CoercionShaman
This comment makes a lot of sense in another thread as to why eVGA hasn't disclosed the exact nature of the issue.
 
http://forums.evga.com/FindPost/2562478
 
 

+1  no conspiracy here! 

I've had the replacement 1080 Hybrid for about two weeks and haven't had any issues.

rjohnson11Reduce your CPU overclock to default and retest.
 
To make sure your black screen is indeed the card I'll ask you to contact EVGA EU for assistance:
 
supporteu@evga.com
 
EVGA EU doesn't work on the weekends.

The black screen issue seems to be occurring more frequently unfortunately, affecting games such as Mafia 3, Rise of the Tomb Raider and even Gears of War 4, whether the card is overclocked or not. Temperatures are absolutely not an issue as I've never seen them go above 76 C even when overclocked (which is +75 on the core and +250 on the memory).
 
The odd thing is the card has been stable for almost two months since I bought it and then this issue crops up almost immediately after installing the latest v373.06 driver (which I need to play Mafia 3 and Gears of War 4). I accept this might be a coincidence though.
 
I have emailed tech with the following:
 

Hi,
 
I ordered an EVGA GTX 1080 FTW from Amazon UK on 25/06/2016 and it was finally delivered on 12/08/2016.
 
It has been working fine except for a couple of black screens during gaming during the first week of owning it, something I attributed to an unstable overclock since the Event log pointed to a display driver crash (event ID 4101: Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered.). The overclock I settled on was +50 MHz on the core (boosts to around 2,012 MHz or thereabouts) and +250 MHz on the memory. Temperatures never exceeded 78 C even when it was hot during the summer.
 
However, since installing the recent v373.06 WHQL graphics driver to play Gears of War 4 and Mafia 3 I have been experiencing frequent black screens regardless of whether the card is overclocked or running at factory speeds. When these black screens occur, my monitor goes to sleep but I can still hear the music from the game continuing. Sometimes the games crash as the music gets stuck, cuts out or goes into a loop. Ctrl-Alt-Del does not work and my only course of action is to hard reset the PC from the case. This issue also coincides with louder than normal fan noise from my case, presumably from the graphics card?
 
I have tried doing a clean install of the driver using Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) but that did not fix the issue. I have not reverted to the previous driver v372.90 driver, simply because I play many, many games, including new ones, so I need to have the latest drivers to play them. I am running Windows 10 Pro v1607 64-bit and have an i7-4770K and 16 GB of memory.
 
The annoying thing is that this issue seems totally random and has only started since last Friday, which, as I said, was when I installed the new graphics driver. I suspect that may be just a complete coincidence though. Yesterday I was able to play Mafia 3 for 5 hours and Gears of War 4 for 2 hours without the black screen issue with an overclocked card. Today, I played Rise of the Tomb Raider for less than 2 minutes before the black screen occurred. After rebooting and resetting the clocks back to factory default I played Gears of War 4 for 20 minutes and the black screen happened.
 
I did some searching on Google and found this thread on your forum: [link=http://forums.evga.com/GTX-1080-FTW-Black-screen-fans-spin-up-to-100-m2530081.aspx]http://forums.evga.com/GT...p-to-100-m2530081.aspx[/link]
 
From reading that, it sounds very much like the issue I’m having. I am guessing that my card is faulty and that the issues I experienced as detailed in the third paragraph were the first time the issue occurred. What puzzles me is why the card has been working fine for a couple of months and suddenly starts playing up now since I installed the new graphics driver last Friday.
 
Can this issue be fixed by a BIOS update or will I have to get my card replaced? This was a very expensive graphics card at £600 so I am rather concerned at the moment about getting it replaced as it is ruining my enjoyment of PC games as I’m constantly aware that the black screen issue can occur at any time.
 
I’ve registered my card on your website (S/N 1612536XXXXXXXXX) but have been unable to upload a copy of the invoice as Amazon (UK) did not include one in the box. However I am able to include a copy of the confirmation email if required.
 
Thank you,
 
Darren
 
What surprises me about this issue is that clearly a lot of people are experiencing/affected by it yet not one PC site has mentioned it nor have EVGA been forthcoming about exactly what the issue is. As this card cost me £600, the most I've ever paid for a graphics card, I would very much like to know exactly what is causing this issue since it's obvious that EVGA are aware of what it is otherwise they would not be able to ship out working cards. Is it a design defect, what? How was this not picked up on during quality assurance?
 
If I do need to replace my card then I hope that I don't have to wait weeks for it. It took almost six weeks for this card to arrive due to severe stock shortages.

Have you tried going back to the previous driver version?

tehbigbug
Have you tried going back to the previous driver version?

I suppose I should really try v372.90 to eliminate the driver as a possible cause but since v373.06 is the latest driver for Mafia 3 and Gears of War 4, which I'm currently playing, then it's not really a solution to the issue  since at some point I am going to have to update the drivers. Drivers tend to be updated with optimisations for newer games.
 
I will install them now and test them over the next few days using the overclocked settings I had been previously using for the last two months while I await a response from support.
 
My own feeling is that my card has the exact same issue reported in this thread but I have been lucky to not have experienced it until now. Perhaps the changes to the new drivers are making whatever defect this card has more pronounced and that is why I am only really seeing it now?

Definitely try the new games on previous drivers Daz,I've got Mafia 3 and it works fine on the older driver. I haven't even installed v373 mate. If all works well then it would possibly eliminate the black screen fan issue. Let us know how you get on pal.

Daz1967

rjohnson11Reduce your CPU overclock to default and retest.
 
To make sure your black screen is indeed the card I'll ask you to contact EVGA EU for assistance:
 
supporteu@evga.com
 
EVGA EU doesn't work on the weekends.

The black screen issue seems to be occurring more frequently unfortunately, affecting games such as Mafia 3, Rise of the Tomb Raider and even Gears of War 4, whether the card is overclocked or not. Temperatures are absolutely not an issue as I've never seen them go above 76 C even when overclocked (which is +75 on the core and +250 on the memory).
 
The odd thing is the card has been stable for almost two months since I bought it and then this issue crops up almost immediately after installing the latest v373.06 driver (which I need to play Mafia 3 and Gears of War 4). I accept this might be a coincidence though.
 
I have emailed tech with the following:
 

Hi,
 
I ordered an EVGA GTX 1080 FTW from Amazon UK on 25/06/2016 and it was finally delivered on 12/08/2016.
 
It has been working fine except for a couple of black screens during gaming during the first week of owning it, something I attributed to an unstable overclock since the Event log pointed to a display driver crash (event ID 4101: Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered.). The overclock I settled on was +50 MHz on the core (boosts to around 2,012 MHz or thereabouts) and +250 MHz on the memory. Temperatures never exceeded 78 C even when it was hot during the summer.
 
However, since installing the recent v373.06 WHQL graphics driver to play Gears of War 4 and Mafia 3 I have been experiencing frequent black screens regardless of whether the card is overclocked or running at factory speeds. When these black screens occur, my monitor goes to sleep but I can still hear the music from the game continuing. Sometimes the games crash as the music gets stuck, cuts out or goes into a loop. Ctrl-Alt-Del does not work and my only course of action is to hard reset the PC from the case. This issue also coincides with louder than normal fan noise from my case, presumably from the graphics card?
 
I have tried doing a clean install of the driver using Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) but that did not fix the issue. I have not reverted to the previous driver v372.90 driver, simply because I play many, many games, including new ones, so I need to have the latest drivers to play them. I am running Windows 10 Pro v1607 64-bit and have an i7-4770K and 16 GB of memory.
 
The annoying thing is that this issue seems totally random and has only started since last Friday, which, as I said, was when I installed the new graphics driver. I suspect that may be just a complete coincidence though. Yesterday I was able to play Mafia 3 for 5 hours and Gears of War 4 for 2 hours without the black screen issue with an overclocked card. Today, I played Rise of the Tomb Raider for less than 2 minutes before the black screen occurred. After rebooting and resetting the clocks back to factory default I played Gears of War 4 for 20 minutes and the black screen happened.
 
I did some searching on Google and found this thread on your forum: [link=http://forums.evga.com/GTX-1080-FTW-Black-screen-fans-spin-up-to-100-m2530081.aspx]http://forums.evga.com/GT...p-to-100-m2530081.aspx[/link]
 
From reading that, it sounds very much like the issue I’m having. I am guessing that my card is faulty and that the issues I experienced as detailed in the third paragraph were the first time the issue occurred. What puzzles me is why the card has been working fine for a couple of months and suddenly starts playing up now since I installed the new graphics driver last Friday.
 
Can this issue be fixed by a BIOS update or will I have to get my card replaced? This was a very expensive graphics card at £600 so I am rather concerned at the moment about getting it replaced as it is ruining my enjoyment of PC games as I’m constantly aware that the black screen issue can occur at any time.
 
I’ve registered my card on your website (S/N 1612536XXXXXXXXX) but have been unable to upload a copy of the invoice as Amazon (UK) did not include one in the box. However I am able to include a copy of the confirmation email if required.
 
Thank you,
 
Darren

What surprises me about this issue is that clearly a lot of people are experiencing/affected by it yet not one PC site has mentioned it nor have EVGA been forthcoming about exactly what the issue is. As this card cost me £600, the most I've ever paid for a graphics card, I would very much like to know exactly what is causing this issue since it's obvious that EVGA are aware of what it is otherwise they would not be able to ship out working cards. Is it a design defect, what? How was this not picked up on during quality assurance?
 
If I do need to replace my card then I hope that I don't have to wait weeks for it. It took almost six weeks for this card to arrive due to severe stock shortages.

RMA the card.. unfortunately like some of us, we had the problem. but EVGA will replace it for you with a brand new one.

Daz1967

tehbigbug
Have you tried going back to the previous driver version?

I suppose I should really try v372.90 to eliminate the driver as a possible cause but since v373.06 is the latest driver for Mafia 3 and Gears of War 4, which I'm currently playing, then it's not really a solution to the issue  since at some point I am going to have to update the drivers. Drivers tend to be updated with optimisations for newer games.
 
I will install them now and test them over the next few days using the overclocked settings I had been previously using for the last two months while I await a response from support.
 
My own feeling is that my card has the exact same issue reported in this thread but I have been lucky to not have experienced it until now. Perhaps the changes to the new drivers are making whatever defect this card has more pronounced and that is why I am only really seeing it now?

Some cards take longer to show the symptoms than others. I'd say just RMA the card. So far most people who RMAed the card seems to have the problem fix, aside from some EU folks who got the mislabeled(?) RMA batch.
 
Now that the black screen issue seems to be more or less resolved, except for the old ones that are still circulating the market, I hope they would focus on release the Hybrid FTW kit.

FljpFl0p

Daz1967

tehbigbug
Have you tried going back to the previous driver version?

I suppose I should really try v372.90 to eliminate the driver as a possible cause but since v373.06 is the latest driver for Mafia 3 and Gears of War 4, which I'm currently playing, then it's not really a solution to the issue  since at some point I am going to have to update the drivers. Drivers tend to be updated with optimisations for newer games.
 
I will install them now and test them over the next few days using the overclocked settings I had been previously using for the last two months while I await a response from support.
 
My own feeling is that my card has the exact same issue reported in this thread but I have been lucky to not have experienced it until now. Perhaps the changes to the new drivers are making whatever defect this card has more pronounced and that is why I am only really seeing it now?

Some cards take longer to show the symptoms than others. I'd say just RMA the card. So far most people who RMAed the card seems to have the problem fix, aside from some EU folks who got the mislabeled(?) RMA batch.
 
Now that the black screen issue seems to be more or less resolved, except for the old ones that are still circulating the market, I hope they would focus on release the Hybrid FTW kit.

+1 

Adger
Definitely try the new games on previous drivers Daz,I've got Mafia 3 and it works fine on the older driver. I haven't even installed v373 mate. If all works well then it would possibly eliminate the black screen fan issue. Let us know how you get on pal.

Hi Adger,
 
Thanks for the friendly reply.
 
I installed the v372.90 this morning and tested a few games across a couple of hours with no black screen issue and with the overclock I'd been using (+75 MHz on the core, +250 MHz on the memory) without any issues with pre-v373 drivers since I got my card in August. The games I played were Forza Horizon 3 for approx. an hour, Mafia 3 for about 30 minutes and Rise of the Tomb Raider (the new Croft Manor episode) for about 30 minutes. All worked fine. Still too early to make any conclusions though but I intend playing those tonight plus Gears of War 4 to see what happens.
 
It sounds ridiculous, I know, but I want the black screen issue to happen while I'm playing these games on the previous driver because otherwise how will I know if I really have a defective card or if it isn't just a driver issue?
 
Hopefully, Support will suggest sending the card back for a replacement but if I can play games without the black screen issue in the meantime then that at least is some small consolation.