I got contacted by evga representative, and he said by doing all of this (fixing their incompetent errors) you may void your warranty, so be conscious and use your common sense also when you remove the stock pads that does not match, keep them in some bag, and if you ever wanna RMA your card put them back before shipping, that way, they cant mess with you. here is the whole message from evga:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi there,

I mainly write to you asking that you place at the top of your OP that doing this mod may void your warranty.

Although we don't believe your method is necessary, we have a strong history of encouraging our enthusiast community, even some that wish to do extreme mods that may cause physical damage and void their warranties. However, those enthusiasts generally are aware that what they are doing will void their warranties, and I'm not sure that readers of your thread may understand that.

I do not believe that your thread should be removed, by any means, but I do request that you place a note at the top of your thread that completing your mod may void your warranty.

Cheers,
Lee
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So prepare yourselves for a long reading and wall of text, since I gonna go over few things and solutions, for a premium product, which in my country costs 495 euros, thought I'm not writing this number with a proud, rather than sad feeling.
After a reading few topics in evga forums, I came across one person who already reported, an issue where thermal pads under a black plate which cools vram, vrms etc, doesnt even make a contact with them or makes very poor contact. First of all, when I first posted a total disassembly of my card, to check a damage done to pcb components (after evga's fiasco), I dint bothered to check that issue, how ever I noticed that thermal pads where wet, it felt like they where melting down... and dint had any engraving from vram, knowing my self I dint want to accept such VULGAR LANGUAGE is not allowed to be posted on the forums., I removed the pads and measured them (stock evga vram pads are 1mm thick and dimensions are 12mm X 14mm), total 8 of them, strange thing was only two of them stock vram thermal pads made a loose contact with dark plate, so I replaced them with 8x 1.5mm thermal pads (since I dint had exact thickness pads, I ghetto rig'd thickness from 0.5mm pads and stacked them up to make 1.5mm), after careful check, it was perfect pressure to transfer heat from vrams, also it made a perfect engraving like it should have done before,,, flaw from evga's design also a quality control, I dont know who is responsible for this but its unacceptable, I never had to deal with such problems before, and yes I have used asus, gigabyte cards in past and also replaced pads and etc, and never have I had such issues like with evga card, which is mind you a 2016 release...
There are some pics, which shows how I fixed that issue, and saved my Vrams from poping... even though, they would replace my card but I dont want to be that guy who sends RMA every time a screw fells out, if you can apply a simple fix and avoid a problem in general.
http://imgur.com/Aw0ydBk
Here you can see what I replaced, with matherials that I had, I dint had an extra thermal pad to replace vrms, pad as you can already tell that one also makes very limited contact with vrms, and causes an extra heat to be trapped between dark plate and pcb, I already ordered few 1,5mm pads as well as 2mm pads, and will replace some of my ghetto riged solutions, once they arrive but for now, my solution is way better and safer than the one which comes with your cards at stock... which is shame, because we paid for premium product and we have to deal with such silly things as replacing a thermal pads with correct thickness to make proper cooling, its a F shame. Dimensions for vrm pad is 10,5cm X 6mm, and perfect thickness would be 1.5mm not 1mm as default pad is, it also makes some wet spots which clearly doesnt make a proper contact with components, which supposedly it cools
So when I finished fitting all pads, this is how it should look like, without any  air gaps, which will later make hit air bubble between vram or vrms and damage them, as you can see with 1,5mm its a perfect firm fit, and you dont need to worry about poping anything.
http://imgur.com/SNj1GkG
Before you even begin to do anything to your card, will it be disassemble or a thermal fix what ever it may be, learn form my mistake, and cover the evga logo plate with light painters tape to avoid micro scratches. When I first disassembled my card, I dint used tape and after all was done, I ended up with micro scratches on main plate which I can see in my case, so to avoid that use a simple fix.
http://imgur.com/w984DSe
So now to the fun part, by that I mean the ''thermal mod'' like evga calls it, we all know the story and we all have or had questions, I was one of you. I contacted a evga support made a ticket asking for a thermal pad dimensions and thickness, also I asked why my pads still wait for approval since I ordered them a way back when this whole fiasco started, I dint got a response so I took actions my self, and I'm happy I did, and you should be too, because dont wait for others to spoon feed you act and think for yourselves dont be dependent on others, you always come up with solution and learn thing or two, advice from life! So I downloaded so called evga thermal pad installation guide (pdf file), eye balled the pads how they look and where they go, and came up with solid measurements and perfect firm fit, only problem was, I dint had exact thickness pads nor size, so I once again went to ghetto rig option, for this time until I receive a solid size pads, which I ordered again :D I will leave some ebay links bellow, for pads I ordered or used in this topic, so maybe you can buy or if you have them already use, and dont worry about thermal conductivity you will be just fien with 2-3kW you dont need to waste money on expensive 6kW or even 11kW or more, since you dont use these on cpu nor gpu dye, you will be just fine with 2-6kW, I know this because I have always used these pads, on my previous cards and never had I had any problems, all my old cards have been sold to others and they dint had a single problem with pcb components. All you need to have is a common sense and ability to read and gather information, you dont need to have zombie nation title in front of your name, such as engineer or professor etc, bullcrap.
So the dimensions are, wide pad: 11,4cm X 5,8cm or 5,9cm which ever you feel comfortable to work with, I went with 5,8cm and thickness is 2mm, narrow pad is 11.4cm X 2,6cm and thickness is 1mm, although you could use even a 1.5mm one, it should fit and make even better fit than 1mm, since I dint had an extra 1.5mm pad I used a 1mm and it did work out just fine at the end, and in picture you will also see it makes a firm fit, and does its job which is heat transfer from uper dark plate to ACX 3.0 cooler fins, although perfect design here would be a cooler plate not fins, but that means they have to redesign whole ACX cooler from ground up, to make proper cooling plate for vrm section, something to think about in thye future, to even more reduce temps on vrms, mosfets etc, look at other competitor designs, they all got a decent plate connected to cooler to cool these vital components.
http://imgur.com/3FhC34E
http://imgur.com/eCSlzGJ
http://imgur.com/gCJKmfx
Mind you, I had to stack two layers of pads to make up 2mm, so I ghetto riged, first layer from small bits, that I had left, in top since it doesnt matter much what surface they got up top, where the backplate is, it does how ever helps you if you have a solid 1 piece pad on pcb, without any cuts.So thats about what I did today, since I dint wanted to wait who knows how long to get thermal pads from evga, nor do they bothered with dimensions in their instruction guide, so I fixed and measured everything by my self, and it works just fine. This guide maybe is useful for some1, who is also very pist at evga, that for the card that costs 495 euros, you have to change all thermal pads, to make it work properly like it should be in first place, for such a premium product, im very disapointed in evga, and its my first evga card, and to be honest I'm very disappointed, imagine a buyer who doesnt want to fix these issues nor is aware of them, he will be pist and make silly topics flaming evga in their forums, although they do deserve it this time...food for thought.
 
Final dimensions for all pads that I replaced:
Narrow pad from ''mod pdf'': 1mm (thickness) X 114mm X 26mm also a soft puffy 1.5mm pad will work without interfering with GP104 chip pressure from cooler plate
Wide pad from ''mod pdf''     2mm (thickness) X 114mm X 58mm or 59mm either is good.
Vram pads:                         1.5mm (thickness) X 12mm X 14mm you need 8 of these
VRMs pad:                          1.5mm (thickness) x 105mm x ~6 or 7mm
 
Ebay links for pads that I use in general and also for this fix:
0.5mm 100x100: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1...266:g:3UUAAOSwFnFV88m2
1mm 100x100: http://www.ebay.com/itm/D...635:g:358AAOSwl9BWHGo7
1.5mm 100x100: http://www.ebay.com/itm/G...443:g:QxsAAOSwgmJXyoMd
2mm 100x100: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1...608:g:Ug0AAOSwMgdXyoFa

wmmills
No Ebay link?!?!?

sorry, I forgot thanks for reminding links are as follows:
0.5mm 100x100: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1...266:g:3UUAAOSwFnFV88m2
1mm 100x100: http://www.ebay.com/itm/D...635:g:358AAOSwl9BWHGo7
1.5mm 100x100: http://www.ebay.com/itm/G...443:g:QxsAAOSwgmJXyoMd
2mm 100x100: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1...608:g:Ug0AAOSwMgdXyoFa

Sir Petus
So it's recommended to replace the thermal pads between the mid plate and vram/vrms as well?
lesson learned: I wont buy from evga again, i hope to be able to correctly apply this fix as well
it still costs me 10€ in thermal pads though (ebay link doesnt ship to italy, and thats the price amazon gives)

I do recomend that you swap out all of evga pads, because they dont do any good to your card, they just melt inside and doesnt even reduce temps on vram nor vrms, so yeah open your card and swap everything out, and end of story, 10 euros for pads is still cheaper than to send card for RMA. You need 3-4 X 2mm pads, 1x 1.5mm pad and 1-2 x 1mm, if you follow my style of replacing the whole pads.

what a joke of a company btw

Sir Petus
what a joke of a company btw

Why? I for one think they will do and are doing what's right to overcome this, yes they should of tested better, yes they should of had better QC. But they aren't running away and the CEO has admitted they've made a mistake.
 
I come for the product
I stay for the service
 
I would not personally buy a EVGA 1000 series card right now until I was confident QC was spot on. I would definitely come back tho.
 
So to say its a joke of a company where do I find the EVGA link where they store humorous gags?

what/a/joke/of/company
I dont think any of this is a vulgarity, at least the direct translation in italian

tua madre batte le strade, forse questa si che é una volgaritá.

dont dare delete op post, let me backup it first, it's more useful than anything you've done
pads still in approval btw, too slow!

420€ card, 20€ for mandatory (in this mess) warranty, 20€ for pads I have to buy myself, cant even use the card now till fix...
460€ is the price of more powerful gigabyte! u kidding?
disappointing

you should apologize, not threaten with ban or post removal! this is the joke you're playing on me

Disasters, jokes......Did EVGA cause any Ebola outbreaks recently too?
 
 
 
 

Sir Petus
what/a/joke/of/company
I dont think any of this is a vulgarity, at least the direct translation in italian

tua madre batte le strade, forse questa si che é una volgaritá.

dont dare delete op post, let me backup it first, it's more useful than anything you've done
pads still in approval btw, too slow!

420€ card, 20€ for mandatory (in this mess) warranty, 20€ for pads I have to buy myself, cant even use the card now till fix...
460€ is the price of more powerful gigabyte! u kidding?
disappointing

You don't even know what was edited out. What did I remove? I removed one word.. Do you know what it was?

It wasnt the quote you posted. Stop assuming.

bcavnaugh

Ugugu
 

Jerry Would Love This Thread.
 

Well but it works perfectly now, all core components on my pcb are properly cooled, at least as much as they can be without swaping out a ACX 3.0 cooler, which I dont wanna do, it looks beautiful just have some flaws in it, if they can update the cooler with next gen cards and fix thermal pads (dimesnions) and add a dedicated cooled plate for vrms and keep aesthetics from acx 3.0 it would be perfect, because I bought evga ftw card because of its looks, its a sexy card :P

Sir Petus
ok, i'll stop assuming, but you werent clear
will you pay for or send me the pads now?

It will take a few days for me to get them, but I would gladly help users out.

Can you send PM's? If so, shoot me an address.

HungryHamster
Still no official response from EVGA about the gaps is seems like the majority of customers have... Shame.

its not a big deal man, all you have to do is cut 8x (1.2x1.4mm pads with 1.5mm thickness) and replace the existing ones, of course, it means you have to open your card once again :D, but ny doing that you are protecting your Vrams so all good. its good that I checked this issue today, because of that person who mentioned it first few days ago so all props to him :P Plus I hope EVGA gonna read this post and fix the air gaps on next cards that ship out in november, because it would save them one more fiasco, with burning vrams.

lebel

Sir Petus
what a joke of a company btw

Why?

Because of bad cooling solution design:
they can barely keep the components in spec without OC.
 
Because lack of assembly control:
they forgot (!?) 2 essential thermal pads that are present in all the competitor cards. These pads will be included on all future EVGA cards. Why? Because they are essential. There's a reason all the competition places thermal pads on hot components and on the plates, especially if you design your cooling solution around plates, preventing direct airflow on the pcb.
 
Because lack of quality control:
they don't notice that a lot of thermal pads on the RAM are not fitting. So the RAM isn't connected to the plate. That means the RAM is sitting in an air gap that slowly bakes components towards heat death.
 
Because lack of communication:
why is there still no official statement on faulty RAM pads?
why do they act as if the thermal pads are optional? they are clearly not.
 
Because of bad "fixing":
why are there no RAM pads included in the Thermalmod fix? why do we have to buy them ourselves?
the Bios update almost doubles the noise from the fans. How is their product competitive now? Now you have card that still runs hotter than most and is one of the loudest cards around.

HungryHamster
Still no official response from EVGA about the gaps is seems like the majority of customers have... Shame.

 
Majority?  Where is this majority?  I have seen a few people post that they are having issues, but nowhere near a majority.
 
 

Sir Petus
pm'd you the fix ;)


EDIT1: I meant the address
EDIT2:no, apparently cant send pms :(
EDIT3: maybe i can, it appears in the sent pms but i teceived a strange message

 
Got it.

EVGATech_ChrisB
Hi Everyone,
 
Please keep in mind that we do not recommend any gaps in thermal pads and we do not expect any of our customers to buy thermal pads.  We are supplying our Optional Thermal Mod for Free and if you do not want to install it or you have any concern with your product then we are here to help with warranty, all shipping paid.
 
I assure everyone that we are 100% Quality Checking all EVGA GTX 10 series ACX 3.0 cards models 1060/1070/1080 to ensure that they are fully updated with both the latest BIOS and the Optional Thermal Pad Mod to assist our customers.  Rest assured that if you do not prefer to install the Optional Thermal mod or the Recommended VBIOS yourself, or have any concerns with your product, then we are here to help with a replacement product that is updated.
 
Please do not hesitate to contact us if any questions or concerns that we can assist with.   
 
Thermal Pad Mod Request Website/Response:   
 
Recommended VBIOS Updates:  
 
 

So i can exchange my old card with a new one with bios + pads in it in europe without paying any shipment at all?

DarkSofter

EVGATech_ChrisB
Hi Everyone,
 
Please keep in mind that we do not recommend any gaps in thermal pads and we do not expect any of our customers to buy thermal pads. 

Then why do you even ship cards with inaccurate thermal pads to begin with? Clear example is Vram and vrm pads, they are too thin, instead of 1,5mm you ship with 1mm thickness which doesn't even touch the actual components, wont mention the thermalpad mod, I was one of the first who ordered it, and still haven't got em, also I had to dig around for information before I was able to complete my own fix, because support dint gave me any info whats so ever. My advice to evga is, measure and test, check multiple times before cutting and shipping anything.