Skip to main content

EVGA uses closed-loop liquid cooling on its new overclocked GTX 1080 Ti card

During all the hoopla surrounding Microsoft’s new Surface Laptop and Windows 10 S, EVGA dished out a new graphics card on Tuesday based on Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1080 Ti graphics chip. It is called the SC2 Gaming Hybrid and uses the company’s proprietary iCX technology to keep the card chilled under heavy, high-definition PC gaming.

“iCX is the very definition of Interactive Cooling,” the company said on Tuesday. “With EVGA’s iCX Technology, users will have a better understanding of their graphics card’s operation. This includes temperature monitoring on key components (not just GPU) and targeted cooling, which provides better overclocking capabilities.”

Image used with permission by copyright holder

EVGA’s iCX system consists of three memory-focused thermal sensors on the face of the card, four power-focused thermal sensors on the bottom along with a sensor dedicated to the graphics chip. All this information is fed into EVGA’s free Precision XOC software for precise monitoring and temperature management.

Recommended Videos

Adding to these sensors is an included closed-loop water-cooled solution consisting of a 120mm radiator and fan. There is no maintenance involved other than the initial installation of the radiator/fan component. Backing this closed loop is a copper base for the GPU chip and a dedicated memory plate that makes direct contact with the on-board water cooling block. There is even a dedicated heatsink/fan that covers the voltage regulator module area.

Here are the SC2 Gaming Hybrid specs:

Graphics chip: GP102
Graphics architecture: Pascal
CUDA cores: 3,584
Base speed: 1,556MHz (up from 1,480MHz)
Boost speed: 1,670MHz (up from 1,582MHz)
Memory amount: 12GB GDDR5X
Memory interface: 352-bit
Memory clock: 11Gbps
Memory bandwidth: 484GB per second
Ports: 1x HDMI 2.0b
3x DisplayPort 1.4
1x DL-DVI
Power connections: 1x 8-pin
1x 6-pin
Power consumption: 250 watts
Recommended system power: 600 watts
Bus type: PCI Express 3.0
Max supported refresh rate: 240Hz
Max digital resolution: 7,680 x 4,320
Dimensions: 4.376 (H) x 10.5 (L) inches
Card height: Dual-slot

As the specs show, the card is overclocked compared to Nvidia’s reference design, with the base speed increased from 1,480MHz to 1,556MHz and the boost speed increased from 1,582MHz to 1,670MHz. Nvidia’s base GTX 1080 Ti design is a beast of a card on its own, but EVGA is cranking the animal up a notch for savage performance in PC gaming.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

According to EVGA, those monster speeds are kept in check by the water cooling system. EVGA says the design provides “significantly” lower temperatures than the reference design — nearly twice as cool on the GPU front and around 30 percent cooler on the memory end.

But because the card includes closed-loop water cooling, customers may be curious as to what EVGA covers on the warranty front. According to the product page, the card has a three-year warranty covering parts and labor, and customers can get an extension within 90 days after purchase and registration. However, there does not appear to be anything covering damage to PC components caused by a possible faulty liquid cooling system.

So how much is EVGA’s new GTX 1080 Ti card? Try $810 over on Newegg. EVGA’s GTX 1080 Ti SC2 Gaming Hybrid does not appear to be available just yet, so keep checking back.

Kevin Parrish
Kevin started taking PCs apart in the 90s when Quake was on the way and his PC lacked the required components. Since then…
Upgrade to the Alienware 18 Area-51 gaming laptop with RTX 5070 Ti — $500 off!
The Alienware 18 Area-51 Gaming Laptop on a white background.

You should be ready to spend a lot if you want a powerful gaming laptop, but you should also be on the lookout for potential savings. Now's a great time to check out Alienware deals because of Dell's Black Friday in July sale, which includes a fantastic offer for the Alienware 18 Area-51 gaming laptop. This configuration with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti graphics card is down from $3,300 to $2,800, which is still expensive, but you wouldn't want to miss this chance at $500 in savings. You have to hurry though, as stocks may run out at any moment!

Buy Now

Read more
Save $100 on our pick for the best printer
HP includes full ink bottles with the Smart Tank 7602.

What do we need to print these days? Tax forms, student essays, and clearly-legible letters? Not so much. Bright invites, pictures, and presentation accompaniments? Yes, yes, and yes! In today's world, the typical person's needs in an inkjet printer are far different than the last time you were likely to have bought a printer. And the industry is catching up. Right now, our pick for the overall best printer of 2025 is $100 off as part of early Prime Day deals. That makes the $450 printer just $350 if you buy now. Plus, it comes with two years of HP's ink included. So, tap the button below to go check out the HP Smart Tank 7602 for yourself or keep reading to see what we like about it and what we found out during our review.

BUY NOW

Read more
Apple’s work-from-home powerhouse is 24% off… and about to go extinct
The MacBook Air on a table in front of a window.

Hard-hitting MacBook deals are rare. People love their products and will happily buy them at full price, so sales aren't as incentivized as with other products. So, when we see a $400 savings on the most powerful version (the 24GB of RAM one) of the MacBook Air M3, dropping its price from $1,699 to $1,299, we love it. And that's exactly what's happening as part of this early Prime Day deal and one of the most exciting laptop deals in recent dates. Tap the button below to see it for yourself, or keep reading to get all of the details about the MacBook Air M3, what we discovered when we used it ourself, and why this deal may be the last of its kind.

BUY NOW

Read more