Scarlet-Tech
Deja Vu...

This seems to be the same case where an LN2 based card used on air is not working on air as people expected. This seems to be the 4th generation of these sort of complaints.

Contact Kingpin through the forums.kingpincooling.com website, and get his attention about the bios issues. He may be able to work through them.

As far as the air cooler.. I've got no clue why people still buy a kingpin card for any air use other than a quick test to make sure the card functions. I have been curious about this for years now, after I bought the 980 kpe and it was bad on air but fine with water. It still wasn't special on water either.

With ln2 and dice, they are great, but not worth their cost when it comes to air or water.

pedal92
Actually the engines are what run on different fuels, not the truck. The tonnage clasification on a truck are spring ratings and sizes. Axle sizes. Boxing on the frame. Tie rods and ball joints. Sway bars etc.. i know, i own a shop here. The kingpin does not run on ln2. It runs on electricity. Ln2 is used to cool it. Its just like timing in an engine. To put more timing in you have to bring cylinder temps down through the cooling system. So if a 400 hp engine makes 400hp on a conservative timing curve , but i can run it cooler and put some aggressive timing to it and make 435 hp thats good. However it still makes 400 hp on a conservative timing curve. And that is still more powerfull than a 300 hp engine.

gobstoppable
Jacob on the evga livesteam, earlier today talking about the kingpin cards. "built for the overclocker, and not just ln2 overclocker, but water cooling, even air cooling. It is actually the best air cooler we have put on a graphics card, even better then the ftw3"
 
So from what evga claims, its supposed to be the best overclocking board regardless of how you choose to cool it. That's why people buy it.
 

gobstoppable
Got mine today. Want to crack it open but bad reviews have me hesitant. Think I'll leave it unopened until more info comes out.

gobstoppable

Scarlet-Tech
 Also, I am not an employee of EVGA (not sure if you thought I was, but I wanted to provide clarification just in case). 

I don't think they pay you lol, but I do think of you as having more of an association with the company then other forum members, seeing as how you moderate their forums
 
Sadly this hesitation isn't anything new for me. I cant buy a $20 pair of flip flops without going threw the existential crisis of, do I need these, do I like them, are they worth $20, do they fit well, how are flip flops supposed to fit, maybe there was a better option. My girlfriend refuses to go shopping with me because I'm indecisive, I just think there is too many variables lol. One moment I love it, next moment I have buyers remorse, a week later I think why did I even consider anything else lol. I have bought and returned high priced electronics, only to buy and return them again a week later because "maybe I was too critical the first time" . I know I'm a "unique" customer, and I fell in love with the kingpin series at first sight, I'm just doing my normal wishy-washy behavior. I've been searching for people happy about their purchase, I have only found 3 people who own the card so far, and all 3 are having issues (coil whine and bios) so its triggering my buyers remorse pretty hard.
 
Heck on the 27th evga retweeted some guy who got his card, the next day that guy posted a video of his fan making noise and the cards apparently missing screws lol. I want good news, its just not out there right now lol
 
edit:

ComboSlicer
If one is willing to shell out a grand for a Kingpin video card just for gaming only then why not throw a few hundred more and get a TitanXp with a waterblock, it still is the only consumer grade card with full pascal chip after all.

he makes a good point, looking at xp reviews right now lol.

Scarlet-Tech
The titan Xp is a beautiful card. It's only limiting factor is the reference cooler, but there is a hybrid kit as well as the option for waterblocks... without waiting for them. They are already available.

Bychus
It really is a shame, sure that there are many users enjoying their kingpin, and the few cards that have gone wrong are the ones that are being seen here. I want to see reviews already !!!!

AShiddyGamer
 
Well in my case, I'm sure it would be just a simple fix and likely does not represent all the cards so take those complaints out of the cons below and you'll have a solid review. It's been said that the BIOS should be resolved via a firmware update at some point, and even with the iffy BIOS, I could still get it to sit at 2062 on air easily, and that's just where I stopped when I noticed the fans. 

I'm sure I could easily get it higher with some better tweaking, especially once the BIOS is updated and I can modify the voltage a little. So for what little amount I did use the card, I enjoyed it. I do wish that the waterblock was included in the price considering, as some have repeatedly stated, the card does not run optimally on air and the blocks likely won't be released for a couple months. Hell, even the EVGA support rep I spoke to yesterday was adamant that they were not releasing any waterblocks and I had to convince him like "cmon man, just watch the video, Jacob flat out says they will be released in the coming months". But I digress. 

Pros: 
-Indeed minimum of 2025 OC on air. 
-Managed 2062 stable before I noticed the fans and stopped using the card, so it may even be able to reach higher. 
-Beautiful design
-Ample cooling even just on air, card didn't go above 65°C throughout benchmarks and stress tests.

Cons:
-Most expensive 1080 Ti on the market by a couple hundred USD.
-No waterblock included in that price, nor available at release.
-BIOS issues, unable to properly adjust voltage, therefore unable to properly test OC.
-Fan issues, only a couple of us have observed this, and I'm not sure if the others have noticed any of their screws missing, so this may be isolated just to myself.

uplink_svk
Hmm, wont the Maxwell 2 history repeat itself? :/. Not sure, but by 980Ti's were all graphic cards bottlenecked by the chip. And since I had already 4 GTX 1080 Ti, all of them "high end" [Asus ROG Strix GTX 1080 Ti, Gigabyte GTX 1080 Ti WaterForce Xtreme, MSi GTX 1080 Ti Lightning Z and now I'm on EVGA GTX 1080 Ti FTW3], and all were +- same way overclockable, is there a real "real" possibility of achieving e.g. 2150 - 2200 MHz on chip, and 12500 - 13000 MHz on memory? With full body waterblock of course. I wasn't able to get past 2100 MHz stable on any of the 1080Ti + didn't get memory beyond 12500 MHz. That's why I ask.

[my actual baby is running on 2050 - 2080 MHz, depending on a game title and mem is 12 000 MHz].

uplink_svk

DSP1

uplink_svk
Hmm, wont the Maxwell 2 history repeat itself? :/. Not sure, but by 980Ti's were all graphic cards bottlenecked by the chip. And since I had already 4 GTX 1080 Ti, all of them "high end" [Asus ROG Strix GTX 1080 Ti, Gigabyte GTX 1080 Ti WaterForce Xtreme, MSi GTX 1080 Ti Lightning Z and now I'm on EVGA GTX 1080 Ti FTW3], and all were +- same way overclockable, is there a real "real" possibility of achieving e.g. 2150 - 2200 MHz on chip, and 12500 - 13000 MHz on memory? With full body waterblock of course. I wasn't able to get past 2100 MHz stable on any of the 1080Ti + didn't get memory beyond 12500 MHz. That's why I ask.

[my actual baby is running on 2050 - 2080 MHz, depending on a game title and mem is 12 000 MHz].

It is "possible" if you win the lottery.
Is it probable? No.
2150-2200 on 1080 Pascal is way above average. 2200+ is golden chip territory, I have seen maybe 4-5 reported cases of that and only 2 of those were 2300.
 

Thank You for Your reply @DSP1. So if I understand this correctly, the general difference between Founders Edition vs. Lightning X, K1NGP1N, Matrix, HOF, is VRM configuration, thermal sensors, better after market cooler, but the chip [besides EVGAs prebinned high ASiC chips] is nada?

So all in all, FE + fullbody waterblock + small handmade AiO [120/140mm rad [30-40mm], waterpump with reservoir on the top of it and mentioned waterblock] makes more sense, than all the others?

To my current understanding, 6+2 vs 14+2 and more extreme, 16+3 etc. VRM configured graphics card should/could have higher memory/gpu clocks. But they don't, like for the past 3 generations they don't [from my own experience, not the reviews/forums]. Is there at least a some active principle of getting a better chip prebinned with high end 1080Ti, compared to FE? Or is it all just a lottery?

uplink_svk

DSP1

uplink_svk

DSP1

uplink_svk
Hmm, wont the Maxwell 2 history repeat itself? :/. Not sure, but by 980Ti's were all graphic cards bottlenecked by the chip. And since I had already 4 GTX 1080 Ti, all of them "high end" [Asus ROG Strix GTX 1080 Ti, Gigabyte GTX 1080 Ti WaterForce Xtreme, MSi GTX 1080 Ti Lightning Z and now I'm on EVGA GTX 1080 Ti FTW3], and all were +- same way overclockable, is there a real "real" possibility of achieving e.g. 2150 - 2200 MHz on chip, and 12500 - 13000 MHz on memory? With full body waterblock of course. I wasn't able to get past 2100 MHz stable on any of the 1080Ti + didn't get memory beyond 12500 MHz. That's why I ask.

[my actual baby is running on 2050 - 2080 MHz, depending on a game title and mem is 12 000 MHz].

It is "possible" if you win the lottery.
Is it probable? No.
2150-2200 on 1080 Pascal is way above average. 2200+ is golden chip territory, I have seen maybe 4-5 reported cases of that and only 2 of those were 2300.
 

Thank You for Your reply @DSP1. So if I understand this correctly, the general difference between Founders Edition vs. Lightning X, K1NGP1N, Matrix, HOF, is VRM configuration, thermal sensors, better after market cooler, but the chip [besides EVGAs prebinned high ASiC chips] is nada?

So all in all, FE + fullbody waterblock + small handmade AiO [120/140mm rad [30-40mm], waterpump with reservoir on the top of it and mentioned waterblock] makes more sense, than all the others?

To my current understanding, 6+2 vs 14+2 and more extreme, 16+3 etc. VRM configured graphics card should/could have higher memory/gpu clocks. But they don't, like for the past 3 generations they don't [from my own experience, not the reviews/forums]. Is there at least a some active principle of getting a better chip prebinned with high end 1080Ti, compared to FE? Or is it all just a lottery?

It is hard for me to really give you a bottom line answer here. It really depends on what you want out of your card. How do YOU measure performance? Is it clock speed? Is it benchmark score and if so which bench? Or is it FPS while gaming, and at what resolutions? There are just so many variables to take into consideration. The one thing I have noticed though through a years worth of forum reading about 1080 Pascal is though that all types, regardless of maker or model generally clock following the same pattern. And the most important factor in any of their performance, no matter how it is being measured, is keeping them cool. Which means putting them under water at the very least and using a chiller if you can, or for the KPE LN2. But essentially clock speed still boils down to the lottery.
 
Additionally you must balance it out according to your budget. What are you willing to pay for any modest increase in performance between say a Lightning Z or FTW 3 Ti or KPE?
 
Best advice is to do your research and look at what others are reporting for their models. Check OC sites and read the posted results.
 
Then get what is going to make you happy. You are the one that is going to have to live with it on a daily basis.
 

In general, what I want is the best card out on the market, but not pay +500e just for the looks. I like the looks, yes. I'm super happy with FTW3, it's the most gorgeous of them all. MSi Light. Z was too fat, I needed that PCi-e port, Asus was also too fat, GA was ideal, but had them ugly orange accents, which I could do some fast work with black spray on them, but the pump was like HYPER noisy. Tbh. I'm waiting for the GTX 1080Ti Hybrid FTW3, but I have to see her first in action.

My TOP priority is sub 55°C temps on every part of the VGA [VRM/FETs, GPU and VRAM], silence, as massive as possible. This one pretty much rules out all Hybrid/prebuild water AiO solutions, because besides one MSi I've had in the past [SeaHawk X], all were noisy. Never had EVGA though, on Hybrid, so will give it a shot. A the last but not least, mid to high rim performance. I'd like to have the 2100-2150 MHz piece [who wouldn't], but I didn't, even on GA pseudo-full body waterblock.

So yeah, I can pay up to 1k let's say, but the problem remains still the same, I want too many features all at once. Silence, as little heat as possible and high performance. So I'm not really sure whether there'll be a card that'll pack em all.

If EK MLC [ex Predator] will bring some competitive solution for 120/140 "AiO", with pump and res. stuck together, I think I just might have a shot with QDC and waterblock versions of cards [HydroCopper, SeaHawk X EK, WaterForce WB, Poseidon [I really like Poseidon, but I don't like Asus anymore, like for a long time], Arctic Storm and other brands. Personally, I'd like to have as much as possible from EVGA, but. The EVGA AiOs are so cheap, both by design, quality and heat dissipation capability. Thus I use BeQuiet! and used EK XLC Predator 360 b4. Though, I'm gonna go after X299 FTW K, for almost 100%. Maybe some classified if/when it comes out. And I totally love the FTW design on EVGA VGAs + the dealbreaker for me is You. Not You literally, but forums, support, etc. It works, not like by other companies.

So that's my requirements, in short [long].