chrisdglong
Because you have had issues in the past, just not as bad... It sounds like the issue is elsewhere. Never clean install, it is NEVER the answer. I don't care what anyone says, I have always fixed my issues without a clean install. 

Only reoccurring issue from the past is Sims 3. That's always had issues from day one, that's just on developer side, there is a sea of forums for issues with it. Just poor development and now lack of updates for it. Wife used to play hours on end and just saved frequently. But after the card upgrade it seems she can't play for more than an hour now. Reinstalling OS is an absolute all else fails solution.

Black Ops 3 keeps crashing on me... :(

In order to help my fellow gamer out, I'd be willing to take one for the team and swap my 960 4gb which is working just fine for your horrible crashing 1080. Just send me a PM with address and I'll help a brother out. Because it's you.

sethleigh
In order to help my fellow gamer out, I'd be willing to take one for the team and swap my 960 4gb which is working just fine for your horrible crashing 1080. Just send me a PM with address and I'll help a brother out. Because it's you.

Here is what i found out after using Ccleaner to clean my registry:
 
The Application referenced at: C:\Program Files (x86)\VulkanRT\1.0.5.1\UninstallVulkanRT.exe could not be located. These references are often left behind after uninstalling software.
Solution: Delete the registry value.
 
So there you have it folks, One step closer on earning another B.R., check your registry to see if there any entries from the first version of the VulcanRT 1.05.01 and deletomundo.

Could be a gpu problem....    I got a asus super overclock one time and it did same thing kept crashing but I lowered the clocks on the card and it was fine
 
I doubt much testing is done to see whether a gpu is stable before it gets slapped into a card

What power supply are you using and how old it is??
 

I had an issue when I first got my GTX780Ti after upgrading from a GTX660 where it would crash most games after 5-10 minutes..   I returned the first 780Ti to the store and got a replacement, but the next one did the same thing.   I figured it has to be another problem at that point.  Went through tons of troubleshooting, reinstalling Windows, even replaced my hard drive, did a full memory test with memtest86.   Anyway I put back in my GTX660 and the crashing problems stopped completely.   So at that point the only things I hadn't touched were Motherboard, CPU & Power Supply.   As I wasn't having crashing with anything else it really pointed toward my PSU having problems with the new card.
 
Nvidia recommends a 600W for 780Ti...   Anyway at the time I had some Generic 650W power supply I bought at on sale for like $15.  At the time I didn't really think it mattered as long as the rated power was enough.   
Well apparently some cheap power supplies can struggle to even supply half their rated power, see this for example: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/how-much-power-can-a-generic-500-w-power-supply-really-deliver/
They tested a 500W power supply and it could just barely supply 250W power, completely failed when they hit ~275W.
 
So basically it was more like I had a ~325-375W power supply...   a GTX 780Ti can draw almost 260-270W just for the card.  So when the card would hit peak power draw it the power supply would really struggle to supply enough power and would crash the game or driver.  I think I remember having my PC just flat out turn off once too.  Anyway I went out and purchased a Corsair 750W power supply..   problems went away completely!   It worked great for many years and is actually still in service in my Mom's PC now.   LOL
 
 
I hadn't seen your power supply mentioned at all and as you have an older system might not have enough juice to supply for a GTX1080 card.

Older power supplies didn't dedicate enough 12v current. Newer power supplies put the full wattage into the 12v line that PCIE and GPUs use. That's why generic power supplies can't put out enough juice for modern GPUs.

atfrico
Do a fresh clean install of Windows. It will erase your problems, wiping the drivers clean wont do much.

^^ This makes me chuckle every time.  Thank you.
 
 
This is not a good way to start a troubleshooting process.. There are MANY other options that should, and need to be taken before really having to do a clean install of Windows.  That route should be a last resort if everything else fails.  But, that's the easy advice to give if you don't know how to troubleshoot properly.  
 
I am quite confident the EVGA community here in the forums can offer some better alternatives.. which they already have.  :)

I have to agree With Shadowdane , in most cases its the powersupply not being able to handle the draw from cpu/gpu/mobo when gaming for more than 5-15min its starts to fluctuate and boom ur game crashes your pc cries out in a banshee squeel and you hard reset thinking me conflicts.... when in truth its the PSU not pulling its weight..
 
If you have an extra PSU 500w or something around test with that you could also go really techy and power your gpu with 1 PSU rest of the PC with the other 1 ;) yes i know i used to be a service technician ;)