Skylake Motherboards and Performance
Darren was recently asked to help a co-worker spec out a gaming PC on a budget. The intent was to reuse some old parts and try to put something together. As a PC Enthusiast we know this can be done however the outcome isn’t always what you would expect and ultimately the project was tabled shortly after the Skylake launch. Funny thing is when the co-worker saw this he figured he could build a faster gaming PC for half the cost not realizing that Haswell-E is in a different league over Skylake.
This funny story prompted an interesting discussion on if gamers should be looking at Skylake and what the advantages could be.
EVGA GTX 980Ti FTW – Fastest 980Ti next to Kingpin?
Not long after we launched our EVGA GTX 980TI Classified review EVGA had a product announcement for a new card claiming it was the fastest GTX 980Ti next to the Kingpin. Immediately Dennis started speculating the future of high-end EVGA cards and came to an interesting conclusion.
When the first Classified video cards were released they embodied everything that an extreme overclocker was looking for in a video card. They came with an upgraded VRM, voltage test points and and unlocked BIOS for truly unlimited overclocking potential. Over the product generations this vision was tarnished by the nVidia “Green Light” and forced EVGA to re-think how they developed their high-end card offerings.
Do they offer a factory warranty? Or unlock their cards and eliminate warranty claims.
During the 980Ti Classified review Dennis noticed that the ASIC of his card wasn’t all that great and was a real downer since Classified cards are supposed to have higher binned chips. Given that EVGA is now pre-binning their Kingpin cards this makes sense and also totally negates why you would pay extra for a regular Classified over a hotclocked version. With the news of the 980Ti FTW and its Classified’esq design and the obvious directive on the Kinpin side it isn’t difficult to see what the future holds.
Related Links
EVGA Website
Episode 57 featured music:
Little People - Start Shootin' (http://www.littlepeoplemusic.com/)
