Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

EDIT: Please be aware these reviews are all lumped together for SIX versions of the 970 card. My review was actually for the EVGA GTX 970 SSC (Super Superclocked) ATX 2.0 (04G-P4-1975-KR) that is no longer listed here. I originally bought that model because I definitely wanted the ATX 2.0 fan and it was the forst card in stock at the time. Thanks to EVGA's 60 Day step up program, I am updating to the EVGA GeForce GTX 970 FTW ACX 2.0 (04G-P4-2978-KR) for $10 plus $11 shipping. Say what you want, I love EVGA. As far as fan noise, there is a firmware update for the 970 ATX 2.0 cards that allows the fan to be at 0% when idle. It makes the fans more efficient on the atx 1.0 cards, but doesnt offer the 0%. Here's the link. http://forums.evga.com/EVGA-GTX-970-ACX-Firmware-Update-v11-m2228516.aspx Let me start by saying I am no overclocking expert, but consider myself pretty knowledgeable. I upgraded from the EVGA GTX 660 TI FTW to this exact card. Pros: 1) This card is smaller. 2) this card draws way less power 3) runs much quieter 4) benchmarks more than 2x faster I have this card overclocked using EVGA's Precision X 16 software to power target 110% (max) GPU Clock Offset +100 MHz Mem Clock Offset +300 MHz 3DMark Firestrike benchmark score = 9204(!!! for single GPU!) (slightly better than the 780 TI at less than half the price, better than the Titan line Unigine Heaven Benchmark on full screen extreme settings = 81.7 FPS, score 2059 Unigine Valley Benchmark full screen Extreme HD Preset = 59.7 FPS, score 2498 FY! - free versions of these benchmarking tools are available. download them and see what you're getting now to compare. Then you will see how amazing this card really is. Playing Crysis 3, Bioshock Infinite, Far Cry 3... temp never exceeded 67 C When looking at the EVGA cards, keep in mind the 3 different flavors of cooling... the single fan, the older ACX 1.0, and this new ACX 2.0. To me, this new cooling system is whisper quiet. People are comparing this card to the MSI version, and it's basically a balance of cooling vs. quiet. I can live with the extremely slight fan noise, and feel safer knowing the card stays cool. There's an excellent review on hexux.net of the EVGA 970 FTW card, if you want detailed benchmarks and specs. Also, you can move up to the 980 line of NVidia cards, but from all my research, you barely get a 10-15% improvement over the 970's, for ~$250 less. This is the card that will give you the best bang for the buck. I'll post screenshots of the benchmark results and Precision X settings keep in mind that the 970, sc, ssc, ftw (EDIT - I've read the FTW has a better cooling architecture, plenty of info on the forums) are the same architecture, the only difference is the factory overclocking. buy whichever card is in stock, but make sure it's the ACX 2.0 cooler version. Last note: EXGA 3 year replacement warranty, plus 60 day step-up policy...