EVGA iCX Technology Examined On The GeForce GTX 1080 FTW2

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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Nate "The Big Nasty" Kirsch of Legit Reviews has taken EVGA's new iCX software for a spin. EVGA found itself in a bit of a pickle last year when it came to its video cards igniting and subsequently being the cause of the massive fires in Kentucky last year. WAIT! That was Shrout I think... Anyway, back to the real story.

EVGA found themselves highly motivated by last years thermal issues that they encountered on many GeForce GTX 1070 and 1080 models. The enthusiast community was alleging that many EVGA branded GeForce GTX 1070 and GTX 1080 cards were exploding due to improper VRM cooling. Catastrophic failures on luxury high-end graphics cards is something that is taken very seriously by everyone and it was determined by EVGA that VRM (Voltage Regulator Modules) temperatures exceeding 110C during stress loading.

Nate seems to think that EVGA has made a very good move here.

We agree that GPU temperatures are not a major concern today, unless you are on a blower fan style card, so to shift the focus onto the power and memory temperatures makes sense. EVGA wants gamers to know that they have fully redesigned a handful of cards to become part of the iCX series and those cards will give gamers peace of mind when it comes to temperature. Not a bad way to recover from the VRM overheating issues of 2016 by coming out with a much improved product that looks like it has the ability to win over the gaming community!

EVGA is offering upgrades for current ACX cooler users as well.
 
Lots of data and fan curves, but all in all 5-7 degrees cooler AND you have to pay 30 dollars more.

I didn't read the article with a fine eye, but I didn't see where EVGA overclocked anything to test their new stuff, just used their stock cards.

The fuse thing bothers me a lot......if you blow the fuse, you have to send the card for RMA and there is no direct way to know if the card has simply blown a fuse or is borked some other way.
I saw nothing about....does blowing a fuse while overclocking void the warranty? What if the fuse just malfunctions????

How about if I place a waterblock??? what happens to the fancy software monitoring?

EVGA....too much stuff to go wrong for a very little gain.
 
It looks like the sensors are on the card. (Bottom Middle). If that's the case, then waterblocks wouldn't be a problem.

evga-icx-card-pin-fin.jpg
 
I have the hybrid, and it isn't listed, but I will say that it gets pretty darn hot as it blows out the front of my case. Hopefully not an issue.
 
I think this is all smoke (no pun intended) and mirrors to cover an otherwise faulty design in the previous generation of cards.
I haven't seen where anyone else's GPUs are blowing up at an abnormal rate.
 
All this trickery instead of just applying more density and surface area to their vrm cooling? This smacks of trying too hard and overcompensating.
 
They still blow the hot air right onto the motherboard and into the case... amazing. I have an EVGA 980Ti and it's the last EVGA card I ever buy. MSI at least gets the orientation of the heatsink fins right.
 
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All I know is I'm sick of shelling out hundreds on a new EVGA card just for it to be rendered obsolete by a new and improved revision a few months later. Happened with Maxwell, I bought a GTX 970 FTW and then a few months later they release the FTW+ with a better cooler and a MOSFET cooling plate. Then I buy a GTX 1070 FTW and bam, they drop the FTW2 with the iCX cooler. Oh you want to upgrade? That's another $100. So now my options are either pay up or keep the original, which has just been devalued by the release of the new design. Hurts my resale value later on down the road. And I'm not seeing the iCX cards as an option on their Step Up program.
 
All I know is I'm sick of shelling out hundreds on a new EVGA card just for it to be rendered obsolete by a new and improved revision a few months later. Happened with Maxwell, I bought a GTX 970 FTW and then a few months later they release the FTW+ with a better cooler and a MOSFET cooling plate. Then I buy a GTX 1070 FTW and bam, they drop the FTW2 with the iCX cooler. Oh you want to upgrade? That's another $100. So now my options are either pay up or keep the original, which has just been devalued by the release of the new design. Hurts my resale value later on down the road. And I'm not seeing the iCX cards as an option on their Step Up program.
Or you can buy any other manufacturer's card and just be stuck with what you bought anyway.
 
Or you can buy any other manufacturer's card and just be stuck with what you bought anyway.

Or you could buy a card with a cooler that was designed the right way the first time? If they have to keep issuing revisions, what does that tell us about doing it right the first time?
 
All I know is I'm sick of shelling out hundreds on a new EVGA card just for it to be rendered obsolete by a new and improved revision a few months later. Happened with Maxwell, I bought a GTX 970 FTW and then a few months later they release the FTW+ with a better cooler and a MOSFET cooling plate. Then I buy a GTX 1070 FTW and bam, they drop the FTW2 with the iCX cooler. Oh you want to upgrade? That's another $100. So now my options are either pay up or keep the original, which has just been devalued by the release of the new design. Hurts my resale value later on down the road. And I'm not seeing the iCX cards as an option on their Step Up program.

You're complaining about technology that rapidly becomes obselete. This is the way of technology - things evolve and get better, bugs fixed, or it's working slightly better. But with video cards, it's year after year and after year. You invest the money in a video card knowing it's going to be obselete by next month.

Invest with what you have and be happy with it - or fork over the cash for an upgrade. I don't even really care about the difference between "FTW, Classified, ..." as long as it's the same family I'm happy. The next video card you purchase can have that sweet sweet RGB goodness with the iCX and by then the iCX 2.0 will be out.


I've had more success with EVGA cards than any other maker out there. My ATI Card pro... something. I had to superglue a fan to the heatsink to make it not overheat. Other makers just stopped working, DOA, etc. I've had no problems with EVGA cards, and it's why I've stuck with them for primarily every piece of hardware they make.

Because I can get back what's really important - watching Kyle delidding CPUs.
 
2 things.
EVGA is bored, or they are picking up the pieces from the thermal pad fiasco.
 
I've had more success with EVGA cards than any other maker out there. My ATI Card pro... something. I had to superglue a fan to the heatsink to make it not overheat. Other makers just stopped working, DOA, etc. I've had no problems with EVGA cards, and it's why I've stuck with them for primarily every piece of hardware they make.
I've actually had 2 EVGA cards that had problems (7800GT and something else), but each time, they cross-shipped me a new video card that was either the same or better. My next card will likely either be EVGA or straight from Nvidia.
 
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Or you could buy a card with a cooler that was designed the right way the first time? If they have to keep issuing revisions, what does that tell us about doing it right the first time?

This. If I were looking to buy a used EVGA 1070 FTW a year from now, am I going to be willing to pay more for the ACX or the newer iCX revision? I'm going to attribute less value to the FTW ACX than I would to the FTW2 iCX. For someone that relies on selling old technology in order to finance new technology, that sucks. If I had just bought an MSI 1070 or something then I wouldn't have to worry about incremental updates to the exact same card within a few months of release, they got the design right from the beginning.

Then again, it's likely that buyers on Craigslist or eBay may not even be aware of the difference between ACX and iCX, or may not care at all. Just let me complain, all right? :)
 
I see a deal in here ... If you get this your up for the step up program again 90 days. Then when the 1080ti comes out you can setup up to it. Just a thought. Does cost 99 bucks. Sucks since I just did the damn stepup program litterly this week FML..
 
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I submitted a ticket. I thought they would only upgrade the cooler but it looks like they decided to overhaul PCB, add new features, fan and backplate.
 
They still blow the hot air right onto the motherboard and into the case... amazing. I have an EVGA 980Ti and it's the last EVGA card I ever buy. MSI at least gets the orientation of the heatsink fans right.
So get a blower style card, where do you think the air goes on these types of coolers?
 
I see a deal in here ... If you get this your up for the step up program again 90 days. Then when the 1080ti comes out you can setup up to it. Just a thought. Does cost 99 bucks. Sucks since I just did the damn stepup program litterly this week FML..

I just applied for my 1080 (EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 SC GAMING ACX 3.0). I was thinking the same thing about the step up program and the (hopefully soon to be released) Ti. If nothing else, it (shouldn't) hurt to get a refreshed card hopefully.
 
Yep submitted a upgrade request. The potential stepup deal if the 1080 ti is released is enticing. Crossing my fingers.
 
I bought a new EVGA 1070 a few months ago. Ran really hot at idle and under load, and I didn't want to have to get the free thermal pads and do all the swapping out myself if the life of the card was already derating due to excessive heat.

Returned it to B&H for a full refund, got an MSI, enjoying the performance at about 10C cooler than EVGA.
 
I think this kind of tech is cool. I've read stuff before that people put new TIM on their GPU's which causes the fans to run slower due to lower die temps. But the lower fans makes memory and other components run hotter. This would fix that.
 
I think this kind of tech is cool. I've read stuff before that people put new TIM on their GPU's which causes the fans to run slower due to lower die temps. But the lower fans makes memory and other components run hotter. This would fix that.

No. Once you apply thermal pads it fixes all the issues. You always need air circulation inside the case. I have 25% / 50% profile for all my EVGA cards. You can't hear them at all. Yes, they messed up a little bit by not installing thermal pads in the first place. ACX 3.0 is a great cooler but EVGA had to do damage control since gamers are little whiny bitches and would keep asking stupid questions on reddit forever. EVGA renamed the cooling solution, redsigned it, added great features and the case is closed. It was the only logical move for EVGA to maintain their great reputation. $99 is a bit steep but I bought both cards on ebay for $550 and $350 respectively so I'm happy I can upgrade.
 
So get a blower style card, where do you think the air goes on these types of coolers?

On the card I had before the EVGA it wasn't a blower but the fins were oriented so at least half the air goes out the back. Just look at the MSI which I mentioned. The only reason I bought the EVGA was because i got a ridiculous deal on it, I paid $500 w/ no sales tax when they were going for $650.
 
On the card I had before the EVGA it wasn't a blower but the fins were oriented so at least half the air goes out the back. Just look at the MSI which I mentioned. The only reason I bought the EVGA was because i got a ridiculous deal on it, I paid $500 w/ no sales tax when they were going for $650.

The point is if you don't want your GPU to exhaust into the case you get a blower style cooler.
 
Just got my email confirmation about upgrading. I think I'll do it, so that I can be eligible for the step-up program if/when the Ti comes out. Email below.

Hello [First Name] [Last Name],

Your EVGA iCX Upgrade Request has been approved for the following product:

Serial Number : xxxx
Part Number : 08G-P4-6183-KR

Please make sure your T-Shirt size is correct in your My Profile page before paying for your iCX Upgrade. We will send you a size XL by default if you do not specify your T-Shirt size.

You will have 7 (seven) days to pay for your iCX Upgrade. First, visit the iCX Upgrade page, and find your approved product. You must confirm your shipping details at this time and purchase the Upgrade. You will receive another email after your payment has been confirmed with details on how to send your product in to be upgraded.

EVGA
 
Just got an email from EVGA saying my new card is shipping today, so I should have it on Monday. I've been using an RX 480 8GB card in the interim (either that or a GTX750 lol), and now I have to have windows magnifier open constantly so I actually have a mouse pointer, instead of an interesting invisible (or just about) corrupted thing to click on stuff with. Also, even just playing WoW, the game seems to hitch quite a lot. I could probably try using non ReLive drivers, but since I should have my 1080 back soon, I don't see the point.
 
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