One of the main reasons I am wanting this card is because of Skyrim. I want to be able to run some of the best graphical mods and enb, with a steady 50-60 FPS. I found my GTX 560 ti was hardly capable of it and I was basically destroying it in the process and was getting a ****ty 25-35, fps (keep in mind that's only with the "book of silence" and a few resolution mods.) 
I want to be able to run the best mods at a good frame rate, will I get that?

Thanks! 

I ran my heavily modded skyrim with a 970 SC and it ran smooth with more than 60 FPS. However, my FPS dropped dramatically (it dropped to about ~20 FPS) when I walked to Riften from Whiterun where there were A LOT of trees.

I believe this is due to the "lush trees" mod. Apparently the mod isn't optimized very well and it forced the GPU to render every single leaf on all the trees in the distant even though you couldn't see them so it caused huge FPS drops. So I would recommend leaving out the lush trees mod if you were planning on using it or maybe your mileage may vary. I recently exchanged my 970 SC for a 970 FTW so i'm still waiting for it to come in the mail but I would expect performance to be the same.

I know that it varys with airflow - but what temps are you guys getting with the 970 and 980 with a modded Skyrim? I got five fans in my full case tower, and sometimes my 560 reached 78C , I know i am pushing it with skyrim and so many mods though.

kayfaei
I know that it varys with airflow - but what temps are you guys getting with the 970 and 980 with a modded Skyrim? I got five fans in my full case tower, and sometimes my 560 reached 78C , I know i am pushing it with skyrim and so many mods though.

 
With stock aggresive fan profile i never go above 60C and thats on any game rly, highest ive seen is 61 with a total boost clock of 1542.