I Still Miss EVGA - Building the All EVGA PC

Dear Diary, with each passing day without innovation from NVIDIA's board partners, I cry a little. No, I cry a lot. Remember the good times we had together, when they were the first company to add asymmetrical cooling to the MX440 or put heat pipes on the GeForce 4Ti 4600E?

Remember when they let you update your BIOS without a CPU installed? I just miss them so much. Why?

Why did you have to leave us? I don't care if some of your innovations never took off, like the red-colored GPU that was $50 more because it was red. I just want you back!

A box of graphics cards? Oh EVGA, how did you know I would build this computer with all the super cool stuff you don't make anymore? And how did you know I would tell the people about our sponsor?

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Using parts from this box and some other ones that we tracked down with some help from EVGA, we are going to be building the most EVGA PC ever. I'm talking GPU, sure, of course, but also motherboard, power supply, RAM. EVGA made RAM?

Yes, yes they did. And as we put together our system, we'll also be taking a little trip down memory lane, looking through our care packages at some of the ideas that EVGA brought to life over the years. The good and also the bad.

Let's start with what's in this box. And look at that, I've got a special guest, the only other person who works here who's old enough to remember all this stuff. Maybe too old.

Now before we get started, tell me this, as a certified Asus shill, are you allowed to wear EVGA shirts? Absolutely. All right, let's do it.

I've been released of my Asus contract. There, that's better. Yeah.

Now look, they didn't have everything in the archives to send us. I would have loved to get my hands on the 275 Co-op, for example. The very first GPU PhysX accelerator combo card.

Yes, and the very last one also. Very last one, that was not a very successful concept. But we do still have some really neat stuff.

Now, not everything that EVGA, you know, innovated was their own innovation. This, for example, is a 7950 GX2. This is two GPUs, each on their own independent cards, with an SLI bridge in between them.

But the innovation was that they were crazy enough to partner with NVIDIA to do it. I believe it was them and. .

. Asus. Oh, that's right.

But not even Asus was crazy enough to build one of these. No. Their own dual GPU.

This is the 460. . .

2win. 2win, get it? Twin.

Oh, twin. No, it's to win. Okay.

The cool thing about this is, back then, two mid-range cards in SLI could be quite performance competitive with a single higher-end one. And at a price that, you know. .

. It was like a 480. Yeah, or, you know, sometimes even less if you could get them on a deal.

The issue is that as soon as you put the engineering into building a combo card. . .

Yeah, out the window. Yeah, it all went out the window. This thing was about $700.

It's kind of no wonder NVIDIA doesn't let the partners build stuff like that anymore. Yeah, but still, it was a lot of fun. Yeah, you talk to anyone from the board partners, and that's all they'll talk about, is how much more fun it was to build cards back in the day.

How about this one right here? This would have been something that would have been pretty tough to compete with. Right.

980 Ti Kingpin. Do you remember what was special about this guy? I just know Vince put a lot of work into it.

Honestly, that's a great summary. Vince Lucido, or Kingpin, worked with EVGA on this card to dramatically increase the available power to it from 250 watt stock to 450 watts. That involved adding additional power connectors to it, a full back plate, and of course, this all copper drop dead sexy cooling design.

Do you want to pick the next card? Ah, I actually bought one of these. Of course you did.

It's 9800 GX2. They had three different versions. Overclocked.

Super overclocked. The SSC. I tease, I tease EVGA.

Yeah. Wait, that is just super, super overclocked. Yeah, I know.

And then they had the KO. There was a 25 megahertz difference on the core clock and the memory clock as you went up the range. But the main reason I chose EVGA, it was the design.

Because I actually wanted the PNY XL R8. Yeah, yeah. Asus had the top card, had the highest memory overclock, and it equaled on, or was right below on the core clock.

Oh, but it probably had like a cringy anime character. Oh, it did. And it looked like the anime character was in the middle of an autopsy.

That was really fun. But I think we all know that builds don't start with GPUs. They start with a motherboard, which conveniently EVGA also has.

They've actually been in the motherboard business for a long time, starting in 2005. And I guess if you think about it, it was a pretty natural progression for them because a lot of the same principles, designing a board with a good circuit layout and excellent power and cooling management, go into both GPUs and motherboards. Now, in the early days, EVGA did less of the engineering on their own.

One of their most famous boards was simply an NVIDIA reference design for the 680i chipset that EVGA put their label on. But over time, EVGA got pretty darn innovative, even launching Intel chipset motherboards in 2008 once NVIDIA left the market. There were a couple of noteworthy milestones that EVGA hit first, in fact.

They were the first to make an XL-ATX motherboard that allowed four-way SLI with four dual-slot cards. And this boy right here, the EVGA Classified SR2, or Super Record 2, was, I don't know how to put this other than utterly unique. It allowed overclocking on dual Intel Xeon processors and, you guessed it, the ability to install up to four graphics cards in SLI simultaneously.

It is both taller and wider than any motherboard standard that existed for consumers at the time. Now, because of that, we are not going to be using it. There are no cases these days that will fit this thing, but we do intend to do a video with this Retro Monster in the future, so make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss it.

By the way, speaking of retro, our new Retro Colorway screwdrivers are a must-have for the discerning retro enthusiast, lttstore. com. Instead, we've gone with something a little more modern.

We've got a Z790 Dark Kingpin. This is an $800 board for 12th to 14th gen Intel processors with a 14-layer PCB, 21-phase VRM, support for up to 64 gigs of DDR5 at 8,000 megatransfers per second, and this is really cool. They've managed to build in support for PCI Express Gen 5x16 to either of their 16x slots.

That means you can get full performance out of a PCIe Gen 5 GPU that's installed way down here. That could be important if, say, for example, you're going for an overclocking record and you need more room for the Sub-Zero cooling apparatus you have up here. Can I just say how amazing it is, how well these guys know their customers?

How cool is this? It's a bare PCB with kind of a stripped-down block diagram. This is the neatest swag I think I've ever seen included with a product.

Almost as neat as the board itself. Oh, that reminds me. Here's an EVGA motherboard innovation.

They were the first to include right-angle connectors on their P67FTW. Not everything they did was particularly innovative. About a decade ago, they came out with a number of super clocked and super super clocked DDR3 and DDR4 memory kits.

As far as I can tell with these, the product development process went something like this, but hey, they were speedy at the time and competitively priced. Unfortunately, these are too outdated for us to use in this system, so for RAM and actually storage, now that I come to think about it, we've just gone with third-party options. Thankfully, that won't be necessary for our case.

These are really hard to get your hands on these days, because as far as we can tell, anyone who owns them is holding on to them for dear life. EVGA's DG85 is part of the DG8 series that came out in 2016. It was very well received, but check this out.

There's a lower compartment where you put your power supply. That's pretty normal. But what's this?

I. O. down here, including HDMI for your VR headset?

That's super cool! And that's just the beginning. You've seen interior cable management.

What about exterior cable management? Why would they need that, you ask? So the entire back of the case can have this clean look, all hidden away by this awesome door!

Ah! Man, we got all kinds of stuff going on here. Easily removable dust filter, triple fans in the front.

Hey, Plouffe, we said that SR2 board wouldn't fit in this case, but I think it would. Will it fit HPTX? It kind of looks like it.

We should build it in there then. Uh, yeah, later, later. For now, we're building a real computer anyone would actually want to use today.

Oh, hello? Oh, hey, oh, hey. You know, it was a little on the pricey side at almost 200 US dollars, but for everything it's got going on, that feels like a deal.

What are you thinking for the closed-lube cooler? Top mount? Yes.

But why did I call it a closed-lube cooler instead of an all-in-one or AIO? Because that's what EVGA does. Meet the CLC-X.

They've actually done a couple of different closed-lube coolers, but this is their most recent. It's available in configurations with up to three 120 millimeter fans and compatible with all the latest sockets. There's not a whole lot more for me to say about it, so while we install it, why don't we do some EVGA history?

Did you know that EVGA originally stood for e-commerce video graphics array? They were founded in 1999 by Andrew Han and Keith Rochford, and they were the first company to make driver installation seamless for gamers with ADM or automatic driver management. Does this thing have three BIOS chips on it with a selector switch?

It's wild. Next up is our power supply, and this segment is as much about EVGA's past as it is about their future. Did you know that the Supernova 850 and 750 G2 units were the first to offer an ECO mode switch, which is neat, but we're not using those.

Instead, we've got a big beefy boy, the EVGA Supernova 1600 T2. It is fully modular, 80 plus titanium efficient, and cost about $500. EVGA's entry into the power supply market was marked by consistent quality, aggressive pricing, and their trademark strong post-sales support.

From talking to them today, power supplies are very much a part of their future going forward, and we wish them the best of luck with that. Naturally, we have gone with the king of EVGA GPUs, the RTX 3090 Ti for the win three. Did you guys know that aside from helping us get graphics cards into the hands of gamers at MSRP during the great crypto winter, EVGA also had their own queue system to try to deter scalpers?

They also ran their step-up program for years, allowing anyone to simply trade in their card and pay the difference if a newer model came out within 90 days of purchase, just to give their customers a little peace of mind. And back in the day, they used to offer lifetime warranties on their GPUs, giving their customers the assurance that they would never have a problem with an EVGA graphics card. Now I want to solve the mystery of the giant piece of acrylic with an EVGA logo on it.

I don't get this, man. There's no obvious place that it goes. I'm sure EVGA is going to watch this and go, oh, Linus.

Wait, I found it. It's in between what we both thought. It is inside the window, but not at the back.

Just to kind of clean the place up a little. Okay. That looks really sharp.

Last piece here is the front panel, but we are far from the end of our adventure because EVGA also makes peripherals. We've got the whole works today. We've got the Torx, X10 desk pad.

I've got the X20 mouse and Plouffe here is unboxing their Z20 keyboard. We also have their XR1 Pro capture card. The mouse is a fun one.

I guess we got this from EVGA and it didn't quite make the cut for shipping to customers. At any rate, we've got another first here. This is the world's first triple sensor mouse.

So it's got a Pixar 3335 optical sensor, which is pretty normal, but it has dual liftoff distance detection sensors, which is not normal, but I guess in theory allows you to really fine tune your liftoff distance. Yeah. You know, when you go and then you put it back down.

Heck yeah. Now I noticed something weird about this keyboard because I know that years ago, it did come with this button, but what happened to it? I am not sure.

Yeah. Well, they don't have E3 anymore. So.

Ah, this is looking good. Now it's time for the pièce de la résistance, EVGA's sound card. I'm kidding.

We actually bought it, but we couldn't get our hands on one of those. I'm talking instead about the interview 1700 dual monitor system. My friends, you could fit so many global patents in this bad boy.

For real though, 14. Unfortunately, this product kind of sunk their monitor line. It was innovative.

Sure. But they say that the downturn in the market in 2008 and 2009 was just terrible timing for it to launch. I think it had other problems.

Like say, for example, that this is clearly a business forward product from a company that up until then had been almost entirely focused on gamers. But to me, it was more about the unnecessariness of it. I mean, why buy two 17-inch TN monitors when you can buy one dual 17-inch TN monitor?

There was cool stuff though. An integrated 1. 3 megapixel webcam, which could swivel, a built-in microphone, three USB-A ports.

I mean, if they had launched this thing right in the start of the COVID pandemic, boom, they would have nailed it. They got the wrong global crisis. Yet another problem is that it used a connector that you've probably never heard of.

DMS59 or dual monitor solution 59 pins. I love engineer names. Count them, count those pins.

No. The monitors ran at 1440 by 900 each or WXGA plus, which is not to be confused with WXGA, the other WXGA, WSXG or WSXGA plus. Don't you miss when we named monitor resolutions like that?

It was great. It makes full HD, UHD, QHD seem downright sensible. Anyway, none of that was the big feature.

The big feature was this. Whoa, want to show the client what you're working on? It's pretty cool.

Compared to today, these monitors, aside from being TN, are not great with a 500 to one contrast ratio. Yes, that is hundreds. 220 nit peak brightness and eight millisecond pixel response times.

But this thing would have been pretty sick for office use back in the day, except that affordable larger panels were like kind of commonplace and 17 inches was kind of bad. Yeah, it's an all-in-one solution though. So that I can, what, take it with me?

Yeah, look at that. It's great. Why?

Walk away. We got this. All we need is two DisplayPort to DVI adapters.

Oh wow, that is. . .

It powered on! We've spent so much time talking about EVGA's awesome design. This interview logo, not their finest work.

I don't think this mouse works. Oh my god. This does not illuminate.

Okay, hold on. Let's get a mouse. V-stock, more like dead stock.

Have you guys got the interview already? Yeah. Okay, that's great.

Because I brought a vampire. Oh my god. Interview with the vampire.

Wow, that looks like garbage. That's TN panel from 20, what, 2009? One of the strats back in the day, you guys, was to put a glossy surface on the screen to kind of try and boost the perceived contrast and clarity.

It didn't work. Okay, what games are we playing? Whatever you want, Halo, Counter-Strike.

Nice. It's, you know what? It's not 60 Hertz, Linus.

It's better than 60 Hertz. Wow, that motion blur, ghosting trail. It's pretty bad.

It looks like I have mouse pointer trails on. It's pretty bad, eh? Check the display settings, though.

66. 350. Hey!

This is it, guys. This match is ready. This, for better or for worse, this rig is as EVGA as any rig can be.

It's dead quiet, eh? Yeah. Should we get it closed up?

It looks amazing. Yeah, let's close it. Let's close it.

It is a beautiful case. Hey, you're going to peel one side? Oh, I was going to wait for the SR2 build.

Yeah, we kind of have to do the SR2 build. Let's wait for the SR2 build. Do the inside.

Do the inside peeling. All right. There, it's at least a little bit more clear.

We're going to see it in all of its glory next time. There we go. An EVGA gamer.

Okay, here we go. Oh my goodness. This is the worst thing ever.

It's playable. This monitor is. .

. I don't remember badness like this. No, no, that's my team.

Look, I can't tell on this monitor. Blaming the peripherals. Well, I mean, a little bit, yeah.

That's what a real gamer does. Look, that's my blood on the wall. No, I'm going to win.

You get a kill. I couldn't even see my crosshair, dude. I couldn't even see it.

Wow, it's pretty bad. Come on. I didn't hit him at all.

No, no, I got this. I'm going to get a kill. All right, one kill.

Oh no, I have the bomb. Okay, well. .

. Yeah, well, follow your team. Follow your team.

No, just toss it to your teammate. Just rush B, rush B, rush B. Well, they're not rushing B.

You've got to rush B. You said follow the damn team. What is this?

How did that not kill him? You were aiming on his left shoulder. I was not aiming.

Camera left, camera left. I could see it from here. That was his head.

I mean, if it was his head, he'd be dead. All right, I brought up floatplane because we were talking about how you could stream on here. Floatplane, great streaming quality.

Great for WAN Show. . It's got a webcam right there.

Okay, I wouldn't use that. In fairness to me, this is pretty bad, huh? It's pretty bad.

Remember when 40 milliseconds of input lag was a thing? I know, this feels really rough. It's so floaty.

It's pretty, yeah, right? I can tell you have no control right now. Oh, it's so bad.

You were aiming at his shoulder. I was, I was. You were aiming at his shoulder.

I can admit when I was aiming at the wrong spot, this sucks, it's so hard. Okay, here, Colton, you want to turn? Whoa, what are we doing?

You got to try to get one kill. What do you mean I got to try to get one kill easy? What are you talking about?

The challenge is over when you get one kill. Oh, what is happening? Hold on, no, you're dead, you're dead.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He doesn't even know he's spectating. The monitor's called the interview.

Do you get the joke now? Why he's wearing a cape? Yeah, the joke is that you should probably do some.

I didn't even realize what I was gaming on. What is this? Why?

Yeah, but what if I wanted to watch the game? Does it even flip? It did!

That was really good. Okay, that's pretty cool. That was really good.

If you manage to put a bullet on target, you'll be ahead of me in blue. No! He did!

That seems like a really high refresh rate, uh, good, uh, gaming device. Yeah, 66 hertz? 66?

I got one. Headshot. Whoa, no way!

Yeah. Boom, headshot! Get another one.

Whoa, that's a tall order. It was a nice shot though. He could barely see his head.

That was pretty good. Now that some time has passed, we've asked EVGA, hey, why did you guys end your partnership with NVIDIA and stop making graphics cards in general? And after some PR talk, it basically boiled down to the market being tilted toward the chip manufacturers and away from the add-in board partners, meaning that their margins were razor thin and it just wasn't worth it anymore.

It also seemed like they weren't happy with chip manufacturer restrictions that limited their ability to innovate, which, as you guys saw earlier, was a big part of what EVGA was about. Nor were they happy with how expensive graphics cards, a product meant for fun primarily, were getting. They said that NVIDIA has strong technology and they wish them all the best in their future endeavors, which apparently is all AI all the time now.

So take that as you will for now. We sincerely wish EVGA the best. They didn't sponsor this video or anything.

And if I'm being honest, I don't know if they're going to be around to honor their legendary 10-year warranties. Their product lineup has shrunk and shrunk and shrunk down to, it seems like they're going to be quite focused on power supplies going forward. But hey, we've still got a lot of fond memories and this was a lot of fun to do.

You'll find links to some of their products in the video description below. If you guys enjoyed this video, make sure to check out that QuadFX video that I. .

. Did I mention it earlier? I don't know if I ended up mentioning it.