EVGA GeForce GTX 770 SC with ACX Cooling Review
The EVGA GeForce GTX 770 SuperClocked with ACX cooling’s main differentiator is its custom heatsink and fan assembly.
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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 underneath the shroud, one that sits right atop the GPU and another just to the side, 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 got some special treatment. According to EVGA the fan blade design offers superior strength to 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 also reducing weight and thickness, and it should be quieter and last longer too. With the GTX 770 and its GPU Boost 2.0 feature, however, the card will try to 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 remain at max boost for longer periods, which should ultimately increase overall performance.
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As for the card itself, we think it looks great. The EVGA GeForce GTX 770 SuperClocked with ACX cooling is a dual-slot card, but it is slightly thinner than reference models. As the “SuperClocked” in the name suggests, this card is factory overclocked as well. Whereas reference GeForce GTX 770 cards sport 1046MHz / 1085MHz GPU base and boost clocks, respectively, the EVGA GeForce GTX 770 SuperClocked with ACX cooling come in at 1111MHz (base) / 1163MHz (boost). All of the other specifications, including the 2GB of GDDR5 memory clocked at an effective 7010MHz, remain unchanged from the reference model.
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As evidenced by the pair of SLI edge connectors at the top of the card, the EVGA GeForce GTX 770 SC with ACX supports up to 3-Way SLI, and because the TDP of the card is “only” 230 watts, single 8-pin and 6-pin supplemental PCI Express power feeds are all that are required to power it.
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Outputs consist of a pair of dual-link DVI outputs, a full-sized DisplayPort output, and an HDMI connector. The EVGA GeForce GTX 770 SC with ACX has more than enough muscle to push multiple displays simultaneously, and as such, it supports NVIDIA's 3D Vision Surround technology, as well other proprietary NVIDA technologies like 3DVision, PhyX, and the like.
