ACS2
Does Provide Superior GPU & Memory Cooling
ACS2 Cooling Unit
6 May 2002
EVGA.com Engineering
Several hardware review sites have had a difference of opinion regarding the ACS2s cooling ability. While we have a great deal of respect for their reviews and their unbiased natures, we do have some question about the testing methods that they employed.
In the tests that were conducted by the review sites, the actual temperature measured was the back of the PCB, and not the temperature of the GPU or the memory chips. Normally this would have been a fairly accurate way to show the temperature differences, however the ACS2 uses a plate on the back of the card that alters the thermal properties of the PCB. When the heat from the rear memory transfers to that cooling plate, it gets hotter, and due to its proximity to the back of the card it causes the PCB temperature in that area to be higher as well.
During the ACS2 developement process it underwent constant testing in order to verify cooling capabilities. It was the data gathered from these test that guided us in our efforts to refine the ACS2. In order to demonstrate the way that we arrived at the actual temperatures of the GPU and the memory, we have organized some of our original test data in to a testing and procedures report that shows in detail the way and manner that were able to determine that the ACS2 does indeed provide superior GPU & Memory cooling.
ACS2 Cooling Device Rev C (Proto Type - Provided to Review Sites)
- Dimensions: 106.2mm Length x 94.7mm Width x 11.7mm Height
- Weight: 110 g
- Material: Al 6063 (nickel plating) / SUS304
- Heat Pipe with solder interface material between staked fins, heat pipe, and heatsink
- Ram 1, 2, 3, 4 with thermal pad (softtherm 86/200, t=0.5mm)
- GPU with grease (Sil-More SC102)
Fan (Delta)
Size: 37mm x 37mm x 10mm
Rated Voltage: 12 Volt
Rated Speed: 5500 ± 10% RPM
Bearing Type: Two ball bearingsBack Plate
- Dimensions: 79.6mm Length x 71.25mm Width x 1.9mm Height
- Weight: 30 g
- Material: Al 1050
- Heat Pipe with solder interface material between stacked find, heat pipe, and plate
- Ram 5 with thermal pad (softtherm 86/200, t=0.8mm)
- Ram 6, 7, 8 with thermal pad (fujipoly sarcon, t=1.0mm)
ACS2 Rev C Front Plate
Front
ACS2 Rev C Front Plate
Back
ACS2 Rev C Back Plate
Front
ACS2 Rev C Back Plate
Back
Delta Fan
ACS2 Cooling Device Rev E (Production)
- Dimensions: 106.2mm Length x 94.7mm Width x 11.7mm Height
- Weight: 90 g
- Material: Al
6063 (nickel plating) / SUS304
- Heat Pipe with solder interface material between staked fins, heat pipe, and heatsink
- Ram 1, 2,
3, 4 with thermal gap filler (AOS 52042)
- GPU with
grease (Sil-More SC102)
Fan (Delta)
- Size: 37mm x 37mm x 10mm
- Rated Voltage: 12 Volt
- Rated Speed: 5500 ± 10% RPM
- Bearing
Type: Two ball bearings
Back Plate
- Dimensions: 79.6mm Length x 71.25mm Width x 1.9mm Height
- Weight: 30 g
- Material: Al
1050
- Heat Pipe with solder interface material between stacked find, heat pipe, and plate
- Ram 5 with thermal pad (softtherm 86/200, t=0.8mm)
- Ram 6, 7, 8 with thermal pad (fujipoly sarcon, t=1.0mm)
ACS2 Rev
E Front Plate |
ACS2 Rev
E Front Plate |
|
ACS2 Rev
E Back Plate |
ACS2 Rev
E Back Plate |
|
Delta Fan |
Thermal Pads, Grease, and Filler
- Softtherm 86/200, t=0.5mm
- Softtherm 86/200, t=0.8mm
- Fijipoly Sarcon, t=1.0mm
- Thermal Gap Filler, AOS 52042
- Thermal Grease, Sil-More SC102
- Softtherm 86/200
- Fujipoly Sarcon
- AOS 52042
- Sil-More SC102
Softtherm 86/200 |
AOS 52042
|
|
Fujipoly |
Sil-More SC102 |
Test Conditions
CPU: Intel P41.4 GHz
Main Board: Asus P4T
Ram: Rambus 256 MB
HD: IBM 40 GB IDE
VGA Card: EVGA.com e-GeForce4 Ti 4600
Test Software: Quake 3
Test Time: 6 Hours
Thermal Test Instruments
Yokogawa Darwin DR-130 |
Yokogawa Darwin Multi |
|
Thermocouple |
Thermal Test Measure Positions
|
|
|
|
![]() |
|
![]() |
||
![]() |
![]() |
Thermal Test Pictures
|
|
|
|
|
|
![]() |
Thermal Test Results
Model | TGPU | TRAM1 | TRAM2 | TRAM3 | TRAM4 |
ACS2 Rev C | 49.0°C | 47.3°C | 46.6°C | 46.4°C | 47.2°C |
ACS2 Rev E | 50.4°C | 49.1°C | 48.1°C | 50.8°C | 49.0°C |
Reference Fan | 58.0°C | 52.9°C | 52.6°C | 54.0°C | 55.9°C |
Model | TSystem | TRAM5 | TRAM6 | TRAM7 | TRAM8 |
ACS2 Rev C | 33.0°C | 54.0°C | 53.6°C | 53.5°C | 54.0°C |
ACS2 Rev E | 31.9°C | 52.6°C | 52.0°C | 52.3°C | 51.8°C |
Reference Fan | 33.0°C | 55.6°C | 56.0°C | 58.2°C | 60.2°C |
All temperatures are measured in Celsius degrees
ACS2 Rev C Test
Graph
ACS2 Rev E Test
Graph