When comparing MSI GeForce GTX 1060 6GT OC GDDR5 6GB Dual Fan OC vs EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 Gaming SC ACX 2.0, the Slant community recommends MSI GeForce GTX 1060 6GT OC GDDR5 6GB Dual Fan OC for most people. In the question“What are the best GTX 1060 cards?” MSI GeForce GTX 1060 6GT OC GDDR5 6GB Dual Fan OC is ranked 6th while EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 Gaming SC ACX 2.0 is ranked 7th. The most important reason people chose MSI GeForce GTX 1060 6GT OC GDDR5 6GB Dual Fan OC is:
The sound production is also fairly low with a Twin Frozr IV card. [As seen here](http://videocardz.com/review/msi-geforce-gtx-1060-6gt-oc), the maximum sound production under load is around 39 decibels (A) from 100 cm distance and 60% fan speed. 39 decibels is considered to be fairly quiet, and annoying noises such as coil whine aren't present in this card either. It is the loudest GTX 1060 card, but it is still pretty quiet and shouldn't cause much disturbance.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Fairly quiet even when stressed under a full load
The sound production is also fairly low with a Twin Frozr IV card. As seen here, the maximum sound production under load is around 39 decibels (A) from 100 cm distance and 60% fan speed. 39 decibels is considered to be fairly quiet, and annoying noises such as coil whine aren't present in this card either. It is the loudest GTX 1060 card, but it is still pretty quiet and shouldn't cause much disturbance.
Pro Performs slightly better than a reference GTX 1060
The MSI GeForce 6GT OC has been slightly overlocked to a base clock of 1544 MHz, which is a 38 MHz over a reference GTX 1060. The boost clock of the graphics card has also been given a slight boost: 1759 MHz compared to the standard 1708 MHz. This is still lower than any other GTX 1060 card (other than the Founders Edition which is the reference design).
Pro Excellent cooling prevents the graphics card from throttling
This MSI GTX 1060 uses a Twin Frozr IV cooler, identical to the coolers used on MSI's GAMING series of GPU's. These coolers perform excellently and offer significantly more cooling than any other GTX 1060 (except the Asus GTX 1060 Strix OC Edition which cools equally as well). It remains 15 degrees Celsius cooler than the Founders Edition, and 11 degrees cooler than the EVGA card.
Pro Should fit in any chassis
At roughly 25cm in length, it's smaller than most GTX 1060 cards on the market so it should fit in any decent sized chassis without any problem.
Pro Good headroom for overclocking
The 4 power phases + 1 for memory and the 6-pin power connector give quite a good headroom for overclocking, especially for a GTX 1060 card.
Pro Performs better than most GTX 1060 cards
Due to the slightly higher clock and boost speed of the EVGA ACX 2.0 model (both have received a 7% increase), there is a noticeable performance increase in games and benchmarks compared to most other GTX 1060 cards (with the exception of the Asus GTX 1060 Strix OC Edition). In Battlefield 4 for example, at 1080p and ultra settings, the EVGA SC manages to achieve an average framerate of 110.6, while a GTX 1060 with reference clock speeds achieves 107.6 average frames per second.
Similar results can be seen in GTA V (1080p, maximum settings), where the EVGA SC version achieves an average framerate of 112.7 frames per second - 6,4 FPS higher than a reference GTX 1060. In terms of raw benchmark numbers, the Superclocked version scores 13062 GPU Points in 3D Mark Fire Strike, while a GTX 1060 with reference speeds manages to score 12736, a slight 2.55% increase.
Pro Compact, suitable for small enclosures
The EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 Gaming ACX 2.0 is quite compact and features a cooler that only has a single fan. A reference GTX 1060 has a length of 9.8 inches (250 mm), while the EVGA ACX 2.0 reduces this to only 6.8 inches (173 mm). This makes the card ideal for use in smaller enclosures.
Pro Decent temperatures
Although this ACX 2.0 model only has a single cooling fan, temperatures are decent. Any other custom GTX 1070 card will stay cooler, but the single fan works well enough to keep it from throttling much. With the standard EVGA fan configuration, the GPU heats up to 37° Celsius in idle and around 74 degrees Celsius under full load. For comparison: a reference GTX 1060 reaches temperatures of 78° under load.
You might notice the slightly higher idle temperature of the GTX 1060 ACX 2.0 SC because EVGA has chosen to implement a semi-passive cooling solution, where the fan doesn't spin up at all in an idle environment.
Pro Fairly quiet operation
When using the standard EVGA settings for the fan speeds, the card won't produce any noise in idle situations. Under full load, a noise of 38.4 dB(A) was measured. This isn't particularly loud and ensures a fairly quiet operation, although it is louder than any GTX 1060 card other than the MSI GTX 1060 Dual Fan version which measures 39dB(A).
Pro Can be modified easily to allow better cooling without voiding the warranty
If you want better cooling, fortunately, EVGA lets you modify the GPU without voiding the warranty. The process itself is fairly easy as well; all you have to do is remove the four screws that hold the backplate in place, exposing two flat 8mm heat pipes. This small modification considerably improves the cooling and subsequently the performance of this GPU.
Cons
Con Less DisplayPort connectors than a reference GTX 1060
The GTX 1060 6GT from MSI only features a single DisplayPort, HDMI-port and DVI-D connector. A reference GTX 1060 offers three DisplayPort connectors. This can be an issue for people who plan on using multiple DisplayPort monitors.
Con Some performance drops when the temperature of the GPU is increased
Under heavy load, such as when playing resource-intensive games, the GPU gets rather hot mostly because of its compact size which does not allow for more than one fan. When this happens, the GPU suffers some frequency drops (1949-1962 MHz from 2012MHz) which in turn translates to real-world performance issues such as 5-10FPS drops when gaming.
Con Feels a bit cheap
The cover is made of cheap anthracite-gray plastic that makes the GPU seem cheap and feel low quality.