2080 Ti = DEAD - EK's Fault

[AlienALX]

You say binned but I've seen FTW3s an XCs clock higher than KPs under normal cooling.

With the silicon lottery as it is it doesn't justify the cost imo but then the KP isn't for the average user.

It's not built for that. It's built to be volt modded via BIOS and then clocked to hell under LN2 and survive it. It's over built to comedic levels.

And no, it's not for the average user but try finding a 2080Ti on a 240 rad AIO. It's not easy, and tbh? it's not that much cheaper. IIRC it was £1500+ for an EVGA dual rad and it wasn't in stock anywhere.

I opened the box, put it in, hit the auto tune button and it went straight to 2150.

Most importantly however it does all of this whilst never going over 54c under full load, remains silent and does everything a water cooled card would do without the cost of the loop itself. Which when you add it all up worked out more expensive than what I did. Sure the custom loop will look better but it will also void lots of warranty and need maintenance and will likely leak due to human error at some point.

I just couldn't be bothered with the hassle tbh.

They will all do 2200 out of the box volt modded. But that will void the warranty so for me? I'll take 2150 with manners. And keep my warranty.

 

[trawetSluaP]

And no, it's not for the average user but try finding a 2080Ti on a 240 rad AIO. It's not easy, and tbh? it's not that much cheaper. IIRC it was £1500+ for an EVGA dual rad and it wasn't in stock anywhere.

It would be cheaper to buy an entry level 2080 Ti and a full water cooling loop.

But then that would depend of it the user wants the hassle of the loop.

It's a very niche product - loved the old Kingpins and had a 780 Ti KP but the new ones, as you say, are designed from the ground up for LN2.

If I didn't already have a loop and had the money I'd definitely consider one.

 

[Dicehunter]

Here's a suggestion, In future don't control your fans with crappy software made by a company that has near zero experience writing software

 

[AlienALX]

Here's a suggestion, In future don't control your fans with crappy software made by a company that has near zero experience writing software

lol I already said that. They don't even write the software. They said as much in the email.

 

[Dicehunter]

lol I already said that. They don't even write the software. They said as much in the email.

For a full on watercooling loop you should always go for a manual hardware solution like an aquaero fan controller or something that requires zero software, Greg Salazar on YouTube saw something similar recently when the liquid in his system reached such a huge boiling point that this exact scenario happened, Fans didn't spin up and BOOM, Water pressure went sky high and a big leak everywhere.

 

[AlienALX]

It would be cheaper to buy an entry level 2080 Ti and a full water cooling loop.

But then that would depend of it the user wants the hassle of the loop.

It's a very niche product - loved the old Kingpins and had a 780 Ti KP but the new ones, as you say, are designed from the ground up for LN2.

If I didn't already have a loop and had the money I'd definitely consider one.

Not the loop I was looking at.

TBH the older Kingpins were even more pointless, as you couldn't unlock the voltage at all. If I ever feel brave I can do it in about a minute. Which is why, if ever, this is the Kingpin to have. I know you can do that on other EVGA and Gigabyte? cards? IDK. There are a few with the chops to handle it. However, only one is equivalent right now.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...ddr6-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-1ak-gi.html

Yeah, it's £300 cheaper. However it's also not what I wanted. I'd rather have the OLED (which is actually very useful) over the RGB for example. And the EVGA card with the dual rad was £1600 at time of purchase.

One thing I learned when we went from Titan X Maxwell to Titan XP was that a single 120 would get hot and stay hot for a while. The very first review I saw of a water block for the XP (the one I got originally) was using a 240mm rad and due to that was able to go 10% faster than a 120mm rad. Which made a difference. Given that at that time a 240 rad wasn't that much more cash? yeah, I went for that.

My XP was excellent. Mad clocks (2200 or higher IIRC) and I never saw any 1080Ti even under water beat it. But then that loop alone cost me £300 or so, and that was doing it relatively cheaper (bear in mind I am talking back plate and block @ £150 then pump, fittings, rad etc).

For me to deck out my rig with AC and Bitspower it would have cost me way over £500.

So no, to most people it's certainly not worth it. However, when you consider similar cards cost £1500 and up it's not that bad.

It also has a great warranty, but the only thing I would imagine may go in that time is the AIO, and that is easily replaced.

As I say, I have never had any GPU under water fail. Not even at the ragged edge like my XP was for nearly three years. And I would imagine that is because it wasn't running at 85c like it did on the stock cooler at 1800mhz. Instead it ran high 40s with its balls clocked off.

 

[hmmblah]

So after some long chats with EK's Support team they finally have admitted that their software is not stable. The exact words from EK were "The software is somewhere between Beta and Final release".

I asked why their were not mentioning this on the product page as I would have never bought it if I had known it was still in early development (it is actually being developed by a third party company), they did not answer but said stable release should arrive around summer time.

In their last message they told me to open an RMA ticket and send in my EK Loop Connect, the fried backplate and the dead 2080ti card, if they confirm that the software is faulty they will replace the 2080ti.

DHL are picking up today, fingers crossed I might end up with a new 2080ti.

I'll keep you updated

They should be recalling these and giving people their money back. I'm still using mine and it runs great when the software isn't running, but this isn't acceptable.

 

[Warchild]

To be fair it is not designed for people like us. At all. It costs £500 more than any other 2080Ti. However, there are reasons for that.

The sinks are all solid copper. Far more expensive than any other material. The PCB has every single trace and connection gold plated.

It has a 240mm AIO on and two 120mm fans. I could go on, but I am sure you are getting the gist. Add to that the OLED screen, BTW.

Is it worth buying? no. However, does it justify the cost given how much they put into it? I would say yes. Will it go faster than any other 2080Ti? at stock I would doubt that. However, this is an A GPU die and it's binned. So get it under LN2 and it will set records. Already has.

I weighed up blocking a 2080Ti, then building a loop for it and the CPU and etc. In the end I saved money by picking the Kingpin and a 240mm cooler for the CPU. And in essence it does exactly the same thing as my loop in my TR rig.

I also know that it's over built to absurdity levels and thus should last a good few years in the very least. I've had a few GPUs fail on air, never had one fail under water.

Gonna flat out disagree with you there. It is a MINISCULE boost over my card. I paid £1200, your cost what £1700? Even if I block it up, its still cheaper. If we went LN2 route then ok yes the components would help. I still think it is overpriced. EVGA always have been. But we are talking mainstream/high end use here. And there is no place for the Kingpin card in that market, which you do agree at least. Probably not the best place to debate this. Anyway...

Hope your card is sorted out FTLN. Glad they acknowledge the issue. Shame they havent mentioned anything on their support page for the item.

For a full on watercooling loop you should always go for a manual hardware solution like an aquaero fan controller or something that requires zero software, Greg Salazar on YouTube saw something similar recently when the liquid in his system reached such a huge boiling point that this exact scenario happened, Fans didn't spin up and BOOM, Water pressure went sky high and a big leak everywhere.

It does require software, but these guys specialise in controllers and have done for years (think you owned one once right?) Shoggy is always pushing out software bug fixes and updates to support the newer AC components.
I'd take the Aquaaero over anything these days, even if its just for pushing a few fans. Sounds silly, but I guess when it comes to cooling, I need things I can trust.

 

[AlienALX]

Gonna flat out disagree with you there. It is a MINISCULE boost over my card. I paid £1200, your cost what £1700? Even if I block it up, its still cheaper. If we went LN2 route then ok yes the components would help. I still think it is overpriced. EVGA always have been. But we are talking mainstream/high end use here. And there is no place for the Kingpin card in that market, which you do agree at least. Probably not the best place to debate this. Anyway...

You won the lottery. It's as simple as that. You lucked out, good for you, etc.

At the same time you took a gamble. Winning the lottery requires gambling. You could have gotten any card that doesn't clock anywhere near as high as yours. In fact, many won't even do 2ghz.

You also bought it a while ago right? prices have changed, and not for the better.

Any way, I don't quite understand why all the hate but there you go. So long as it makes you feel better I guess.

 

[FTLN]

Hi All,

EKWB just refunded me for my EKLoop Connect, they are also sending a new backplate.

With regards to the damaged 2080ti they refunded me the whole amount I paid (1500euros).

Kaja (their support engineer) was also very helpfull.

 

[looz]

That's a very fortunate ending for a story which took way too long to finish.

 

[AlienALX]

I'm glad they put it right.

 

[hmmblah]

Hi All,

EKWB just refunded me for my EKLoop Connect, they are also sending a new backplate.

With regards to the damaged 2080ti they refunded me the whole amount I paid (1500euros).

Kaja (their support engineer) was also very helpfull.

I didn't expect that at all, that's pretty awesome customer service. Now if only they'd issue a warning to current owners of the EKLoop Connect and finally fix their software.

 

[Warchild]

I didn't expect that at all, that's pretty awesome customer service. Now if only they'd issue a warning to current owners of the EKLoop Connect and finally fix their software.

I bet they wont admit to their wrong doings though. That is far more damaging than replacing one users card.

 

[hmmblah]

I bet they wont admit to their wrong doings though. That is far more damaging than replacing one users card.

Yeah, you're probably right.