holes were far away from the GPU die. With RTX 2080 Ti and its super large GPU chip this has changed, and there's only a few millimeters of space left. If a waterblock uses wider standoffs than the design merits, or if the glue spreads out farther than intended, it can result in poor/inconsistent contact between waterblock and the GPU, which in turn can lead to worse thermal performance than ideal.

This time, EK Waterblocks alerted us that the ROG Strix GeForce RTX 2080 Ti had poor contact and fitting issues with their GPU water block for the same, as seen in images below provided by their customer T. Hilal, which interferes with the four standoffs surrounding the package. EK recommends removing these standoffs to ensure a good fit and thermal paste spread, and this does not affect water block performance much in their internal testing. In previous such occasions, EK and others have had to come up with a second version of the block for added compatibility, however it remains to be seen if the ROG Strix GeForce RTX 2080 Ti will merit a similar treatment this time round. As an external reference, Phanteks has separately confirmed to us that their water block remains compatible.

EK Water Blocks, the market leader in PC custom liquid cooling, is announcing the expansion of their Fluid Gaming aluminum based custom loop liquid cooling line. With price and performance in mind, EK Fluid Gaming is an inexpensive ticket to the custom liquid cooling world. Following the release of copper blocks for NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 and 2080Ti cards, EK is now launching one aluminum water block that is cross-compatible with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 and 2080Ti cards which use the reference PCB and layout.

The EK-AC GeForce RTX is a full-cover water block designed and developed in cooperation with NVIDIA and it fits several high-end NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics cards. This water block directly cools the GPU, RAM as well as VRM (voltage regulation module) as water flows directly over these critical areas, thus allowing the graphics card to reach higher boost frequencies. The loud stock fan gets to be replaced by a slim-line minimalistic water block that will not only make your PC look better, but also make the graphics card perform better. Finally, you will be able to enjoy your favorite games in silence. This water block also comes with a sleek matte black backplate.

When we first had a glance of the CORSAIR Hydro X custom watercooling loop parts in action, we suspected they might have a CES debut. CES has come and gone since, with no word of the company's entry into this field. Their direct competitors, including Phanteks and Thermaltake, have since added to their respective product portfolios comprising fans, water blocks, coolants and radiators. Perhaps CORSAIR wanted the launch to not be overshadowed by the other product launches at the recent trade show, and perhaps the listings of the Hydro X products on Digitech.ch is a sign of things to come sooner than later. Read past the break for a more in-depth discussion on the various parts listed, based on our experience with this industry as a whole.

NVIDIA has updated their RTX game bundle, which offers users games whenever they purchase an elligible RTX graphics card. The bundle previously offered wither Anthem or Battlefield V, for gamers who purchased the RTX 2060 or 2070 graphics card; and both games for buyers of the RTX 2080 and RTX 2080 Ti. Now, gamers who purchase NVIDIA's highest-performacne graphics cards also get to take Metro Exodus home, and buyers of the RTX 2060 and RTX 2070 can now choose that game over the others.

ZOTAC Technology, a global manufacturer of innovation is pleased to announce the launch of the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 2080 Ti ArcticStorm graphics card. Get the best of both worlds with the all-new waterblocked graphics card packing the ultimate 2080 Ti performance with 16+4 power phases combined with fearless cooling. Continuing to push on design and innovation, the full coverage waterblock introduces a precision machine laser etched design entirely new to the design process.

The carved edges and added texture bring dimension to the clear acrylic block and enables it to catch the lighting lit across the block beautifully to enhance the overall design in a very discrete, elegant fashion. The lighting gets updated to SPECTRA 2.0, bringing with it more powerful Addressable RGB LEDs controllable with the newly designed Firestorm software. Adjust brightness and lighting modes on two independent zones or synchronize them together in unison lighting. With an onboard memory, your preferred lighting settings will stay whether the system restarts or shuts down.

EK Water Blocks, the Slovenia based water cooling gear manufacturer, is introducing its new generation water blocks for the popular ROG Strix GeForce RTX series graphics cards, based on Turing TU106, Turing TU104 and Turing TU102 graphics processor.

The inspiration for the new GPU block name "Vector" came from the sheer computing power of the graphics cards that are on the market today. Naming a water block "Full Cover" isn't enough these days, when the product is packed with unique features, such as these. The EK Vector Strix RTX water blocks are specially designed for multiple ROG Strix GeForce RTX Turing based graphics cards. The water block itself uses the signature EK single slot slim look, and it covers the entire PCB length. This sophisticated cooling solution will transform your powerful ROG graphics card into a minimalistic, elegant piece of hardware with accented RGB LED lighting. The block also features a unique aesthetic cover over the block Terminal which is designed to showcase the graphics card model via LEDs, visible from the side.

Canadian electronic music producer and mau5trap label head deadmau5 is one of the most prominent fixtures in the international dance scene of the last decade, instantly recognizable with his signature oversized mau5 head. Known for his live sets and highly produced stage set-ups, he is also an avid video gamer - contributing to soundtracks for Grand Theft Auto, Need for Speed, and more.

The EVGA x deadmau5 project was sparked by a tweet posted by deadmau5 asking his community where he could get a quality gaming PC to use while traveling. EVGA reached out and suggested building a mITX PC with the EVGA Hadron chassis. Both sides further discussed the case and EVGA offered to build a gaming PC using its EVGA Hadron air and hardware.

MSI, world's leading manufacturer of true gaming hardware is proudly announcing its new edition of Infinite X Gaming desktop. Featuring the Intel 9th generation processors up to i9-9900K, the MSI Infinite X 9th can overlock its system, offering addictive power for any gameplay. Together with the MSI's renowned RTX graphics cards, Infinite X 9th put its users ahead of any others right before their game has started. To keep a system with all this power cool, the Infinite X 9th uses MSI's exclusive Silent Storm Cooling 3 thermal design, making its cooling efficiency unmatched and as quiet as an assassin. If you are the gamer who like to explore the never-ending possibilities for gaming and multitasking, Infinite X 9th is the one you shouldn't miss.

This godsend rig also maintains its "Stand above the rest" spirit from its predecessor, as the system offers ultimate convenience for upgrading as new components appear in the market. And as always, MSI has added its own gaming DNA features such as a tempered glass side panel and RGB Mystic Light to customize this gaming desktop to your own liking.

The system requirements for 4A Games' Metro: Exodus, the studios' first open-world effort that comes with baked-in NVIDIA RTX support, have been outed. The minimum system requirements for 1080p gaming at 30 FPS uses the Low IQ settings, and should be achieved by an i5-4440 CPU, paired with a 2 GB VRAM graphics card (GeForce GTX 1050 or Radeon HD 7870) and 8 GB of RAM.

For the Extreme IQ settings, at 4K 60 FPS, though, you'll require, obviously, a beast of a system. An Intel Core i9-9900K is the CPU of choice here, paired with 16 GB of RAM and the top of the line NVIDIA RTX 2080 Ti. These requirements pressupose the absence of any RTX features, however, so prepare to see your maximum resolution with those features on coming down quickly as you scale the ray tracing capabilities. RTX-specific performance profiles will be released by 4A Games in the coming days.

ZADAK, in association with NVIDIA Taiwan, wowed visitors at the opening of the Taipei Game Show 2019, presenting a scratch build from up and coming Taiwanese modder AK. Inspired by the popular Fallout 76 PC game, the Pip-Boy mod is composed of leather, aluminum and 3D-printed acrylics. It marks the first collaboration between ZADAK and NVIDIA Taiwan, showcasing the flagship MOAB II Water-cooled PC from ZADAK, and the latest NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti gaming graphics card.

MSI is proud to officially announce the latest of its legendary LIGHTNING series graphics cards. Built to be perfect, the new GeForce RTX 2080 Ti LIGHTNING Z combines cutting edge new technology with proven features such as Tri-Frozr design with all new TORX 3.0 Fans, Phantom of LIGHTNING LED effect, Dynamic Dashboard OLED panel and full carbon backplate. The GeForce RTX 2080 Ti LIGHTNING Z is nothing short of an engineering masterpiece.

With an innovative design, the RTX 2080 Ti LIGHTNING presents an all-new level of visual customization. Via MSI's Dragon Center software, the LED colors and blades on the fans can be controlled to cycle predefined profiles. The fans not only dazzle you with vibrant colors and effects but also cool this beastly card in silence.

EK , the leading premium liquid cooling gear manufacturer, announces the global launch of their new Classic Product Line. It includes an NVIDIA RTX 2000 series GPU block, CPU blocks for both the most popular AMD and Intel platforms, and a pump-reservoir combo unit. Whether you only care about cooling performance, or just prefer the clean and timeless design of EK, the Classic Line will fulfill all your needs.

For users who want to experience the core essence of liquid cooling, the EK CLassic Line of products will offer excellent value regarding performance that is accompanied with simple and minimalistic looks. While designing and engineering the portfolio of the Classic Lineup, the performance of the products was not compromised at any moment.

MSI showed off their GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Lightning at CES 2019. This latest and greatest offering from them is built around overclocking with the graphics card having been designed with a 19-phase power delivery subsystem and 3x 8-pin power connectors. It offers a dual BIOS support with the default BIOS coming with a factory overclock of 1770 MHz while the second BIOS is configured for LN2 and comes with NVIDIA's reference clock speeds but offers a boosted power limit of 350-watts. Display connectivity options consisted of 3x DisplayPort, 1x HDMI and 1x USB Type-C output for VirtualLink.

ZOTAC Technology, a global manufacturer of innovation, is excited to present exclusive unveiling of the newest innovation from ZOTAC and ZOTAC GAMING at CES 2019. Awaiting in ZOTAC's suite at Caesars Palace will be live demonstrations of the latest gaming and computing hardware, including the very first ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX liquid-cooling ready graphics card, a line-up of next-gen ZBOX Mini PCs, the MEK MINI Gaming PC, and much more.

THE SMALL AND STRONG GAMING PC

In the limelight at CES will be MEK MINI, the diminutive addition to the ZOTAC GAMING MEK Gaming PC series that challenges to be one of the world's smallest desktop gaming system with desktop-class performance. Alongside will be unique editions of MEK MINI with a splash of color that will debut exclusive to CES.

Colorful Technology Company Limited, professional manufacturer of graphics cards, motherboards and high-performance storage solutions is proud to announce its most powerful graphics card to date with the latest entry bearing the title of KUDAN. The COLORFUL iGame GeForce RTX 2080 Ti KUDAN brings NVIDIA's Turing GPU architecture to the absolute extreme with all its feature including real-time raytracing. The new iGame GeForce RTX 2080 Ti KUDAN features the best that COLORFUL has to offer and has been engineered to near perfection to give gamers a great gaming experience.

The iGame GeForce RTX 2080 Ti KUDAN makes its worldwide debut during COLORFUL GAMES UNION 2018 held in Hunan, China. COLORFUL's new iGame GeForce RTX 2080 Ti KUDAN will be a limited release with only 1000 units being made.

MSI, a world leader in gaming hardware, debuts an industry-leading selection of gaming products at CES 2019, including the brand new GS75 Stealth laptop with the latest NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPU and the PS63 Modern Prestige laptop, designed for business executives and content creators. "MSI is devoted to gaming and our new lineup reaffirms our position as an industry leader endorsed by gamers and eSports teams worldwide," said Charles Chiang, MSI's new global CEO. "We are honored to be recognized by the CES awards panel and will continue to push boundaries to achieve extreme performance, superior design, and maximum reliability." MSI will also be debuting exclusive gaming technologies with next-level interactive functions designed for full immersion. Partnering with Ubisoft, MSI will enrich the gaming experience of Assassin's Creed Odyssey with RGB light dancing synced to the game and haptic feedback underneath the palm to generate vibration upon in-game events such as gunshots.

GS75 Stealth: The Game Just Got Real
Experience extreme performance with realistic in-game lighting on the go with this thin & light 4-sided thin bezel gaming laptop. Equipped with the latest Intel Core i7 CPU, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 GPU, a 17.3" 144HZ IPS-level display, and an extra-large, highly responsive and accurate touchpad, the GS75 stuns in an impressive aluminum alloy body. Highlighted by an internal passive radiator that delivers earth-shaking audio with booming bass, the GS75 measures only 0.75 inches thick. The GS series breaks the stereotype of bulky and heavy gaming laptops, offering an exceptional and portable gaming experience. MSI will also be unveiling the revamped version of the award-winning GS65, a 15.6" gaming laptop armed with the latest CPU and GPUs while weighing less than 4.19 lbs.

EVGA has been teasing its flagship GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Kingpin graphics card for well over a month now, and we've finally had a chance to pick one up in the flesh. This card is every professional overclocker's liquid-cooled wet-dream, with a PCB designed with inputs from Vince "Kingpin" Lucido, and a hybrid AIO-CLC cooling solution. The PCB features a 19-phase VRM that pulls power from three 8-pin PCIe power connectors located at the tail end of the card. The CLC makes contact with the GPU, while a copper base-plate, mated with several copper heatsinks over the memory and VRM areas, offload some of their heat to the block. A 100 mm fan ventilates some of these heatsinks.

A 120 mm radiator is on the other end of the card's CLC. This time around, the cooler actually serves a significant function besides being something you rip apart to install your LN2 evaporator: the shroud is studded with an LCD display with a limited feature-set resembling that of the EVBot. Right next to this LCD are diagnostic LEDs, voltage measurement points, a BIOS selector switch, and headers for a full-featured EVBot-like device. The GPU and memory chips are hand-binned for this card, and most of its electrical components are sourced from top bins. These come together for an ungodly amount of overclocking headroom not just with exotic DIY cooling, but also out of the box.

Corsair showed off their ONE series of desktops at CES with the ONE PRO i180 workstation for content creators taking center stage. Also on display were the ONE i160, and ONE i140 for prosumers which round Corsair's ONE series of desktop systems. The internal design for this release has been entirely revamped, allowing for exceptional performance with support for processors of up to 165-watts and graphics cards of up to 300-watts without increasing noise or size. Compared to their older Corsair ONE Elite, the new systems are faster quieter and cooler running across the entire range. The ONE i140 packs an Intel Core i7-9700K alongside an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080, 32 GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 2666 memory, 480 GB NVMe SSD, 2TB HDD, and a 600-watt SF600 80-PLUS Gold power supply for $2999 and is available immediately.

ASUS is looking to one-up the competition in the flagship graphics card market with its ROG MATRIX rendition of the RTX 2080 Ti interpretatioin of NVIDIA's silicon. The ROG MATRIX GeForce RTX 2080 Ti will incorporate an AIO watercooling solution complete with waterblock, pump, radiator and fans in a triple-slot design. ASUS claims the Infinity Loop cooler will bring about performance equivalent of that of an external 240mm AIO - a bold claim, since physics and proximity of the radiator and fans themselves to the PCB and die should dictate a higher temperature than an otherwise completely external solution.

That said, the design of the Infinity Loop is likely one of the most interesting graphics card cooling designs in some time, with a completely self-contained solution. The shroud and side of the graphics card feature laser cutouts and LED-illuminated elements (because 2019 wouldn't be much different from 2018 in that regard). Out-of-the-box clocks are set at 1815 MHz before any additional overclocking, and the card takes power from 2x 8-pin power connectors. The cost? North of $1600. Now that's design, even in the price-tag.

NVIDIA today at its CES 2019 event launched the GeForce RTX 2060 graphics card. The card is being purported as being capable of playing "Battlefield V" at 1440p resolution with RTX on. Priced at USD $349, the top-spec variant of the RTX 2060 is capable of 5 gigarays/second, or roughly half the performance of the RTX 2080 Ti, but double the performance of its "Maxwell" based predecessor, with roughly the same performance as the GeForce GTX 1070 Ti from the previous generation, with RTX added to the mix. The RTX 2060 is slated to come out on January 15, in a number of variants, and custom-designs from NVIDIA partners.

Update: We have posted our review of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Founders Edition.

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the body behind CES, handed out CES 2019 Innovation Awards, with NVIDIA bagging one for its GeForce RTX 20-series graphics cards. CEA considered the RTX 2080 Ti, RTX 2080, and RTX 2070 for this award, and remarked the company's RTX technology to be "revolutionary," and that the "Turing" architecture it's based on brings real-time raytracing and artificial intelligence hardware-acceleration to the consumer space, augmenting programmable shading that's dominated consumer graphics for close to two decades now.