So this is less a technical question and more of a “what would you do” type of question, as right now I’m at the point where I really don’t know if there is a “best” option.
 
So, I currently have a GTX 1080 FTW2 with ICX. I really love the RGB LED, and I really like the “peace of mind gaming” that the duel fan ICX provides quite a lot. When I bough the card, it was the ACX and was $699.
 
I have 79 days left on the step up program due choosing to get the ICX version. One of my options is to step up right now to the 1080 Ti FE, which looks like it is a wonderful card, I’d miss the ICX and my RGB LED, but that is a small price to pay for such a major performance boost… isn’t it?
 
But I also could wait until near the end of my remaining step up time-- in that time, the 1080 Ti FE may go down in price, or a might if I’m really lucky even be able to step up to a 1080 ti with ICX! But both of those seem rather unlikely, so is there any advantage in waiting, really?
 
Another option, which looses me the most money but gets me a better card, is to forgo the step up program, wait until the 1080 Ti FTW3 is out, and actually try to sell my old card and get the one that is the newer card with the cooling I want… but this seems more risky. Does anyone here have any experience with selling cards that are “almost the newest” and how well that goes/how much of a drop in price I’m looking at now that it has been used (I still have the original box and everything).
 
So what I’m wondering is, what do the people here, who perhaps more experience with choices like this than I do, think my best option would be-- or at least, what option would you take, in my shoes?
 
Thanks for any replies!

So, I have two 4k 60hz screens that I use display port cables for and then a TV that I use HDMI. The TV says it is 120hz, but I’m using a long HDMI cable so at 4k I’m only able to get 60. (by 4k, I mean 3840 x 2160, not 1440). I use my PC for gaming fairly often, everything from Fallout 4 to Dolphin. There are only a few games that have really pushed the 1080, Fallout 4 being one of the ones where frames seem to drop below 60, and Crysis 3 being another. Some games have some stuttering too, but that might be the program’s fault and not the card’s. My CPU is the i7-6700K 8M Skylake, I have it water cooled and it gets to 5Ghz with 71 as the max temperature (when I’m stress testing)… it could probably go even more, but I stopped there because I felt there was no need to push it any further.
 
I know EVGA doesn’t announce future plans-- and step-up can only happen once. That is why I think that perhaps waiting is the better option… but then again, normally only the reference cards are offered for step up anyway, so if I wait, I might just be missing out on time that I could be having a better card…
 
Yeah, I was figuring I’d wait until more like 10 days, just to be sure, though it’d sure suck if something happened on that last day that made me wish I waited, after waiting that long!

Thank you very much!
 
It seems the consensus is pretty much "waiting is never a bad idea" which is what I figured, and it looks like it has definitely benefited others in the past (1070 to 1080ti must have been quite the upgrade indeed!) I'm glad to have the extra motivation for waiting, though, as whenever I looked at another review of the 1080ti it was getting harder and harder for me to do what I knew was probably the better idea and wait!

I would wait a little bit longer, but there is 0 chance EVGA will have FTW cards in stepup. Most they ever have is the SC's. I would grab the FE, go get an AIO either the legit Ti version or mod it for 80 then get a NZXT Hue+. Now you have an even better cooler and more RGB. 

It is not really modding it is just taking off the heatsink and a little cable, just need steady hands and a screwdriver. The reason for this "modding" is to allow the GTX 1080 (what I meant by 80) Hybrid kit to fit on the Ti. The purpose of using the 1080 kit over the Ti kit is that its cheaper and also not out stock in every corner of the solar system. Watercooling the GPU using this method would not be adding it to your loop, just adding an AIO.
 
The FE/reference cooler is absolutely terrible and loud, even on a high fan curve you will easily hit 80C. The Hue+ was just to add RGB to the rest of your case, not your GPU per say. 
 
Let me know if you have any more questions.