Z790 Dark K|NGP|N & Classified: EVGA presents high-end boards for Intel Raptor Lake

With the Z790 Dark K|NGP|N and the Z790 Classified, EVGA has two suitably equipped high-end mainboards for Intel's new Core i 13000 series (“Raptor Lake”) presented, which should appeal to enthusiasts and overclockers in particular. The new top model Z790 Dark K|NGP|N should live up to the title “unbelievable”.

EVGA Z790 Dark K|NGP|N as Spearhead

At least according to the opinion of the well-known extreme overclocker Vince “K|NGP|N” Lucido, who was once again heavily involved in the development of the latest mainboards and formerly also graphics cards from EVGA, the new spearhead is in the in-house Z790 portfolio simply “incredible”. However, as the source of the idea and name, it is very difficult to claim otherwise.

EVGA Z790 Dark K|NGP|N (Image: EVGA)

EVGA itself speaks no less confidently of a motherboard that “will set world records”. With the following specifications, the EVGA Z790 Dark K|NGP|N should represent a particularly good starting point for an overclocking system based on Raptor Lake-S (details).

The socket rotated by 90 degrees as well as the correspondingly repositioned DIMMs, which were reduced to just two slots for the benefit of an even better topology of the conductor tracks , immediately catch the eye when looking at the board.

EVGA Z790 Dark K|NGP|N (image : Evga)

The manufacturer has not yet provided any binding information on the recommended retail price and possible availability of the Z790 Dark K|NGP|N. As with the Asus ROG Maximus Z790 Extreme, a price of well over 1,000 euros is to be expected.

The 13th generation of the Core i series will be available on September 20th. October started with the Intel Core i9-13900K at the top, with Intel Core i7-13700K and Core i5-13600K positioned below.

Z790 Classified = Z790 Dark K|NGP|N Light

The Classified model also offers the 90-degree rotated base and a powerful power supply with 19 phases as well as numerous overclocking features. The EVGA Z790 Classified could also be called Z790 Dark K|NGP|N Light, the manufacturer's second Z790 mainboard is so much based on the Primus in the portfolio. The Z790 Classified simply has a little less of everything and is still comparably well equipped.

In addition to the PCB reduced from 14 to 12 layers and the voltage modulation reduced from 21 to 19 phases, something will also happen Less RAM OC officially supported: From DDR5-7000+ (OC) it goes down to DDR5-6800+ (OC). In practice, this information usually plays a subordinate role.

EVGA Z790 Classified (Image: EVGA)

With the Z790 Classified, EVGA also advertises that the socket rotated by 90 degrees and the DIMM slots aligned with it with an optimized topology and shorter conductor tracks should ensure even better latency of the DDR5 memory.

There is no price for the EVGA Z790 Classified either, but an equally high RRP of 800 to 1,000 euros can be expected. The predecessor, the Z690 Classified, already had an RRP of 899 euros.

EVGA is focusing on its OC software

In addition to the two high-end mainboards for Raptor Lake-S, EVGA has focused on its own Eleet X1 software suite in the announcement. The software for overclockers should enable comfortable overclocking and monitoring of the new hybrid CPUs of the 13th core generation. In addition to the individual processor cores, the bus clock (BCLK) can also be adjusted and the main memory overclocked.

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EVGA Eleet X1 (Picture: EVGA)

Apart from clock frequencies and voltage values, fan speeds and lighting options can also be configured and managed and create different profiles for various areas of application.

More information on the Z790 Classified and the Z790 Dark K|NGP|N as well as the Elite X1 software can be found in the official announcement from EVGA.< /p>

After moving away from the graphics card market, the mainboard business has become a mainstay of the company for EVGA n.