Ultra-high-end graphics cards these days all seem to either come with a very large triple fan cooler, or more exotically, a hybrid cooling system based around a large heatsink with fans and a liquid cooling block. Naturally, these cards use two or more slots to fit all of their mass, making them look bulky. What we don't see much of these days are smaller cards designed purely around liquid cooling system, and instead those often require an aftermarket conversion. So taking aim at the market for pre-built liquid cooled cards, ZOTAC is rolling out their GeForce RTX 2080 Ti ArcticStorm Single-Slot, which true to its name, is an RTX 2080 Ti that comes with a single-slot water block pre-installed.

The ZOTAC GeForce RTX 2080 Ti ArcticStorm is based on NVIDIA’s TU102 GPU clocked at 1350/1575 MHz, which out of the gate, at least, is not tangibly higher when compared to NVIDIA’s reference spec. Meanwhile, ZOTAC equipped its card with a 16+4-phase digital VRM that promises to enable the GPU to run at a considerably higher frequency after tweaking. Since the card has two 8-pin PCIe power inputs, it will get enough juice to hit the maximum clocks it is capable of.

The main selling feature of the ZOTAC GeForce RTX 2080 Ti ArcticStorm is of course its elegant water block stylized after the company’s ZOTAC Gaming brand and featuring integrated addressable RGB LEDs. The water block’s cold plate features 0.3-mm micro-channels as well as G ¼ fittings compatible with standard tubes.

At Computex, ZOTAC demonstrated its GeForce RTX 2080 Ti ArcticStorm Single-Slot card in a rather fancy looking open-frame PC by GGF Events. Without any doubts, this machine looked extremely impressive, though many people will likely prefer something less eye-catching.

Finally, as things stand, ZOTAC is already selling a dual-slot bracket version of the card on Amazon for $1,499. This uses a single-slot cooling, however a DisplayPort is still taking up a spot on the second slot, necessitating the dual-slot bracket and preventing the card from being used in a single-slot fashion. The true single-slot version that ZOTAC was showing off at Computex, in turn, is expected to follow when the company sees fit.

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  • Death666Angel - Monday, June 24, 2019 - link

    That title should be something like: "First retail water cooled RTX 2080 TI". The feature here is the watercooling without modding, not the single slot nature of a water cooled card.
  • DanNeely - Monday, June 24, 2019 - link

    yeah. I clicked in hoping to see something about how obscenely loud a fan and/or severe underclocking were needed to to avoid cooking a 250W TDP design with a single slot cooler.

    Even though I water cool my gaming boxes GPU I'm not particularly interested in a factory block because lacking the air cooler limits my ability to use it in a secondary box or resell it after replacing it with a newer/faster card.
  • Eliadbu - Monday, June 24, 2019 - link

    But it not first nor it has other benefits over other models like the Evga hydro Cooper, Msi sea hawk Ek x or Gigabyte auros waterforce wb Xtreme nor it looks any better. It does however have the option for single slot installation (competition is lacking in that regard) making it attractive for people who have bunch of Pcie cards and they want to use every slot they have on mobo or just want the better aesthetics.
  • CharonPDX - Monday, June 24, 2019 - link

    Exactly. The *card* may be technically "single slot," but it certainly requires more than just the single video card slot to operate.
  • Ryan Smith - Monday, June 24, 2019 - link

    Point taken. I've updated the title.
  • Ninjawithagun - Monday, June 24, 2019 - link

    It’s not the first retail water cooled RTX2080Ti. Aorus has had one for several months now.
  • Gunbuster - Monday, June 24, 2019 - link

    Whats with the random metal plate overlay on the block? This thing look like a prototype or unfinished.
  • DanNeely - Monday, June 24, 2019 - link

    I assume it's an accent to help the frag harder disco lights do their thing better.
  • GreenReaper - Monday, June 24, 2019 - link

    Wouldn't be surprised if they meant it to attach solely via the drilled holes in the perspex, then found out it cracked under thermal expansion and so decided to exert force via the plate as well.
  • V900 - Monday, June 24, 2019 - link

    That’s a cool card and some impressive engineering!

    Having said that, where the heck do these companies recruit their designers? At a rave?!

    Is it too much to ask, when you spend 500$-1500$ on a piece of hardware, that it DOESNT look like it could be worn around the neck of somebody tripping balls at an Ibiza dance party?

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