Nvidia's latest GeForce RTX 2080 and RTX 2080 Ti graphics cards have received Gigabyte's exclusive WaterForce treatment with the new Aorus GeForce RTX 2080 Xtreme WaterForce WB 8G and Aorus GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Xtreme WaterForce WB 11G.
Gigabyte's latest creations come equipped with the company's WaterForce cooling solution. The full-cover waterblock features an enormous copper base plate that makes direct contact and transfers heat away from the graphics card's critical components, such as the GPU, memory and MOSFETs (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors). The waterblock utilizes conventional G 1/4-inch fittings, so it should integrate into an existing custom watercooling systems without many hiccups. While the waterblock only occupies one PCI slot, the graphics card has two rows of video outputs, pushing it to two PCI slots.
Both the Aorus GeForce RTX 2080 Xtreme WaterForce WB 8G and Aorus GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Xtreme WaterForce WB 11G sport a sleek, black metal backplate that acts as an aesthetic accessory while also providing structural support. As expected, Gigabyte outfitted the waterblock and backplate with the brand's RGB Fusion customizable RGB lighting and up to nine default lighting profiles.
On the specification side, the Aorus GeForce RTX 2080 Xtreme WaterForce WB 8G comes with a 12+2 phase power delivery subsystem and a 1,890MHz boost clock, which is 90MHz higher than the Founders Edition. The graphics card's memory is clocked at 14,140MHz (versus 14,000MHz).
The Aorus GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Xtreme WaterForce WB 11G, on the other hand, features a more robust 16+3 phase power delivery subsystem and a hefty 1,770MHz boost clock, a 135MHz increase over Nvidia's RTX 2080 Ti Founders Edition. The memory is also overclocked to 14,140MHz. Both models require two 8-pin PCIe power connectors to work properly.
Gigabyte deviated from Nvidia's design in terms of display outputs. Apart from the three standard DisplayPort 1.4 outputs, HDMI 2.0b port and VirtualLink connector, Gigabyte added two more HDMI 2.0b ports to give consumers more display options. There are two configurations available: 3x HDMI + 1x DisplayPort + 1x USB-C or 1x HDMI + 3x DisplayPort + 1x USB-C.
The Aorus GeForce RTX 2080 Xtreme WaterForce WB 8G and Aorus GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Xtreme WaterForce WB 11G are backed by a three-year warranty. Customers receive an additional year of protection free of charge if they register the graphics card within 30 days of purchase.
Gigabyte hasn't revealed pricing or availability dates.
