As NVIDIA's GTX 980 Ti moves on with its life, board partners have been releasing some increasingly unique cards. EVGA has their KIngpIn, MSI's Lightning received no small amount of attention and GIGABYTE is on the cusp of launching a brand new series in a few weeks. Amidst all of this excitement, the liquid cooled cards have been near the forefront of innovation and performance. While MSI's GTX 980 Ti Sea Hawk was recently featured here, EVGA's own GTX 980 Ti Hybrid was, at least in North America, the first water cooled 980 Ti on the market.

Much like the newly released Sea Hawk, the GTX 980 Ti Hybrid's claim to fame is its integrated All In One water cooling unit. With its addition, the card may be a bit more challenging to install but the benefits are multi faceted. Not only will the core run cooler than many air-cooled alternatives but its acoustical profile should be substantially lower as well. Those two factors alone should make the Hybrid a prime candidate for use in small form factor gaming systems that pull double duty has HTPC's as well.