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It appears that some EVGA GTX 1080 buyers are facing some serious overheating issues with their cards at the moment. Disappointed customers have been voicing their concerns online over the last few weeks, with some reporting that their GPUs began to spark, or even give off smoke. Fortunately, EVGA is aware of the problem, but they will only be issuing a DIY fix.
The problem appears to be that the ACX cooler found on the GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 does not adequately cool the card's voltage regulation modules (VRMs). Normally, these would be cooled in some way but the ACX cooler appears to leave these modules relatively untouched, leaving them to overheat under certain circumstances. Even brief heat spikes can cause long term damage to VRM chips, so this is a fairly serious issue.
The fix should be relatively straight forward if you have experience in removing GPU coolers. Essentially, EVGA is going to send out a set of thermal pads to GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 owners that are worried about their VRM temperatures. EVGA has said that it has tested the thermal pad fix itself and has confirmed that it should help reduce temperatures.
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KitGuru Says: It seems that under many normal working conditions, EVGA's ACX cooler works just fine but in certain circumstances, it doesn't do enough to keep VRM temperatures down. Hopefully, this thermal pad fix will help out current owners of these graphics cards before any more damage is done.
For real they are going to expect a common normal user to take their card apart what could go wrong with this. I think this is a very bad way to handle something like this because most user only know the basics like power switch mouse etc. Crap next the makers will start sending out the parts to people with instruction sheets lol. Just because evga. techs think or find it a easy diy fix does not mean someone that know very little about hardware will be able to do it. Before someone rags on my post stop and think about it first you will find I am pretty much spot on about this.
Wow, if only MSI had been this quick to resolve the MXM upgrade mess. Read the following before making a decision to buy MSI products: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/gt72-gt72s-and-gt80-gt80s-owners-gpu-upgrade-discussion.795236/ and https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18746748
at least evga has a fairly well established tech support and return system. if they mess up they should be able to get a replacement easily.
oh, and just to point out, early computers did come in pieces and required you to solder them together.
Well the damage might already have been done to the VRMs, so isn’t this just a patch solution to avoid warranties (extending the VRM lifespan by just enough)?
An IKEA GPU; now that’d be fun 😀 trying to see if it works without that one missing chip.
? Ive never had problems with MSI’s products.
one off topic,
would you all be so kind and subscribe to my channel 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQ5T1fLn7Q4&feature=share
Not good if warranty is out.
Also second hand value will plummet.
Return cards now to EVGA.
See where you are coming from Rocky but it’s not really any different from taking off a cpu heatsink. We are spoilt now. Stock heatsinks for CPUs are all quick release by hand. I remember the days of having to use extreme force with a flathead screwdriver to get a heatsink to latch. I think those who can’t take the heatsink off will just send it back.
Agreed they should not expect a avarage end user to disassemble the graphics cards heat sink
Are the alao sending out thermal paste and equipment to clean the chips?
Although yes, EVGA is offering these thermal pads to registered owners of SC/FTW 1070&1080s, they still refuse to acknowledge there is any problem. Not cool. If you read their forums page, the EVGA moderators (who are actual employees of EVGA) consistently deny this is an issue or design-QC flaw. They say they are only offering these pads to ease the minds of owners of the involved cards. They say their tests show the VRMs are operating “within spec” although they don’t specify any of these tests results or what “in spec” means. They also claim the Tom’s Hardware test was unrealistic and doesn’t prove anything. I find this very disconcerting as a FTW 1080 owner. I paid $650 for a card that may or may not be a ticking time bomb. I can easily change the thermal pads myself since I’ve got a dozen builds under my belt, but there are plenty of folks who can’t or wont be able to do this by themselves. The idea of removing the backplate and applying these pads is overwhelming and way too scary to some. So they have to send the cards back to EVGA to add the pads, and do without their computer for 2-4 weeks (or take it to a shop and pay for it), and take a chance of damaging a very expensive piece of electronic equipment. For a company that prides itself on it’s customer service – this leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Telling me over and over how the card is still under warranty is of little consolation. As soon as the 1080Ti is released, I’ll be selling my card, and getting an MSI Gaming Z 1080Ti. If no Ti is ever released, I’ll likely still sell my FTW 1080, and will be considering one of the new high-end AMD offerings coming next year. But no more EVGA for me. Shame on you EVGA.
You do not remove the heatsink. The VRM thermal pads will go between the backplate and the back of the card. So you take off the backplate only. I’m not saying that is any easier, but the heatsink has nothing to do with the VRMs. It cools the GPU die only. There will be no application of thermal paste. You just stick on the thermal pads in the proper place and reattach the backplate.
EVGA WILL swap your cards with a two way swap at no charge so you do not have to do the thermal pad insertion yourself if you do not feel up to it or are afraid to mess things up.
Read the links I posted above about how MSI are treating their customers after MSI screwed up.
Wow EVGA, Been with you since the gtx580 days and never regretted it until now. Just send every one affected, hybrid coolers which applize cooling to the vrm as well as the gpu and I think maybe if your lucky people will forgive this utter F%&$Up from you and you’ll retain some form of a following.
I did, but its a case by case basis.
My screwup was with a 270X 2G that had artifacting, but they had sent me a 4G instead. So again, i havnt had problems myself.