watercooling and over clocking nvidia gtx 970

[sto_]

was up toms hardware

im getting two gtx 970 graphics cards and i plan on watercooling them and overclocking but i dont kno which i should choose a refarence or non reference .

1-what are the differences between the two besides the cooler
2-are they going to be the same in performance
3-which would be the best card for high overclocking


my current specs
cpu- i5-3570k @ 4.2 ghz
gpu- gtx 660 sc 2GB @ 1149 mhz
motherboard- asus p8z77 v-lx
ram- 16gb corsair xms3 1333mhz
powersupply- corsair rm850
cpu and gpu both on custom water loop

thanks for the help

 

[vmem]

Problem with OCing 970s: they're locked to a maximum of a 10% TDP increase, therefore you can get pretty close to maxing them out on air, water won't help much.

I am having the same debate myself trying to upgrade from a 7970, I would suggest just biting the bullet and get a 980

 

[manofchalk]

1. One will fit with a water-block and the other wont (I'm guessing your talking about non/reference PCB's here).
2. Cant exactly answer that without more info.
3. Whichever reference PCB card is binned highest, which more than likely is going to be a higher end EVGA card since they tend to do that.

 

[sto_]

1. One will fit with a water-block and the other wont (I'm guessing your talking about non/reference PCB's here).
2. Cant exactly answer that without more info.
3. Whichever reference PCB card is binned highest, which more than likely is going to be a higher end EVGA card since they tend to do that.

well i saw on http://www.coolingconfigurator.com/step1_complist which is a 670 waterblock fourth down on vga full cover columm is compatible with the 970 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NI45AUU/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER