A closer look at GTX 1080 FTW

EVGA has created ACX 2.0 cooler for the Geforce 900 series. We were impressed with the cooling performance and the build quality. Now for the GTX 1000 series EVGA has crafted ACX 3.0 cooler, which is much bigger. It has its roots in the in the GTX 980 Ti Classified which was equiped with an oversized ACX 2.0 cooler. The next image shows the new GTX 1080 FTW graphics card followed by the GTX 980 Ti FTW and the GTX 980 Ti Classified.



The new GTX 1080 FTW measures 26.67cm x 12.86cm, and this is the confirmation that we are looking at an oversized graphics card. But still, we’re talking about 2-slots width, with a card which is 2cm taller than standard. A quick look over what other Nvidia's AIB partners have done for the GTX 1080 shows that almost all of them have made oversized coolers in order to keep low GPU temperatures. Some AIB partners resort to a bulky triple-slot coolers to reduce noise and allow higher clocks, while keeping the GPU under the thermal threshold. GTX 1080 FTW at least keeps standard width. Next image shows Gainward GTX 1080 Phantom graphics card with a 3-slots wide cooler.

The ACX 3.0 cooler comes with a large heatsink and it relies on two 10cm fans for good cooling.

The ACX 3.0 cooler has most advanced illumination system that we have seen so far, and it looks great, as you can below. EVGA Precision XOC Utility provides interface to customize those light effects.

Before we continue, we want to show you how the card looks out of the box. As you can see it is fully covered 'protected' with plastics film. 

Oddly, there are two layers of film at some places, and someone screwed the screws through it so we were not able to remove the plastic film completely.