I plan on buying a GTX 770 from EVGA in the near future, but am not sure which one I should get. I want to get the superclocked version with the Titan blower because it looks cool, but the ACX cooling seem to perform better. What are the differences, aside from asthetics, that make the ACX or Titan blower better? Any advice or help is appreciated.
The ACX cooler as the card is actually cheaper with that cooler on it, it will overclock better than the reference cooler and it should be quieter. Hope this is of help
IMO, the reference (Titan, GTX780, etc.) cooler is actually quite good.
I recently purchased an EVGA GTX 780ti with the reference cooler purposely as I wanted the feature of exhausting hot air out of the case as opposed to the ACX / Non-ref. which simply creates additional heat load inside the case.
It also comes down to what CPU cooling you have and personal preference. If I had a radiator (like X60/H220) I would probably prefer the ACX cooler; but as I use the NH-D14, temps inside my case matter.
Previously I had a GTX 680 top with an Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme III; while it was very effective and quiet, the heat load was evident on my CPU. I have seen 5-7c difference (lower) with the new card/cooler installed.
I must say, for a reference cooler, it is pretty quiet too.
At work we have a few 2-way Titan rigs for computational biology applications (CUDA usage) and they keep fairly quiet while providing adequate cooling; even when pegged @100% for days.
"There are two kinds of people..."
Hehe. Thanks for the input guys, I will take both sides into consideration. I love the look of the reference cooler, and I am currently using the stock Intel heatsink so case temps do matter. You would think the ACX would cost more, considering it's a nonreference, but it does not. I guess I'll just have to wait till I get the money and make my decision. I guess I could put the money I don't spend on the GPU towards a CPU cooler.
I personally prefer the reference cooler myself. As was said earlier, it preforms remarkably well as a reference design (probably the best reference design in recent memory) and is fairly quiet. I also prefer that the hot air from cooling the card is pushed out the back of the case and not dumped inside, keeping the ambient internal temps low is important to me.
I'm not much of an over clocker, and i have yet to do it with my GTX 780 as I'm debating if I'm going to get a 780Ti and sell the 780 or SLi the 780. That said, the reference design seems to offer a good bit of thermal headroom if you decide to. Besides, if you are really are into pushing the outside of the envelop your going to slap a water block on it.