EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Superclocked ACX Cooling Video Card Review

Taking Off the EVGA ACX Cooler

The new double ball bearing ACX cooler from EVGA is said to redefine traditional enthusiast coolers. Since EVGA took the time to design such a GPU cooler we thought it was only fair to dedicate a page to it!

EVGA provided us with a marketing slide that shows all of the key differentiating features of the EVGA ACX Cooler in one image. That image is self-explanatory, so we’ll let you look that over and then we’ll take the EVGA ACX Cooler apart.

EVGA says that the ACX Cooler has a 40% increase in heatsink volume and is more efficient at dissipating heat, allowing for 15% lower GPU temperatures.

With the fan shroud removed you can see how EVGA was able to increase the heatsink volume. At the end and middle of the heatsinks there are larger fins for increased volume. EVGA also places small holes in the raised cooling fins to act as air channels to increase airflow and to reduce dead spots. Just be sure to use some compressed air every so often to make sure these small holes and the cooling fins are clear of dust or animal hair. Yeah, humans are nasty creatures!

EVGA also spent time to ensure that even the fan blades were of the highest quality; with a 700% increase in strength, and 25% lower weight when compared to competitors dual fan designs. This makes the fans 20% more efficient by requiring lower power levels. Of course, EVGA is also using double ball bearing fans which offer a 12 year lifespan, this is 4X longer when compared to competitors! We removed the fans and found they were nine blade Power Logic PLA09215B12H 92mm frameless cooling fans. These fans are PWM-controlled, so you’ll be able to fully control them with software applications like EVGA Precision X.

Here is a slide that shows the dual ball bearings that EVGA uses for the fans on the ACX Cooler versus the sleeve bearings that most competitors use. Sleeve bearings are often found on cheaper low quality fans. Ball Bearings fans add a bit to the overall build cost, but have a 4X longer lifespan, and are more efficient, using less voltage to spin the fan.

Only four screws need to be taken off to remove the EVGA ACX Cooler from the circuit board and there are just four screws that hold down the black fan plastic fan shroud, so it has easy access for when it comes time to clean it out or perform other maintenance tasks.

The five heat pipes found on the ACX cooler do not directly touch the NVIDIA GK110 “KEPLER” GPU, but a nice base plate does. We were shocked to find that the bottom was polished, appeared flat and had a mirror-like finish. We also like the black-chrome look!

Here is a closer look at the reinforcement baseplate that helps keep the PCB straight. It also helps dissipate heat by up to 7% on the MOSFETs and 15% on the GDDR5 memory IC’s! Under the baseplate you’ll find the 3GB of GDDR5 memory. EVGA is using Samsung (part number K4G20325F0-FC03) GDDR5 memory IC’s on this card.

Here is a look at the 6-phase PWM for the GPU and the 2-phase PWM for the GDDR5 memory.

And lastly here is the OnSemi NCP4206 voltage controller.

Now that we know all about the EVGA ACX Cooler and what is under it, we can move along to benchmarking the GeForce GTX 780 Superclocked card!