Conclusion

...EVGA's Classified ACX 2.0 speaks to deep-walleted enthusiasts who want to explore every ounce of performance...

The Classified ACX 2.0 is the latest GPU to pad out EVGA's GeForce GTX 980 stable. Marginally faster than the Superclocked ACX 2.0 variant in out-of-the-box guise, this graphics card is built for performance above all else.

A fully-custom PCB, myopic focus on stable power delivery and high-quality cooling combine to make the Classified one of the very fastest single-GPU cards on the market. Primed to be overclocked further via BIOS and voltage manipulation, we fully expect enthusiasts to achieve 1,600MHz-plus core speeds on air... with the promise of more on water or more esoteric cooling.

The comprehensive five-year warranty and inclusion of a Torq X10 mouse go some way at redressing the £570 street price attached to this model. Naysayers will chime in with the considered argument that two GTX 970s in SLI or a Radeon R9 295X2 would be significantly faster and cheaper, but this is not a card for them. Rather, EVGA's Classified ACX 2.0 speaks to deep-walleted enthusiasts who want to explore every ounce of performance on offer from Nvidia's flagship Maxwell GM204 architecture, be that in single-, dual-, or three-way configurations.

The Good		The Bad
Good factory overclock Superb single-GPU performance Five-year warranty Free Torq X10 mouse Cool and quiet Goes even higher with additional voltage Triple BIOS		Stock-clocked memory Hefty premium over reference

EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Classified ACX 2.0

HEXUS.where2buy

The EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Classified ACX 2.0 graphics card is available to purchase from Scan.co.uk.

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{QUOTE]Naysayers will chime in with the considered argument that two GTX 970s in SLI or a Radeon R9 295X2 would be significantly faster and cheaper, but this is not a card for them.

Regardless, it might have been more informative to put the similarly priced R9 295X2 into the performance comparisons in place of the older cards. After all, how many “deep-walleted enthusiasts” are shopping for the GTX680?

For non-LN2 enthusiasts, triple BIOS and additional hardware tweaking tools are nice, but I'm not finding this card particularly exceptional when compared to my MSI GTX 980 4G that can reach quite high clocks at stock voltages.

Would be nice to see (even if just for mere curiosity) GPU-Z's ASIC quality numbers for reviewed cards, which is perfectly feasible since both AMD and Nvidia GPUs now support ASIC quality number reports.

Have Hexus got any plans to update the benchmark list with any newer titles? Even BF4 would be more relevant than some of the games listed as these new cards simply smash these titles from a performance standpoint?

m_kinder,

Yes, a totally new suite will be brought into play next month. Watch this space.

tribaljet
For non-LN2 enthusiasts, triple BIOS and additional hardware tweaking tools are nice, but I'm not finding this card particularly exceptional when compared to my MSI GTX 980 4G that can reach quite high clocks at stock voltages.

Would be nice to see (even if just for mere curiosity) GPU-Z's ASIC quality numbers for reviewed cards, which is perfectly feasible since both AMD and Nvidia GPUs now support ASIC quality number reports.

tribaljet,

If that kind of thing interests you, the sample card had a 71.7 per cent ASIC quality, according to GPU-Z.