On games (mostly old games or some kind of loading screen) where FPS skyrockets yes, normal usage or games with FPS < 200. no problem at all.

DirtySouthWookie
I really think these cards are just indicative of coil whine. I literally went through 14 different 980s in SLI from different manufacturers. I used different power sources, clean power inverters,  different platinum rated PSUs, and two high end motherboards just to get coil whine from every single card.
 
Each coil whine was like a snowflake! All were very different. It seemed the further the asic quality was apart, the louder the whine was and pulsated. Cards with Asic within 1% gave off the least whine with no loud pulses. Asus being by far the loudest and unstable. ( I went through 4 )
MSI 2nd loudest. ( went through 2 ) followed my gtx 980 classifieds (used 2) and the quietest was the evga gtx 980 sc 2.0 cards. ( I had to go through 8 before I found a couple that were quiet.
 
The quiet cards were both 75% asic and can overclock to 1570 stable on air even though I don't over clock at all anymore.
 
It seems the real silicon lottery isn't asic quality but silent cards.

 
14?!?! I guess you really do hate coil whine that much lol

Wookie, you really had coil whine with the GTX 980 Classified? 

that's wired, never heard a CW issue on the GTX 980 Classified before.
it seems to me this issue has nothing to do with component quality at.
so what then? design issue or what is this all about!?

sahafiec
that's wired, never heard a CW issue on the GTX 980 Classified before.
it seems to me this issue has nothing to do with component quality at.
so what then? design issue or what is this all about!?

Coil whine tends to happen more the people realize its just this whine is not always within the human hearing range or is very quiet. There are ways to combat this by design, but sometimes the changes are just not reasonable to make. Component selection can definitely help, but can not always eliminate noise. Coil whine is a combination of the switching frequency of the current passing though it being within the human hearing range and enough current to become audibly loud. 
 
This is not a simple topic at all, and at the end of the day coil whine is something that can not always be removed without a cost that is higher then companies believe its worth. 
 
Now let me go put on my fire resistance suit. I will also deny that high fps is a cause of coil whine. Its more about the current load, which can be high for a number of reasons. High fps does not always cause coil whine and coil whine can happen at low fps. 
 
Correlation does not imply causation. Here is a link about how the number of people that died by becoming entangled in there bed-sheets correlates to the how much money US ski facility's made. 

dave851

sahafiec
that's wired, never heard a CW issue on the GTX 980 Classified before.
it seems to me this issue has nothing to do with component quality at.
so what then? design issue or what is this all about!?

Coil whine tends to happen more the people realize its just this whine is not always within the human hearing range or is very quiet. There are ways to combat this by design, but sometimes the changes are just not reasonable to make. Component selection can definitely help, but can not always eliminate noise. Coil whine is a combination of the switching frequency of the current passing though it being within the human hearing range and enough current to become audibly loud. 
 
This is not a simple topic at all, and at the end of the day coil whine is something that can not always be removed without a cost that is higher then companies believe its worth. 
 
Now let me go put on my fire resistance suit. I will also deny that high fps is a cause of coil whine. Its more about the current load, which can be high for a number of reasons. High fps does not always cause coil whine and coil whine can happen at low fps. 
 
Correlation does not imply causation.. 

Yes it does happen a lot. I'm "gifted" with being able to hear very high frequencies (e.g. bought two Logitech G500s and both have 'whine'. I can also can hear when a TV is on in another room just by the electronic high-pitched noise they emit. I have learned to deal.). However, the EVGA 970 FTW's whine is so loud it is almost nauseating (EDIT: not even a very high pitched sound but comparable to, say, GPU fans running at 100% and yes, I can tell the difference :-P ). Just saying.
 
"I will also deny that high fps is a cause of coil whine...". I have not done any sensor monitoring but sitting at the Watch Dogs MAIN SCREEN causes coil whine but actually playing the game doesn't produce it, even after an hour of playing - yet running Furmark always sounds off the coil whine. I have NOT heard it while actually playing a game yet (e.g. Watch Dogs, Battlefield 4 and Crysis 3 - highest settings). Odd that there would be more "load" at a main menu screen but not while actually playing. (and NO, the coil whine did not disappear as I can reproduce these scenarios over-and-over). I let the fps run amok in Counter Strike Source (299 fps max) and hear no coil whine. Not every system/card is the same I know but just saying.
 
 **EDIT: Elaborated that my coil whine is not even a very high-pitched sound**

mayne92
 
Yes it does happen a lot. I'm "gifted" with being able to hear very high frequencies (e.g. bought two Logitech G500s and both have 'whine'. I can also can hear when a TV is on in another room just by the electronic high-pitched noise they emit. I have learned to deal.). However, the EVGA 970 FTW's whine is so loud it is almost nauseating (EDIT: not even a very high pitched sound but comparable to, say, GPU fans running at 100% and yes, I can tell the difference :-P ). Just saying.
 
"I will also deny that high fps is a cause of coil whine...". I have not done any sensor monitoring but sitting at the Watch Dogs MAIN SCREEN causes coil whine but actually playing the game doesn't produce it, even after an hour of playing - yet running Furmark always sounds off the coil whine. I have NOT heard it while actually playing a game yet (e.g. Watch Dogs, Battlefield 4 and Crysis 3 - highest settings). Odd that there would be more "load" at a main menu screen but not while actually playing. (and NO, the coil whine did not disappear as I can reproduce these scenarios over-and-over). I let the fps run amok in Counter Strike Source (299 fps max) and hear no coil whine. Not every system/card is the same I know but just saying.
 
 **EDIT: Elaborated that my coil whine is not even a very high-pitched sound**

Coil whine doesn't have to be high pitched, it can even something like 100hz hum. Its just high pitched because that the frequency that's they are switching at. 
 
Also I intentionally picked my words carefully, I didn't say higher current load. There may be multiple harmonics that will create coil whine as you move though them. It could be that menu screens are  sitting in one of those harmonic bands. All I'm trying to get across here is that this is a electromagnetic property that is separate from fps. There may be a correlation but its not causation. Why limiting fps works is that it changes the load, so that you may be able to escape the harmonic band. Also lower currents can make it quieter, unless you hit a resonate frequency, which can be very loud. There's a lot of factors down to how the coil itself it wound, its why it varies from card to card. 

dave851

mayne92
 
Yes it does happen a lot. I'm "gifted" with being able to hear very high frequencies (e.g. bought two Logitech G500s and both have 'whine'. I can also can hear when a TV is on in another room just by the electronic high-pitched noise they emit. I have learned to deal.). However, the EVGA 970 FTW's whine is so loud it is almost nauseating (EDIT: not even a very high pitched sound but comparable to, say, GPU fans running at 100% and yes, I can tell the difference :-P ). Just saying.
 
"I will also deny that high fps is a cause of coil whine...". I have not done any sensor monitoring but sitting at the Watch Dogs MAIN SCREEN causes coil whine but actually playing the game doesn't produce it, even after an hour of playing - yet running Furmark always sounds off the coil whine. I have NOT heard it while actually playing a game yet (e.g. Watch Dogs, Battlefield 4 and Crysis 3 - highest settings). Odd that there would be more "load" at a main menu screen but not while actually playing. (and NO, the coil whine did not disappear as I can reproduce these scenarios over-and-over). I let the fps run amok in Counter Strike Source (299 fps max) and hear no coil whine. Not every system/card is the same I know but just saying.
 
 **EDIT: Elaborated that my coil whine is not even a very high-pitched sound**

Coil whine doesn't have to be high pitched, it can even something like 100hz hum. Its just high pitched because that the frequency that's they are switching at. 
 
Also I intentionally picked my words carefully, I didn't say higher current load. There may be multiple harmonics that will create coil whine as you move though them. It could be that menu screens are  sitting in one of those harmonic bands. All I'm trying to get across here is that this is a electromagnetic property that is separate from fps. There may be a correlation but its not causation. Why limiting fps works is that it changes the load, so that you may be able to escape the harmonic band. Also lower currents can make it quieter, unless you hit a resonate frequency, which can be very loud. There's a lot of factors down to how the coil itself it wound, its why it varies from card to card. 

Thanks for elaborating Dave!

I was running Valley for about 2 time 12 hours in the last few days, but it changed nothing with the coil whine :/ Reading about all these problems, I am thinking about sending it back and get a GTX 780 or 780 TI...

Yeah looks like I'll be RMA'ing my 970 FTW. This coil whine/weird almost grinding noise is nuts. When I'm idle or on the forums..its fine when I put it under load and the fans come on...the noise starts instantly.

My coil whine has gone down significantly after benching it for a few days. I make sure the card stay at very high temperate (80c), I think the proper way to bake the card is to make sure it runs hot and no air flow. 

I feel quite lucky too...no whining here.

No.
 
Just received my 04G-P4-2976-KR (which appears to be an update/refresh of the 04G-2972-KR) yesterday, and zero coil whine, even at very high fps. For those who don't want to look it up, the card is a GTX 970 ACX 2.0, nVidia reference specs.

No coil whine on my 3 week old 980 SC ACX 2.0...  I'm receiving another one today for sli so I'm keeping my fingers crossed this one won't be a whiner either.

i had coil whine on my gtx 780 ftw went away after half a year and a new psu.
my new gtx 980 classi does not have it