I bought my 1070 directly from EVGA because I was confident in their products and heard all the praise about their customer support. Now I learned about the VRM / heat issue and keep seeing an increasing number of reports from users that have their 10 series cards going defective, black screening, and VRMs burning up. I was shocked to say the least because from a company with a reputation like EVGA I never would have expected such a drastic oversight in the design process of millions of ACX 3.0 cooled products, but at least EVGA admitted to their mistake.
 
So far I see that the only option I have is to order a "thermal pad mod" from EVGA and take my graphics card apart and apply these thermal pads and hope I don't break anything in the process, or request an advanced RMA that will give me a used card which has the thermal pads applied. I first thought it must be a joke when I read that EVGA wants us taking our extremely expensive graphic cards apart but apparently it's reality.
 
It just seems like a quick immediate thing we can do to lower our chances of our cards burning up, but it doesn't solve the flaw in the design they made here to begin with. What if my card still goes defective after the warranty period, possibly damaging the rest of my rig in the process ? Will I be vulgar language removed out of luck just because EVGA skimped out on the design process ? When I purchase a component as expensive as a graphics card I expect multiple years of usage without having to worry about thermal issues that I cant even see without a thermal camera !
 
So I started to wonder, is it not possible to return our card and get our money back ? EVGA always say they stand behind their product, but what if I don't stand behind EVGA anymore ? I always recommended EVGA and praised how well they treat customers but this I don't feel good about anymore. I am a EU customer but usually EU only does what the mothership tells them to so if I contact support here they will downplay the issue and act like its all good which i think is a horrible support when there are MULTIPLE cases where 10 series cards from EVGA catched fire and the CEO himself admitted to the design flaw.
 
I want to know is there any word from EVGA if they will offer a refund if we bought from them ?

Highly doubt it, they're technically saying its not even an issue in regards to the VRM'S and is "COMPLETELY OPTIONAL" in their words.... lol.... 

I'm not looking for any trouble, there is just a lot of information from multiple sources. I'm not keen on taking my graphics card apart, and I also don't want to receive a used graphics card through RMA process. The only info from EVGA I see is that we have to install the vbios update and that fixes all thermal issues, the pads are purely optional and not really needed.
 
Then from other sources I read that the card can burn through under load because of the lack of cooling to the VRMs. An increasing number of websites detailing the insufficent cooling to the VRMs, with multiple pictures showing the problems in the design of the cooling, yet EVGA says its purely optional to install thermal pads .. Theres multiple reddit posts from users 10 series cards going defective during normal playing of games like GTA, not from using any benchmark programs.
 
I'm just worried about the longevity of my graphics card considering the circumstances and I'd just like to know if a refund is an option at all for this issue ..
 
Thanks