EVGA issuing thermal pads and VBIOS update for GTX 1080/1070 ACX 3.0 PWM and Memory

If anyone wants a thermal pad here is the link.

http://www.evga.com/thermalmod/default.asp#request

11/01/2016
EVGA GeForce GTX 1080/1070 PWM Operating Temperature Update

Recently, it was reported from several sources, that the EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 FTW PWM and memory temperature is running warmer than expected during Furmark (an extreme stress utility).

EVGA has investigated these reports and after extensive testing, below are our findings:
On ACX 3.0, EVGA focused on GPU temperature and the lowest acoustic levels possible. Running Furmark, the GPU is around 70C +/- and the fan speed is running approximately 30% duty cycle or lower.
However, during recent testing, the thermal temperature of the PWM and memory, in extreme circumstances, was marginally within spec and needed to be addressed.
Conclusion: EVGA offers full warranty support on its products, with cross-ship RMA*, and stands behind its products and commitment to our customers.

To resolve this, EVGA will be offering a VBIOS update, which adjusts the fan-speed curve to ensure sufficient cooling of all components across all operating temperatures. This VBIOS will be released in the next few days and users can download it and update their cards directly. This update resolves the potential thermal issues that have been reported, and ensures the card maintains safe operating temperatures.

For those users who want additional cooling beyond the VBIOS update, EVGA has optional thermal pads available. This update is not required, however; EVGA will make it available free of charge to any customer who is interested. To request the thermal pad kit, please visit www.evga.com/thermalmod.

Any customer who is not comfortable performing the recommended VBIOS update, may request a warranty cross-shipment* to exchange the product to EVGA for an updated replacement.

All graphics cards shipped from EVGA after 11/1/2016 will have the VBIOS update applied.

* The EVGA EAR(Advanced RMA Program) and Cross Shipping options are available in the Continental United States, Hawaii, Alaska, Canada, EU, UK, Norway, and Switzerland. EVGA offers Standard RMA replacement options in the Middle East, Africa, India or outside of the before mentioned supported areas.

FAQ

Q. Which cards are supported by these updates?
A. EVGA ACX 3.0 GeForce GTX 1080, 1070 or 1060 cards with the following part numbers:
GTX 1080 GTX 1070 GTX 1060 6G GTX 1060 3G
08G-P4-6181 08G-P4-5171 06G-P4-6262 03G-P4-6365
08G-P4-6183 08G-P4-5173 06G-P4-6366 03G-P4-6367
08G-P4-6284 08G-P4-6171 06G-P4-6265
08G-P4-6286 08G-P4-6173 06G-P4-6264
08G-P4-6384 08G-P4-6274 06G-P4-6267
08G-P4-6386 08G-P4-6276 06G-P4-6368
* Founders Edition, Blower type, HYBRID, and HYDRO COPPER cards do not need these updates.

Q. If my Graphics Card is not an ACX 3.0 design is it affected?
A. No, all other GPUs sold by EVGA including Founders Edition, Blower type, HYBRID, and HYDRO COPPER editions are unaffected.
Q. Does the VBIOS fix the temperature issues?
A. Yes, the VBIOS update will fix the temperature issues.
Q. Is my card damaged from running at a higher temperature?
A. No, but should any future warranty service be needed, EVGA stands behind its products.
Q. What happens if my card is accidentally damaged during the optional thermal pad installation?
A. EVGA will stand behind its customers with full warranty and cross-shipment.
Q. What if I am not comfortable updating my VBIOS?
A. While EVGA has very user friendly ways to update VBIOS's, if you still do not feel comfortable, we will support you with and advanced RMA and ship you a replacement card with the latest VBIOS.
EVGA Top Management

10/21/2016
Optional EVGA Thermal Pad Mod Request

The test used in the referenced review from Toms Hardware (Germany) is running under Furmark, an extreme usage case, as most overclockers know. We believe this is a good approach to have some idea about the graphics card limit, and the thermal performance under the worst case scenario. EVGA has performed a similar qualification test during the design process, at a higher ambient temperature (30C in chamber) with a thermal coupler probe directly contacting the key components and after the Toms Hardware (Germany) review, we have retested this again. The results in both tests show the temperature of PWM and memory is within the spec tolerance under the same stress test, and is working as originally designed with no issues.

With this being said, EVGA understands that lower temperatures are preferred by reviewers and customers.

During our recent testing, we have applied additional thermal pads between the backplate and the PCB and between the baseplate and the heatsink fins, with the results shown below. We will offer these optional thermal pads free of charge to EVGA owners who want to have a lower temperature. These thermal pads will be ready soon; and customers can request them starting Monday, October 24th, 2016. Also, we will work with Toms Hardware to do a retest.

 

Well, TBH I never use the benchmark that this card obviously does not stay cool with. My only hopes that maybe the vrm temps were holding back my OC to a degree in which I can only OC more! If I lose performance from the factory applicatioon of the thermal paste to the gpu, I'm saying it right now, I'm gonna make a big stink every website that is posting this on including EVGa's website. It's funny they will "cross-ship" you another card but I heard you have to leave a hefty deposit in the meantime with them. Who the heck wants to hold up $700 for a week or maybe more while you are messing around with multiple GPU's? This whole thing just better give me good results at this point.

 

F that, you have to leave a deposit on the full price of the card. I've been waiting for thermal pads since 10/24. I got fed up and ordered some from Amazon. They'll be here tomorrow. I'll post pics after.
Edit:
I work at bestbuy and I've getting it from both ends. First the Note 7 fiasco, now EVGA 10 series cards are catching fire due to crappy VRM's. Complaint after complaint. All valid though. What's next exploding PSU's?

 

They never actually charge your credit card, just run a $1 test, which goes away in a day, to ensure they have some kind of recourse to get their money back in case you decide to get cute and keep both cards.

They do this on ALL cross ship RMAs.

 

Guys I'm scared I think my EVGA GTX 1060 is a ticking time bomb. I know 06G-P4-6163 is not on the list with updates but there is still a guy on Reddit that had same card as mine catching on fire :/

 

Guys, have you seen this? : https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/5aqjvb/so_i_disassembled_my_two_evga_gtx_1080_ftws/

 

Yes, I'll be checking mine when I add the thermal pads. Hopefully should be able to do it tomorrow if everything comes when it says it will. Thinking about taking some pictures if anyone is interested.

Thankfully mine is pretty new so I have not really seriously stressed the card yet aside from some testing in Doom. Most I've really played is some Fallout 4 and that's capped to 60fps so it doesn't even reach the higher power profiles at my resolution (1080p currently).

 

Which pad did you get? I want to do the same but not sure if it's the same type that EVGA is sending out.

 

They're sending out 2mm pads:

http://cdn.overclock.net/2/28/285432e4_20161103_084002.jpeg
http://cdn.overclock.net/e/e9/e9c0ddd0_20161103_092830.jpeg
http://cdn.overclock.net/e/ee/ee0fa058_Capture.PNG
Fujipoly 17W/mK pads and TG Kryonaut is what I used.

 

Wrong ....My 1070 FTW popped and smoked which I mentioned on another thread and I had it replaced under warranty. I gave them the deposit for cross ship and they charged the full amount to my card.

Here is the email showing the refund.

 

I also had to pay a staggering £722 collateral payment to receive my replacement GTX 1080 FTW from EVGA without having to ship the faulty one back to them first. The original card 'only' cost me £600 from Amazon so I was shocked that it was so much. This ended up showing on my credit card for almost two weeks until they refunded it about 3 or 4 days after they received the defective one back.

 

First the good news:
well my pads arrived today 3 days after the website said they were shipping. Immediately, I proceeded to OC higher than I had been able to do previously on stock bios. I set a curve to peak at 2151. I tested in timespy, aaaaaaaaaand... It held the OC. Not to mention it throttled back much slower than b4! Of course I checked the pcb and vrms for anything looking burnt or anything and all was well thankfully. I am sure the application is functional to some degree, because the back plate now gets very very hot! I am now thinking about some sort of cooling method for it because the backplate is now a huge heat sink in a way. I did not use the swiftek thermal grease that the kit comes with and used Thermal Grizzly kryonaut which seems to have kept the card cooler. My old peak temp was 60 degrees, but now fluctuates between 57-56. Of course I always run the cards fan at 100% speed so this definitely has room for tweaking.

The bad news:
Somehow I have faster speed in OC but lost 600 points in Timespy?!?! I am very confused, albiet I am testing with my CPU at 4.4ghz instead of the 4.5ghz and also a different driver. Here is the comparison link for anyone to validate.

http://www.3dmark.com/compare/spy/678258/spy/419746

You will notice the cards score, fps difference, and basically a 5 fps loss? So, that being said and not wanting to use older drivers as I will lose performance in Forza horizon, I am going to try just a regular OC not using the curve technique to find my max score and post results of my findings later. Hopefully this doesnt happen with everyone, becuase with the backplate heating up like this, I think somehow it might be degrading performance with memory getting even hotter? If thats the case I think the memory CAS loosens up which might be the cause but I am just stabbing in the dark with that one. Good luck to those who get the pads and hopefully your results for OCing raise, but your performance doesnt diminish as my card did.

 

Prolly from dif driver and 4.4g rather than 4.5ghz. I only notice 2-3 degree dif before and after the mod. Better safe than sorry.

 

I lost some serious frames in this benchmark. It doesnt seem to matter about any clocks past 2100... seriously, I wonder what the problem is? How did I lose so much performance? Thats like giving up what? Maybe 10 -15%?? I'm almost ready to try reverting back drivers just to know for sure.. Ugh, its great when things upgrade/update for the better but this is very disappointing...

 

The CPU OC wouldnt matter about the GPU score much.. This is really not cool.

 

Drivers...try 373.06

 

BTW, on the websitethere is a new primary bios for the FTW 1080 just updated and about to test now.

 

Good news I am getting my GTX 1070 Advanced RMA so I won't be without a card for a week or less!

EVGA is sending me a brand new GTX 1070 with the thermal pads installed and updated BIOS!

The other good news is EVGA will waive the credit card hold of the full charge but I still need to put a credit card on file. This really doesn't matter to me.

 

Nice I'm debating if I just want to RMA or try to do the thermal pad & bios update myself.

I've been noticing occasional artifacts maybe once an hour for a split second if I'm gaming... doesn't happen in every game though.

 

Another issue popped up but the goods news is EVGA is fixing it!

http://forums.evga.com/gaps-between...pads-on-the-midplate-m2570619-p3.aspx#2576924

Thankfully my new card hasn't shipped yet.