Well based on my previous experience with eVGA motherboards (two of which I’m still using right now) and eVGA tech support, I can say with confidence that an eVGA engineered product is likely to be AT LEAST as good as what anyone else else puts out. Without further ado, here’s the press release:

EVGA is proud to show a sneak peak of a new motherboard based on the Intel(R) X58 Express Chipset, supporting the upcoming Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 processor. The EVGA X58 SLI FTW motherboard will feature 6 DIMMs of triple-channel DDR3 memory, and a board layout optimized for the enthusiast including 2-way and 3-way SLI support. EVGA VDroop control minimizes VDroop for the highest level of stability possible and EVGA E-LEET Tuning Utility gives you the power to Overclock at your fingertips. With these features and more, it is no wonder EVGA products currently hold the top 3DMark Vantage Performance Record! Product will be available in November 2008.

EVGA X58 SLI FTW Motherboard Features:

• Supports Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 Processors
• Intel(R) X58 Express Chipset with the ICH10R
• EVGA VDroop Control
• 100% Solid State Capacitors
• 6 DIMM triple-channel DDR3
• Enthusiast layout supporting 2-way, 3-way SLI and CrossFireX
• 10 SATA II 3.0GB/s ports (1 e-SATA)
• EVGA E-LEET Tuning Utility

These things are just hot. Bling in PC water cooling has finally arrived in a way that if people could do it they would probably put a water cooled computer on a chain and hang it around their neck.

The price is a little steep (these should be showing up on the site in the next day or so), but if you’re having trouble justifying it to yourself, remember that silver has anti-microbial properties, so you can run pure distilled water in an all copper/silver loop without worrying about any junk growing in it. Water performs better by itself than it does with any aftermarket additives, so this is a huge plus.

The gold ones just look awesome and you know you want them :p

If you were thinking “Predator”, you weren’t too far off the mark. Acer has their product page up for the Aspire Predator, a gaming machine that they want to use to compete with the boutique builders.

It’s liquid cooled, SLI ready, features 8GB of RAM, and one of the funkiest cases I’ve seen in a long time. All of that said, who wrote the marketing materials?

NCIX will of course be carrying these machines, once they’re released, but if you want more information now, you can get Faster, Deeper, Harder, and Further here

As many of you know, I’m the water cooling product manager at NCIX, and besides being willing to bring in almost anything a customer asks for, speedy shipping times, and great customer service, (/obvious NCIX plug, hehe) I realize that there isn’t much that differentiates us from other water cooling shops. Then it hit me. We are different from other water cooling shops in that we carry an incredible amount of other PC hardware.

My next thought actually came into my head because of a conversation I had had with a customer who was not terribly confident installing a full cover water block. Full cover blocks are (for good reason) designed for a short life cycle, so things like detailed instruction manuals and accessories can be skimped on sometimes. He was worried that he would mess up his card and I said to him, “I’d love to do it for you, but we don’t offer a service like that”. Well, it’s about to start.

This week or next week NCIX will be launching a “custom water cooled video cards” page, which will allow you to choose your video card, choose a water block, choose your tubing size and add an assembly fee. The assembly fee is set right now to be at $100 to cover the time of an experienced water cooling tech (me in all likelihood for the first while) to install, double check, pressure test the block on your card, then pack it for shipping, as well as the extra risk that NCIX takes by offering water cooled video cards directly to customers.

Right now these water cooled video cards will be available on select eVGA and XFX cards only because they do not void the warranty for using aftermarket coolers. We will also include your stock cooler in case you need to send the card back to the manufacturer. This leaves you with a VERY unique solution. Right now you can buy water cooled video cards, but the cost is prohibitive, you rarely get the water block you want, and you’re stuck with the water block if you want to sell the card or move it into an air cooled secondary/girlfriend’s/kid’s/parents’ machine.

This way you pay less than a pre-water cooled card, you get to pick a high quality copper block from one of our suppliers, and you can go back to air cooling on the card if you want to. Oh yeah, and you aren’t stuck with a particular video card either. You can pick a stock card, an overclocked one, or whatever your heart desires. It’s about consumer choice and value. I’m confident that with our custom water cooled video card builder you’ll find the best choice and value for a water cooled video card.

Here’s a glam shot of the card we’ll be using in some of the ads. It’s an older 8800GTS 320 with an EK Water Blocks nickel plated full cover water block on it. Initially product offerings will be limited to 8800GT and 8800GTS 512MB card, but we’ll be expanding the program to cover 9800GTX cards shortly if all goes well.