So I have a Reference evga gtx980 and what I want to know is am I able to replace the reference cooler on my card with an ACX 2.0 cooler evga currently puts on their boards? Are evga's boards with the ACX 2.0 cooler reference cards with just a cooler thrown on, or are they a custom board as well? If I were able to install an ACX 2.0 cooler on my card what would be the best route to get one? I am only asking as when I originally built the pc I was in a MITX case that benefitted from the blower style reference cooler. I have since upgraded to a nice ATX board with a NZXT h440 Razer edition case and would much prefer the quieter acoustics of the ACX 2.0 cooler over this blower design. 

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Yes, you can switch to any other gpu cooler, as long as it fits correctly, is installed correctly and actually keeps the card cool. EVGA will not void your warranty either as long as you don't alter the card physically and just switch out the old hsf. Don't forget to get thermalpaste and maybe some new thermalpads too. Most likely the pads on your current cooler wont come off without tearing etc.... usually. Also, remember the ACX cooler dumps all the hsf air back into the case, so make sure your using a full tower case, you have a good positive pressure case fan setup or your going to watercool because it will most likely drive your cpu, vregs, SB, HDD's, and PSU temps up some. That can cause some issues with some PSU's as they are rated to run there specs at 40c instead of the old industry standard that were all used to of 50c. All the cards are reference or ref with slight overclocks except the Classifieds and Kingpins, they have custom pcb's and components. As far as should you do it with your case, imo, no just looking at it, but the 4 intake fans and 1 exhaust might be enough even though its fairly cramped. Id have to test one myself to give you a more accurate definite answer. Being your in Canada where its much cooler most of the time you might have a good result.

Vlada011
I think it's possible but EVGA have one advantage except ACX cooler...
You see Reinforcement Baseplate from aluminum... Because of that no problems with VRM
temperatures and he keep PCB straight and ACX fins can't touch PCB.
 

 
All cards series 900 and many cards series 700 have that.

Yeah, I wasn't sure if there was a difference between the acx cooler and the reference both having that bottom plate, so thanks for that info vlad. :)  That's great if he can just switch the fin/fan section out then. 

Would the best way to get the cooler just call the Evga parts and support line? I am unit worried about air flow in my h440 I have 3 intake corsair AF120 fans two sp120 quiet pwm fans on my swiftech h220 that is mounted in the top with a 140mm AF 140 fan in the rear. The psu is fully enclosed in its own compartment here and it's a evga 750w I don't imagine temps are to high on it. My current load temps sit at about 60/65c depending on the game with fans at 60% with my overclock of 1500 core and 7.9 memory I have plenty of thermal headroom my concern is acoustics of the blower type mainly. I would have gone Acx 2.0 off the bat except for the fact I needed a reference card for the little Itx case I had. Now I am in this beautiful h440 razer edition and I would love to not hear the reference blower when I game.

Ya I love back plates and baseplates under the cooler keeps the card looking clean. Now I just need to figure out where I can buy just an Acx 2.0 cooler for a 980 I've tried Kijiji and eBay and red flag deals to no avail. I will probably call Evga on my next day off to see if I can buy one directly from them.I almost don't understand why vendors don't just also sell their coolers on their own the way you can buy any type of cpu cooler. I understand it's incentive to buy the card instead but the margin they could make on cooler sales alone would make it worth it.

I am just going to call EVGA support Wednesday when I am off work and see if I could just buy one from the RMA center at what ever price they offer. I'm willing to shell out up to 100$ for the quieter acoustics of the ACX 2.0 cooler.