I have always done reference aka FE cards previously until I went from a 980 SC Reference to the 1080 FTW ACX 3.0. I use to SLI but for price to performance I did single GPU with 1080 FTW and only thing I really noticed is the amount of heat in case vs the reference cards. I am an air only user and do not use AIO for my CPU as I currently have the Hyper 212EVO cooler with push/pull but with the ACX and now the ICX I do notice my CPU temp is noticeably higher now. I had no issues with Reference/FE blower as being air only I like having all the heat removed from my case. My main thing after doing the upgrade was the $20.00 difference for step up to the TI and I ended up pulling the trigger. I thought about waiting to see if ICX would be added but doubt they will as due to supply of their ICX cards honestly. For 20 bucks to have Ti is a steal and noise of the blower has never been an issue for me in the past due to headsets and multiple fans on my case going. While I did the ICX upgrade I did remove my 980SC ref from my second PC and put in my main PC and used it while I sent in 1080 and I def noticed the blower sound but it's not as bad as it's mad out to be in my opinion.