Sure enough, after receiving my new 580 tonight and getting everything ready to go, my display adapter's refresh rate settings went back to 59Hz despite showing 60Hz in the NCP.  I posted in the 200's forum while using my backup card how to go about fixing this in case anyone else is having the issue.  (Video card constantly sounds @ full load or making too much noise running @59Hz and is fixed by making sure all 3 settings locations show 60Hz: Display Adapter, NCP, & In-Game settings) NCP=NVidia Control Panel
 
-Create a custom resolution with manual timings, and set the Hz to "60.001".  For the 580 I had to go back in to my display adapter and apply the 60Hz option twice after the custom settings were done in NCP.  
 
For more information on this, and the original post in the 200's thread with more detailed instructions go to the following link:
http://forums.evga.com/tm.aspx?high=&m=963127&mpage=1#963127
 
If this helps at least 1 person, then it has served its purpose.  Please no responses like "Oh don't cry about 59Hz because it's probably 59.97Hz & Windows rounds up". If people encounter the same problem as me, and this solution resolves it, then let it be.  

I had that problem with my 465 GTX. Seems fixed in my 560 GTX Ti (JUST double checked and it says its now 60hz)

Didn't really notice the noise my case is pretty loud as is but i couldn't get it to switch to 60hz for the life of me.

@Squall_Leonhart: Lots of info there awesome post.  I'm wondering if it was my monitor (that uses a 'Generic PnP' driver) that allowed the 59Hz problem to persist?  It's fixed now, using above method.  But maybe if Asus had put out monitor drivers it would have helped to resolve things without having to time my Hz .001 faster.  The exact model + model number displays fine in NCP.  

I'm having a hard time understanding why 1 Hz matters to anyone.  If the actual refresh rate is actually 59.94 Hz regardless, why does it matter if we see 59 or 60 Hz reported?
 
And why do we have this same topic posted in both the 200 series and 500 series section?
 

lol,,,yeah just get a 120 hz and be done with it.i had that with my gtx 295 on a regular 60hz lcd but never noticed any issues,in fact i just left it the way it was.. but every time i was in the nvcp i saw it set to 59 i would set it back to 60 just for spite,next time it was there again..funny enough in vista 64 bit it was always 60,[yes i still have vista on another drive] does it affect your computing experience?

ty_ger07

I'm having a hard time understanding why 1 Hz matters to anyone.  If the actual refresh rate is actually 59.94 Hz regardless, why does it matter if we see 59 or 60 Hz reported?

And why do we have this same topic posted in both the 200 series and 500 series section?

The Windows SP1 fix should try to round the figure up. So if the refresh rate is 59.94 the number should show as 60. I would assume based on that premise that 59.49 would round down to 59.

its not even required anymore, Release 270 fixes any issues with games not working with the 59.94(60) mode.

@Squall-leonhart: I guess I was fortunate that my games still functioned with the issue.  But I wasn't going to let them run while my card was making those noises, hence the fix.  Can't remember which driver I was using on the backup card, but I still had to perform this fix on the 580 despite having the 270.51 drivers.  Those were the first 580 drivers to touch my system when the card was installed too.

@dutchrend its a Asus VW224u "it is bizzare" but it works flawless in the VGA port. If i go to DVI it wont even recognize that its capable of 1680X1050...instead it shows max of 1400x900, when i force it, it wont let it go above 50hz, if i custom make the resolution at 60hz it always shows 59 and looks like crap. But, with the adapter in VGA it works like a champ. "when i first got this monitor it would work at 1680x1050 in the DVI but then got retarded over time".

Its a monitor issue on mine "its a gameroom pc" running two 8800 gt's. on 266 drivers "it happens on all drivers" and it happens wheni i hook it up to my 5870 setup. I would be curious to see what happens if he hooks it up to the vga port. Just for the heck of it.

 
HM...  under current display mode it says its in 59Hz... 270.61
 
 
Monitor
  Model name............... AL2016W
  Manufacturer............. Acer
  Plug and Play ID......... ACRAD64
  Serial number............ L640C1724052
  Manufacture date......... 2007, ISO week 13
  -------------------------
  EDID revision............ 1.3
  Input signal type........ Digital
  Color bit depth.......... Undefined
  Display type............. RGB color
  Screen size.............. 430 x 270 mm (20.0 in)
  Power management......... Standby, Suspend, Active off/sleep
  Extension blocs.......... None
  -------------------------
  DDC/CI................... Supported
  MCCS revison............. 2.0
  Display technology....... TFT
  Controller............... Mstar
  Firmware revision........ 1.0
  Active power on time..... Not supported
  Power consumption........ Not supported
  Current frequency........ 6.52kHz, 59.90Hz

Color characteristics
  Default color space...... Non-sRGB
  Display gamma............ 2.20
  Red chromaticity......... Rx 0.640 - Ry 0.352
  Green chromaticity....... Gx 0.288 - Gy 0.628
  Blue chromaticity........ Bx 0.147 - By 0.070
  White point (default).... Wx 0.313 - Wy 0.329
  Additional descriptors... None

Timing characteristics
  Horizontal scan range.... 31-84kHz
  Vertical scan range...... 56-77Hz
  Video bandwidth.......... 170MHz
  CVT standard............. Not supported
  GTF standard............. Not supported
  Additional descriptors... None
  Preferred timing......... Yes
  Native/preferred timing.. 1680x1050p at 60Hz (16:10)
    Modeline............... "1680x1050" 146.250 1680 1784 1960 2240 1050 1053 1059 1089 -hsync -vsync

Standard timings supported
     720 x  400p at  70Hz - IBM VGA
     640 x  480p at  60Hz - IBM VGA
     640 x  480p at  67Hz - Apple Mac II
     640 x  480p at  72Hz - VESA
     640 x  480p at  75Hz - VESA
     800 x  600p at  56Hz - VESA
     800 x  600p at  60Hz - VESA
     800 x  600p at  72Hz - VESA
     800 x  600p at  75Hz - VESA
     832 x  624p at  75Hz - Apple Mac II
    1024 x  768p at  60Hz - VESA
    1024 x  768p at  70Hz - VESA
    1024 x  768p at  75Hz - VESA
    1280 x 1024p at  75Hz - VESA
    1152 x  870p at  75Hz - Apple Mac II
    1024 x  768p at  85Hz - Manufacturer
    1600 x 1200p at  60Hz - VESA STD
    1152 x  864p at  75Hz - VESA STD
    1280 x  960p at  60Hz - VESA STD
    1360 x  765p at  60Hz - VESA STD
    1440 x  900p at  60Hz - VESA STD
    1440 x  900p at  75Hz - VESA STD
    1400 x 1050p at  60Hz - VESA STD

Report information
  Date generated........... 4/19/2011
  Software revision........ 2.59.0.934
  Data source.............. Real-time 0x0011
  Operating system......... 6.1.7601.2.Service Pack 1

Raw data
  00,FF,FF,FF,FF,FF,FF,00,04,72,64,AD,7E,3C,30,71,0D,11,01,03,80,2B,1B,78,EA,CF,C5,A3,5A,49,A0,25,
  12,50,54,BF,EF,90,A9,40,71,4F,81,40,8B,C0,95,00,95,0F,90,40,01,01,21,39,90,30,62,1A,27,40,68,B0,
  36,00,B1,0F,11,00,00,19,00,00,00,FD,00,38,4D,1F,54,11,00,0A,20,20,20,20,20,20,00,00,00,FF,00,4C,
  36,34,30,43,31,37,32,34,30,35,32,0A,00,00,00,FC,00,41,4C,32,30,31,36,57,0A,20,20,20,20,20,00,98

@Squall_Rinoa86:  Have you tried the fix I've posted that will get your Nvidia Control Panel, Display Adapter Advanced Settings, and Games to all show 60Hz?  Essentially you create a custom profile within the Nvidia Control Panel and set manual timings to input "60.001" as your refresh rate, and then go in to your display adapter's advanced settings and make sure that it too shows 60Hz.  You may have to select 60Hz and Apply a couple times until it finally stays put at 60Hz under your display adapter's settings, you may also need to restart your computer, but afterwards your display adapter settings, Nvidia Control Panel, and games will all reflect 60Hz and you will no longer be stuck at 59Hz.  
If you need more detailed instructions, I left a very detailed instruction list in the 200's forum while using the card that I first had to perform the fix with.  Those instructions are here: http://forums.evga.com/tm.aspx?high=&m=963127&mpage=1#963127 .  *note, while I did not have to restart my computer, I did have to choose and apply 60Hz *two* times within my display adapter's advanced settings before it would stick.  Please let me know if you need any further assistance.
-dutch

^This. (As always very informative, squall_leonhart) Yeah pretty much anything that runs off the Battlefield 2 engine or its 'sequels' + World in Conflict, and Company of Heroes games.  So most of your newer titles will be just fine.  There is an extremely helpful forum post regarding refresh rates, this issue specifically, and more in-depth problems regarding 59Hz that I know of but I wasn't sure if we're allowed to link to other forums from here so I've held off on that.  If that's OK, I can drop the link to it and you'll find much more information over there than I care to type out .
cheers,
dutch

@Silverdragon68:  Thank you for the link, I will definitely bookmark that and possibly proceed with installing the driver.  Everything is working wonderfully so you can understand my hesitation :).  The NCP detects it as a computer monitor judging by the icon and correct identity of the display's brand & model.  However, while I was just in there double-checking, I noticed that NCP is no longer displaying the correct monitor brand & model.  Now it is displaying "Ancor Communic..." with no other information to explore.  When I go to screen resolutions from the desktop right-click menu, the UI there displays my correct brand/model.  It always displayed correctly there, as well as the NCP.  I'm wondering what could have changed in my NCP recently for it to not display the correct identity as before.  My only guess is when the 270 series beta drivers became a certified release, and I installed that release over the beta drivers I had been using.  Otherwise everything is fine though.  If I proceed with the monitor drivers, I'll report back any change in findings.