Yes, reference boards are good if you want a waterblock for it. But the advanced versions of the big vendors usually have better voltage regulators or other smart features.
And that triple fan design is awesome anyway. I used to have a GTX580 with it and it was a whopping 30 degrees cooler than the reference cooler. For a GTX970 it might even be overkill, as it produces a lot less heat.
The 980Ti is a powerful card, but also a powerhouse. All the heat needs to be transported away. The stock cooler will sound like a Jet engine, especially the overclocked ones. Without an improved cooler design those cards will be loud because of that. The triple-fan or large twin fan solutions will probably rule, like before. But i see a lot of hybrid solutions as well.
There are versions that come factory clocked at 1253Mhz, which is insane. That will be a 25% improvement in benchmarks, if the extra clockspeed translates in a similar performance curve like with the 1100Mhz versions. I would not be surprised to see 3D MK Firestrike values of up to 20.000 for a single 980Ti OC.
And while Nvidia is ruling the charts for the next couple of weeks, AMD/ATI is sharpening the blades.
To HBM or not HBM, that is the question.
I will try to trade in one of my GTX780Ti for a 980Ti. Let's see what happens
EDIT: That did not work out, lol. Figures.
