LurkerLito
Now my question is how do we US buyers get the free 5 year warranty and backplate?

LurkerLito
Ok I got my card today and installed it and it's perfect. No noise and no heat issues that I can see. I ran the Heaven 4.0 benchmark several times, with a slight overclock with GPU Clock and Memory Clock (+150 offsets to both in precision 16) and my temps never exceeded 51c. So I am relieved that it seems to have worked out for the better.
 
Now my question is how do we US buyers get the free 5 year warranty and backplate?

subyman
Something is not right. There is no way your temps never exceeds 51C with stock fan profile.  Did you run the fan at 100% during the entire benchmark?  My card easily hits 73C playing Crysis 2.

enacku

KLEYBA
guru3d explains this issue well. 
 
 
 
so, evga posts an Official Statement and the majority buys it without question and then go on to defend Their Guy.  that's called Sheeple.  The rest wait and research for the "real truth."  (which isn't me because I'm, well, lazy)  I haven't upgraded yet; I'm waiting to see if stuff like this comes out on all brands before I buy.  Then I'll pick the less hassle brand, you know?  this misalignment doesn't help...

Looks like the heatsink lines up perfectly to me on both of those two pipes with the chip. What pisses me off is I thought it was the new cooler they ranted and raved about, you would think that was the whole point of coming out with the new cooler is to put on their new cards. Instead we see the 1.0 version and I didn't even fathom that was the case when I ordered the 970 superclocked. Also the 4 VRMS and cheap voltage controller...what a shame. If it works well and overclocks fine I'll be happy enough only because it is the cheapest cost out of all the 970 cards. If there was a premium I would not be a happy camper, which is why they gave newegg a $10 mail in rebate to start, they just didn't come out right and let us know "hey this is cheap because its not really on par with the other custom version, so buy it and be happy its cheap" but a company won't say that, they just hope you buy it and shut up. Which might work out after some testing of the cards. Tough spot for EVGA, seems they dropped the ball a little bit on both the engineering and public relations side.

TommyLai

007vsMagua
I have to agree that MSI's offering with military grade VRMs (?) looks good to me also. Good enough sometimes isn't always good enough. I'm not interested in buying the cheapest card out there.

Exactly, why should we buy something clearly not as good for the same money? Even the reference design has 5+2, so 4+2 is really not acceptable. Maybe it performs just the same but that is not the point. The point is cutting corner is not acceptable. Why not just charge more? eVGA is like the Apple in video card world and it supposed to be a premium brand with beefiest component and unmatchable quality.

wmmills

barnsleykeith

TommyLai

007vsMagua
I have to agree that MSI's offering with military grade VRMs (?) looks good to me also. Good enough sometimes isn't always good enough. I'm not interested in buying the cheapest card out there.

Exactly, why should we buy something clearly not as good for the same money? Even the reference design has 5+2, so 4+2 is really not acceptable. Maybe it performs just the same but that is not the point. The point is cutting corner is not acceptable. Why not just charge more? eVGA is like the Apple in video card world and it supposed to be a premium brand with beefiest component and unmatchable quality.

Is 5+2 reference correct? Bit-tech says reference spec is power delivered through a 4+1 phase power delivery system. Reference also says digital voltage control, EVGA has gone analogue for some reason. Has any other board maker done this?
 

This a good question. The PCB is suppose to be a reference Nvidia spec with a custom cooler only, which is what EVGA has always done except for there top tier cards. Sounds like there's some intentional misleading going on....maybe some saboteurs from other who shall remain nameless companies. ;)

barnsleykeith

enacku

KLEYBA
guru3d explains this issue well. 
 
 
 
so, evga posts an Official Statement and the majority buys it without question and then go on to defend Their Guy.  that's called Sheeple.  The rest wait and research for the "real truth."  (which isn't me because I'm, well, lazy)  I haven't upgraded yet; I'm waiting to see if stuff like this comes out on all brands before I buy.  Then I'll pick the less hassle brand, you know?  this misalignment doesn't help...

Looks like the heatsink lines up perfectly to me on both of those two pipes with the chip. What pisses me off is I thought it was the new cooler they ranted and raved about, you would think that was the whole point of coming out with the new cooler is to put on their new cards. Instead we see the 1.0 version and I didn't even fathom that was the case when I ordered the 970 superclocked. Also the 4 VRMS and cheap voltage controller...what a shame. If it works well and overclocks fine I'll be happy enough only because it is the cheapest cost out of all the 970 cards. If there was a premium I would not be a happy camper, which is why they gave newegg a $10 mail in rebate to start, they just didn't come out right and let us know "hey this is cheap because its not really on par with the other custom version, so buy it and be happy its cheap" but a company won't say that, they just hope you buy it and shut up. Which might work out after some testing of the cards. Tough spot for EVGA, seems they dropped the ball a little bit on both the engineering and public relations side.

The bit-tech review covers the pcb layout
 
4 vrms on the I/O side of the GPU two more on the far end of the board
The 970 board looks very similar to the gtx 760 board.
 
This doesn't mean the 970 ACX is a bad card of course. But the VRMs do worry me a little. I will have to make a decision if and when my step up process moves into the next phase.
 
I won't buy Asus. The Gigabyte G1 is too long for my H440(but I could swap my rigs round at a push). The MSI 970 is looking very tempting though.

dave851

enacku
 
Can you point these out to me? I don't see any components that look like the 4 VRMS. Maybe you have an official spec sheet or something from EVGA?

Nah you can see them on the PCB if you know what your looking for, here are some nice close ups. Its 4 VRMS(Left) for the gpu core, and 2(Right) for memory. Its a very small upgrade from the reference spec of 4+1. 
 
 

Attached Image(s)

enacku

barnsleykeith

enacku

KLEYBA
guru3d explains this issue well. 
 
 
 
so, evga posts an Official Statement and the majority buys it without question and then go on to defend Their Guy.  that's called Sheeple.  The rest wait and research for the "real truth."  (which isn't me because I'm, well, lazy)  I haven't upgraded yet; I'm waiting to see if stuff like this comes out on all brands before I buy.  Then I'll pick the less hassle brand, you know?  this misalignment doesn't help...

Looks like the heatsink lines up perfectly to me on both of those two pipes with the chip. What pisses me off is I thought it was the new cooler they ranted and raved about, you would think that was the whole point of coming out with the new cooler is to put on their new cards. Instead we see the 1.0 version and I didn't even fathom that was the case when I ordered the 970 superclocked. Also the 4 VRMS and cheap voltage controller...what a shame. If it works well and overclocks fine I'll be happy enough only because it is the cheapest cost out of all the 970 cards. If there was a premium I would not be a happy camper, which is why they gave newegg a $10 mail in rebate to start, they just didn't come out right and let us know "hey this is cheap because its not really on par with the other custom version, so buy it and be happy its cheap" but a company won't say that, they just hope you buy it and shut up. Which might work out after some testing of the cards. Tough spot for EVGA, seems they dropped the ball a little bit on both the engineering and public relations side.

The bit-tech review covers the pcb layout
 
4 vrms on the I/O side of the GPU two more on the far end of the board
The 970 board looks very similar to the gtx 760 board.
 
This doesn't mean the 970 ACX is a bad card of course. But the VRMs do worry me a little. I will have to make a decision if and when my step up process moves into the next phase.
 
I won't buy Asus. The Gigabyte G1 is too long for my H440(but I could swap my rigs round at a push). The MSI 970 is looking very tempting though.

Can you point these out to me? I don't see any components that look like the 4 VRMS. Maybe you have an official spec sheet or something from EVGA?

KLEYBA
regarding evga's response:  so they're saying the third heat pipe is just Hanging Out; Kicking Back until it's needed?  really?  for example, look at the  Asus Strix version of the 970; it uses all three pipes.  (I don't own a ASUS 970 so I'm not trollin') 
 
EVGA, I think you would have gone much further, with a ton of understanding if you would have gone with the 'Truth Route.'
 
Meaning:  We made these coolers in high numbers only to realize later that the cooler was not constructed properly.  with manufacturing cost being high as they are now, we could not scrap these coolers, and then pass the financial cost on to our loyal customers--that is not the EVGA way.  so we had no choice but to use them; however, we here at EVGA want to assure our loyal customers that the performance and temps will not be affected by these coolers.  We firmly stand by our products. Should any of our customers have concerns  or issues with performance with the 970 SC ACX, please feel assured that you may contact customer service anytime and we will work with you through this issue.  thank you for your understand regarding the ACX cooler....
 
or something like that; you think?  do you guys know what is the one thing in this world that nobody EVER forgets?  The truth.
 
PS:  I'm totally free should you wanna hire me for you PR Department, EVGA, mmmmk?