Gigabyte has launched a pair of new GeForce RTX 2080 Super Waterforce graphics cards under its Aorus brand. The new Aorus GeForce RTX 2080 Super Waterforce 8G and Aorus GeForce RTX 2080 Super WB 8G are differentiated by just two letters but it makes a big difference. The former card is one which we would usually call and AiO cooler packing card, the other (the 'WB' model) comes with a water block ('WB') and the fittings necessary to incorporate into an existing custom water cooling loop setup.
Whichever model you choose you will get a card that comes out of the box running with the following core and memory clocks:
|
Chipset |
GeForce RTX 2080 Super |
GeForce RTX 2080 Super |
|
Core Clock |
1860 MHz (Reference Card: 1815 MHz) |
1860 MHz (Reference Card: 1815 MHz) |
|
Memory Clock |
15500 MHz |
15500 MHz |
|
Memory Size |
8 GB |
8 GB |
|
Memory Bus |
256 bit |
256 bit |
|
Card Bus |
PCI-E 3.0 x 16 |
PCI-E 3.0 x 16 |
|
Memory Type |
GDDR6 |
GDDR6 |
|
DirectX |
12 |
12 |
|
OpenGL |
4.5 |
4.5 |
|
PCB Form |
ATX |
ATX |
|
Digital max resolution |
7680x4320@60Hz |
7680x4320@60Hz |
|
Multi-view |
4 (from 7 outputs) |
4 (from 7 outputs) |
|
Card size |
L=290 W=131.05 H=40.41 mm |
L=291.29 W=159.05 H=28.7 mm |
|
Power requirement |
650W (2x 8-pin) |
650W (2x 8-pin) |
As noted by Gigabyte in its comparison tool, these cards run at a 1860MHz core clock by default, compared to the 1815MHz reference model. Gigabyte says it has picked the best GPUs for these cards using Gigabyte GPU Gauntlet sorting technology. Whichever model you choose Gigabyte has prepared a 12+2 Power Phases design for 'extreme overclocking'.
A big difference you will find is in the physical dimensions of the AiO vs the WB card. Naturally the WB model is quite a bit slimmer due to the cooling solution but relies on other cooling equipment in your PC. Both cards feature 7 outputs - an improvement on the reference 5 output design.
Coolers
The AiO card includes a large copper base plate, and a built-in pump over the cooling shroud. Gigabyte says the base plate covers the GPU, VRAM and MOSFET areas to help maintain stable overclocks and extend the life of the product. The accompanying radiator is a 240mm model with 2x 120mm RGB fans. Both the card and radiator have RGB lights which can be controlled via RGB Fusion 2.0.
Moving to the WB model, this has a metal backplate, ultra-durable components, and a critical component covering copper base plate - like the above model - but atop of this is the large but slim water block with RGB illumination and liquid in/out section atop of it. Again the RGB lighting is configurable with RGB Fusion 2.0.
Both cards are backed by a 4 year warranty from Gigabyte. However, the firm hasn't announced availability or pricing for these new liquid cooled graphics cards as yet.
The last time the HEXUS editor looked at a Gigabyte Aorus WaterForce card was with the RTX 2080 Ti WaterForce (AiO), back in November 2018.
