I would suggest that everyone do what I'm doing...wait for the hybrid kit to come in and try and get it, and buy any 1080 that is using the fe pcb...if they sell out of hybrid kits again before you get one, purchase from a different vendor.
This EVGA hybrid is constantly being pushed back. There are people playing games, rendering videos, basically have moved on with life and we sat here and waited...and waited some more...and waited some more...the GTX 1080's launched in May (seems so long ago) I remember the craziness over the 1070's that launched weeks later...we have sat here and waited patiently, and I don't think it's even been about brand loyalty at this point, I think it's just because we really wanted a specific aesthetic look in our builds...but there comes a point when you just have to decide if the aesthetics are really worth this much waiting when we don't have to wait...there are plenty of other cards and even hybrids on the market...and honestly, it really is an aesthetic thing because the cards with hybrid kits aren't significantly outperforming the other options...you can even get an fe card and still do your gaming and stuff and in 6 months, when there is plenty of stock on hybrid kits, you can buy it then....
My point is, I honestly can't believe I waited this long and I'm done waiting...I'm not even waiting to see what happens this week...either I am ordering an aio kit and an fe card, or the MSI 1080 Sea Hawk X or whatever I have to do...enough is really enough already.
And guys, there are still no spec notes released from EVGA regarding these cards...so either they aren't outperforming the other cards available so their marketing team has nothing to say (moderate likeliness,) or they're not going to be ready and pushed back again (increased likeliness), and everyone is just gonna be sitting here on this thread looking at pictures of what everyone else's pc's are doing while you wait for a certain "look" on a card that nobody but you is gonna see anyway...