When comparing EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 SC Gaming ACX 3.0 vs ASUS RoG Strix GTX 1080 Aura RGB OC, the Slant community recommends ASUS RoG Strix GTX 1080 Aura RGB OC for most people. In the question“What are the best GTX 1080 cards?” ASUS RoG Strix GTX 1080 Aura RGB OC is ranked 1st while EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 SC Gaming ACX 3.0 is ranked 9th. The most important reason people chose ASUS RoG Strix GTX 1080 Aura RGB OC is:
GTX 1080 is the most powerful consumer-level GPU offered by Nvidia that's currently on the market. At 1440p with highest available settings it has an average fps of 116.5 for Dirt Rally, 101.9 for Battlefield 4 and 75.8 for GTA V. Compared to the previous high-end NVIDIA GPU, the GTX 980 Ti, that's an average performance increase of 20%. The RoG Strix offers even better performance due to 10% faster clock speed compared to a regular GTX 1080.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Great ACX 3.0 cooler prevents throttling
The EVGA GTX 1080 ACX 3.0 uses its own built-in cooling system which includes two fans. The ACX 3.0 cooler has been used on a lot of high-end graphics cards, and the GTX 1080 by EVGA is no different. In an idle situation, the EVGA GTX 1080 generally reaches temperatures up to 56° Celsius. At a first glance, that's pretty high, but the fans don't start spinning unless a temperature of 60° is reached. During full load, the EVGA GTX 1080 chip heats up to a maximum of 75 degrees Celsius - eight degrees cooler than a reference (Founders Edition) GTX 1080.
The maximum temperature of 75° C also means that throttling doesn't occur with the EVGA GTX 1080 SC Gaming ACX 3.0, something that tends to occur with other GTX 1080 cards with worse coolers. In other words, the graphics card won't slow itself down in order to stay cool: performance will be 100% at all times.
Pro Stays virtually silent
The GTX 1080 SC Gaming ACX 3.0 is a virtually silent card. In a non-gaming idle situation, the two fans of the cooler don't spin up at all - the card stays completely inaudible up to temperatures of 60° Celsius. Even during full load and intensive gaming situations, this edition of the GTX 1080 is remarkably quiet and stays under 40 decibels (when measured two inches above the motherboard in an open environment). For comparison: the reference GTX 1080 produces 45.5 dB of noise. Annoying coil whine sounds are not present in this edition either.
Pro Higher clock speed for slightly better performance
The GTX 1080 SC Gaming ACX 3.0 features a higher clockspeed compared to a reference GTX 1080, which means it has been factory overclocked to reach higher framerates and overall better performance. The base clock speed has been set at 1708 MHz, which is a 6.3% increase compared to the reference 1607 MHz. The boost clock has also received a factory overclock to 1847 MHz compared to the standard 1733 MHz, a difference of 6.5%.
This results in a slightly better performance, although practical performance differences aren't as noticeable. For example: In Rise of the Tomb Raider at 1080p and maximum settings, the SC ACX 3.0 is nearly 5 FPS faster than a regular GTX 1080. In the benchmarking suite 3D Mark Fire Strike Extreme, a GTX 1080 with reference clock speeds achieves a score of 9,387 points while the EVGA Superclocked takes the crown at 9,622 points. Although the performance differences between this overclocked card and a reference GTX 1080 are minimal, the extra power is nice to have nonetheless.
Pro Best price : performance ratio
The EVGA offers the most performance for the dollar, and is $100 cheaper than almost any other decent GTX 1080 card. It has a great cooler, and comes with a decent clock speed without compromising the noise the card makes making it a well balanced option.
Pro Relatively low energy consumption
As it only requires 1 8 pin connector, it draws much less power for those whom may not have a high wattage rating power supply. Making this more eco friendly when it comes to energy usage.
Pro Just as fast as the 1080 Founders Edition
GTX 1080 is the most powerful consumer-level GPU offered by Nvidia that's currently on the market. At 1440p with highest available settings it has an average fps of 116.5 for Dirt Rally, 101.9 for Battlefield 4 and 75.8 for GTA V. Compared to the previous high-end NVIDIA GPU, the GTX 980 Ti, that's an average performance increase of 20%. The RoG Strix offers even better performance due to 10% faster clock speed compared to a regular GTX 1080.
Pro Stellar cooler
The cooler used on this Republic of Gamers card pays off. Under full load, the GTX 1080 chip itself doesn't get hotter than 63 degrees Celsius - which is amazingly low. For comparison - a reference GTX 1080 will generate a load temperature of around 80° C. A lower temperature ensures a longer lifespan and less throttling, where the graphics card slows itself down to stay cool.
Pro Extremely silent operation
In an idle, normal situation the triple fan setup of the Asus Strix 1080 won't even spin at all and are thus completely inaudible. In gaming situations, the unique cooler works very well: measured from a distance of 1 meter, only 33.3 dBA are produced. That's less than the noise a refrigerator produces. The card doesn't suffer from irritating sounds such as coil whine.
Pro Cheaper than the GTX 1080 Founders Edition
Less expensive, but the GPU is the same and thus offers the same performance.
Pro Well optimized
NVIDIA properly optimized the GTX 1080 for DirectX. This means that games supporting DirectX 11 will see a slight performance boost, but more-so for the upcoming games using DirectX 12.
Pro Very power efficient
While performance is higher than its competitors, the GTX 1080 FE actually uses less power. The maximum amount of power consumption this GPU requires is around 185 watts, which is an improvement of over 35% compared to NVIDIA's previous generation high-end graphical card, the GTX 980 Ti. This also plays a positive role when choosing a power supply, or determining if you need to upgrade your existing PSU.
Cons
Con Hard to get due to availability issues
The GTX 1080 SC Gaming ACX 3.0 is hard to get, availability (at the recommended MSRP of $649.99) remains an issue.
Con No native support for 3- and 4-way SLI
SLI - short for Scalable Link Interface - is NVIDIA's technology of combining the power of two or more identical GPU's in order to reach a better performance. In other words, you can use multiple GTX 1080 videocards to further increase performance. Although the GTX 1080 supports 2-way SLI without a problem, NVIDIA does not offer support for 3- and 4-way SLI. The included SLI-bridge which serves as a connector between the two cards, is only compatible in a 2-way configuration. 3-way and 4-way SLI are possible, but aren't supported. You'll have to use an older SLI-bridge found on older GeForce models and you'll need to generate an 'Enthusiast Key' on NVIDIA's website. However, NVIDIA does not guarantee a 3- or 4-way configuration will provide any noticeable benefits.
Con Bulky
The Republic of Gamers Strix GTX 1080 is quite bulky due to the triple fan combination and isn't recommended for use in smaller cases.
Con Brand new hardware, risk involved in early adoption
It is unknown if there are inherent issues with this GPU (such as quality control, motherboard compatibility issues, driver issues, OS issues, etc) as it was only recently announced and has not undergone large-scale testing in the consumer market.