Hey, everyone! Thanks for watching, as always. This was a few days of work and writing for us. If you're curious about how we do our testing or to read more about how this card works, check the article linked below. We'll also link to videos from Paul, Kyle, & Jay so you can get some other perspectives on the ICX cards: Thank you to our Patreon supporters for making this easier: goo.gl/Z9ABza Full article: www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews/2799-evga-gtx-1080-ftw2-sc2-icx-in-depth-thermal-analysis Check out reviews from our friends to get multiple perspectives: Paul's HW: ua-cam.com/video/xuZX4O78XHI/v-deo.html Bitwit: ua-cam.com/video/ZOf_tBPkYZo/v-deo.html Jay: ua-cam.com/video/5U-OCvcV7Yw/v-deo.html
Hi, Stever Burke, can i know y EVGA didn't use the black thermal pad like previous ACX 3.0 & using the same vbios too? thanks. *ahem* once i saw the yellowish thermal pad, i knew is low quality. i read your article stated 1.2 W/mk but i think should be just 1W/mk (not a big deal cos the pad is totally crap) by the way, the both unit is samsung or micron for GTX 1070?
So seeing how we are not seeing tons of EVGA cards catch fire, and you know the number of people who installed the free thermal pads is low like 20% at highest low, the issue seems to have been a bad batch of components right, so why has EVGA not came out and said this, there are still so many comments of people crying that EVGA would not give them a refund or will not replace their ACX card with a free ICX card and now they have a GPU that overheats and will catch fire, even Paul and Jay have talked about how the new cards fix the overheating issues..... yet this was never the issue right?
The VRM temperatures were never the issue, correct. We still firmly believe it was a bad batch of components, possibly a cap, from one of the suppliers. VRM thermals were fine in our previous testing.
Thanks for this video . As a owner of a 1070ftw an had the exchange on card done this helps me a ton. Again your channel is like how Maximum PC used to be. Even got noticed by a certian Grodon on a PCWorld podcast. Keep up the good work.
I feel bad for Paul, Kyle, Jayz and the others after watching this. This review is so comprehensive and conclusive, there is no real reason to frequent their videos anymore. Well, I might just watch their videos out of pity.
Real temp benchmarks. Yay. May upgrade to the ICX for sound improvements and resale like you mentioned but probably won't because I've already done the thermal pad upgrade on my ACX, and taking the card out of my PC sounds like too much of a pain. I'm very lazy. Lol.
Snazzy Labs Why would you spend 650$ on the same card? That's not an upgrade, it's exactly the same thing. I mean it's your money though that doesn't make it a smart decision.
I'm so lazy that when i get a new video notification, it feels like switching on the laptop is too much work and so i just watch it on my phone. U must be my lost bro.lol
Bitwit You know, I've thought a lot about this and I've decided that clone me would be unhappy with the depth of testing. We'd have Goatee Nexus with the Evil version testing in a week.
Great idea to compare these after the ACXgate on the 1070 and 1080s from EVGA. I think it got way blown out of proportion, but we expect companies to EVGA to be the highest standard.
this is why you should always fire half of your middle managers , they are so useless they ruin companies , they always come up with shitty ideas just to prove that they doing something ...
It's also bad for their own profit or sales. Because then they have to make a bunch of inventory for 6 different cards, and if 1 type or card doesnt sell that well for whatever reason, then they will lose money for no reason. If they have just 2 type of cards (regular and superclocked) then chances of that happening are low.
Thank you for this. Other tech yt has posted a video about this with what is essentially worthless info. Just stresstesting the gpu and checking the overall temps in software. This convinced me, def going for ICX later on, I guess peace of mind is priceless.
Was sent here from Bitwit, a good informative vid, but this was very thorough IMHO. I am wanting to upgrade my 8+year gaming PC and a $20+ premium added for a much better cooled GPU I am all in, plus the re-sale value. Thanks and subscribed! I really like the more technical details and explanations.
Great Video guys - as always. Happy with my ACX 3.0 1080 - I only changed the bios and left the thermal pads as is. The only thing tempting me by the upgrade is the additional 90 days for Step Up with the TI announcement looming around the corner. Going to wait until the 27th before making my decision lol
@RoboDog: I completely agree. Steve and the rest of the Gamers Nexus crew consistently put out some of the most rigorous hardware analysis around. It's really refreshing to see content like this, where the authors are are not only entertaining, but also well informed and able to back up their claims with __empirical_evidence__. Keep up the good work!
sircolby45 no, if you realize people want to be entertained and really most viewers don't give a shit about the intricacies of doing in-depth analysis....check jaytwocents, Linus etc, they don't get too detailed, crack off the cuff jokes and seem goofy, now look at their subs.....get the picture?
EVGA should have given this cards with ICX cooler to every customer with ACX cooler free of charge, since they fucked up really bad with their useless "band aid" thermal pads and bios changes.
False rumors? I don't even have time to talk to you, you are probably another stubborn EVGA fanboy. Can't wait to see you bitching in 6 months with why your band aid card died.
Then you get a new card with the ICX tech in it when you RMA it to get a new card since EVGA has a 3 year warranty on their cards. They owned up to the whole thing and rebuilt their cards from the ground up with new patents.
Super job Steve, congrats to you and your team for a first rate analysis. Despite your channels comparative size I'm glad to see that EVGA recognized Gamers Nexus for their contribution to the VRM story and had you out to their factory for a first look at their engineering response. This review of the thermal improvements is by far the most comprehensive of the early ICX reviews. JaysTwoCents did mention having problems with getting the fan control software to accept custom fan curve settings, did you have similar problems? Despite this I think EVGA will get a big PR boost from this and the other aftermarket vendors will have to scramble to play catch up.
Good stuff. Hope this catches on with the rest of these manufacturers. I'm tired of having to balance these VRM temps on this newer card, especially when trying to overclock, want something to cool those directly.
Thank you for the indepth insight into the new cards and your suggestions. I wasvery worried about evga gtx1080 ftw thermals where several reported burning of mb and overheating. Now I know I need to get ftw2.
you guys should be getting paid by the manufacturers for doing this level of testing, especially if it begins to influence how they design their hardware.
The point about using the exact same card is so important (and impressive, since you had to custom-make parts to do so). But you really need to lean more on "show" and less on "tell" here: UA-cam is a visual medium, and seeing you switch out the components would be so much more effective, communication-wise.
i have owned my icx sc2 for a few years now and i will say it is 110% worth it to do a thermal paste replaceaent after a few years, i went from 72-75c down to freaking 60-64c
Still glad I watercooled my 1070 ftw. I know vrm could stand the heat but no one talked about the the neighboring vram modules anymore. And considering pascal likes low temps my card runs at 2150 24/7 now so that's a benefit
Another reason to upgrade from the ACX cards (And my reason for paying the 100$ fee) is to prepare yourself for SLI. I don't think EVGA is going to be selling ACX anymore and it would make it much easier to get a matching GPU in the future.
Looks like EVGA are trying to rebuild that customer loyalty. I had to have my ACX 1080 FTW replaced because it started to black screen on me, but I gotta give it to EVGA- they were quick to help me with my Advance RMA. Very happy with the current card (even if the ACX cooler is ugly AF) but other than that... Hopefully EVGA has learned their lesson.
FYI I purchased this EVGA GTX ACX 1080 SC 2 months ago. Amazon is allowing me to return it with full credit to my card due to the fact they are releasing a new version of their GPU. I explained the situation to Amazon and received a manager approval then I pre ordered the new ICX model.
I have to applaud EVGA for this. It's not really necessary, it cost them plenty of money to do it, and they are giving a good deal to original purchasers. Oh, and great vid, GN!
I've never had many issues with my EVGA 1070 FTW. I've torture tested it a few times and works great. Yes the backplate gets a little hot but the card stayed strong during tests. The fans work and the sound doesn't bother me since I don't hear it anyway unless I turn the fan speed up. I used to have coil whining but after a few months it finally stopped the coil whine. I have the free thermal pads but have not installed them and won't unless it needs it. Maybe the card kicked in finally. I got that powerlink from EVGA and seems to work well. I might have just got a good card. I heard back when it was released if I remember right people having memory issues with that micron memory but luckily mine has Samsung and never had issues. Only real issues I found were some of the driver updates NVidia has. some of driver updates broke features or worse. This has happened 2 times so far will all the updates. So I had to revert until they fixed it a few updates later. Nice 1080 FTW2 and SC2 ICX video. EVGA has the best god tier support. I've used there support it's the best I've ever used with any company.
You deserve more subs , best in depth Tech coverage out there ! Request>> Can you do more motherboard reviews . When picking a motherboard i care more about the VRM's / and thermals then i do about pure features it would be nice if someone went over that more ! thanks ! I'm going to be come a Patreon once i get a bit more income for now , your ad's are whitelisted !
I found ftw2 lower price than acx and i buy it, after 1 mounth i test this with 2x arctic fans on front and 2x arctic fans on back (because stock fans are very very loud) and surprise max temp 54 C and very quiet. Now i want to make a case for new design. Overall is a good card.
It's unbelievable that people still buy into the "overheating" nonsense with the ACX 1080s, when your testing demonstrated beyond any reasonable doubt that the issue was something else. From the very start, I could smell this coming. VRMs get hot. Much hotter than what Tom's thermal imaging initially measured, in some cases. In any event, the temperatures observed were CLEARLY not high enough to cause flames to shoot out of your tower. It was component level failure, end of discussion. What EVGA should've done, rather than appease the buying public with this unnecessary, marketing horseshit, was RECALL the initial batch of 1080 cards, once the supplier of the defective component had been identified. But here we are now, with a cooling solution everybody mistakenly asked for, that no one actually needs.
Yep was totally a problem with their custom board(FTW) that had a different phase design, so different components. Although both sourced from OnSemi...question is if it was an initial design flaw or if the components themselves for the FTW originating from OnSemi had a higher failure rate.
Oafah because not a lot of people know it or they don't really care the specific details. most of people just want evga card. but thankfully, I'm not that kind of person
I don't claim to be an engineer myself, but whether it was the MOSFETs or Caps or the magic dildo in my ass, two out of the three could be easily measured with a multimeter and we'd know for sure. If only EVGA had the good sense to look into the problem at the time.
For once my inpatients paid off. I couldn't wait for the FTW's to come in stock so I went with a Strix 1080. I can say I'm really happy I didn't get EVGA this time around.
So I'm curious if you be willing to test the evga hybrid kit on the new icx cards. To test how good/bad the hybrid kit did at cooling the other components compared to stock cooler and also if the hybrid kit will even fit on the new cards.
The step up should really be at most 50 bucks but I don't mind spending the 99 considering better overclocking potential and less noise. To be honest, EVGA should just own up and take the hit and give people who bought 3.0 coolers before December free upgrades but..whatever.
I know the thermocouple tests are a lot of work, but could you do a comparison to different 1080 coolers, from ASUS or MSI for example? Most reviews just compare GPU temps, ignoring the rest of the PCB. I would be very interested how others coolers hold up in regards to VRM temps. Cooler and backplate design differ a lot between manufacturers. EVGA and MSI use a plate on the PCB front. This usually covers VRAM and VRM. While on ASUS and Gigabyte cards the fin stack makes direct contact to the VRMs. With backplates, most are just cosmetic, while others at least use thermalpads. I would not be surprised if most other backplates are designed after looks only, like the old EVGA one was.
I just got my EVGA GTX 1080 SC ACX 3.0 replacement from the manufacturer... All of a sudden when I tried to turn my PC on, nothing would happen. No fans, no image onscreen, no drive activity, nothing. Same symptoms when trying the GPU on a different system. I did notice the extra thermal pads that were absent on my old card.
If you ramped up your energy a bit, think LTT, this could be a killer channel. Not saying it isn't good now, just saying that entertainment and reviews can go hand in hand.
The only reason I can think you don't have more subs and views is because this is too deep for general users to understand and only enthusiasts are subbing, I think investing in a new style of presentation of these videos will go a long way.. This video had so much good data but the video did make me drowsy because of the way it was presented, getting some good video shots of the product plus some soft music in some parts of the videos along with just simple humour and better graphs visually will help (honestly just positive criticism)
Its kind of unfair how you explain really good this and you have less views than Jay for example, that his video is just a quick view on the new things in the cooler.... Hope people realize of your good very professional content.
So if I were to buy one of these video cards, which one would I buy? Would I buy the FTW, FTW2, or SC2? Thank you for your review, but it is hard to understand for a non-tech person.
upgrade for $100 to ICX > get 3 months of step up program > step up to 1080 ti. ...now the only question is WHEN will the 1080 ti actually release? i need a DATE people! and i'm sure me putting Thermal Pads inside my GPU myself has increased the resale value of the card in the eyes of the guy who is going to buy it from me eventually... i mean on top of the circle jerk about the cards exploding... yeah, no. But i REALLY like the brushed aluminum backplate, the FTW2 backplayte looks less good imho. oh well...
so do I call new egg or evga to get the trade in done? I just bought the acx 1070 sc couple weeks ago hasn't Ben used yet cause I haven't had time to finish my new build. 100 bucks more isn't to bad but that almost a 1080 price that I pay for a 1070
So if I upgrade, does that "reset" me to a new 90 days for the step up program? It seems that way by looking at their website. That alone might be a good reason (along with resale value) to pay the $100 premium, also because I have the original ACX without the thermal pads still. Especially with the 1080ti possibly around the corner. What do you guys think?
Do I need a receipt or other proof of purchase to upgrade for $100? (I schemed the long and detailed article, but didn't see the info or a link to upgrade info.)
Too bad the cards cost nearly the same as an EVGA GTX 1080 Hybrid, basically negating any positive effects of the FTW2 when a hybrid FTW under liquid is $5 less, completely negating the point for new buyers of getting an ICX card. I do hope that they continue these style of heat sensors with the next series of Nvidia GPUs, but the pricing right now is just terrible comparatively.
You also don't have to deal with that with literally any air cooled card, which are also pretty much 'all' at least $50 cheaper than the ICX variants, minus the highest end Asus Strix 1080 and the Zotac Amp Extreme. So by your own logic, you could save yourself even more money, get a 1080 that overlocks near-identically, and just get an 'entry-level' GTX 1080, for upwards of $110 in savings. That still makes the ICX cards terribly priced, still confirming my original point that the cards were overpriced for what they're offering. --- A Zotac GTX 1080 Amp is currently $580 on Amazon ( I got mine for $565) and it's boost is 1822 --- The ICX FTW2 of the EVGA GTX 1080 is currently $679.99, and it's boost clock is 1860 The short answer is that they're overpriced, even ignoring the fact the the FTW2 is more expensive than a liquid cooled variant. The Zotac GTX 1080 Amp Extreme is $650, has three fans, and a boost clock of 1911, making it both cheaper than the ICX FTW2, and (most likely) having better cooling results all the while having a better boost out of the box. If you or anyone else wants the card, that's completely fine, but I'm simply stating that it's far beyond the price of reasonable compared to the other GPUs within that same price bracket. But if you want the card, good for you, and I hope you're happy with it.
Paul, Jay & BitWit did the same crap as they did with the corsair Platinum Keyboard, releasing the same review simultaneously come on guys, I don't wan't to see the same stuff several times. BUT After Jay and Bitwit's reviews go in complete opposite directions, I'm glad some pros (GN) giving us the real deal. Looking forward to watch your Version now
Please help a noob install my first GPU!!!! I have the EVGA G2 650w and the gtx 1080 Ftw2, but I can't seem to power it 🤔 It needs dual 8 pin, but my PSU doesn't have that. It has a 6+2 pin with another 6 pin coming off of that. How do I power this thing???
Waiting for 1080Ti SLI Classifieds but my question is, is a 4790K going to bottleneck the cards? Running 980Ti Classifieds SLI right now and 4K60 Ultra doesn't cut it with these cards.
Anyone can help me ? What is the best choice between :- 1) Acer XB321HK (32'' ips G-sync ) 2) Acer XB271HK (27'' ips G-sync) 3) Asus PG27AQ (27'' ips G-sync )
Disclaimer I have already half made up my mind on what I want to do. But if I am still within my 90 step up grace period for my ftw 1070 (purchased Black Friday) would you be more likely to recommend upgrading? I am a sucker for bells and whistles and for the difference in msrp of the two cards it seems worthwhile to go ahead and get the upgrade.
Thx for the vid so is this the 1080 EVGA should have released in the 1st place...but its ok do u all ready have a EVGA ftw 1080 if yes it will just cost u another $99 to have it :(
I have had my Upgraded GTX 1080 SC2 ICX for 4 days and it just exploded. Monitor went black, loud pop and sparks from the GPU and smoke all over the place.
so I have a question concerning EVGA and any other gpu or motherboard manufacturer using the doublers and other schemes concerning power phases vrm etc... isn't that false advertising when it says it's 10 phase but in all actuality it's using a doubler. They do it to save on money to make cards cheaper but it builds mistrust between consumer and companies. Some of these guys even charge higher prices than brands that actually use true power phases claiming their card or board is of equal over clocking performance. Please continue to bring these cheap bastards to light. Thanks Steve and GN
what about if i don't own ACX but the price different is almost $100? one is 400 the other one is $490 probably u should not get ICX and just get ICX or get another aftermarket GPU if u don't trust ACX 3.0
I'm getting 62c full load in Witcher 3 at a 60% fan speed with thermal mod in place and aftermarket TC. I also get 2025 boost out of the box no overclock. no way I'm exchanging my card lol
If its even a mistake i feel like they just cheeped out and wanted to save some money but ya if it was really a mistake they should make up for it and trade up for free or at least cheaper then 100$.
@Biased Milk Hotel You say free thermal pads but some places out of the US couldn't get them free and also even having to RMA a card because a "mistake" or cheeped out sucks because your system would be down a few days or a week etc.
They had an offer where you could "buy" a new card and send in your old one and when they recieved it they would refund your money so you wouldn't have any downtime at all. EVGA customer service is fantastic.
Hey, everyone! Thanks for watching, as always. This was a few days of work and writing for us. If you're curious about how we do our testing or to read more about how this card works, check the article linked below. We'll also link to videos from Paul, Kyle, & Jay so you can get some other perspectives on the ICX cards:
Thank you to our Patreon supporters for making this easier: goo.gl/Z9ABza
Full article: www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews/2799-evga-gtx-1080-ftw2-sc2-icx-in-depth-thermal-analysis
Check out reviews from our friends to get multiple perspectives:
Paul's HW: ua-cam.com/video/xuZX4O78XHI/v-deo.html
Bitwit: ua-cam.com/video/ZOf_tBPkYZo/v-deo.html
Jay: ua-cam.com/video/5U-OCvcV7Yw/v-deo.html
Hi, Stever Burke, can i know y EVGA didn't use the black thermal pad like previous ACX 3.0 & using the same vbios too? thanks.
*ahem* once i saw the yellowish thermal pad, i knew is low quality. i read your article stated 1.2 W/mk but i think should be just 1W/mk (not a big deal cos the pad is totally crap)
by the way, the both unit is samsung or micron for GTX 1070?
So seeing how we are not seeing tons of EVGA cards catch fire, and you know the number of people who installed the free thermal pads is low like 20% at highest low, the issue seems to have been a bad batch of components right, so why has EVGA not came out and said this, there are still so many comments of people crying that EVGA would not give them a refund or will not replace their ACX card with a free ICX card and now they have a GPU that overheats and will catch fire, even Paul and Jay have talked about how the new cards fix the overheating issues..... yet this was never the issue right?
The VRM temperatures were never the issue, correct. We still firmly believe it was a bad batch of components, possibly a cap, from one of the suppliers. VRM thermals were fine in our previous testing.
Thanks for this video . As a owner of a 1070ftw an had the exchange on card done this helps me a ton. Again your channel is like how Maximum PC used to be. Even got noticed by a certian Grodon on a PCWorld podcast.
Keep up the good work.
Is this really worth getting instead of just getting the FTW Hybrid for like $20-$30 more?
Man, I need to get myself some fancy thermal probes.
Are you flirting with me?
Gamers Nexus I think he just enjoys probing for information
But I thought you like being probed.
Cause Jay won't let you borrow his FLIR camera?
LOL Steve
I feel bad for Paul, Kyle, Jayz and the others after watching this.
This review is so comprehensive and conclusive, there is no real reason to frequent their videos anymore.
Well, I might just watch their videos out of pity.
This is so true now . I tend to not even bother with others if GN already has a video up !
3R45U5 Steve is the best, no contest. The other guys' content just look like fast food compared to this.
Praise tech Jebus
17:40 "People who may feel burned by their previous purchase" I see what you did there!
Real temp benchmarks. Yay. May upgrade to the ICX for sound improvements and resale like you mentioned but probably won't because I've already done the thermal pad upgrade on my ACX, and taking the card out of my PC sounds like too much of a pain. I'm very lazy. Lol.
Snazzy Labs Why would you spend 650$ on the same card? That's not an upgrade, it's exactly the same thing. I mean it's your money though that doesn't make it a smart decision.
If you watch the video, you'll notice Steve mention that EVGA is offering a $99 upgrade to ACX owners. :)
Snazzy Labs Allright. Point still stands. Just swap 650$ with 100$. It's still not worth it. He said it himself.
I'm so lazy that when i get a new video notification, it feels like switching on the laptop is too much work and so i just watch it on my phone. U must be my lost bro.lol
So you are telling me you even thought of giving EVGA more of your money after that fuck up?
These tests! Can I get a DNA sample, Steve? I can hire your clone immediately.
Bitwit You know, I've thought a lot about this and I've decided that clone me would be unhappy with the depth of testing. We'd have Goatee Nexus with the Evil version testing in a week.
Or, even more scary, you could end up with a Wheezy Waiter "sexy clone" version, and with your hair, the world would explode...
crossover content often does well and i would support more of it. clones or not.
Great idea to compare these after the ACXgate on the 1070 and 1080s from EVGA.
I think it got way blown out of proportion, but we expect companies to EVGA to be the highest standard.
The amount of product lines EVGA has for the same cards is kinda ridiculous...
this is why you should always fire half of your middle managers , they are so useless they ruin companies , they always come up with shitty ideas just to prove that they doing something ...
It's also bad for their own profit or sales. Because then they have to make a bunch of inventory for 6 different cards, and if 1 type or card doesnt sell that well for whatever reason, then they will lose money for no reason. If they have just 2 type of cards (regular and superclocked) then chances of that happening are low.
Thank you for this. Other tech yt has posted a video about this with what is essentially worthless info. Just stresstesting the gpu and checking the overall temps in software. This convinced me, def going for ICX later on, I guess peace of mind is priceless.
Damn amigo, compared to every other reviewer you guys are the real deal. Great work and best of luck for the channel.
Thanks for the great video. Love the in depth analysis as always! Keep up the great work.
Again with amazing quality in your content. Thanks for the info, Steve and comp.!
As Someone who works on electronics more so on the Hardware Level, I can respect the lengths you went for these tests.Great Video.
This is like the best tech channel ever I have no idea what's being explained but I like it
Awesome video. Gamers Nexus is great. It's good to watch videos and read articles by someone as informed and unbiased as Steve. Keep up the good work!
Was sent here from Bitwit, a good informative vid, but this was very thorough IMHO. I am wanting to upgrade my 8+year gaming PC and a $20+ premium added for a much better cooled GPU I am all in, plus the re-sale value. Thanks and subscribed! I really like the more technical details and explanations.
i love how deep you go into all the stuff, keep it up!
This was very helpful. EVGA has the refurbished ACX 1080s on sale for under $400 on their website ... I just picked one up.
> iCX costs $30 more than their ACX 3.0 counterparts
> ACX 3.0 to iCX Step-Up costs $99
or you can spend $450, $470, $650, or $680, $100 dose not seem that bad now does it?
Kirinketsu so you feel the need to justify a 3x price hike because of that?
Or you can not buy EVGA and get a fit for purpose cooler and non-exploding VRMs first time around.
WHY should EVGA give you a 100% refund for your old card? Cry moar.
Aretak gamers Nexus concluded that it was the caps not the VRM that exploded
Great Video guys - as always. Happy with my ACX 3.0 1080 - I only changed the bios and left the thermal pads as is. The only thing tempting me by the upgrade is the additional 90 days for Step Up with the TI announcement looming around the corner. Going to wait until the 27th before making my decision lol
Thanks for the video. I'll just update my bios and apply the thermal pads to my ACX cooler, and keep the $100. The kit came in the mail yesterday :)
Thanks for the video. Helped me decide just now. I'll pick up the ICX
Gamer Nexus... really underrated youtube channel. I always watch steve talk... kinda reminds me of hardcore metal vocalist guy giving PC reviews
I assumed he was a skater initially. Dunno why, that was just my initial impression.
Initial, initial, initial.
Its nice watching videos from the before times
Your quality seriously is in disproportion with your subs. Gib moar subs 2 GN!
@RoboDog: I completely agree. Steve and the rest of the Gamers Nexus crew consistently put out some of the most rigorous hardware analysis around. It's really refreshing to see content like this, where the authors are are not only entertaining, but also well informed and able to back up their claims with __empirical_evidence__. Keep up the good work!
If they keep putting out quality videos and articles like they are eventually the subs will come.
sircolby45 no, if you realize people want to be entertained and really most viewers don't give a shit about the intricacies of doing in-depth analysis....check jaytwocents, Linus etc, they don't get too detailed, crack off the cuff jokes and seem goofy, now look at their subs.....get the picture?
But what if they're high quality subs?
This analysis and review deserves a slow clap while standing.
EVGA should have given this cards with ICX cooler to every customer with ACX cooler free of charge, since they fucked up really bad with their useless "band aid" thermal pads and bios changes.
Their useless bandaid? Did you even listen to anything that was said in this video, or did you just decide to comment without even watching it?
Yes useless, since those cards with ACX 3.0 coolers are going to die in next 6 months - 1 year
Right, those gpus set themselves on fire because reasons...
False rumors? I don't even have time to talk to you, you are probably another stubborn EVGA fanboy. Can't wait to see you bitching in 6 months with why your band aid card died.
Then you get a new card with the ICX tech in it when you RMA it to get a new card since EVGA has a 3 year warranty on their cards.
They owned up to the whole thing and rebuilt their cards from the ground up with new patents.
Super job Steve, congrats to you and your team for a first rate analysis. Despite your channels comparative size I'm glad to see that EVGA recognized Gamers Nexus for their contribution to the VRM story and had you out to their factory for a first look at their engineering response. This review of the thermal improvements is by far the most comprehensive of the early ICX reviews. JaysTwoCents did mention having problems with getting the fan control software to accept custom fan curve settings, did you have similar problems? Despite this I think EVGA will get a big PR boost from this and the other aftermarket vendors will have to scramble to play catch up.
Good stuff. Hope this catches on with the rest of these manufacturers. I'm tired of having to balance these VRM temps on this newer card, especially when trying to overclock, want something to cool those directly.
The thoroughness of your testing puts other "techtubers" to shame. Amazing review, as always.
Thank you for the indepth insight into the new cards and your suggestions. I wasvery worried about evga gtx1080 ftw thermals where several reported burning of mb and overheating. Now I know I need to get ftw2.
you guys should be getting paid by the manufacturers for doing this level of testing, especially if it begins to influence how they design their hardware.
BTW awesome video and I love your in-depth analysis
I appreciate Steve getting technical on the card's components. It's pretty funny, they did go bat shit crazy on thermal pads... 😀
EVGA to consumers: "Here are your damn thermal pads!"
You sound so enthusiastic!
Not our objective with this channel.
Gamers Nexus still love you guys
The point about using the exact same card is so important (and impressive, since you had to custom-make parts to do so). But you really need to lean more on "show" and less on "tell" here: UA-cam is a visual medium, and seeing you switch out the components would be so much more effective, communication-wise.
i have owned my icx sc2 for a few years now and i will say it is 110% worth it to do a thermal paste replaceaent after a few years, i went from 72-75c down to freaking 60-64c
Still glad I watercooled my 1070 ftw.
I know vrm could stand the heat but no one talked about the the neighboring vram modules anymore. And considering pascal likes low temps my card runs at 2150 24/7 now so that's a benefit
yup its that lowering the temps down to 50c vs 80c it just pulls like 1/2 the power man
Another reason to upgrade from the ACX cards (And my reason for paying the 100$ fee) is to prepare yourself for SLI. I don't think EVGA is going to be selling ACX anymore and it would make it much easier to get a matching GPU in the future.
As always best review...
You deserve more subs.
Kyle and Paul sent me here. subbed!
Looks like EVGA are trying to rebuild that customer loyalty. I had to have my ACX 1080 FTW replaced because it started to black screen on me, but I gotta give it to EVGA- they were quick to help me with my Advance RMA. Very happy with the current card (even if the ACX cooler is ugly AF) but other than that... Hopefully EVGA has learned their lesson.
FYI I purchased this EVGA GTX ACX 1080 SC 2 months ago. Amazon is allowing me to return it with full credit to my card due to the fact they are releasing a new version of their GPU. I explained the situation to Amazon and received a manager approval then I pre ordered the new ICX model.
Man Old Spice Commercials are really funny, just had one here xD
Great video as always. I'm not even planning on getting a 1080 any time soon but watching this is like tech porn for me.
I have to applaud EVGA for this. It's not really necessary, it cost them plenty of money to do it, and they are giving a good deal to original purchasers.
Oh, and great vid, GN!
I've never had many issues with my EVGA 1070 FTW. I've torture tested it a few times and works great. Yes the backplate gets a little hot but the card stayed strong during tests. The fans work and the sound doesn't bother me since I don't hear it anyway unless I turn the fan speed up. I used to have coil whining but after a few months it finally stopped the coil whine. I have the free thermal pads but have not installed them and won't unless it needs it. Maybe the card kicked in finally. I got that powerlink from EVGA and seems to work well. I might have just got a good card. I heard back when it was released if I remember right people having memory issues with that micron memory but luckily mine has Samsung and never had issues. Only real issues I found were some of the driver updates NVidia has. some of driver updates broke features or worse. This has happened 2 times so far will all the updates. So I had to revert until they fixed it a few updates later. Nice 1080 FTW2 and SC2 ICX video. EVGA has the best god tier support. I've used there support it's the best I've ever used with any company.
You deserve more subs , best in depth Tech coverage out there ! Request>> Can you do more motherboard reviews . When picking a motherboard i care more about the VRM's / and thermals then i do about pure features it would be nice if someone went over that more ! thanks ! I'm going to be come a Patreon once i get a bit more income for now , your ad's are whitelisted !
Thank you for the support! We are trying to do more board reviews, but hard to find the time.
you already do so much I understand , I can't imagine the hours you work ! Hopefully your income increases and you can hire staff !
I found ftw2 lower price than acx and i buy it, after 1 mounth i test this with 2x arctic fans on front and 2x arctic fans on back (because stock fans are very very loud) and surprise max temp 54 C and very quiet. Now i want to make a case for new design. Overall is a good card.
It's unbelievable that people still buy into the "overheating" nonsense with the ACX 1080s, when your testing demonstrated beyond any reasonable doubt that the issue was something else.
From the very start, I could smell this coming. VRMs get hot. Much hotter than what Tom's thermal imaging initially measured, in some cases. In any event, the temperatures observed were CLEARLY not high enough to cause flames to shoot out of your tower.
It was component level failure, end of discussion. What EVGA should've done, rather than appease the buying public with this unnecessary, marketing horseshit, was RECALL the initial batch of 1080 cards, once the supplier of the defective component had been identified.
But here we are now, with a cooling solution everybody mistakenly asked for, that no one actually needs.
Yep was totally a problem with their custom board(FTW) that had a different phase design, so different components. Although both sourced from OnSemi...question is if it was an initial design flaw or if the components themselves for the FTW originating from OnSemi had a higher failure rate.
Oafah because not a lot of people know it or they don't really care the specific details. most of people just want evga card. but thankfully, I'm not that kind of person
It was most likely the capacitors that were at fault since it was around them that there were burn marks and whatever.
Not the caps, they were fed incorrect voltage from out of spec IC's (mosfets)
I don't claim to be an engineer myself, but whether it was the MOSFETs or Caps or the magic dildo in my ass, two out of the three could be easily measured with a multimeter and we'd know for sure.
If only EVGA had the good sense to look into the problem at the time.
For once my inpatients paid off. I couldn't wait for the FTW's to come in stock so I went with a Strix 1080. I can say I'm really happy I didn't get EVGA this time around.
Whelp. Last EVGA card for me or any of my friends. Their PSU is top notch tho.
So I'm curious if you be willing to test the evga hybrid kit on the new icx cards. To test how good/bad the hybrid kit did at cooling the other components compared to stock cooler and also if the hybrid kit will even fit on the new cards.
The step up should really be at most 50 bucks but I don't mind spending the 99 considering better overclocking potential and less noise. To be honest, EVGA should just own up and take the hit and give people who bought 3.0 coolers before December free upgrades but..whatever.
I know the thermocouple tests are a lot of work, but could you do a comparison to different 1080 coolers, from ASUS or MSI for example?
Most reviews just compare GPU temps, ignoring the rest of the PCB. I would be very interested how others coolers hold up in regards to VRM temps.
Cooler and backplate design differ a lot between manufacturers.
EVGA and MSI use a plate on the PCB front. This usually covers VRAM and VRM.
While on ASUS and Gigabyte cards the fin stack makes direct contact to the VRMs.
With backplates, most are just cosmetic, while others at least use thermalpads. I would not be surprised if most other backplates are designed after looks only, like the old EVGA one was.
Hoping to! And yes, they certainly are. But we're working on that.
Awesome! Keep up the good and in depth work.
I just got my EVGA GTX 1080 SC ACX 3.0 replacement from the manufacturer... All of a sudden when I tried to turn my PC on, nothing would happen. No fans, no image onscreen, no drive activity, nothing. Same symptoms when trying the GPU on a different system. I did notice the extra thermal pads that were absent on my old card.
If you ramped up your energy a bit, think LTT, this could be a killer channel. Not saying it isn't good now, just saying that entertainment and reviews can go hand in hand.
The only reason I can think you don't have more subs and views is because this is too deep for general users to understand and only enthusiasts are subbing, I think investing in a new style of presentation of these videos will go a long way.. This video had so much good data but the video did make me drowsy because of the way it was presented, getting some good video shots of the product plus some soft music in some parts of the videos along with just simple humour and better graphs visually will help (honestly just positive criticism)
Its kind of unfair how you explain really good this and you have less views than Jay for example, that his video is just a quick view on the new things in the cooler.... Hope people realize of your good very professional content.
So if I were to buy one of these video cards, which one would I buy? Would I buy the FTW, FTW2, or SC2? Thank you for your review, but it is hard to understand for a non-tech person.
1:57 Ryan Shrout siting!
man that is awsome so i can trade it in and then sell it / then buy at 1080ti
upgrade for $100 to ICX > get 3 months of step up program > step up to 1080 ti.
...now the only question is WHEN will the 1080 ti actually release? i need a DATE people!
and i'm sure me putting Thermal Pads inside my GPU myself has increased the resale value of the card in the eyes of the guy who is going to buy it from me eventually... i mean on top of the circle jerk about the cards exploding... yeah, no.
But i REALLY like the brushed aluminum backplate, the FTW2 backplayte looks less good imho. oh well...
yeah, that FTW 2 back plate looks like shit
Ima hold out till the GTX 1080Ti comes out, then I'll get this ICX cooler with it xD
Keep an eye on a B-stock sale soon.
Yeah, on the store on the company website. I've seen some awesome deals there before.
so do I call new egg or evga to get the trade in done? I just bought the acx 1070 sc couple weeks ago hasn't Ben used yet cause I haven't had time to finish my new build. 100 bucks more isn't to bad but that almost a 1080 price that I pay for a 1070
I hope EVGA makes Radoen VEGA cards.
Thats a bomb in the making
They have a deal with Nvidia that would not allow them to make AMD cards at this point.
NVIDIA is gonna be salty and gonna remove EVGA as partner. That's what happened to XFX.
Then why can other partners offer both, like Asus??
Hi, is it worth paying more for the GTX 1070 FTW2 instead of the GTX 1070 SC2? I prefer EVGA over Asus and MSI for its customer support...
For the price of the EVGA iCX Upgrade fee, I'd rather buy the Hybrid kit.
So, Classified version was not affected with VRM overheating and don't need an upgrade like this?
Damn Steve the other youtubers need to learn about your methodology, you're wayyy too thorough it's like nerd heaven
Do you know if there will be and ICX replacement for the Hydro series EVGA water cooled 1080 cards aswell?
So if I upgrade, does that "reset" me to a new 90 days for the step up program? It seems that way by looking at their website.
That alone might be a good reason (along with resale value) to pay the $100 premium, also because I have the original ACX without the thermal pads still. Especially with the 1080ti possibly around the corner. What do you guys think?
Do I need a receipt or other proof of purchase to upgrade for $100? (I schemed the long and detailed article, but didn't see the info or a link to upgrade info.)
Any big difference performance/temp/throttling wise between SC and SC2? (1080ti)
Thanks
What is the difference between a SC GPU (1080) and a SC2?
Too bad the cards cost nearly the same as an EVGA GTX 1080 Hybrid, basically negating any positive effects of the FTW2 when a hybrid FTW under liquid is $5 less, completely negating the point for new buyers of getting an ICX card. I do hope that they continue these style of heat sensors with the next series of Nvidia GPUs, but the pricing right now is just terrible comparatively.
I don't have to deal with mounting a radiator or looking out for leaks or pump failure on my Folding/BOINC rig.
You also don't have to deal with that with literally any air cooled card, which are also pretty much 'all' at least $50 cheaper than the ICX variants, minus the highest end Asus Strix 1080 and the Zotac Amp Extreme.
So by your own logic, you could save yourself even more money, get a 1080 that overlocks near-identically, and just get an 'entry-level' GTX 1080, for upwards of $110 in savings. That still makes the ICX cards terribly priced, still confirming my original point that the cards were overpriced for what they're offering.
--- A Zotac GTX 1080 Amp is currently $580 on Amazon ( I got mine for $565) and it's boost is 1822
--- The ICX FTW2 of the EVGA GTX 1080 is currently $679.99, and it's boost clock is 1860
The short answer is that they're overpriced, even ignoring the fact the the FTW2 is more expensive than a liquid cooled variant. The Zotac GTX 1080 Amp Extreme is $650, has three fans, and a boost clock of 1911, making it both cheaper than the ICX FTW2, and (most likely) having better cooling results all the while having a better boost out of the box. If you or anyone else wants the card, that's completely fine, but I'm simply stating that it's far beyond the price of reasonable compared to the other GPUs within that same price bracket. But if you want the card, good for you, and I hope you're happy with it.
Paul, Jay & BitWit did the same crap as they did with the corsair Platinum Keyboard, releasing the same review simultaneously come on guys, I don't wan't to see the same stuff several times. BUT After Jay and Bitwit's reviews go in complete opposite directions, I'm glad some pros (GN) giving us the real deal. Looking forward to watch your Version now
That's how NDAs work. Hate the lawyer, not the game.
We need a modded Bios so we can put that power design to the test. These overbuilt PCBs on Pascal cards are just pointless...
Will you make an ICX Hybrid?
Please help a noob install my first GPU!!!! I have the EVGA G2 650w and the gtx 1080 Ftw2, but I can't seem to power it 🤔 It needs dual 8 pin, but my PSU doesn't have that. It has a 6+2 pin with another 6 pin coming off of that. How do I power this thing???
Waiting for 1080Ti SLI Classifieds but my question is, is a 4790K going to bottleneck the cards? Running 980Ti Classifieds SLI right now and 4K60 Ultra doesn't cut it with these cards.
zerocool No it wont as long as you overclock it higher thab 4.5ghz.
I wonder if water block manufacturers will be making blocks for this? Seems unlikely, unless these things start selling like mad.
Does anyone know if the PCB design used on the SC2 is the same as the one on the SC?
Anyone can help me ?
What is the best choice between :-
1) Acer XB321HK (32'' ips G-sync )
2) Acer XB271HK (27'' ips G-sync)
3) Asus PG27AQ (27'' ips G-sync )
Disclaimer I have already half made up my mind on what I want to do.
But if I am still within my 90 step up grace period for my ftw 1070 (purchased Black Friday) would you be more likely to recommend upgrading? I am a sucker for bells and whistles and for the difference in msrp of the two cards it seems worthwhile to go ahead and get the upgrade.
Do it! If you want.
Does anyone know the backplate and heat sink screw sizes?
Does the ICX 1070 ship with Samsung GDDR5 instead of Micron? If so then I'm definitely interested
I dunno, sourcing from another company with exploding merchandise? Teh internets will go crazy.
But did it pass some proper quality control?
Thx for the vid
so is this the 1080 EVGA should have released in the 1st place...but its ok do u all ready have a EVGA ftw 1080 if yes it will just cost u another $99 to have it :(
I have had my Upgraded GTX 1080 SC2 ICX for 4 days and it just exploded. Monitor went black, loud pop and sparks from the GPU and smoke all over the place.
so the ACX cooler is superior to the ICX one?
so I have a question concerning EVGA and any other gpu or motherboard manufacturer using the doublers and other schemes concerning power phases vrm etc... isn't that false advertising when it says it's 10 phase but in all actuality it's using a doubler. They do it to save on money to make cards cheaper but it builds mistrust between consumer and companies. Some of these guys even charge higher prices than brands that actually use true power phases claiming their card or board is of equal over clocking performance. Please continue to bring these cheap bastards to light. Thanks Steve and GN
My 1st gen FTW is boosting to 2050 Stock
what about if i don't own ACX but the price different is almost $100? one is 400 the other one is $490
probably u should not get ICX and just get ICX or get another aftermarket GPU if u don't trust ACX 3.0
I'm getting 62c full load in Witcher 3 at a 60% fan speed with thermal mod in place and aftermarket TC. I also get 2025 boost out of the box no overclock. no way I'm exchanging my card lol
Is that on the ACX model then? How has that panned out for you?
"new found obsession with thermal pads" hehehe
Isn't the acx 1070 and 1080 there manufacturing mistake not ours should they not give the owners of the acx a FREE upgrade without any 100$
Did you listen to Steve's suggestion that iCX is not necessary and ACX 3.0 is fine, so long as the thermal pads are applied?
If its even a mistake i feel like they just cheeped out and wanted to save some money but ya if it was really a mistake they should make up for it and trade up for free or at least cheaper then 100$.
@Biased Milk Hotel You say free thermal pads but some places out of the US couldn't get them free and also even having to RMA a card because a "mistake" or cheeped out sucks because your system would be down a few days or a week etc.
They had an offer where you could "buy" a new card and send in your old one and when they recieved it they would refund your money so you wouldn't have any downtime at all. EVGA customer service is fantastic.
If your in the us lol
So what I learnt was keep my acx it runs cooler...