EVGA Introduces the GTX 1080 Ti K|NGP|N Edition Video Card

Since the release of NVIDIA’s Pascal architecture, specifically the fully enabled Geforce GTX 1080 Ti, many enthusiasts have been eagerly awaiting card partners’ flagship parts built off the big silicon. After a couple of months, we saw the ASUS ROG Poseidon 1080 Ti, AORUS Extreme Edition, and most recently, the MSI Lightning hit store shelves. Missing from that group was EVGA’s K|NGP|IN which was formally introduced earlier this week.

The K|NGP|N (KPE) version is, by all accounts, a video card engineered to be overclocked. The EVGA website boldly proclaims it is, “Designed to be the best Overclocking Geforce GTX 1080 Ti”. In fact, the KPE GPU is guaranteed by EVGA to reach 2025 MHz+ overclock (tested using Unigine Heaven 4.0 Extreme at room temperatures). In their release video, product manager Jacob Freeman said they expect most to overclock even further. While the overclocked clock speeds are within reach to other cards, it certainly isn’t for all. It appears some binning went into choosing the stock for the KPE in order to stand behind that guarantee. 

The KPE also has three BIOSes on the card (normal, overclocked, and LN2), which can be toggled via a switch on top of the card. The OC and LN2 BIOSs are said to allow for more flexibility with the power target among other tweaks. Near to where that switch is located, there is another point for connectivity for an upcoming accessory and access to additional features. 

EVGA uses two 8-pin PCIe connectors to deliver power to an all-digital, 14 phase VRM. Atypically, these connectors are located on the bottom right edge of the board, along with the EVbot connector and USB connector to attach directly to the motherboard. 

In order to keep the card running cool, EVGA includes its iCX Technology on the KPE, which uses an additional 9 thermal sensors – for a total of 11 – in critical locations on the PCB (x5 on the VRMs, x3 for the vRAM, and another sensor on the GPU itself). The additional data these sensors provide allow the independent fans to speed up and cool the video card where it’s needed, while the other fan(s) spin slower.

Even with the copper coated heat sinks and fans, this is a true dual-slot card. It can also be a single slot solution if the heat sink is removed and adding a Hydro Copper waterblock and using the included single slot bracket. The backplate is not only there for aesthetic and structural reasons; it also makes contact with key areas of the PCB, for example behind the VRMs, in order to help with cooling. 

The low level specifications on the 1080 Ti K|NGP|N Edition remain the same as other GP102 based cards in reference to ROPs (88), TMUs (224), and CUDA Cores (3584), only the clockspeeds will be different on that front. The 100 Mhz base clock bump over reference leading the pack out of the box, but the card is meant to be overclocked considering its clock speed guarantee. 

Price and availability were not available at the time of publication. 

Related Reading:

• The NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1080 Ti Founder’s Edition Review
• Gigabyte Announces AORUS Geforce GTX 1080 Ti Waterforce Xtreme Edition 11G and Waterforce WB Xtreme Edition 11G

NVIDIA Releases 384.94 WHQL Game Ready Driver: ShadowPlay Highlights for LawBreakers

Following up on the July 4^th384.80 hotfix resolving Watch Dogs 2 crashing on startup, today NVIDIA has released driver version 384.94, an update heavily focused on game support. Along with the usual bugfixes, this edition brings Game Ready support for several titles: LawBreakers, ARK: Survival Evolved, Dark and Light, Fortnite Early Access, and Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. This release also sees the official debut of ShadowPlay Highlights via LawBreakers, as well as support for EVE: Valkyrie’s new Ultra graphics settings.

Building off of support for the LawBreakers “Rise Up” Open Beta in 384.76, NVIDIA has followed up with driver support for the full release of LawBreakers, slated for release on August 8^th. The upcoming release also brings the first game to support NVIDIA’s new ShadowPlay Highlights feature, a GameWorks technology.

Presently, LawBreakers is also the only game with ShadowPlay Highlights support, and NVIDIA has posted a guide describing how ShadowPlay Highlights works for matches in LawBreakers. ShadowPlay Highlights requires GeForce Experience, and automatically captures gameplay video and screenshots, allowing for easier sharing and uploading.

Under the hood, the game’s developers configure what events and actions automatically trigger recording by ShadowPlay Highlights. While these triggers are game-specific, examples include multi-kills, boss battles, and unlocking achievements. After a session, the Highlights can be selected to be shared via Facebook or YouTube. Imgur uploading support is mentioned but does not specifically appear for LawBreakers at this time.

Moving on, 384.94 brings Game Ready VR support for EVE: Valkyrie’s “Ultra” graphics settings, which developer CCP Games worked with NVIDIA to create. Among the new settings are volumetric lighting (“God Rays”), Multi-Sample G-Buffer Anti-Aliasing (MSGAA), and Lens Matched Shading (LMS). The last feature, LMS, actually involves rendering to the curvature and shape of VR headset lenses; because a rectangular render has extra unneeded pixels for a curved lens, this can increase performance.

In addition to Game Ready support for ARK: Survival Evolved, Dark and Light, Fortnite Early Access, and Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, NVIDIA has also brought Ansel support for ARK: Survival Evolved and Dark and Light. We’ve described Ansel before, but as a quick summary it is NVIDIA’s ultra-high resolution screenshot utility with an artistic flair, able to capture 360 degree 3D images.

In terms of gamefixes, an SLI issue with GeForce GTX 980s in IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle for Stalingrad was resolved, where performance was not improved under DX11 after enabling SLI. A game-crashing bug within minutes of gameplay was also fixed in Star Ruler 2, as was freezing in Gears of War 4 with the GTX 970 and poor GeForce performance in DNF. HDR settings can now be enabled from the in-game Mass Effect: Andromeda menu while running in full-screen mode on a Titan Xp. Similarly, color over-saturation no longer occurs in Shadow Warrior 2 with GTX 1070/1080 due to Windows HDR conflicting with in-game HDR settings. Lastly, NieR:Automata no longer freezes with the GTX 780/780 Ti, and Watch Dogs 2 no longer crashes on launch with the Titan X.

On the non-game side of matters, an issue was resolved where Channel 9 and rPlay apps on the Windows Store became choppy during playback before crashing. In addition, a DisplayPort connection issue was fixed where the monitor would display no signal after a power cycle on the GTX 980.

Wrapping things up, NVIDIA has also added or updated SLI profiles for LawBreakers and ARK: Survival Evolved, as well as IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad. Finally, NVIDIA is offering a promotional Mass Effect: Andromeda giveaway to selected GeForce Experience users. Users are made eligible by simply logging into GeForce Experience, and then opting into communications from NVIDIA. Winners will be informed via GeForce Experience notification on August 1^st. This promotion is not available in China.

The updated drivers are available through the GeForce Experience Drivers tab or online at the NVIDIA driver download page. More information on this update and further issues can be found in the 384.94 release notes.