NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 Mainstream GPU Review

The EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SuperClocked with ACX cooling’s main differentiators are its custom heatsink and fan assembly and longer PCB.

The dual-fan Active Cooling Extreme, or ACX, cooler features a large heatsink array, with 40% additional fin volume over reference designs. If you look close, you’ll notice that there are actually two heatsinks, one that sits right atop the GPU and another just to the right, and that the heatsinks are linked to the baseplate by multiple thick heatpipes. There is an additional heatplate mounted to the PCB as well, which adds strength and helps keep the PCB flat.

The fans used on the ACX cooler also received some special treatment. According to EVGA the fan blade design is more durable than standard fans and the dual-ball bearings offer increased longevity over more common sleeve bearings.

All told, EVGA claims the ACX cooler outperforms reference coolers, while reducing weight and thickness, and it should be quieter and last longer too. With the GTX 760 and its GPU Boost 2.0 feature, however, the card may still ramp up to whatever target temperature is specified in the driver, by dynamically boosting and adjusting the GPU frequency and voltage as necessary based on the workload. That means the ACX cooler may not necessarily always offer lower temperatures than a reference cooler, but it should allow the card to idle at lower temps and remain at max boost for longer periods, which should ultimately increase overall performance.

The EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SuperClocked with ACX cooling is a dual-slot card, but it is slightly thinner than the reference model. As the “SuperClocked” in the name suggests, this card is factory overclocked. Whereas reference GeForce GTX 760 cards sport 980MHz / 1033MHz GPU base and boost clocks, respectively, the EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SuperClocked with ACX cooling come in at 1072MHz (base) / 1137MHz (boost). All of the other specifications, including the 2GB of GDDR5 memory clocked at an effective 6008 MHz, remain unchanged from the reference model.

As evidenced by the pair of SLI edge connectors at the top of the card, the EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SC with ACX supports up to 3-Way SLI, and because the TDP of the card is only 170 watts, dual 6-pin supplemental PCI Express power feeds are all that are required to power it. Outputs consist of a pair of dual-link DVI outputs, a full-sized DisplayPort output, and an HDMI connector.

In typical EVGA fashion, plenty of goodies are bundled with the GeForce GTX 760 SC w/ ACX as well. Included with the card, we found a rather cool “Game of Pwns” poster, some large “Enthusiast Built” decals, various documentation, a driver / utility CD (which included EVGA excellent Precision X utility), and a few adapters—two dual-peripheral to 6-pin adapters and a VGA-to-DVI adapter. There were no games to speak off, but EVGA wasn’t exactly chintzy with the bundle either.