Hands on with EVGA’s PowerLink

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We received a PowerLink from EVGA last week and found it to be an interesting and innovative product that has one main purpose – to tidy up the PCIe cables for users that like a really neat case. In addition, it gives the PC improved airflow. Although it is primarily designed for EVGA video cards – from single 6-pin to 8-pin+8-pin PCIe cards – we found that it also fits a variety of other Nvidia cards including Founders Editions and reference versions.

BTR’s own main test PC is a mess of cables as we switch hardware in and out – sometimes many times a day for testing. However, we liked what we saw, and we will give our readers our impressions of EVGA’s new PowerLink that is shipping later on this month for $29.95. It will also be available free to owners of EVGA GTX 1060/1070/1080 video cards beginning today. Here is a side by side comparison using EVGA’s professional images.

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The PowerLink Specifications

Here are the specifications from EVGA’s site

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Unboxing the EVGA PowerLink

The EVGA PowerLink arrives in a small box with everything you need to install it.

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The other side of the box explains its purpose.

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Opening the box we find the PowerLink and everything that is necessary to install it including an extra 6-pin PCIe connector and a hex-key Allen wrench.

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There are soft rubber inserts which hide the adjustable PCIe connectors. They are completely removable and will also slide back and forth to fit many different video card PCIe connector spacing.

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Turning the PowerLink around we see the PCIe connectors which allow you to plug in the PCIe cables from the Power Supply.

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The instructions are very clear and well-written.

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Installing the PowerLink

The instruction suggest that the PCIe connectors be aligned with the video card’s power connectors. We found it easiest to remove the PCIe plugs and insert them into the video card first. Afterward, it is easy to attach them to the PowerLink.

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It is crucial to lock down the PowerLink PCIe plugs securely using the supplied Allen wrench.

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Do not forget to turn the card over and also lock down the connectors on the other side of the PowerLink!

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Here is the PowerLink locked down to a 6pin+8pin EVGA 980 Ti SC.

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Next we insert the PCIe cables into the side of the PowerLink before inserting the card into the PC.

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Below is the EVGA GTX 980 Ti in our case with the PowerLink installed.

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badge-innovationIf we did not change out our graphics cards daily, we much prefer the PowerLink for the aesthetics alone and the clean look it gives a PC.

Conclusion

The EVGA PowerLink will retail for $29.95 and will ship later this month from EVGA. As far as we know, it is a unique product. And if you own a EVGA GTX 1060, 1070 or 1080 you can get one from EVGA for the cost of shipping and handling.

Many gamers take pride in their PC and not only want it to run perfectly, but look great, and they will spend many hundreds of dollars on their PC hardware and especially on video cards. We like this innovative product so much that we gave the EVGA PowerLink, BTR’s Innovation Award.

Happy Gaming!