ACX vs reference

[Anarchist420]

1. are the ACX fans ball or sleeve bearing?

2. how is the ACX PCB actually better than the reference one?

I should have enough money to get a GTX780 soon and I was thinking I'd like the reference one better (no factory OC, I know that it's a ball bearing fan, and it exhausts the hot air out of the case), but if someone can convince me that the ACX is better then I may get that one.

 

[paul878]

The ACX fans are double bearings.
http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=03G-P4-2784-KR

If I can do it all over again I would went with the reference design.
The ACX just dump too much heat into the case, I had to install an 180mm fan on the side to keep the temps under control.

 

[phillyman36]

The ACX fans are double bearings.
http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=03G-P4-2784-KR

If I can do it all over again I would went with the reference design.
The ACX just dump too much heat into the case, I had to install an 180mm fan on the side to keep the temps under control.

Try to decide myself on the ACX? I have a Corsair 600t case and my hsf is a Thermalright Archon.

Just wonder what your case and cooling set up is

 

[cmdrdredd]

If you have a good case with good airflow, the coolers like the Asus DCII, MSI TF and similar designs offer better solutions than reference coolers. They are quieter and keep the card cooler overall. For those with airflow issues or small cases it may be better to blow the air out the back with a reference card.

 

[phillyman36]

Not sure if a Corsair 600t midtower is considered a case with good airflow(for using with ACX cooler).
Like the way it looks.

 

[Mr Expert]

The ACX fans are double bearings.
http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=03G-P4-2784-KR

If I can do it all over again I would went with the reference design.
The ACX just dump too much heat into the case, I had to install an 180mm fan on the side to keep the temps under control.

You are to worried about temps. A few degs high ambiant will not mean the end of the world or your rig.

 

[waldoh]

The ACX cooler uses double ball bearings which reduce power and increase lifespan. ACX cooler exhausts heat into your case (opposed to the reference blower style which directs heat out the back).

ANY third party cooler will outperform the reference blower in a mid or full tower case. If you are using a SFF case the blower is suggested.

The ACX PCB is reference. The ACX Classified PCB is custom. The custom PCB has more power states + higher grade components which claim to deliver cleaner more efficient power to the GPU which allows for more stable OC.


I have a classified, its built quality exceeds my expectations (because the shroud is made of plastic opposed to metal like DC2), the card runs cool and fits into my full tower.

WARNING - the classified PCB is 1-2 inches taller than the reference PCB, if your case has a huge side fan make sure it will fit.

 

[paul878]

Try to decide myself on the ACX? I have a Corsair 600t case and my hsf is a Thermalright Archon.

Just wonder what your case and cooling set up is

I have the Fractal ARC MIDI case and Noctua D14, my ACX temperature went above 80c and the side case panel was hot to touch. After adding an 180mm the temperature went down to 70c.

I don't think it is worth it, evga advertise it as 15% and 15% cooler, but I don't think they took the computer case into account.

The extra side fan needed add more noise to the system.
Get the reference design and let it pump the heat out of the case directly.

 

[Mr Expert]

I have the Fractal ARC MIDI case and Noctua D14, my ACX temperature went above 80c and the side case panel was hot to touch. After adding an 180mm the temperature went down to 70c.

I don't think it is worth it, evga advertise it as 15% and 15% cooler, but I don't think they took the computer case into account.

The extra side fan needed add more noise to the system.
Get the reference design and let it pump the heat out of the case directly.

The PC case getting warm is not a big deal man. What matters is that the heat is moving away from the graphics core and PCB even better and more silent than reference cooling.

 

[nitromullet]

I have the blower version of the GTX 770, and it works very well. Very, very quiet too. I tend to be a fan (pardon the pun) of blower coolers because I like to get the heat out of my case.

 

[Mr Expert]

I have the blower version of the GTX 770, and it works very well. Very, very quiet too. I tend to be a fan (pardon the pun) of blower coolers because I like to get the heat out of my case.

What the big deal with heat in the case for many people it seems ? A few degs higher ambiant temps inside the case will never hurt anything in even the smallest way. Another great way to get the heat out is to just take the side panle off and leave it off. I rather hotter running hardware and silence rather than a few deg cooler and loud.

 

[bystander36]

The problem depends on the persons case. If you have a great case with good air flow, the custom HSF's are great. If they have poor air flow, then they heat up everything to the point the CPU and GPU's temps run hot.

 

[nitromullet]

What the big deal with heat in the case for many people it seems ? A few degs higher ambiant temps inside the case will never hurt anything in even the smallest way. Another great way to get the heat out is to just take the side panle off and leave it off. I rather hotter running hardware and silence rather than a few deg cooler and loud.

It depends on the case. I got sold on blower fans years ago when I had a Lian Li v1200 case. The motherboard was flipped upside down, and the cards were at the top. I was running dual 7800GTX'es in SLI, and with the stock cooler there was literally a pocket of hot air around the cards making them run hot. After installing Arctic Cooling blower fans my temps dropped around 20C.

I know that cases have gotten better, but the way I see it heat is the enemy of all your PC's components. The more heat you move out of your case the better. Higher ambient inside the case effects the ability of every single heatsink in there. If you consider the fact that people will pay top dollar for TIM that may drop the temp of their CPU by a single degree C it makes sense to me to reduce the ambient case temps first.

Besides, NVIDIA blower designs have gotten really quiet over the years. My GTX 770 and the GTX 670 before it are both very quiet. AMD still needs to catch up a bit in this area, but even theirs have gotten more quiet also.

 

[Mr Expert]

It depends on the case. I got sold on blower fans years ago when I had a Lian Li v1200 case. The motherboard was flipped upside down, and the cards were at the top. I was running dual 7800GTX'es in SLI, and with the stock cooler there was literally a pocket of hot air around the cards making them run hot. After installing Arctic Cooling blower fans my temps dropped around 20C.

I know that cases have gotten better, but the way I see it heat is the enemy of all your PC's components. The more heat you move out of your case the better. Higher ambient inside the case effects the ability of every single heatsink in there. If you consider the fact that people will pay top dollar for TIM that may drop the temp of their CPU by a single degree C it makes sense to me to reduce the ambient case temps first.

Besides, NVIDIA blower designs have gotten really quiet over the years. My GTX 770 and the GTX 670 before it are both very quiet. AMD still needs to catch up a bit in this area, but even theirs have gotten more quiet also.

Well as long as you are within factory spec as far as temps there is no problem. My PC case is pure budget Antec 100 and it moves very very little air through the case. My Hyper 212 is set to the lowest fan speed of 900rpm through the bios and my GPU HD 7850 from Gigabyte with the Windfore cooler never goes above idle speed (auto) even dering benchmarking and gaming. My temps are 53c for the GPU under max load and the CPU I can't even remeber because it's been over a year since I checked. My PC will run for another 10 years problem free I presume.

 

[nitromullet]

Yeah, I don't think there really is right/wrong answer here. I've used both types of coolers with success. I think if I was buying an AMD card I'd probably opt for a an open cooler, since their blowers tend to be noisier. With NVIDIA, I'd go either way depending on what was available.

 

[paul878]

The PC case getting warm is not a big deal man. What matters is that the heat is moving away from the graphics core and PCB even better and more silent than reference cooling.

The big deal is if you don't have great airflow in your case the ACX will run HOTTER than the reference design. ACX fan running at 70% or higher is noisy too...

 

[phillyman36]

I went ahead and ordered the ACX version. My 600t should be fine. If its get overly hot ill just ad a fan. Noise doesn't bother me as much(old house use to be near Amtrak railroad so my noise tolerance is different from others lol)