Graphics Card Upgrade Nvidia GTX 970 or 980

[Shirden]

I am looking for a new graphics card and I don't completely understand all of the options ie. ACX 2.0, ACX 2.0 FTW+, SC, SC+ etc. Except that some have dual fans and or liquid cooled. A friend recommended I look at http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html to select a card. I am looking into the 980 or 970. Based on the specs below can you recommend a card that I can install without too much trouble.

CAS: * Azza Genesis 9000 Full Tower Gaming Case w/ 2 x 230mm fans, 4x Easy Swap HDD, Dual Power Supply Support, & front USB 3.0 Port (Black Color)
CD: 24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW Drive (BLACK COLOR)
COOLANT: Standard Coolant
CPU: Intel(R) Core™ i7-3820 Quad-Core 3.60 GHz 10MB Intel Smart Cache LGA2011 (All Venom OC Certified)
CS_FAN: Default case fans
FAN: Asetek 510LC Liquid Cooling System 120MM Radiator & Fan (Enhanced Cooling Performance + Extreme Silent at 20dBA) (Single Standard 120MM Fan)
HDD: 2TB (2TBx1) SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 64MB Cache 7200RPM HDD (Single Drive)
MEMORY: 16GB (4GBx4) DDR3/1600MHz Quad Channel Memory (Corsair or Major Brand)
MOTHERBOARD: (SLI/CrossFireX Support) MSI X79A-GD45(8D) Intel X79 Chipset Quad Channel DDR3 ATX Mainboard w/ Winki 3, OC Genie II, 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, 3 Gen3 PCIe X16 & 4 PCIe X1
OS: Microsoft(R) Windows 8 (64-bit Edition)
OVERCLOCK: No Overclocking
POWERSUPPLY: 800 Watts - Standard Power Supply - SLI/CrossFireX Ready
SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 2GB 16X PCIe 3.0 Video Card (Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA)

[David (PassMark)]

Either the 980 or 970 would be OK.

The things that normally cause a problem are.
- Lack of physical space in the box.
- Power supply doesn't supply enough wattage
- Only having slow PCI-E slots available
- Not enough cooling.

So you shouldn't have any problem. You do need to decide if you air cool or water cool the card however. Air cooling is much easier as there is nothing to do except plug in the card in and connect the power.

[Shirden]

Thanks for your response David but I was looking for more detail. For each card there are so many options ACX 2.0. ACX 2.0+, ACX 2.0 FTW, ACX 2.0 FTW+, SC, SSC, Classified, KNGPN etc. How do I know which is right for me?

[David (PassMark)]

Been doing this for 20 years and I don't know what ACX is. So it can't be important.

I looked it up for you. It seems to be just a marketing term dreamt up by some dude at EVGA to describe which way the cooling fan blows. Which of course isn't an important consideration for 99.9% of users.

The problem for these companies is that they all use the same basic video chips. Then to a large extent, they all use the same basic circuit layout (called the reference design). So if everyone is producing the same stuff the marketing department is then forced to make up a bunch of bullshit acronyms, fancy product names and big colourful boxes in a lame attempt at product differentiation.

[Shirden]

I kind of figured that's what it was too. Again, thanks a bunch David, I appreciate your knowledge on this.

[LexiconFox]

Thanks for your response David but I was looking for more detail. For each card there are so many options ACX 2.0. ACX 2.0+, ACX 2.0 FTW, ACX 2.0 FTW+, SC, SSC, Classified, KNGPN etc. How do I know which is right for me?

Thanks for your response David but I was looking for more detail. For each card there are so many options ACX 2.0. ACX 2.0+, ACX 2.0 FTW, ACX 2.0 FTW+, SC, SSC, Classified, KNGPN etc. How do I know which is right for me?

Responding for future readers
Like David I couldn't tell you what the acronyms stand for but there is some clarification that can be added to this.

The acronyms FTW (FortheWin), SSC (super-superclocked, SC (super clocked), refer to how much the card is factory overclocked beyond the base card which has no acronym. When you see a + after FTW or SSC or SC (as in SC+) it's sometimes just distinction between two very similar models. For example the SC+ has a slightly more exposed case SC and may be an improvement on the thermals (guessing).

ACX 2.0 is as David stated a marketing term for EVGAs cooling but there is some relevance in it to the extent that the ACX2.0+ is an improvement over the 2.0 model by adding a plate to cool vrms and straightening out the heatpipes to cool the card more efficiently. Helpful for overclocking but not necessarily a dealbreaker either.

The main thing about all this acronym jargon is that it can help you figure out exactly which sub model of the card you are looking at even if a site doesn't include the sub-model number (product number). For example the 970 has 10 different sub-models and they vary in terms of port configurations, features, power hookups, bios chips, clockspeeds and so on.

Best thing to do is visit the website to see the breakdowns
http://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=04g-p4-2974-kr