Watch our report on EVGA terminating its NVIDIA relationship: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-cV9QES-FUAM.html Grab a GN Modmat for PC Building & Tear-Downs: store.gamersnexus.net/products/modmat-volt-large Grab a GN Toolkit for tear-downs here: store.gamersnexus.net/products/gamersnexus-tear-down-toolkit
cant wait for buildzoids pcb analisys so we can finally see how 4090's should have been built cause alot of them suck balls and should be avoided like the saprim
Agreed. Despite no longer being in the gpu market, they still made one of the best looking and reasonably sized 4090s I’ve seen so far aside from the founders edition.
The absolute genius part of their design is having the connector come off of the end of the gpu (just like the 3090ti) instead of the front. I bet none of these would catch fire. Man I want this card!
@@LeftJoystick you know all of us who lived on EVGA will tell our kids and/or younger generation. And if EVGA stays out of the game long enough, a video like this is one that will be watched for many years as people go back to look at what happened. Having an actual engineering prototype of the last cards they started to engineer is a big deal.
Not sure how many people can relate to this analogy but gamers nexus is like the old school radio host that you always tuned into on your drive home because they made it fun , enjoyable and worth your while. The gamers nexus channel is always a joy to tune in to. “Thanks for watching”
What a flattering analogy! Totally agree though. Nowadays I tune in just to see what's up on the channel - even if it's not necessarily a topic I would be interested in.
You can't watch Gamers nexus in a car ride, his reviews are too meticulous and detailed, they have to be watched rather than just to have as background noise.
Can we please appreciate for a moment, that Andrew Han let these cards end up in the hands of Steve and Jay, two proper EVGA enthusiasts and without a doubt some of the best keepers of these rare cards? Thank you Mr. Han, even after leaving the market you and your company remain true champions of GPU enthusiasts.
@@bergrud Would make sense, GN Steve usually complains about having too much hardware around. Collecting GPUs is more Jay's thing. Two birds one stone.
Ok, most assuredly Andrew Han had little to do personally about where these cards went. EVGA didn't just say, "yeah andrew just do whatever with these." There is an analyzed, thought-out business decision behind what is most definitely NOT Andrew Han's heart swelling enough that he thought these cards should just go out to well-known media. Multi-billion dollar companies don't just throw out scrapped, controversy-revolved prototypes out of the window.
As someone who remained loyal to EVGA and only bought their GPUs since the GTX285, you have no idea how much I envy you for getting one of the few EVGA 4090s in existence. RIP EVGA GPUs ;_;
I haven't been in to PC gaming as long but every GPU I own witch is only a GTX 1050 ti, 1660 TI and 3080 is all EVGA cards. I just loved them as a company and their cards always looked best to me so I stayed with them and now in the next 5-7 years when I need to upgrade again I don't know what I'm going to do...
@@guyknightley3499 Yeah, me too. Been looking for an upgrade from my 2070 Super. It may be Team Red this time around. If I do go with Nvidia, it may be an OEM version or Asus or Gigabyte. I'm leery of that adapter. By the time I upgrade, a reliable 90-degree item will likely be available. I wish Steve would do video(s) on reliable alternatives to EVGA. Never had to use it, but I understand the EVGA warranty is the best you can get.
Given that this was still a prototype, the fact that this card is better looking than pretty much any other 4090 on the market, it makes it even more sad that EVGA will never bring another Nvidia card to market.
@@bigbob3772 Absolutely. What is most maddening is seeing a good company dedicated to its products lose talented employees they have amassed over the years. Really unfortunate.
@@bigbob3772 I would guess they would stay out of the GPU market entirely. With NVIDIA and AMD competing neck and neck these days, it makes more sense that they would both be trying their damnedest to undercut one another at the very last second. This kind of flexibility is essential for the marketing side, but for the AIBs they're not so flexible with those margins. They're being thrown under the bus. It's also worth noting that we've only heard about NVIDIA doing this because EVGA stepped away from it. It could easily be happening on the AMD side as well. Now if the chiplet brings down manufacturing costs enough, then maybe there will be some meat left on that bone for the AIBs. But it's hard to predict when competition is this fierce.
I doubt it was anything so trivial, EVGA probably saw hints of the expected RRP and the costs and just decided it wasn't worth it. They're a smaller more boutique manufacturer so they can't spread their costs like an MSI, gigabyte or ASUS.
@@ghostofdre it's funny how these third party companies without any GPU chip r&d departments feel they are getting the shortend by being allowed to use someone else's technology to make their own branded product and profit off it. Maybe EVGA should actually do some work on their own and make an original GPU. Instead of piggybacking on someone else's tech and complaining it costs too much. The research and development alone to make these gpu's cost far more than any third company has to pay to license and make profit off the work they didn't do themselves.
It was probably those shitty profit margins, 3000 series was probably enough for evga. Nvidia obviously doesn’t have to care about aib profits but if you’re evga why care about nvidias profits.
Yall love writing fanfic, but it obviously had nothing to do with that. Area 53 summed it up nicely. Jensen has made it clear for many years now that he's enamored with the Apple model of business, and so that's what Nvidia is working towards. A future with no AIBs. The profits are already razor thin for those companies. EVGA saw the writing on the wall and got out early.
@@Washanuga Yup, exactly and wanting to copy Apple isn't good for consumers whatsoever, probably switching back to AMD this gen if the 7000 series looks good enough for the price! I only switched to NVIDIA with the 20 series when I nabbed a cheap 2060 Super to upgrade from my old RX580 (Which I loved and had no issues with at all) Loved the 2060 Super and also love my current 3060Ti, however gotta say, after all the shit-talking about AMD drivers, NVIDIA's recent ones have been completely wack, I've never had a driver make my card act so strangely before till the one before the most current, I actually thought my 3060Ti or PSU was dying because GPU Load and Power to the card were both dropping to 0% randomly in games causing insane stuttering or the game would fully crash to desktop. Rolled back drivers and the problem went away, I was amazed it was a driver issue doing that. Luckily the most recent one doesn't exhibit the same behavior at all either. Also will add that I'm happy Intel is in the GPU market properly now, so we have 3 companies and more competition is better for all of us, just hope Intel brings out some proper flagship cards that can compete better with AMD and NVIDIA's higher end cards.
Dude I was wondering if these would have to be snuck out by outgoing employees or something. For EVGA to just fucking outright give them out to at least two very deserving people is a fucking standup move. Thank you EVGA!
Hell why wouldn't they, they invited these guys to a private meeting to let them know about a huge company decision. Even if you think cynically this can still be considered EVGA marketing their brand.
Yeah i was thinking the same... The way i thought it was originally being reported was all chips and inventory had to be returned so all gpu chips would have to have gone back and all they would have had left were empty PCBs. Good on EVGA for supporting those tech news channels that gave them support. RIP EVGA... You will be missed and I would have looked forward to your 4000 series (maybe 4080 or 4080ti) especially if they would have been built like this one...
I said it on Jay's video too but I gotta say it here, something about this video feels very bittersweet. I wasn't planning to upgrade to 40 series regardless, but just the loss we see here and how beautiful that card is feels a little melancholy. EVGA will be missed.
The first three GPUs I got when I started building my own computer was EVGA 760, 980 Classified, and my final EVGA and Nvidia GPU was a 1080. I'm all AMD in my PC now, and with the 7000 series Im hopeful that EVGA will at least do one card with AMD.
@@Woeisme2 They should partner with Intel for their next gen cards. AMD is doing more than fine right now, but Intel desperately _needs_ a competent OEM company to set them on the right track, their current card designs are incredibly mediocre. Especially if Intel is serious about releasing some high-end cards next year.
yeah they were heading towards making probably the best version of the 4090. this is nicely laid out, well designed, and in Jay's video, he showed that the memory and chip both could handle some good overclocking.
@@rhythmandblues9302 LOL I ain't heard that saying in a long time If I'm up on my internet law, I believe I am now legally obligated to use that phrase as often as possible for the next couple of weeks. This should be fun. Thanks!
Bless them for putting the 12 pin in the correct spot, I really feel like we should be more critical of certain other card designs that don't recognize its correctness lol
Placing opposing side from the fan means that there's no need to bend anything and it would fit in most cases. It's tradition and easier to manufacturer that keeps it where it is on most cards.
This connector and issues may well have been the reason they severed ties, as EVGA wouldn't put up with the warranty risks on their products due to something forced by Nvidia.
and I thought that Ampere cards were the last that we were going to see from EVGA. Great to see that even an unfinished product carries the company's quality standards and reputation. 😮
@@Antipiperosdeclony true enough I suppose, it’ll be really interesting to look back at these cards in a few years and see what they really marked for the industry as a whole
Feel like these final samples are a love letter to all of us gamers. I mean just look at how phenomenal of a job EVGA did on these! Also, they couldn't have gone to more deserving youtubers than folks like Steve and Jay 👍
@@vlastimil-furst Then again EVGA could have a strong position with Intel as it really needs an experienced GPU partner and, at least for some time, could negotiate better terms of cooperation. AMD already has its board partners and I doubt they would like to make room for more direct competition.
I had read or heard somewhere that there were some 'final' prototype cards of this nature out there.. you have NO idea how many prayers I made that you would get your hands on one to review. It's AMAZING I hope it's YOURS and you get to keep it, this is absolutely a piece of history here, definitely worth putting in the fire-vault and keeping forever! Great find!!
The placement of that 12pin would have been a major selling point alone. They would make a good charity auction item as the last ever and unreleased EVGA cards.
as a collector of hardware it would be a bad choice to sell a card like that. its basicly the last card they made. and the chance of ever getting a card like that is basicly 0
I would love to see EVGA's take on the AMD RX 7900XTX with the rumored TBP overclocking headroom. I mean, obviously too late for this cycle, but if AMD decides to go the power efficiency route with their reference cards there's still a lot of room for EVGA's creativity at the high end.😍
Why? EVGA wanted to sell their GPU at higher prices than Nvidia would. I don't understand people putting evga on a pedestal like this. They wanted to scam the consumer out of extra pocket money while these 4000 series are overpriced already.. 🙄
Damn, those cards must have enormous collectors value! I'd certainly pay a hefty premium for an "extinct" card, if I was in the market for a ~1500$ video card.
I understand how this all works, but it's a hilarious idea. I'm going to buy a computer component, and spend a ton extra on a specific card that can't be serviced or replaced if it has problems in the future.
Here's hoping that one day, EVGA returns to the GPU market in some form or another. This might have been the most "practical" 4090 in the lineup. Mainly because of the smaller size and power connector placement.
I doubt it, I suspect the industry in moving towards integrated GPUs, the M2 Ultra would be probably close to a RX3080 already. NVIDIA was trying to acquire ARM and has plans to move in this direction too.
This makes me sad all over again. EVGA left some massive shoes to fill, and no current AIB partner matches the pcb quality especially. EVGA always delivered very well designed products through and through. EVGA, you're in my heart forever, and I'm going to treasure my 3060Ti FTW3 Ultra for the foreseeable future ❤️
I adore my EVGA 2080 ti. I wasn't much of a PC expert when I bought and installed it into my prebuilt rig, so I was amazed to later discover that the temps are really solid. Looks and runs great too. Really hope EVGA considers partnering with AMD!
Why would they partner with AMD if they just quit building gpu's for Nvidia, they might have the same problems with AMD, since no other manufacturers seem to be having problems with building gpus for Nvidia.
@@budgetking2591 other companies definitely do suffer the same problems as EVGA. however, a quick google search reveals EVGA is privately owned, meaning it is not solely a soulless profit generating entity completely at the whims of investors and shareholders. that means EVGA's CEO can just up and do something else with the company if he's had enough
@@budgetking2591 Theres something called "contract" which binds 2 or more parties together under certain conditions and often times it's timed. Evga can set certain conditions for their own benefit when working with amd and amd really needs to honor working with evga
Dude!!!! That tear down was legit. It looks like a very straight forward process and did not seem like you needed elf fingers. It is really sad that this card won’t come to market. :/
I think it's so easy to disassemble because it's an engieering sample, and EVGA engeers will need to disassemble and reassemble it multiple times. I guess the final version would be a bit more annoying to save cost and/or improve looks.
That’s honestly a really pretty card. Of course even if it had been produced it’s unlikely I would’ve got one because I have a sapphire addiction but id be extremely tempted.
Glad to see you and Jay got your hands on these cards. Even though I have never owned an EVGA card, (mostly Matrox, ATI and Radeon over the 2 decades) I admit they were solid cards.
Not really an EVGA guy (I'm more of a Zotac or Yeston guy), but EVGA exiting the market hits right in the feels, it's like losing an old friend. RIP, may their GPU souls be rested
I expect derbauer and a few other extreme overclockers to get their hands on one, not just GN and JayzTwoCents. Ultra rare piece that deserves a place in a museum or something.
What blows my mind is how cool this thing gets under full load when fans are set to max or even like 90%. This was one of the best cards for sure. This was definitely going to be an overclockers wet dream.
I'm in the process of 3D modelling a new shroud for my Zotac 3070ti to use with noctua 92mm fans instead of the stock solution. I think I just found the perfect shape for that.
Back in 2009 I did that with my ASUS GF 9800 GTX+ Dark Knight. That small fan was really noisy so I took it off and just slapped 2x80mm Noctua fans strapped through the fins. It was quiet and gave me more OC potential.
Sure. When it's done I'll post it on printables and share a link in this thread. Might take a week or so. Also, be advised the first iteration will only fit a Zotac 30 series Trinity heatsink. Although I would be open to commissions to adapt it to other heatsinks, provided I'm given accurate attachment dimensions.
@@rhythmandblues9302 Responding/reacting as a victim isn't the same as proactive attacking. Your language comes off as victim-blaming, whether intended or otherwise. EVGA is 100% the victim here
"Victim blaming" you mean typically stupid, weak, and slow people amiright. I've never been a victim willing or otherwise. Masculine men that know how to fight, hold a Doctorate, are excellent shots, can grow their own food are rarely (as in . 0001) are victims. So anything we say or do would be "victim blaming". Sorry not sorry im better than y'all. You wimps use victim blaming to shame your superiors. The issue is i don't care. Victims are weak, stupid, and slow. Something that'll never happen to me. Once i see enough decline from old age I'll self delete. I'll never be a victim like you loser.
I think the only other techtuber I've seen with one so far was JayzTwoCents, which makes sense considering he was one of the only 3 people there when EVGA held that private meeting about them leaving the GPU market
i really liked how the RTX 3000 FTW3 cards looked and i also really like how this card looks. and with EVGA you can expect a well-built high quality product, it’s so unfortunate that they decided to leave the GPU market but it’s ultimately the right decision for the company.
@@svn5994 I didn't like them either, to each his/her own. Nathan evidently likes them so good for him. I think their 1080 Ti is the best looking card in the last several years.
@@svn5994 agree. I have an EVGA 3070ti. It’s pretty darn ugly lol. Definitely not in love with its looks. I will probably deshroud it and throw on Noctua fans at some point (I’ll 3D Print a new shroud - maybe with engineering resin 😊).
@@svn5994 The EVGA FTW 20 series were good cards with good binning. Can't speak of the 30 series, but I'm sure NV anti-competitive practices priced them right out, (esp the force-gimped LHR situation)
With how some companies are chasing designs where there are no external screws, I think EVGA's approach to hiding the shroud screws on the beauty panel side of the card is a viable approach. Imagine the GPU sandwich, the shroud has hidden screws like this under the fans and is the first piece to pop off, then you have a backplate with female threaded standoffs that locate through the PCB and seat on the underside of the cooler with the screws in the upper side of the cooler under the shroud's top plastic (six standoffs on a two-fan card, eight standoffs on a three-fan card, hiding in the curved triangle between the fans, inaccessible before shroud removal), after the backplate drops off you have the cooler and PCB attached in the typical way with a general assortment of fasteners then the chip's leaf spring along with the slot bracket; all cabling would be fairly simple with accessible connectors under the shroud's non-top faces, and the backplate's LED features if they exist could be pin-pad or a long flat ribbon that folds over itself for flexibility, along with any potential thermal bridging between the PCB and backplate. A very, very simple approach to screw-less appearance, and very simple disassembly and reassembly methodology, an intuitive design that doesn't rely on adhesives or cover panels, and a design that seems a lot simpler from a manufacturing standpoint with less processes that relies on the cooler itself being the mounting point for every other component; besides the singular fastener attaching the slot bracket to the PCB, and if this screw can be reverse-mounted, that shortcuts the process of flipping the card over for a singular screw, adding to how manufacturability of this hypothetical design is more accessible: Bracket gets fastened to the cooler, rotate, that assembly attaches to the PCB, flip, backplate gets plugged and padded if needed and fastened, fans get plugged and fastened, and shroud gets fastened, all on a slightly atypical PCB design (through-holes instead of fastener mounts for the backplate) and some additional soldering work on the cooler to allow for all the component mounting with a slightly atypical design again.
i feel like we are so blessed to have you and jayztwocents working together to protect the interest of the humble gaming community, thank you guys, keep on doing your thing
I agree we are lucky to have these guys as a grass roots pc enthusiast I love having this source of info and inspiration to keep me involved with the development of pc components.
@@RebeIli0us Making a big deal out of poscaps on the 3000 series and saying they were the reason for so many crashes and bricked cards. Telling everybody to go and buy a new GPU now! When everybody is broke and prices were continuing to fall, causing multiple tech channels to call him out and disagree with him. Then him making a non-apology video where he called people dense idiots if they didn’t listen to him (prices dropped massively not long after). Making a massive deal out of the supposed 30 connections of the 12VHPWR cable before it has even been released (nothing to do with the melting by the way) and causing Corsair and other tech channels to basically tell him to shut up. Arguing with people on Twitter and calling them names just for disagreeing with him. And that’s all just off the top of my head. He’s a parasite.
So damn cool! Perfect timing, just watched Jayz video on it too. I like watching his first, then yours for a more in depth look. Can't wait to see more in the review!
Thanks for making this video Steve and GN!!! Gonna miss EVGA Graphics Cards. Here’s to hoping they consider teaming up with AMD and come back in the future!
Even as an Engineering Sample EVGA put quality so high. A great send off, shows the fans they were dedicated to the end and shows Nvidia they lost out big.
What an awesome looking card, inside and out. Man, I hope EVGA teams up with a different GPU manufacturer someday... That design not making it to market feels like a tragedy.
2:30 - Fin density, surface area and fin height is all important and generally you want more of all, but it's not the only things to look for in a heatsink. Air impedance and heat transfer in the fins are other things that influences the efficiency of the heatsink. If you pack the fins to tightly you get high air impedance, meaning the fans will push less air through the fin stack. And this is another area where you want as much as possible. So more fins and less air can be a bad thing. Heat capacity per fin is also important. You want the heat to spread though the fin efficiently so all the surface area can effectively transfer heat to the air passing by. Make the fins to thin and the tip won't get warm enough to make a difference. Make them to thick and you either impede the air more or you have to increase the fin pitch making for less fins and less surface area. Finally you have fin height. The taller the fins are the more surface area you get. But at the same time the fins will have to be thicker to make efficient use of the added height, so you get fewer fins in the fin stack. Now you have to balance these factors when designing a heatsink, and a lot of them will force you to compromise as you can't get them all at the same time. So while it may look deceptively simple a heat sink like this is actually not all that simple to design if you want to make it efficient, compact and cheap to manufacture.
They've been my go-to for GPUs going back 15 years to the 8800GT, followed by the 550Ti (still have both of those cards and they still work), GTX770, GTX960, and then a GTX860M in a laptop (also still works). Had to take a break from gaming until this year and finally built a new system and putting an EVGA in it was not even a question. It was a given. Ended up with a Radeon, first ATI card I have owned since even before that 8800GT. The Radeon is not bad at all. My appreciation for EVGA is so strong, I jumped to Team Red rather than accept another Nvidia AIB brand.
most of my nvidia gpus were EVGA, a gtx 295, 2 980ti (hydrocpper) a 1080ti (ftw3+ ek block) and 3x3090 (render server go brr), the only one that is not is an FE 2080 ti (this is the only exception, got it because cheap, and waterblock avail at launch), the weird large gap between the first 2 is when i switched to AMD, oh, and a random 970 that I bought just to mess around with dry ice (could not get LN2 at the time, still can't tbh), never had any issues with any of them, the 295 in fact still lives on in one of my random testbenches as a glorified display adapter, all the other are still working, the 2 980 Tis: one sent out as a gift in 2017, the other is in a drawer, the 1080 ti has been given away to a friend in 2019, and the 3090 are still chugging along tracing rays with octane, the 970 is still in a drawer completely covered in liquid electrical tape, damn great cards, I still do not know what to go for with NV GPUs without them
Did not expect to hear that you guys would actually be testing the card! Very excited to see that, even if it's simply in line with all the other 4090's right now. Either it's impressive, which would show what a loss EVGA is as a partner, or it's functionally identical to the other cards, which could (but not necessarily) indicate the constraint placed on partners like EVGA by NVidia. Or it's a disaster of a "wip" build, which would be unexpected, but interesting in its own way as well.
Jayz 2 Cents also has one and he did a little impromptu testing. Not gonna spoil it but I will say if EVGA stayed in the game they would have been right up there at the top.
I'm not familiar with teardowns of previous EVGA cards. It's impressive how little gets in the way of disassembling this one. Do you think a production run would've kept those qualities?
I really love the EVGA design of the 4090, it looks so mature and not gamery. Probably the best looking 4090 next to the Founders Edition, if not, the best looking 4090.
The first thing that's noticeable is the size of the cooler and the shroud. Yeah the FTW3 is still large, but it manages to avoid the be pavement tile-sized like Aorus cards are for instance. If it ends up being as effective at cooling the card, then it's an impressive design.
I was a dedicated evga card guy, going all the way back to the 770. Was bummed they exited the market with this gen. HOWEVER, you and Jay both get sample cards to show off on your massive YT channels? Is evga stealthily planting hype for a return?
This reminds me of when 3Dfx went under (yes, I know EVGA is still in business) and prototype Voodoo5 6000 cards along with other rumored prototypes got out into the wild via ex employees. This is more "official" however without technically calling it a 4090, even though we all know it is. :) Glad to see this see the light of day.
I would have loved to see the Hybrid version of this from EVGA. Was very kind of them to let us at least get a look at what we would have purchased. I still love you EVGA!
Damn if there really is only 20 in existance, this is the first time I'm legit feeling some nerves seeing Steve disassemble it as a big EVGA GPU fan, this is such a rare prototype and will one day be quite the storied artifact! Unique, slick, modern and slight sci-fi cooler design, love the backplace and design motifs, it's definately my favorite 4090 aesthetic in this gen full of cheesy looking coolers and then the FE. With EVGA out of the GPU Market (still kinda surreal) ASUS ROG and Sapphires cooler designs are the only two I don't mind, another reason to get into watercooling GPUs whenever my EVGA FTW3Ultra 12gb 3080 needs an upgrade which shouldn't be anytime soon tbh...
Beautiful, I have the 3090 FTW3 and she's really jealous of that shiny exclusive beast you guys have. It's going to be a very valuable collector's item 🤤🤤
This takes me back to the prototype Voodoo 6 6000 that never made it to market, the first dual GPU card which needed an external power plug... RIP 3Dfx o7
