Often times the best technology unveiled by some tech companies fly right under the radar. These are technologies that are often potential game changers in their respective industries. EVGA, the guys who manufacture aftermarket graphic cards, computer peripherals and power supplies, well they're on to something here I find very interesting. Unveiled by EVGA is ICX technology, this I think could very well change how graphic cards are cool and sensors operate.
What exactly is ICX technology and how does it operate? Let's talk about it.
ICX technology replaces EVGA's ACX 3.0 technology which is a year old and currently on most EVGA based graphics cards, it includes a brand new cooler and a much higher contact base plate. The plate itself covers a great portion of the graphics card, touching everything from the memory to the PWN components. The interlace fins itself is pretty unique, it opens up halfway enabling contact with the heat pipe, resulting in air flowing easily down and between the fins. This type of component arrangement will lesson the amount of fan bounce back and improve airflow.
The white ghostly squares you see are actual sensors
The focal point of ICX coolers is the amount of sensors that will put in place, most EVGA base graphics cards with the ACX 3.0 cooling setup will have just two sensors with, ICX there are 9 sensors on the board. These sensors job is to detect heat signature that's dissipating from the graphic, basic function is if increase temperature from the graphics card will give way to increase rotation of the cooling fans.
The main attraction here with ICX cooler is not the components, but it's software, the EVGA Precision XOC software to be exact. It's core function is to allow potential users to fine tune any NVIDIA graphics card that involves hard core overclocking, giving full maximization to performance and cooling.
The fans on the ICX cooler presents something entirely different than what I've ever seen on graphics card. The fans rotates asynchronously, each rotation serves a specific function, the left fan spins based on the current temperature of the GPU, while the right fan is based purely on memory and power delivery temp. Users can independently control each fan within software, creating profiles if needed.
On the very top of the graphics card, you're treated to a Thermal Display System, this includes three LED indicators that shows temperature status at three different locations. Through the Precision XOC software, you make the necessary adjustments as needed. Any default changes between the color blue, green, and red is generally based on differentiated temperature threshold. The thermal display is lettered as G for GPU temp, P for PWM and M for memory.
I've provided you with enough information on why I think EVGA ICX cooling technology is a potential game changer when it comes to cooling graphics cards. Impeccable cooling components aside, users are offered full disclosure of the inner workings of the graphics, the temperature, fan rotation, and GPU and memory clock frequencies, all through its software. As stated by EVGA, ICX technology will add a $30 premium to any GTX 10-series graphic card lineup.