Blower vs Open-Air - Which one should you buy - GPU Cooling Comparison

**Choosing Between Reference and Custom Coolers for Graphics Cards: What You Need to Know**

Hello and welcome to Tech Deals! Today, we’re diving into a topic that’s crucial for anyone building or upgrading their gaming rig: cooling solutions for graphics cards. In front of me, I have a pair of Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 graphics cards—one with a reference blower-style cooler and the other with Evga's new ACX 3.0 custom cooler. While I’ve previously done unboxings and overviews of these cards individually (links to those videos are in the description below), this video is all about comparing their cooling solutions.

### The Reference Card: Blower-Style Cooler

The reference card on your left features Nvidia’s standard blower-style cooler. It’s important to note that while this specific card is from Evga, the comments I’m making about reference coolers aren’t limited to Evga—they apply to all reference cards across the board. The reason? Because reference blowers are provided directly by Nvidia and follow a uniform design.

Here’s how the reference cooler works: it pulls air into a single fan, runs it horizontally along the card, across the cooling fins, and exhausts it out through small vents at the back of the case. The key benefit here is that most of the heat generated by the card is expelled directly out of your computer, rather than circulating inside where it can compete with other components like your CPU, memory, and hard drive for thermal headroom.

However, there are trade-offs. Reference cards typically have only one fan, which means they’re less efficient at cooling compared to custom solutions. They tend to be slightly louder and run the graphics chip about 5-10°C hotter. Additionally, you might notice a 5-10% performance hit in demanding games or tasks.

### The Custom Cooler: ACX 3.0 from Evga

On the other side, we have Evga’s ACX 3.0 custom cooler—a prime example of what custom cooling solutions can offer. These coolers are designed to provide better thermal performance by utilizing larger fans and more efficient heat dissipation.

Custom coolers work differently: instead of exhausting air out the back, they typically blow air onto vertical cooling fins that allow heat to escape through the top and bottom of the card. This setup is far more effective in dissipating heat away from your system’s interior, making it a better choice for PCs with robust cooling systems.

But here’s where things get interesting: not every PC benefits from a custom cooler. While enthusiasts with custom-built machines (complete with multiple fans, intake, exhaust, and top vents) will see improved performance, quieter operation, and better overclocking headroom, pre-built systems often struggle with these setups.

### Why You Might Want to Choose the Reference Card

Before you jump on the bandwagon of always choosing a custom cooler, let’s make an argument for reference cards. If your PC is a pre-built machine from a major brand like Acer, Dell, HP, or Lenovo—essentially any system that comes in a box and requires minimal setup—you may want to stick with the reference card.

Why? Most pre-built systems don’t have the best cooling solutions. They might have a few fans, but they’re often not large enough or numerous enough to handle the additional heat load of a custom cooler. For example, I recently reviewed an Acer Predator G3 710—a $750 gaming PC with decent specs, including a GTX 950 and a solid power supply. While it had some cooling, it wasn’t sufficient to manage the extra heat from a custom cooler, which would circulate inside the case instead of being expelled out back.

I learned this lesson firsthand when I tried installing a GTX 970 (the predecessor to our current card) into a Dell Inspiron pre-built system. The only fan in that machine was in the power supply, and while it ran fine in Windows, it couldn’t handle gaming for more than five minutes before overheating. Replacing the custom cooler with a reference blower-style solved the problem entirely.

### When to Go Custom

If you’re building your own PC or have a mid- to full-tower case with multiple fans, intake in front, exhaust in back, and preferably vents on top, then by all means go for the custom cooler. These setups allow the custom cooler to shine, offering better performance, lower temperatures, and superior overclocking capabilities.

### Final Thoughts

The choice between reference and custom cooling solutions isn’t about which one is inherently better—it depends entirely on your specific setup. If you’re working with a pre-built system that lacks robust cooling, a reference card might be the safer bet to avoid overheating issues. On the other hand, if you’ve built your own machine with top-tier cooling capabilities, a custom cooler will undoubtedly provide better performance.

Was this video helpful? Let me know in the comments below! If you haven’t already, remember to subscribe for more videos—upcoming ones include an SLI configuration test and benchmarking at both 1440p and 4K. Your support means the world to me, so if you like what I do, please consider using the affiliate links in the description when making purchases—it’s my primary funding source.

Thanks for watching! See you in the next video.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhello and welcome to Tech deals today I want to talk to you about different cooling solutions for graphics cards in front of me I have gone a pair of Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 graphics cards I have previously done an unboxing and overview of these card separately links to both of those videos will be in the video description below but this video was about the different coolers the one on the left here is a reference card this has got nvidia's reference blower style cooler on it on the right we have evga's new ACX 3.0 custom cooler which one should you buy it depends I can recommend these for different uses and different people let's talk about the reference card first the blower style cooler first of all while this is an EVGA card these comments are not EVGA specific and that also goes for the custom cooling first of all all these blower style coolers are basically the same because they're all provided by Nvidia directly this is the reference design the custom coolers are different but the reality is they all basically do the same thing with the blower style cooler it sucks air into the single fan runs it horizontally along the card here across these cooling fins the actual chip is under the fins not under the fan and then it exhausts the air out the vents in the back the benefit to this system is that most of the heat not all of it but most of the heat that the car generates is directly expelled out the back of your computer it does not go inside your machine where it competes with the heat generated from your your CPU your memory your hard drive and the other components of your machine the downside is it's one fan instead of two or three and because it's one fan and has to blow air across the length and expel it out of fairly small vents out the back they do tend to be slightly louder than the custom coolers they also don't tend to cool as well temperatures are usually 5 to 10° C hotter on a reference card than they are on a custom card and the maximum performance of the card is usually 5 to 10% slower now having just said that you might ask why in the world would anyone buy a reference card a blower style why wouldn't everybody buy the custom well you know a lot of people would say that and if you go to Tech message boards if you talk to to to uh computer savvy people many of them will instinctively respond oh forget the reference cards always go custom hang on a second let me make an argument for the reference card do you own a pre-built computer do you own a machine from a bigname company such as Acer Aus uh Lenovo Dell HP did you buy a computer in a box put it on your desk plug it in turn it on and start using it you may not want that card you may not want the custom one and the reason for that is most pre-built machines do not have great cooling there are exceptions but most don't as an example I recently reviewed a very nice gaming computer from Acer it's called the Acer Predator G3 610 excuse me 710 a $750 gaming machine that comes with a 500 watt power supply and a GTX 950 graphics card it's an entry-level graphics card from the previous generation however it came with a good processor and a good case and a good power supply and that machine is an excellent candidate for something like this here's the problem however while it had decent cooling it had a couple of fans in it they weren't big fans and they certainly didn't have a lot of them and there was no vent out the Top If you put this card the custom cooler in there all the heat from that card is going to be circulating inside the machine and the reason for that is because the heat does not exit out the back of the card on the custom coolers it leaves via the top and the bottom and that is because the cooling fins are aligned vertically instead of horizontally these fans blow air directly onto these fins which then exhaust out the top and the bottom not the back if you put this into a case that does not have good cooling that does not have multiple fans and intake in the front and exhaust in the back and preferably vent grills on the top to exhaust heat out of you run the risk of your whole computer overheating I have personally seen this happen I tried installing a GTX um 970 the predecessor to this card a 970 into a Dell Inspiron pre-built machine the only fan in the computer was in the power supply there were no other fans there were vent holes there were vent holes in the front behind the plastic and there there was vent holes in the back but there's no fans the computer ran fine in Windows but when you launched a game within about 5 minutes the computer shut down due to heat if you felt the side of the the case the case was hot to the touch it was noticeably hot I replaced that card which was one of these style coolers with a blower problem solved works perfectly to this day it's been that way now for over a year the problem was heat so that's the argument for the blower style coolers now if you don't own a pre-built system if you have a custom machine you built yourself if you bought a a mid Tower to full tower case and you have multiple fans maybe an intake fan in the front an exhaust fan in the back vents on the top for the ventilation of heat by all means buy the custom cooler it's faster it runs the chip cooler and it overclocks higher no doubt in my mind whatsoever that is absolutely the way to go so the purpose of this video is to explain that there's not a right or wrong answer to reference card or custom cooler it depends on your unique situation what what kind of machine you have and where you're installing it was this video helpful give it a like was it not that's okay too remember to subscribe to my channel it's the big huge red button down there I've got lots of upcoming videos with both of these cards including an SLI configuration where I put two of them together and do some testing I'll be doing testing at both 1440p and 4K that'll be a lot of fun questions comments thoughts feedback suggestions those go below the video description below and speaking of the video description I now have links to both Amazon and egg in my videos they are both affiliate links and they do both pay me a small commission but it is my primary funding source for these videos I did not get either one of these sent to me for free I bought both of these in fact they both came to me in the past couple of days which is why I'm doing these videos now I buy everything I review on my channel and if you want to support me if you like the videos that I do the how-to guides the performance guides the best way to support me is to use the links in my description below it doesn't change your cost in any way but it certainly helps me out and I will be very grateful thank you very much for watching I will see you in the next videohello and welcome to Tech deals today I want to talk to you about different cooling solutions for graphics cards in front of me I have gone a pair of Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 graphics cards I have previously done an unboxing and overview of these card separately links to both of those videos will be in the video description below but this video was about the different coolers the one on the left here is a reference card this has got nvidia's reference blower style cooler on it on the right we have evga's new ACX 3.0 custom cooler which one should you buy it depends I can recommend these for different uses and different people let's talk about the reference card first the blower style cooler first of all while this is an EVGA card these comments are not EVGA specific and that also goes for the custom cooling first of all all these blower style coolers are basically the same because they're all provided by Nvidia directly this is the reference design the custom coolers are different but the reality is they all basically do the same thing with the blower style cooler it sucks air into the single fan runs it horizontally along the card here across these cooling fins the actual chip is under the fins not under the fan and then it exhausts the air out the vents in the back the benefit to this system is that most of the heat not all of it but most of the heat that the car generates is directly expelled out the back of your computer it does not go inside your machine where it competes with the heat generated from your your CPU your memory your hard drive and the other components of your machine the downside is it's one fan instead of two or three and because it's one fan and has to blow air across the length and expel it out of fairly small vents out the back they do tend to be slightly louder than the custom coolers they also don't tend to cool as well temperatures are usually 5 to 10° C hotter on a reference card than they are on a custom card and the maximum performance of the card is usually 5 to 10% slower now having just said that you might ask why in the world would anyone buy a reference card a blower style why wouldn't everybody buy the custom well you know a lot of people would say that and if you go to Tech message boards if you talk to to to uh computer savvy people many of them will instinctively respond oh forget the reference cards always go custom hang on a second let me make an argument for the reference card do you own a pre-built computer do you own a machine from a bigname company such as Acer Aus uh Lenovo Dell HP did you buy a computer in a box put it on your desk plug it in turn it on and start using it you may not want that card you may not want the custom one and the reason for that is most pre-built machines do not have great cooling there are exceptions but most don't as an example I recently reviewed a very nice gaming computer from Acer it's called the Acer Predator G3 610 excuse me 710 a $750 gaming machine that comes with a 500 watt power supply and a GTX 950 graphics card it's an entry-level graphics card from the previous generation however it came with a good processor and a good case and a good power supply and that machine is an excellent candidate for something like this here's the problem however while it had decent cooling it had a couple of fans in it they weren't big fans and they certainly didn't have a lot of them and there was no vent out the Top If you put this card the custom cooler in there all the heat from that card is going to be circulating inside the machine and the reason for that is because the heat does not exit out the back of the card on the custom coolers it leaves via the top and the bottom and that is because the cooling fins are aligned vertically instead of horizontally these fans blow air directly onto these fins which then exhaust out the top and the bottom not the back if you put this into a case that does not have good cooling that does not have multiple fans and intake in the front and exhaust in the back and preferably vent grills on the top to exhaust heat out of you run the risk of your whole computer overheating I have personally seen this happen I tried installing a GTX um 970 the predecessor to this card a 970 into a Dell Inspiron pre-built machine the only fan in the computer was in the power supply there were no other fans there were vent holes there were vent holes in the front behind the plastic and there there was vent holes in the back but there's no fans the computer ran fine in Windows but when you launched a game within about 5 minutes the computer shut down due to heat if you felt the side of the the case the case was hot to the touch it was noticeably hot I replaced that card which was one of these style coolers with a blower problem solved works perfectly to this day it's been that way now for over a year the problem was heat so that's the argument for the blower style coolers now if you don't own a pre-built system if you have a custom machine you built yourself if you bought a a mid Tower to full tower case and you have multiple fans maybe an intake fan in the front an exhaust fan in the back vents on the top for the ventilation of heat by all means buy the custom cooler it's faster it runs the chip cooler and it overclocks higher no doubt in my mind whatsoever that is absolutely the way to go so the purpose of this video is to explain that there's not a right or wrong answer to reference card or custom cooler it depends on your unique situation what what kind of machine you have and where you're installing it was this video helpful give it a like was it not that's okay too remember to subscribe to my channel it's the big huge red button down there I've got lots of upcoming videos with both of these cards including an SLI configuration where I put two of them together and do some testing I'll be doing testing at both 1440p and 4K that'll be a lot of fun questions comments thoughts feedback suggestions those go below the video description below and speaking of the video description I now have links to both Amazon and egg in my videos they are both affiliate links and they do both pay me a small commission but it is my primary funding source for these videos I did not get either one of these sent to me for free I bought both of these in fact they both came to me in the past couple of days which is why I'm doing these videos now I buy everything I review on my channel and if you want to support me if you like the videos that I do the how-to guides the performance guides the best way to support me is to use the links in my description below it doesn't change your cost in any way but it certainly helps me out and I will be very grateful thank you very much for watching I will see you in the next video\n"