XrayMan
Can handle anything, including Watch Dogs at the highest settings?

I'd need to know your quantitative preferences  (frame rate minimum at which resolutions) before answering whether it can "handle" anything.
 
 
To me it is simple math, since the Vram frequency is barely adjusted, having a 15% higher GPU clock means up to 15% more frame rates as a maximum, in GPU-bound gaming scenarios, lower gains in CPU-bound gaming.  Via this review of GTX980, Watch Dogs at Ultra at at 1080p = 60fps and at 2160p = 20fps.  So just add 15%?  No, it isn't the best example, Watch Dogs seems 33% CPU-bound to me; if it was 100% GPU-bound, increasing the resolution from 1080p to 2160p should have cut the frame rates into quarters exactly from 60 to 15-- but the results show a 66% cut in frame rates to 20.  So instead of a 15% max, you may see around a 10% gain in Watch Dogs with GTX980 Classified versus reference.
 
But in my mind, to be worth it, price cannot be more than 10% from reference if all you're playing is Watch Dogs (or about $605, or even 15% to $633), otherwise it is just junk.  I treat overclocking as a bonus, not part of the plan.

Sure would like to know what the actual MSRP is going to be on a GTX 980 Classified.
 
I just saw on Fleabay where there was One that Didn't even Sell for $870 +$50 shipping because of not meeting the "Reserve Price".
 
 

I Will Agree That was an Absolutely Outstanding Achievement using This Highly Modded Nvidia GTX 980 Classified Graphics Card.
 

XrayMan
Vince "K|ngp|n" Lucido managed to push the EVGA GTX 980 Classified to a rather impressive 2168MHz for the GPU and 2203MHz for the memory, which pushed the 3DMark Fire Strike Extreme score up to a rather impressive 9617 marks. 
 
http://www.fudzilla.com/home/item/35925-k%7Cngp%7Cn-getting-close-to-22ghz-on-evga-gtx-980-classified

Do you know what the difference in fps on average was over his stock clocks? I've always heard that while overclocking is fun, its not very effective/worth it?

Here's a good question that I bet will be hard to answer:
 
While I was still Thinking about purchasing the EVGA GTX 980 Classifieds, I started wondering if anyone Could tell me if you think there is going to be any modded bios's available that can be flashed on the GTX 980 Classifieds using the LN2 selection switch position like there was for my GTX 780Ti Classifieds and
Kingpin Editions?
 
My reason for asking is I Can't see the point in buying a 980 Classified over the reference PCB cards if this is impossible to accomplish without hardware mods like TiN has shown in the Kingpincooling.com Forum.

hallowen
I Will Agree That was an Absolutely Outstanding Achievement using This Highly Modded Nvidia GTX 980 Classified Graphics Card.
 

That's not a classified. Note the height of the PCB, classifieds are taller, as well as the fact it says nVidia above the PCIe. That's a reference PCB.

That's the beauty of  waiting in the computer world. Something better is always on the horizon. Just babbling here but the 980gtx reference card got my juices flowing. It has a back plate, its efficient like no other hp NVidia card. it expels heat out of my case looks sweet and out performs my crossfire 6950 set up. So after years of drooling over all the new gpu releases im happy with the reference card. haven't overclocked it yet but haven't had to.

XrayMan

freEVfoldinGA

hallowen
I Will Agree That was an Absolutely Outstanding Achievement using This Highly Modded Nvidia GTX 980 Classified Graphics Card.
 

That's not a classified. Note the height of the PCB, classifieds are taller, as well as the fact it says nVidia above the PCIe. That's a reference PCB.

Busted! LOL!               

It Makes No Difference if it's a Reference GTX 980 or a Non-reference GTX 980 SC/Classified or Whatever 980 PCB layout you are using, This is STILL the way Your Card will end up looking like in order to reach those Extremely High Overclocks as Kingpin has accomplished with Both the Reference PCB Card AND the GTX 980 Classified.
 
According to these Benching Results by HWBot, Vince Has also used these types of Mods on his EVGA GTX 980 CLASSIFIED Graphics Card that is stated to have been used in this World Record Result.
 
http://hwbot.org/submission/2650080_kingpin_3dmark___fire_strike_extreme_geforce_gtx_980_9617_marks/
 
 
There just isn't Any Other Way to get such High Overclocks without these types of Mods using LN2 Cooling such as Vince, Elmor and others are......and Oh, BTW, If You Do these Mods, You can Also Kiss Your Warranty Goodbye!
 
http://hwbot.org/submission/2640844_elmor_3dmark___fire_strike_extreme_geforce_gtx_980_9568_marks/