UPDATE : I replaced the thermal paste, which there was too much and was dry, and now everything runs perfectly. I'm down to 70C on load with 24% fans, the rig is pratically silent even under load :)
 
My card reaches 80C in mere seconds while gaming, which I find quite contrasting with the reviews all saying the ACX 2.0 cooler does an incredible job at keeping the card cool and quiet. And the game (diablo 3) isn't that demanding to begin with, unlike others.
 
Previously, I was using an EVGA GTX 760 dual superclocked ACX and temps for this card were hovering at about 60C while playing the same game, with the same case and case fan setup. Granted I use an ITX case, but temps were never an issue with my GTX 760. 
 
What I find odd, is that if I open my case and put my hand near the fins of the cooler, where the hot air should be exhausted, the air does not feel hot at all. Furthermore, the air exhausted by my case fan is also not hot, I wouldn't even say it's warm, it feels at room temperature. When my case is closed, the card reaches 80C in under a minute of gaming, but my CPU, which intakes some air dumped inside the case by the GPU, reaches about 50C max. 
 
 

Hello Eljoka,
 
We do apologize for any issues with GTX 960 FTW. If possible, please do try testing in another computer to see if you are having the same issues. If you are continuing to have issues, please make sure your product is registered and 
contact us 24/7 at 1-888-881-3842 or by email at support@evga.com.
 

The fans do spin, and they're loud, which is expected when the card reaches 80C. Unfortunately, I don't have access to another computer in order to test it elsewhere. I tried testing it with the cover off the case and the card behaved the same. 
 
I know the "upgrade" doesn't make sense on a performance point of view, but I had a great price on the 960 and was able to sell the 760 for nearly the price of the 960. I want to make my computer as silent as possible, so really digged the idea of 0db at idle. This works, as the card hovers around 40C while browsing Internet. 

Eljoka
The fans do spin, and they're loud, which is expected when the card reaches 80C. Unfortunately, I don't have access to another computer in order to test it elsewhere. I tried testing it with the cover off the case and the card behaved the same. 
 
I know the "upgrade" doesn't make sense on a performance point of view, but I had a great price on the 960 and was able to sell the 760 for nearly the price of the 960. I want to make my computer as silent as possible, so really digged the idea of 0db at idle. This works, as the card hovers around 40C while browsing Internet. 

What tool are you using to see what the Temperatures are? 

bcavnaugh

xz21x
this temps are high for a GTX960 should be 60C can u see if ur fan is spinning?? 
 
and why u upgrade to a GTX 960 from a 760? u get maybe 5% improvement? XD

I would think that the 960 would get more than 5% and also the wattage needed for the 960 is a lot lower than the 760.
 
EVGA GeForce GTX 960 FTW ACX 2.0+ Minimum of a 400 Watt power supply.
Part Number: 02G-P4-2968-KR

• 1304MHz Base Clock                        
• 1367MHz Boost Clock
• 83.4GT/s Texture Fill Rate                        
• 2048MB GDDR5 Memory                        
• 7010MHz Memory Clock                        
• 112.16GB/s Memory Bandwidth

 
 GTX 760 Dual Superclocked w/ EVGA ACX Cooler Part Number: 02G-P4-3765-KR 500 Watt or greater power supply with a

• Base Clock: 1072 MHZ
• Boost Clock: 1137 MHz
• Memory Clock: 6008 MHz Effective
• CUDA Cores: 1152
• Bus Type: PCI-E 3.0
• Memory Detail: 2048MB GDDR5
• Memory Bit Width: 256 BitMemory Speed: 0.33ns
• Memory Bandwidth: 192.2 GB/s

 

yes i know that. i have a GTX960 SSC but is not a big diference in perfomance with a GTX 760 SC. u can get about 5-10fps depends of what games u compare it. the greats with this card is the low TPD. 170w GTX 760 and 120w GTX960. but not big upgrade from a GTX760.
 

Eljoka
I'm currently using MSI afterburner, but I had the exact same temperature with Precision X.
 
I tried other games and here are results :
- Dishonored : Everything is fine, card hovers around 70C with fans ranging from 10% to 20%;
- Shadow of mordor : instant 80C, fans ramp up to 50% (auto fans), card throttles;
- Age of Wonders 3 : instant 80C, fans ramp up to 50% ( auto fans), card throttles;
- Mark of the ninja : fans off, low temp.
 
Due to an issue with the latest NVIDIA drivers (DVI output doesn't work with this version), I'm using 347.52. I'll plug my HDMI monitor and try the games with 347.88. 

the temps are high. i play with mine and i get 60C-63C playing BF4/BF3. and rust.
 
try to talk with EVGA support. 

I deinstalled the NVIDIA drivers using DDU and installed the 347.88 version (I was using 347.52 because the latest one won't let me use my korean IPS DVI monitor). Granted the resolution tested was lower this time (1080p instead of 1600p), I saw some noticeable differences :
 
 - Shadow of mordor : no difference, still hits 80C and throttles within a minute;
 - Age of Wonders : 75C (down from 80C);
 - Diablo 3 : 70C, fans at around 20%.
I only ran the games I had issues with and I'd say the issue is completely gone for D3, somewhat ok with Age of wonders and still troublesome with SoM. 
 
I'm used to applying thermal paste, but won't it void my warranty?

My FTW temps get to 60* with the fan at around 40% and it pretty much stays there while playing BF3 BF4.  I was just comparing to my 680 sli (reference models) where it would be 70* and fan was at around 75%, so it runs cooler, quieter and at less fan speed and less power.
 
So it does seem a bit high, at least compared to mine.

I have the same problem too 
 

Methodical2
Are you'll running SLI?  Maybe the case and fan configuration is part of the issue?

No, it gets hot quickly.
 
Would you test with Furmark?

My EVGA GTX 960 4GB SSC was the same way. Seemed to be running a little warm. I opened it up to re-paste with some Arctic Silver 5. The GPU was 3/4 covered with a thick coat of some dried out paste. The one corner was fully exposed with no past present. I cleaned it up well and applied the AS5. My idle temps are now 22c rather than the 38c that they were.

Seems it's normal: h**p://www.nitroware.net/reviews/341-nvidia-geforce-gtx-960-video-card-review?start=5
 

Yes, it should be due to the fan speed/

Just found the issue. EVGA has very bad fan curve 
 

Very nice mod of the fan table on the bios. I assume that the modified BIOS can be written with the GPU-Z by Tech Power Up?  Or does the mod break a CRC or format of the bios file?
I am very familiar with updating the BIOS of PCs, Intel NICs, and even a few BIOS patches on ICH Intel boards of yesteryear. I am just a bit not current in the past few years.

That's the tool I have been looking for since both the EVGA Precision X and MSI Afterburner stutter my playing of Diablo 3 in Win 7 and Windows 10 regardless of graphic detail settings.  The constant polling of the hardware by the Riva Tuner Server for Precision X and MSI Afterburner for fan control is ridiculous and causes lag in animation. There is no reason a simple q6600 and 6GB of ram should be that slow on the uptake. So out come the dev/monitor tools I have from MSDN.
I want 100% all the time for assured cooling absolutely while running Foldng@home.

All I wanted to do was turn on the fan at 100% without having to load all the other performance tweaking features.
Besides, if a Direct X timeout to the display happens, the famous black screen blink, the fan curve is RESET or Precision X just doesn't update the fan curve as it continues on. I sent EVGA a trouble ticket describing this in detail with other cards like the 570 GTX. So what did they do? Send me a 960 FTW with the same crappy control software.

Setting the fan curve for bios settings is great if you are running without control panel software available or some version of Linux, or "special" OS that needs to ride the short bus.

Yes, it works since you first download the BIOS you currently have, edit it, then re-flash it back.
The 960 series is based on the Maxwell chipset.
 
The tables for fan are at the bottom of the Maxwell II BIOS tweaker.
 
 
Then, just flash it back with nvflash64 or 32 depending on your OS.

I was the geek who made the EEPROM tool for Intel network adapters work by poking at the bits and verifying the damn code was straight.