Afevis
Just received my thermal mod and installed it, however while doing so I decided to check and noticed that my VRAM's also have gaps between them and the thermal pads (enough that I can see light shining through it.)
 
I just bought this card 35 days ago and I'm dreading the fact that I'd receive a refurbished one because I just missed the window to RMA it for a new one. :(

Ya know, I will do the mods myself but I also have 2 cards. If I didn't feel comfortable in doing it myself, I will certainly see if I could send in one card at a time and have the exact same card sent back to me after the pad installation was done. I won the silicone lottery with these babies, both do 2100mhz and one can do 2200mhz so I'd hate to lose them  :D

Jootunn
Will do. Does say that shipping will take 1-2 weeks though. :/

edit: oops  Not clear why they didn't ship first class.

Jootunn
Will do. Does say that shipping will take 1-2 weeks though. :/

Unless they are coming from Asia that is brutal. Could be usual UPS ground nonsense if not.
 
EVGA, get some bubble mailers and get them in the hands of the USPS, please!

Jootunn
Will do. Does say that shipping will take 1-2 weeks though. :/

Ouch! Mine still says awaiting shipment, gotta be a week now since I ordered them. Personally after doing a little research I'll be changing the VRAM pads and add the thermal pad to the underside of the card but will ignore the one directly on top due to the reason it has nothing more than the fins of the heatsink to contact with. This seems like a poorly designed fix and I'd rather just apply a far more aggressive fan profile.
 
If someone with a high level of experience or an EVGA employee could answer these questions I would feel a little happier about all of this.
 
1. Will an exposed thermal pad not just attract dust and seriously limit any benefits it will be giving when first applied??
2. Will blocking the hole (that the top thermal pad gets put over) not cause any further components to overheat, as no air at all will flow under there. Considering the problem with the VRAM pads, surly applying the "fix" will limit any air that could have gone under the plate and could cause further problems for people that don't change the VRAM pads?
 
Personally I would like EVGA to post the following official FLIR images to just be honest about this.

• Showing an untouched card running the same test toms hardware did
• An untouched card just with the VBIOS applied running the test
• One with the thermal mod applied running the test
• One with the thermal mod and VRAM pads changed running the test

Just to rub in it, I finally got a response to the support ticket I send EVGA and they just blamed the test for what Toms hardware produced and just said their cards were fine in their current state.

The back side isn't much better - almost half the contact area contacts nothing due to mesh being there. It's the best that can be done given the fundamental flaws in the cooling system in respect of the VRMs.

Bar81
The back side isn't much better - almost half the contact area contacts nothing due to mesh being there. It's the best that can be done given the fundamental flaws in the cooling system in respect of the VRMs.

I had not noticed that, this really does suck. This really feels like a half-assed bodge you'd expect from a knock off builder. Not what you expect from a enthusiast product. If they are applying this "fix" in the factory (like they said on twitter) and I had a card arrive, brand new looking like that it would be going straight back.
 
Starting to think I might just call their bluff. Do nothing and just RMA it will problems develop.

James63

Bar81
The back side isn't much better - almost half the contact area contacts nothing due to mesh being there. It's the best that can be done given the fundamental flaws in the cooling system in respect of the VRMs.

 
Starting to think I might just call their bluff. Do nothing and just RMA it will problems develop.

That's pretty much where I've been in that I'm not looping benchmarks and my case has good airflow so the VRMs should be fine although I'll apply the pads anyway since I've to get in there to fix the RAM anyway (UGH).

The RAM pads on the other hand are inexcusable - how is that missed in QA?

I am not too miffed about the shipping time personally. I am waiting on a new tube of Arctic MX4 (finally used up my old one) and the last core part of my rebuild, that being a new SSD, which isn't coming until the 16th. The MX4 should arrive by USPS first, so I will be good and ready to re-assemble the GPU when the the time comes.

James63

Jootunn
Will do. Does say that shipping will take 1-2 weeks though. :/

Ouch! Mine still says awaiting shipment, gotta be a week now since I ordered them. Personally after doing a little research I'll be changing the VRAM pads and add the thermal pad to the underside of the card but will ignore the one directly on top due to the reason it has nothing more than the fins of the heatsink to contact with. This seems like a poorly designed fix and I'd rather just apply a far more aggressive fan profile.
 
If someone with a high level of experience or an EVGA employee could answer these questions I would feel a little happier about all of this.
 
1. Will an exposed thermal pad not just attract dust and seriously limit any benefits it will be giving when first applied??
2. Will blocking the hole (that the top thermal pad gets put over) not cause any further components to overheat, as no air at all will flow under there. Considering the problem with the VRAM pads, surly applying the "fix" will limit any air that could have gone under the plate and could cause further problems for people that don't change the VRAM pads?
 
Personally I would like EVGA to post the following official FLIR images to just be honest about this.

• Showing an untouched card running the same test toms hardware did
• An untouched card just with the VBIOS applied running the test
• One with the thermal mod applied running the test
• One with the thermal mod and VRAM pads changed running the test

Just to rub in it, I finally got a response to the support ticket I send EVGA and they just blamed the test for what Toms hardware produced and just said their cards were fine in their current state.

Check out the Jay2Cents video as I believe they did this.

Jootunn
I am not too miffed about the shipping time personally. I am waiting on a new tube of Arctic MX4 (finally used up my old one) and the last core part of my rebuild, that being a new SSD, which isn't coming until the 16th. The MX4 should arrive by USPS first, so I will be good and ready to re-assemble the GPU when the the time comes.

I've been patient but now I'm getting annoyed. There's no communication and it's taking way too long - this isn't a gift - this is a fix for a problem. It's good that they're offering these but otherwise this has been a disaster - it will certainly give me pause next time I'm looking for a graphics card.