EVGA Introduces Nu Audio for Life Like Sound from your PC

Subject: General Tech | January 8, 2019 - 12:50 PM | Sebastian Peak
Tagged: sound card, pcie, evga, DAC, ces 2019, CES, Audio Note, audio, amp, AK4493

EVGA has announced a brand new product offering for enthusiasts, but this PCI Express device is not a graphics card - it's a premium sound card. And yes, I know that many people have written off audio boards in the era of ubiquitous motherboard audio, but if you are at all interested in quality audio and have ever looked into external DACs and headphone amps the Nu Audio card is shaping up to be a fantastic alternative to external component solutions.

The product is a result of a partnership with UK-based Audio Note, a high-end audio equipment manufacturer that emphasizes technology and internal component quality in their designs, and the design of the Nu Audio card was made to those standards. EVGA says that is the pursuit of life-like sound that inspired this card, and their efforts have resulted in something that would be completely at home in an audiophile setting, RGB effects notwithstanding (yes, it has RGB!).

Ok, so what is this exactly, and why is it any different from other PCIe sound cards? This is not your typical DSP-driven surround audio solution, and truly the emphasis is on 2-channel stereo audio reproduction. Reading over the specs this begins to look more like an audiophile product, with native DSD support and PCM audio up to 24-bit 384 kHz - and dual clock generators for native 44.1 and 48 kHz-based sample rates. Component choices were made to improve audio quality through the signal chain and to the output, with some impressive specs:

Premium Components:

• DAC: AKM AK4493
• ADC: AKM AK5572
• OP-AMP (Headphone): ADI OP275
• OP-AMP (Line Out): ADI AD8056
• Capacitors: WIMA, Audio Note(UK), Nichicon
• Power Regulators: Texas Instruments TPS7A47/TPS7A33 ultralow-noise power solution

The demo in the EVGA suite featured a nice setup featuring some of the entry-level Audio Note components, showcasing hi-fi music playback from lossless files on a PC. It was quite impressive considering the sound card was fed directly into the integrated amp, and on display were also such features as separate analog control of the volume output (the internal amp can be controlled independently of the sound level in Windows), and the integrated RGB lighting that dynamically respond to music playback.

The Nu Audio sound card will retail for $249 when it launches, specifics on release date to follow.

Podcast #523 - RX 590, 860 QVO, Drobo 8D

Subject: General Tech | November 29, 2018 - 12:32 PM | Jim Tanous
Tagged: Z390, windows 10, Samsung, rx 590, podcast, gigabyte, EVGA SuperNOVA, evga, ECS, drobo, amd, 860 QVO

PC Perspective Podcast #523 - 11/28/18

Our podcast this week features reviews for the new AMD Radeon RX 590, Drobo 8D, the Samsung 860 QVO, a new fanless mini PC, and more!

You can subscribe to us through iTunes and you can still access it directly through the RSS page HERE.

The URL for the podcast is: http://pcper.com/podcast - Share with your friends!

• iTunes - Subscribe to the podcast directly through the iTunes Store (audio only)
  • Video version on iTunes
• Google Play - Subscribe to our audio podcast directly through Google Play!
• RSS - Subscribe through your regular RSS reader (audio only)
  • Video version RSS feed
• MP3 - Direct download link to the MP3 file

Hosts: Jim Tanous, Allyn Malventano, Sebastian Peak, Josh Walrath, Jeremy Hellstrom

Peanut Gallery: Alex Lustenberg, Ken Addison

Program length: 2:15:34

Podcast topics of discussion:

1. Join our spam list to get notified when we go live!
2. Patreon
3. Merch! http://joshtekk.com/
4. Week in Review:
   1. 00:03:35 The AMD RX 590 Review - Featuring XFX!
   2. 00:16:59 EVGA SuperNOVA 1000W G1+ Power Supply Review
   3. 00:20:17 ECS LIVA Z2 Intel Gemini Lake Fanless Mini PC Review
   4. 00:27:33 StorCentric Drobo 8D DAS Review - 8 Bays and Thunderbolt 3
   5. 00:51:01 Samsung 860 QVO 1TB and 4TB SATA SSD Review - Samsung Goes QLC
   6. 01:11:40 GIGABYTE Z390 AORUS Pro Motherboard Review
5. For a limited time, get 3 months of Audible for just $6.95 a month:  audible.com/PCPER or text PCPER to 500500.
6. News items of interest:
   1. 01:26:21 One EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti XC Allegedly Catches Fire
   2. 01:32:20 Buy an RX Vega, RX 590, RX 580 or an RX 570 and get free sequels
   3. 01:34:16 Network drives? You don't need no steenking network drives!
      1. Windows 10 someday, maybe update
      2. Microsoft continues to toss patches against the wall to see what sticks
   4. 01:45:50 Production of AMD Vega-Powered SMACH Z Gaming Handheld to Begin in 2019
   5. 01:49:22 AIDA64 v5.99, useful RGB Edition amongst other things
   6. 01:51:07 Xen and the art of Black Mesa updates
   7. 01:54:21 SilverStone Reaches 700W in the SFX PSU Form Factor with the SX700-G
   8. 01:56:32 The Trade War Strikes Again: Seasonic PSU Prices Set to Increase in December
7. Picks of the Week:
   1. Jim: SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive
   2. Jeremy: It’s better than bad, it’s Alexa on Big Mouth Billy Bass
   3. Josh: Finally, 16GB pretty fast under $100
   4. Allyn: Ring Alarm deals on Amazon (8 piece kit cheaper than 5 piece kit)
   5. Sebastian: Make all of your pixels perfect
   6. http://pcper.com/podcast
8. http://twitter.com/pcper
9. Closing/Outro

One EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti XC Allegedly Catches Fire

Subject: Graphics Cards | November 16, 2018 - 03:04 PM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: RTX 2080 Ti, rtx, nvidia, geforce, fire, evga, 2080 Ti

On HardForums, there was a report (with several photos) of an EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti that abruptly caught fire and, as you might expect, stopped working. It turns out that the damage is reasonably localized, so Allyn and I compared those photos with ones from an xDevs teardown in hopes to pinpoint the most likely component. We did not have that specific card in the office.

Again, this is just our best guess from images over the course of about a half hour.

Image Credit: shansoft at HardForums

Image Credit: xDevs

Image Credit: xDevs

We marked the center of carnage with a red X on both images, which correspond to opposite sides of the PCB. As you can tell… there’s not much there. On the one side, there is an R005 resistor and what looks like two small capacitors. Capacitors, which store energy like batteries, can explode, but they look to be too small to have caused that damage. On the other side, there are a pair of 1R0 1818 inductors, another component that appears to be a capacitor, and four metal solder pads.

Our current best guess, and it’s just a guess, is that something overloaded the card (such as a shorted power phase elsewhere on the card) and that section just happened to be the part that lit up like a fuse. It wasn’t as cut and dry as we were hoping from the start (such as if we saw a giant capacitor with nothing around it) but it doesn’t look like, as some sites are saying, that the VRAM overheated or that the GPU die was defective.

EVGA lists new RTX 2080 Ti Black Edition Gaming GPU at $999

Subject: Graphics Cards | October 27, 2018 - 02:13 PM | Ken Addison
Tagged: TU104, RTX 2080 Ti, evga, black edition

Despite the somewhat disappointing launch of the NVIDIA RTX 2080 Ti, things seem to be getting a bit more interesting. Mainly, NVIDIA's "starting at $999" price point seems to be one step closer to reality with a listing for the RTX 2080 Ti Black Edition Gaming card on EVGA's website today.

With a rated boost clock speed of 1525 MHz, it appears the RTX 2080 Ti Black Edition isn't overclocked from the factory, leading some credence to the rumors that NVIDIA isn't allowing lower cost RTX cards to be factory overclocked.

Still, there should be no difference in overclocking by the end user, including the use of NVIDIA Scanner to automatically overclock the GPU.

The EVGA website lists no availability information for the RTX 2080 Ti Black Edition, but there is an "auto-notify" option for interested buyers.

At $999, the EVGA RTX 2080 Ti Black Edition is still quite an expensive GPU, but a 20% discount is not something to scoff at for what is the most powerful gaming GPU. We look forward to being able to test this card for ourselves in the coming weeks!

Podcast #518 - Join us this week for discussion on the NVIDIA RTX 2070, ARM Neoverse, and more!

Subject: General Tech | October 18, 2018 - 11:06 AM | Ken Addison
Tagged: rtx 2070 black edition, rtx 2070 armor, RTX 2070, podcast, nvidia, Neoverse, msi, evga, arm

PC Perspective Podcast #518 - 10/18/18

Join us this week for discussion on the NVIDIA RTX 2070, ARM Neoverse, and more!

You can subscribe to us through iTunes and you can still access it directly through the RSS page HERE.

The URL for the podcast is: http://pcper.com/podcast - Share with your friends!

• iTunes - Subscribe to the podcast directly through the iTunes Store (audio only)
  • Video version on iTunes
• Google Play - Subscribe to our audio podcast directly through Google Play!
• RSS - Subscribe through your regular RSS reader (audio only)
  • Video version RSS feed
• MP3 - Direct download link to the MP3 file

Hosts: Allyn Malventano, Jeremy Hellstrom, Ken Addison, Jim Tanous

Peanut Gallery: Alex Lustenberg

Program length: 59:46

Podcast topics of discussion:

1. Join our spam list to get notified when we go live!
2. Patreon
3. Mailbag
4. Merch! http://joshtekk.com/
5. Week in Review:
   1. 0:06:35 RTX 2070 Review
   2. 0:19:45 MSI RTX 2070 Armor
   3. 0:28:30 ARM Neoverse
6. News items of interest:
   1. 0:33:40 Radeon Adrenalin Edition 18.10.1
   2. 0:35:00 Noctua Threadripper Coolers
   3. 0:39:35 The Palm Palm
   4. 0:43:20 Do Not Track, Please?
   5. 0:47:35 Discord Nitro
7. Picks of the Week:
   1. 0:51:10 Allyn: Flashlights. Have them.
   2. 0:52:45 Ken: Cheap VESA Arm
   3. 0:55:25 Jim: Anker PowerWave Wireless Charger
   4. 0:57:20  Jeremy: Cheap Star Wars drones are fun
8. http://pcper.com/podcast
9. http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
10. Closing/outro

EVGA Launches SuperNOVA GM SFX Power Supplies

Subject: Cases and Cooling | October 4, 2018 - 11:27 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: evga, EVGA SuperNOVA, SFX, SFX PSU, SFF

EVGA has launched a new line of small form factor power supplies under the SuperNOVA GM series. The new power supplies are available now in 450W, 550W, and 650W models all of which are rated at 80 PLUS Gold efficiency ratings with all Japanese capacitors and built in safety technologies for OCP, OVP, OTP, OPP< SCP, and UVP protections.

The single rail (up to 54.1A on the 12V rail) power supplies utilize Active PFC (power factor correction) and DC-to-DC conversion for the 3.3V and 5V supplies. EVGA’s SuperNOVA GM PSUs are all fully modular and support SLI with two 8-pin PCI-E connections on the 450W PSU and four 8-pin PCI-E power connectors on the 550W and 650W models. A single 92mm double ball bearing fan keeps the small form factor power supply cool while the Auto ECO mode keeps fan noise at a minimum with the fan spinning down completely up to 30% load, then ramping to ~18 dBA up to around 70% load and then ramping up to 37 dBA at 100% load (for the 650W power supply).

EVGA’s SuperNOVA GM SFX power supplies come with a 7+2 year warranty (7 year base warranty plus an additional two years for a limited time according to EVGA). The GM power supplies come with a AC power cable, PSU tester, and SFX-to-ATX adapter bracket.

The power supplies are available now for $109.99 for the 450W model, $119.99 for the 550W PSU, and $129.99 for the 650W power supply. Looking around online, pricing seems to be in line with the competition at these wattages, at least when considering the premium for the SFX small form factor designs.

EVGA Launches RTX 20-Series XC Ultra Gaming Graphics Cards

Subject: Graphics Cards | September 20, 2018 - 03:21 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: turing, RTX 2080 Ti, RTX 2080, nvidia, evga

NVIDIA's Turing-based 2000 series graphics cards are finally official, and partners are unleashing all manner of custom cards based on the new GPU. EVGA is launching the RTX 2080 Ti and RTX 2080 under a new XC Ultra Gaming series that uses a translucent shroud (with a very Gameboy Color nostalgia vibe) that wraps a dual fan ICX2 cooler in customizable white, black, and red trim and a large multi-heatpipe cooler to pair with the Turing GPU and GDDR6 memory.

EVGA is introducing four XC Ultra Gaming series cards, with two RTX 2080 Tis and two RTX 2080s which differ in price and boost clockspeeds. The graphics cards feature 2.75 slot designs with ICX2 coolers and hydro dynamic bearing fans. EVGA claims the cooler is 14% cooler and 19% quieter. The taller card design reportedly allows for a taller fan hub and thicker blades that can push air through the thicker heatsink without extra noise (whereas its 2-slot cards use a smaller fan hub with more blades to try to balance things). Display outputs include three DisplayPort, one HDMI, and one USB-C VirtualLink.

The EVGA RTX 2080 Ti XC Ultra Gaming comes in two models: the 11G-P4-2383-KR and 11G-P4-2382-KR. Memory clocks on the 11GB of GDDR6 memory is clocked at 14000 MHz on both models, but the $1,199.99 11G-P4-2382-KR features a 1635 MHz boost clock for its 4352 CUDA cores while the $1,249.99 11G-P4-2383-KR takes things up a notch to a 1650 MHz boost clock. Of course, enthusiasts can use EVGA's Precision X1 or NVIDIA's new OC Scanner software to overclock on their own. The RTX 2080 Ti graphics cards have 2 8-pin power connectors.

As far as the RTX 2080 XC Ultra Gaming cards, the $799.99 08G-P4-2182-KR and the $849.99 08G-P4-2183-KR pair a TU104 GPU with 2944 CUDA cores with 8GB of GDDR6 memory clocked at 14000 MHz. The cheaper model features a 1815 MHz boost clock while the higher priced model clocks in at 1850 MHz. EVGA's RTX 2080 XC Ultra Gaming cards use a 6+8 pin power connectors.

EVGA's XC Ultra Gaming cards come with a 3-year warranty and are currently being offered on the company's website. While they were previously available for pre-order, at the time of writing the cards are listed as auto-notify presumably due to the launch window slipping back a week.

What are your thoughts on EVGA's take on Turing?

Related:

• Asus Announces ROG Strix, Dual, and Turbo Series RTX 2080 Ti and RTX 2080 Graphics Cards
• The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 and RTX 2080 Ti Review
• The Architecture of NVIDIA's RTX GPUs - Turing Explored