ASUS Launches ROG GeForce RTX NVLink With Aura Sync For 4K SLI Gaming Madness
A single GeForce RTX 2080 Ti graphics card will set you back at least $999, and more likely $1,199 or more since NVIDIA's hardware partners are initially lining their custom variants with Founders Edition pricing. For those of you with deep enough pockets to grab two of these bad boys, ASUS is releasing a custom NVLink with RGB lighting, because you're not seriously going to skip the lights, right?
Forgive us for, uh, making light of the situation (see what we did there?). Joking aside, the new ROG GeForce RTX NVLink with Aura Sync RGB is not only a mouthful, it's a snazzy looking NVLink to show off your balla build. It features a brushed metal design with some aggressive lines typical of an ROG product, and breathable RGB lighting.
If you prefer, you can configure the RGB lighting to strobe, cycle through colors, and various other effects. There are nine control schemes in all, which ASUS says vary by motherboard. It's a safe bet that if you're running an ASUS motherboard with Aura lighting, you can access them all.
NVLinks like this one work with the GeForce RTX 2080 as well. It's the modern equivalent of the SLI bridge, but with faster throughput.
"The all-new ROG GeForce RTX NVLink connects two GeForce RTX NVLink SLI-ready graphics cards with a 40 GB/s link. This means you can count on super-smooth gameplay at 4K and higher resolution with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti and 2080 graphics cards," ASUS says.
If this product applies to you, be careful to choose the correct version. The ROG NVLink will be available in both 3-slot and 4-slot iterations, with the connectors spaced accordingly. That said, between the two they are compatible with all GeForce RTX 2080 Ti and GeForce RTX 2080 graphics cards.
What about the GeForce RTX 2070? While the lower end card also supports real-time ray tracing, it doesn't look like it will support NVLink when it arrives later this month. The SKU is noticeably absent from NVIDIA's description of NVLink, and none of the GeForce RTX 2070 images we've see sport an NVLink connector.
"The GeForce RTX NVLink bridge connects two NVLink SLI-ready graphics cards with 50X the transfer bandwidth of previous technologies. This means you can count on super-smooth gameplay at maximum resolutions with ultimate visual fidelity in GeForce RTX 2080 Ti and 2080 graphics cards," NVIDIA states.
It's not clear how much the ROG NVLink will cost or when it will be available. As a point of reference, NVIDIA's own NVLink runs $79.99.
