StijnDC
I can get the EVGA GTX 1080 Classified for the same price as the GTX 1080 FTW, good deal ? Is it a different PCB than FTW ? With no issues ?

I would avoid both until EVGA gives clarification on what is going on.

EVGA_JacobF

Nereus
Gahhh just installed couple of days ago and had the same thing happen - 1080 FTW Hybrid, haven't even tried to clock it yet, got black screen, fans spun up to 100%, had to reset/restart PC to get back up again. I was only playing GW2 which is not GPU intensive, card was running well under 50C, was only playing for like 40 minutes. I guess RMA is in order... dammit. Going to end up with a refurb card instead. Purchased from EVGA direct.. is there a 30 day return period like Newegg? My 980Ti never gave me a problem, not even once.

It will not be a refurb card, give us a call we will get a replacement out to you immediately.

I'm not very happy. I received the replacement card yesterday and had a cursory look and saw shrink wrap and a big EVGA logo and thought I had a new replacement 1080 FTW Hybrid as expected. There was a 13 day delay waiting for the RMA to arrive, but I was fine with that as I was aware there was limited supply, and the existing card was working if kept in debug mode.. and I thought a new replacement card meant new card, not a refurb, so no worries. Apparently I was misinformed.
 
Today I decided to take time off work to install the new card. I quickly realized the new card did not have the exterior packaging, it was just the interior black cardboard box with the EVGA logo in shrink wrap. Not an issue, I figured I'd just keep the original outer box and send back the inner box with the faulty 1080 FTW Hybrid (I like to keep all the packaging and included cables & accessories etc for resale value).
 
So I open the RMA black box, and there's the Hybrid card.. and nothing else, and I mean nothing else. No cables, no black envelope with the manual, no accessories whatsoever - nothing. Ok again, not a big deal, I'll just keep all the ones that I got with my original purchase and return exactly what EVGA sent me with the RMA - the bare minimum; the card and the box, that's it. 
 
So I start taking a bit more notice of what actually is there. I realize that even the foam padding that holds the card in the box is partially destroyed and some of it is actually missing.. lol, ok, again, no big deal, I'll just swap it with the undamaged foam packaging in my original box, but I'm starting to get wary about this being a refurb card, despite assurances that it would not be.
 
So I open the plastic anti-static bag the main GPU is in and I notice there's none of the plastic wrapping anywhere on it.. ok, I figure EVGA must have had to test the card but I'm starting to wonder, so I take a closer look. I quickly realize this is not a new card. There are a number of bent fins on the radiator, although not so bad as to make it ineffective at all, but enough for me to clearly notice. Then I see there's a whole lot of scratches around the screw holes on the radiator on both sides, so this has definitely been mounted in a case previously, probably in push pull config. There's also some very light scratches on the plastic shroud on the card itself, but not severe at all. Ok I'm not particularly impressed, but decided I'll install it anyway, and if the black screen & 100% fan issue is gone, then no worries.
 
I install the card, have everything ready to go, start up my rig.. and I'm trying to figure out why something doesn't look quite right, then it hits me - the LEDs on the card are not working at all. No light behind the EVGA etc logo whatsoever! Tried reseating just in case, but nope, the LEDs do not work at all. Grrr.
 
I have not had time to test the card yet other than a short load test that shows the boost clocks up to 2025MHz, which is better than the original card (1987MHz on boost), but I will not be accepting it even if it doesn't black screen crash. I had a brand new card and am clearly being offered a broken refurb to replace it, despite assurances above that I would not be getting a refurb. The original card I have already boxed up to ship back is in much better condition than the replacement.
 
I am also a little concerned that if the LEDs aren't working, could there be a short or a loose wire in there? Maybe I should install my old 980Ti for now? (thankfully I have not sold it yet).
 
Not exactly pleased to have to go for a 3rd RMA, and if I can get a refund without a restocking fee I might consider it... and bite the bullet and go for a Titan XP since I have heard no problems about that card at all. I don't even know if I'll bother testing this RMA card for the black screen issue, why use any more of my time when it has to go back anyway?
 
Submitting another RMA request shortly. Very disappointed. 
 
edit: just spoke to Gabe at EVGA - I can't submit a new RMA until the original card has already been shipped back.. I'll take it to UPS shop in the weekend.
 
 
 

Nereus

EVGA_JacobF

Nereus
Gahhh just installed couple of days ago and had the same thing happen - 1080 FTW Hybrid, haven't even tried to clock it yet, got black screen, fans spun up to 100%, had to reset/restart PC to get back up again. I was only playing GW2 which is not GPU intensive, card was running well under 50C, was only playing for like 40 minutes. I guess RMA is in order... dammit. Going to end up with a refurb card instead. Purchased from EVGA direct.. is there a 30 day return period like Newegg? My 980Ti never gave me a problem, not even once.

It will not be a refurb card, give us a call we will get a replacement out to you immediately.

I'm not very happy. I received the replacement card yesterday and had a cursory look and saw shrink wrap and a big EVGA logo and thought I had a new replacement 1080 FTW Hybrid as expected. There was a 13 day delay waiting for the RMA to arrive, but I was fine with that as I was aware there was limited supply, and the existing card was working if kept in debug mode.. and I thought a new replacement card meant new card, not a refurb, so no worries. Apparently I was misinformed.
 
Today I decided to take time off work to install the new card. I quickly realized the new card did not have the exterior packaging, it was just the interior black cardboard box with the EVGA logo in shrink wrap. Not an issue, I figured I'd just keep the original outer box and send back the inner box with the faulty 1080 FTW Hybrid (I like to keep all the packaging and included cables & accessories etc for resale value).
 
So I open the RMA black box, and there's the Hybrid card.. and nothing else, and I mean nothing else. No cables, no black envelope with the manual, no accessories whatsoever - nothing. Ok again, not a big deal, I'll just keep all the ones that I got with my original purchase and return exactly what EVGA sent me with the RMA - the bare minimum; the card and the box, that's it. 
 
So I start taking a bit more notice of what actually is there. I realize that even the foam padding that holds the card in the box is partially destroyed and some of it is actually missing.. lol, ok, again, no big deal, I'll just swap it with the undamaged foam packaging in my original box, but I'm starting to get wary about this being a refurb card, despite assurances that it would not be.
 
So I open the plastic anti-static bag the main GPU is in and I notice there's none of the plastic wrapping anywhere on it.. ok, I figure EVGA must have had to test the card but I'm starting to wonder, so I take a closer look. I quickly realize this is not a new card. There are a number of bent fins on the radiator, although not so bad as to make it ineffective at all, but enough for me to clearly notice. Then I see there's a whole lot of scratches around the screw holes on the radiator on both sides, so this has definitely been mounted in a case previously, probably in push pull config. There's also some very light scratches on the plastic shroud on the card itself, but not severe at all. Ok I'm not particularly impressed, but decided I'll install it anyway, and if the black screen & 100% fan issue is gone, then no worries.
 
I install the card, have everything ready to go, start up my rig.. and I'm trying to figure out why something doesn't look quite right, then it hits me - the LEDs on the card are not working at all. No light behind the EVGA etc logo whatsoever! Tried reseating just in case, but nope, the LEDs do not work at all. Grrr.
 
I have not had time to test the card yet other than a short load test that shows the boost clocks up to 2025MHz, which is better than the original card (1987MHz on boost), but I will not be accepting it even if it doesn't black screen crash. I had a brand new card and am clearly being offered a broken refurb to replace it, despite assurances above that I would not be getting a refurb. The original card I have already boxed up to ship back is in much better condition than the replacement.
 
I am also a little concerned that if the LEDs aren't working, could there be a short or a loose wire in there? Maybe I should install my old 980Ti for now? (thankfully I have not sold it yet).
 
Not exactly pleased to have to go for a 3rd RMA, and if I can get a refund without a restocking fee I might consider it... and bite the bullet and go for a Titan XP since I have heard no problems about that card at all. I don't even know if I'll bother testing this RMA card for the black screen issue, why use any more of my time when it has to go back anyway?
 
Submitting another RMA request shortly. Very disappointed. 
 
edit: just spoke to Gabe at EVGA - I can't submit a new RMA until the original card has already been shipped back.. I'll take it to UPS shop in the weekend.
 
 
 

I am on the same boat with you with my 1080 FTW.... this is sad... getting more and more disappointed. And it does take a lot to make me upset. I'm getting there...

How do you know if you got a re-certified card? My replacement came in a seemingly new box, with plastic still wrapping it. The packaging was exactly the same as a new box but mine was shipped last week, a few weeks after my first month (original was bought August 1st).

How do you know if you got a re-certified card? My replacement came in a seemingly new box, with plastic still wrapping it. The packaging was exactly the same as a new box but mine was shipped last week, a few weeks after my first month (original was bought August 1st).

I feel for you guys! Demand satisfaction! Nothing less then a new card! Get serious now!

I went with classifieds insted.

raxtor
How do you know if you got a re-certified card? My replacement came in a seemingly new box, with plastic still wrapping it. The packaging was exactly the same as a new box but mine was shipped last week, a few weeks after my first month (original was bought August 1st).

Sounds like you got a brand new retail one. You'd know if you got a refurb - missing accessories, wrapping missing, often just a black EVGA box not the original retail packaging, marks / scratches on card etc..
 
 

Nereus

raxtor
How do you know if you got a re-certified card? My replacement came in a seemingly new box, with plastic still wrapping it. The packaging was exactly the same as a new box but mine was shipped last week, a few weeks after my first month (original was bought August 1st).

Sounds like you got a brand new retail one. You'd know if you got a refurb - missing accessories, wrapping missing, often just a black EVGA box not the original retail packaging, marks / scratches on card etc..
 
 

This. 100%.

J0NOX
Update:
Got an update from EVGA about the whole "re-certified" card thing I and other have experienced:
 
I apologize for the confusion. We only replace the cards with brand new ones if they were purchased within 30 days. Since the RMA request was out of that 30 day period, we replaced it with a re-certified card that was tested for the black screen issue as well as any other issues. You will not be getting the same black screen issue with 100% fans as before. Any cards that are shipped out from our EU RMA department after 8/31/16 will not have this issue.
 
I fell a little bit better now that I know this was suppose to happen and that it has been tested by EVGA.Though I'm not convinced about the "Any cards that are shipped out from our EU RMA department after 8/31/16"  As I received my 2nd rma from EVGA on the 9th of September and that still had the black screen issue.
 
I'll test the card out later tonight and see if it black screens, if it does I'll send it back to Amazon.

Wait, this is unfair.
EVGA confirmed the root cause of this black screen issue is their hardware defect 3 weeks later after user reported. If EVGA could announce this earlier I could send RMA within this 30-day window.
I feel anger now.

Nereus
 
Sounds like you got a brand new retail one. You'd know if you got a refurb - missing accessories, wrapping missing, often just a black EVGA box not the original retail packaging, marks / scratches on card etc..
 

EVGA recertified products all come in those black boxes? ...damn I think i got a recert power supply