EVGA_JacobF
Sorry for the confusion/misinformation. EVGA has not discontinued the reference cooler and you will see more availability soon.

Thank you Jacob!!! You rock dude!!!

Dang it Jacob. I thought they were going to be discontinued and I could sell my "limited edition" GTX 980 SC's for some big $$$$.  LMAO   

joder

EVGA_JacobF
Sorry for the confusion/misinformation. EVGA has not discontinued the reference cooler and you will see more availability soon.

Thanks for the information.  I have been to Fry's a few times and they just say it is discontinued. 

It drives me nuts that they are saying this.  Funny enough they had 2 980 ACX 2.0 SC cards in store, however, they aren't even listed on the Web site.

Fry's...pfft. That place sucks balls

 
Weird.. EVGA 900 series page.. right now the GTX-980 SC ACX 2.0 does not have auto-notify or buy button.. it has no button at all. 
 
edit : it's been fixed now. Auto-notify button is back.

Im guessing EVGA probably cancelled all orders for 980 SC so they could apply the price hike. 
 
The GTX 980 SC Reference Cooler card was being sold for $569 - and once the stock went out - they stopped supplying.
 
Now they've hiked up the price. The new shipment that will probably come after all pending orders are cancelled and the card will be re-shelfed as a new product with new price. Hence vendors claiming it to be 'discontinued'. It would probably show up on their shelves as a different item [i.e. different product code].
 
I'm just guessing here - but thats how it seems to me now.

PrimeEvilTahir
Im guessing EVGA probably cancelled all orders for 980 SC so they could apply the price hike. 
 
The GTX 980 SC Reference Cooler card was being sold for $569 - and once the stock went out - they stopped supplying.
 
Now they've hiked up the price. The new shipment that will probably come after all pending orders are cancelled and the card will be re-shelfed as a new product with new price. Hence vendors claiming it to be 'discontinued'. It would probably show up on their shelves as a different item [i.e. different product code].
 
I'm just guessing here - but thats how it seems to me now.

A new model number would explain the discontinued status that some retailers are stating.
I wonder if that means the few 04G-P4-2982-KR models that were released will suddenly become a limited edition card.. :)   I have two of them. muahaha!
 

PrimeEvilTahir
Im guessing EVGA probably cancelled all orders for 980 SC so they could apply the price hike. 
 
The GTX 980 SC Reference Cooler card was being sold for $569 - and once the stock went out - they stopped supplying.
 
Now they've hiked up the price. The new shipment that will probably come after all pending orders are cancelled and the card will be re-shelfed as a new product with new price. Hence vendors claiming it to be 'discontinued'. It would probably show up on their shelves as a different item [i.e. different product code].
 
I'm just guessing here - but thats how it seems to me now.

 
Could be right but as long as I'm locked in at the original price through the step-up program then I'll be happy. 

 
 ^ Count yourself lucky. I wanted to step-up my wife's 970SC reference to a 980 reference fan model (which was available when I ordered the 970). I contacted EVGA and was advised they "have no plans to put the Titan-style cooler 980s back on the StepUp list" (but they did add that if you've already put in a request for one while they were on the list, then it will be processed as normal, so you're ok)... so I'm doing a step-up to a 980ACX instead, which I really do not want. :/ 
 
If I receive the ACX model and EVGA then put the reference model back on after telling me it wouldn't be, I will not be happy.
 

Nereus
 
 ^ Count yourself lucky. I wanted to step-up my wife's 970SC reference to a 980 reference fan model (which was available when I ordered the 970). I contacted EVGA and was advised they "have no plans to put the Titan-style cooler 980s back on the StepUp list" (but they did add that if you've already put in a request for one while they were on the list, then it will be processed as normal, so you're ok)... so I'm doing a step-up to a 980ACX instead, which I really do not want. :/ 
 
If I receive the ACX model and EVGA then put the reference model back on after telling me it wouldn't be, I will not be happy.
 

Yeah well the whole thing was a little lucky. I bought a 780 and almost 90 days later (just a few days before it was too late) I stumbled on the step-up list. The highest card available was a 780 Ti. I said, "what the hell" and started the step-up process. It was going to cost me almost $200 to get the Ti. Then just 2 days before my 90 days was up, I saw the 980's reference available. So I cancelled the Ti step-up and started one for the 980. But since the 980 was cheaper I only have to pay $60+ extra. A couple more days later the 980 ref was replaced with the ACX (I don't want that one either) and the new prices for the 780 had dropped over $100 everywhere. So really there was only a 3 or 4 day window where I could start a step-up request for a 980 ref and still get the full price for my 780 ($500) from EVGA.
 
So that is one of the reasons I'm not complaining about being in the queue for a month now...as long as I'm locked in to the product I want and at the price I want, I'll wait ;)

 
 Nice timing, you'll like the 980 card. I have 2 x 980 SC ref cards in my rig - very happy with them so far.