A closer look at GTX 1070 FTW

EVGA has created the ACX 2.0 cooler for the Geforce 900 series. We were impressed with the cooling performance and the build quality. In the GTX 1000 series EVGA has crafted an 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 new GTX 1070 FTW, the GTX 980 Ti FTW and the GTX 980 Ti Classified.

GTX 1080 FTW

GTX 1070 FTW

GTX 980 Ti FTW

GTX 980 Ti Classified

As you can see the GTX 1070 FTW graphics card is almost visually identical with the GTX 1080 FTW graphics card. Both have the same ACX 3.0 cooler, the only difference is the mesh used for the shroud of the GTX 1070 FTW is white.

The GTX 1070 FTW measures 26.67cm x 12.86cm, and this confirms 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 1070 shows that almost all of them have made oversized coolers  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 1070 FTW keeps the standard width. However, the oversized 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. 

With the GTX 1080 FTW we had a hard time with removing the film. Oddly, there were 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.


GTX 1080 FTW

With the GTX 1070 FTW things got better, at least we could remove the  film quickly, since it was not screwed in.


GTX 1070 FTW

Still, there is one place on the cooler where we could not remove the film completely, as shown on the image below.