ACX cooler vs. traditional blower for SLi?

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Brahmzy

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Which of these will keep that top card cooler?
I'm not a fan of the ACX coolers not exhausting all of their heat, but I know, all else being equal, they could cool better.
I also know nVs latest blowers are very well done. Quiet, fairly cool vs. blowers of ol'.

In reality, how do these differ in temp in the tight confines of a 2-card SLi config? Anybody have experience with BOTH configs?
 
Well, from personal experience...

Coolest-running configuration for the graphics cards themselves: ACX cooler on the top card, reference blower on the bottom card.

Collest-running configuration for the system as a whole: Reference blower cooler on both cards.
 
Depends on the Case/mobo you are using. Majority though would be reference coolers
 
If you have good enough air flow it honestly makes no difference in my opinion. In low air flow situations references blowers are helpful. They generally do not cool as well and are louder.
 
With acx style coolers you NEED to force air in between the cards somehow. I've had to use pretty high speed fans to pull it off.
 
BababooeyHTJ said:
With acx style coolers you NEED to force air in between the cards somehow. I've had to use pretty high speed fans to pull it off.
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That's what I thought. I had some Axxero Extreme 3 fan coolers back in the day on different cards and holy cow there was a 20-24 degree difference between between the top/bottom card. That top card would just suck the hot air right off the back of the burning hot bottom card. This was with 3 120's blowing a lot of cool air into the case. The bootom card was way cool and happy. Top card, not so much. Even switched card's positions with the same exact results.

I'm thinkin' the ref. coolers are the way to go for SLi.
 
I've got a 10C-15C (hot days) difference between top and bottom. It's not that bad. My case is PC-X1000. 2 140mm Corsair AF140 fans at low RPM. It is cold here in NJ, but on hot days it was still quieter than my 680s SLI setup.

Oh and I really dislike the ACX cooling. It's got a terrible hum at certain RPM and nothing I do seems to solve it. Again, quieter than the 680s, but the hum gets on my nerves sometimes. Sorta solved that by changing the fan profile in Precision/Afterburner, but yeah, I'd skip the ACX and maybe go with another brand with aftermarket cooling.
 
With ACX coolers, make sure you have a rear exhaust along with upper exhaust fans. My rad is actually mount at the top of my case so I pull air up through the rad along 2x 140 fans.
 
I'd have a hard time believing any blower style cooler would be better than an ACX. I have an EVGA GTX 770 w/ACX running in my main rig for a few months now and it is by far the coolest and quietest card I've ever owned. Even overclocked to 1275Mhz its running at 67C @100% load mining LTC and the fan is at 65%.
 
I went from a a 2 way sli gtx 680 reference cooler configuration which ran super hot, like 80 degrees hot. Then I upgraded to 2 780 sli with ACX coolers and the hottest the top card hits is 70 degrees while the bottom card 60 degrees. So yeah, ACX cooler makes a huge difference. I cannot speak on behalf of the Titan blower style though, I just stepped up to a pair of vanilla gtx 780 ti, which has the same Titan blower setup, so i'll see how that cooler performs.
 
Pitbully said:
I'd have a hard time believing any blower style cooler would be better than an ACX. I have an EVGA GTX 770 w/ACX running in my main rig for a few months now and it is by far the coolest and quietest card I've ever owned. Even overclocked to 1275Mhz its running at 67C @100% load mining LTC and the fan is at 65%.
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Your post is not relevant here. You have single card. I'm sure the ACX is steller when it's in a single card config. This thread is clearly about SLi. Apples and oranges to anybody who knows what I'm talkin' about.
 
I had 780 SLI with ACX coolers on them. The top card would choke on the heat from the bottom card. 20 degree temp difference. 780 TI SLI I have reference blower coolers. 10 degree temp difference.
 
pandora's box said:
I had 780 SLI with ACX coolers on them. The top card would choke on the heat from the bottom card. 20 degree temp difference. 780 TI SLI I have reference blower coolers. 10 degree temp difference.
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^THIS^ is what I'm looking for. Thank you for the post. This has been my experience as well in the past and I'm wanting to make sure it's still valid - sounds like it is.

ACX-type all day long in single-card configurations
Blower all day long in SLi configurations
 
Then what is the main difference between the gtx 680 reference blower compared to the Titan style? My reference 680's ran hot as hell.
 
Welcome. I think you could get away with aftermarket coolers if you had 3 slots between the cards.
 
GameHard6 said:
In my experience it really depends a lot on your case cooling and airflow also.
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Kinda, but you have to realize that the heat that the first card puts out gets stuck between the first and second cards or gets blown onto the motherboard. There's really no way to get that heat out of the case without it effecting the temperatures of your other hardware without using a blower style cooler. You can use a side panel fan to suck the hot air from the heatsink but I found that it just pulled cold air from the front intakes instead of letting that cold air hit the gpu's. And having a side panel fan blowing onto the cards just means the heat from the cards is now hitting the motherboard.
 
Pitbully said:
I'd have a hard time believing any blower style cooler would be better than an ACX.
Click to expand...
Not hard to believe, honestly...

ACX cooler blows its exhaust heat into the case. This raises the ambient case temperature and makes ALL of your cooling less efficient (including the ACX itself). Two graphics cards with ACX coolers just compounds the issue.

Only way to combat this and get case temps back to where they were with the reference blower cooler is to increase the airflow through your case... but doing that adds noise, defeating the point of installing a quieter GPU heatsink by making everything else in the case louder. Might as well have just turned up the fan speed on the reference blower, since that also gives you better cooling at the expense of additional noise.

Not a great situation, and it's totally avoided by using the reference blower. Almost all of that heat never circulates through the case.


Pitbully said:
I have an EVGA GTX 770 w/ACX running in my main rig for a few months now and it is by far the coolest and quietest card I've ever owned. Even overclocked to 1275Mhz its running at 67C @100% load mining LTC and the fan is at 65%.
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I'm on my 3rd ACX cooler now, and in the middle of my 3rd RMA.

Minimum fan speed on the GTX 780 is 26% PWM frequency. The reference blower has no trouble running pretty much silent at this speed, but all three ACX coolers have made a horrible warbling and whining noise at this speed.

The ACX cooler doesn't settle down until ~33% PWM frequency, so with it installed, I'm forced to use 33% as my minimum fan speed... problem is, the reference blower at 26% is quieter than the ACX cooler at 33%, which makes the ACX pretty friggen pointless.

If my 4th ACX does the same thing I'm going to ask for a refund. I currently have the reference blower installed, and boy is it an upgrade. Running 1300 MHz core under load without a problem, and it's silent at idle like it should be. :D
 
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Two options:

The quietest option is to go all out with a large case, lots of intake *and* exhaust ventilation with care taken to keep lots of air flowing past the expansion slot section, and use good open-air cards, which the ACX cooler may or may not be. You'll want to ensure that you're using very nice fans on the enclosure.

The cheaper way to do it, almost as quiet, is to use a regular to mid-size case with tons of intake airflow and good blowers. Silverstone's Fortress FT-02 is the benchmark case here, but any case that allows for fans to be mounted on the front, side, and bottom would work. Note that here, if you use an insulated case such as the NZXT H2 or FD Define R4, the blower solution will be much quieter than what reviewers are getting on an open bench.

I went with option two, personally- it was cheaper, but more importantly, it was smaller. You can't miss the 30" monitor flanked by three 20" monitors, but the little black Define R3 under the desk? Who knows what that is :).
 
If u r using a 750d like in your sig then you want reference 100% no question because your lacking in airflow. If using a case like haf X or switch 810 with tons of airflow then your want non reference. Depends on the cooler as well. I had 2 wf3 670 that never broke 65 on either card with auto fan, then I had 2 670 ftw sig2 cards that the top card ran right around 70 with fans cranked to 70% in same case.
 
I needed to crank the fans on my 932 to get decent temps on my top 670. I had four 1900 rpm fans in the side panel and an ap181 in the front. That also comes at the expense of noise.

The stock 780 blower cooler is phenomenal. I see no good reason to use a non-reference cooler.
 
BababooeyHTJ said:
The stock 780 blower cooler is phenomenal. I see no good reason to use a non-reference cooler.
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Aye, stock cooler from Titan rocks. The difference between ACX and stock is not in noise (1 to 2 dB), but in about 10C difference. But, in SLI, if the ACX chokes on the hot air from card below, this difference will be quickly reduced. You want to get the air out of the case, and stock blower does it job in an impressive way.
 
IdiotInCharge said:
Two options:

The quietest option is to go all out with a large case, lots of intake *and* exhaust ventilation with care taken to keep lots of air flowing past the expansion slot section, and use good open-air cards, which the ACX cooler may or may not be. You'll want to ensure that you're using very nice fans on the enclosure.

The cheaper way to do it, almost as quiet, is to use a regular to mid-size case with tons of intake airflow and good blowers. Silverstone's Fortress FT-02 is the benchmark case here, but any case that allows for fans to be mounted on the front, side, and bottom would work. Note that here, if you use an insulated case such as the NZXT H2 or FD Define R4, the blower solution will be much quieter than what reviewers are getting on an open bench.

I went with option two, personally- it was cheaper, but more importantly, it was smaller. You can't miss the 30" monitor flanked by three 20" monitors, but the little black Define R3 under the desk? Who knows what that is :).
Click to expand...

What would you use for a Silverstone FT01 as opposed to an FT02. My FT01 case has one front intake fan for the GPU area so I am thinking not enough airflow for ACX cooler even for a single card. I think I would rather have the heat sucked from the front and out the back or it would be like a convection oven in there.
 
Blackstone said:
What would you use for a Silverstone FT01 as opposed to an FT02. My FT01 case has one front intake fan for the GPU area so I am thinking not enough airflow for ACX cooler even for a single card. I think I would rather have the heat sucked from the front and out the back or it would be like a convection oven in there.
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FYI, that photo is a raven rv02, almost identical to ft02. I just zip tied fans to the side. I have 780 classies.

When I had my antec 1200 and sli 670 wf3's, I put a bunch of intake fans on the side panel for direct intake onto the cards. They were only 120mm. I noticed with the 180mm fans, air is dispersed much better as well as keeping the temps lower when full load. If you can fit a 140 or even a 180, I would do that.
 
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IdiotInCharge said:
The quietest option is to go all out with a large case, lots of intake *and* exhaust ventilation
Click to expand...
Can't really see how turning the case into a wind tunnel would be the "quietest" option. You end up with a bunch of additional case-fan noise who's only purpose is to support the use of the ACX cooler.

And as far as I can tell, the ACX cooler isn't quiter than the stock cooler (the three ACX coolers I've had have all most-certainly been worse than the reference blower), so you're adding noise from case fans and not really removing noise anywhere else...

Will your GPU run a bit cooler with an ACX cooler? Yeah, if you don't mind all the extra noise (and possibly other components in your case running warmer as a result)... you could also just run the reference blower faster and get close to the same results (better cooling + more noise) without dealing with the heat being dumped into your case...
 
Reference for both cards is better deal but your cards will run slightly hotter than a single card on ACX cooling.

You can also opt for reference card on the top slot and acx on the bottom slot given:
a) You have extra space on the bottom of the case (e.g., Corsair 650D) and a blower fan pulling air into the case from the front or bottom.
b) You have a slot in between the two cards.

I had 670 SLi where I had reference card in top slot and WF3X card in bottom slot. Worked fine, however, when I put WF3X in top slot the reference card in bottom slot would start burning up. In either case, with this setup I had to lower my CPU overclock since my motherboard and overall system was getting very warm (ambient tempratures of 35 C). With blower style coolers, the ambient tempratures remain around 28C.

Since then, I just buy blower style reference coolers for trouble free SLi experience (GTX 680 and GTX 780 SLi).
 
Unknown-One said:
Can't really see how turning the case into a wind tunnel would be the "quietest" option. You end up with a bunch of additional case-fan noise who's only purpose is to support the use of the ACX cooler.

And as far as I can tell, the ACX cooler isn't quiter than the stock cooler (the three ACX coolers I've had have all most-certainly been worse than the reference blower), so you're adding noise from case fans and not really removing noise anywhere else...

Will your GPU run a bit cooler with an ACX cooler? Yeah, if you don't mind all the extra noise (and possibly other components in your case running warmer as a result)... you could also just run the reference blower faster and get close to the same results (better cooling + more noise) without dealing with the heat being dumped into your case...
Click to expand...

The ACX cooler may be below average among the best 'open air' type coolers, and what I'm saying is that if you use good open air coolers you can tune intake and exhaust airflow in a decent case to the best acoustic result possible for the performance you're getting, short of running a few custom water loops.
 
this question fits better in this thread:
I have a middle tower case, a LianLi PC-7FNWX with a 140mm intake and two 120mm exhaust.
The two exhaust fans are mounted in push pull over the Corsair H80i GT AIO.

My CPU on summer goes up to 80C with the two GTX980 SLI reference blower.
Now I upgraded to a GTX980 Ti SLI with the EVGA ACX 2.0 open air cooler and I'm quite worried that my CPU temp will increase by 10C.

What do you think on this? Will this two cards increase my case temp by 10C and conseguently on my CPU?
 
Put a side fan and you will get 10 C drop in temperatures. Since my original post in this thread I have had a system with 2 ACX coolers and temperatures could be kept at 75 C / 70 C top/bottom granted I have a side panel with a fan mounted on it (like my HAF X).
 
sblantipodi said:
this question fits better in this thread:
I have a middle tower case, a LianLi PC-7FNWX with a 140mm intake and two 120mm exhaust.
The two exhaust fans are mounted in push pull over the Corsair H80i GT AIO.

My CPU on summer goes up to 80C with the two GTX980 SLI reference blower.
Now I upgraded to a GTX980 Ti SLI with the EVGA ACX 2.0 open air cooler and I'm quite worried that my CPU temp will increase by 10C.

What do you think on this? Will this two cards increase my case temp by 10C and conseguently on my CPU?
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The design of your case is not very "air" friendly, especially w/ a rad on the "exhaust" area. You will have to, i guess, wait it out to see the temp difference during the time frame. The cards are going to dump hot air into your case, and you dont have a top exhaust, which could easily alleviate some of the heat issues.
 
KickAssCop said:
Put a side fan and you will get 10 C drop in temperatures. Since my original post in this thread I have had a system with 2 ACX coolers and temperatures could be kept at 75 C / 70 C top/bottom granted I have a side panel with a fan mounted on it (like my HAF X).
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My case does not allow for a side fan.
Unfortunately I like mid tower and I don't like any mid tower except mine.
Hope that the CPU temperature does not increase mode than 5c, if it will increase over 5c it's time to buy a new case. :(
 
sblantipodi said:
My case does not allow for a side fan.
Unfortunately I like mid tower and I don't like any mid tower except mine.
Hope that the CPU temperature does not increase mode than 5c, if it will increase over 5c it's time to buy a new case. :(
Click to expand...

Hehe, if you are into modification....cut out some of the metal up top enough for a couple 120/140 mm fans :D ....that would be enough to draw that heat out.
 
BroHamBone said:
Hehe, if you are into modification....cut out some of the metal up top enough for a couple 120/140 mm fans :D ....that would be enough to draw that heat out.
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I have the room for a 120mm in the top, do you think that it is a good have?
I have 2x120mm that exhaust air (AIO fans) in that zone
 
Definitely put a fan up top. The more airflow the better.

My CPU actually runs a few degrees cooler going from two 670 reference card blowers to the single acx cooled card. The side fan helps a TON. People may think the case I have is crap but it does a damn good job keeping things cool.
 
Mister E said:
Definitely put a fan up top. The more airflow the better.

My CPU actually runs a few degrees cooler going from two 670 reference card blowers to the single acx cooled card. The side fan helps a TON. People may think the case I have is crap but it does a damn good job keeping things cool.
Click to expand...

Intake or exhaust?
 
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