@NucleusX last night I dismantled my 1080 and looked for this "gap" issue. To my surprise, there was not a single gap. Also, the VRM have been attached to the midplate via just such a thermal pad.
 
So, just a few facts:
FACT: There are indepdendent reports of gaps with the thermal pads on the VRAM. As I can claim that there is not such a gap on my card, this hints to a QC issue with the manufacturer.
FACT: There are claims that there is NO cooling of the VRM whatsoever. As I do not want to believe I got some sort of miracle unit where out of a sudden the manufacturer decided to patch in a strip of thermal pad, there is at least a inadequate, passive cooling solution (the VRM transfering heat to the midplate, a comparatively big surface where the fans blow on).
 
@OP please do not throw in several issues together. There has been already a official announcement of a bad batch of VRM. Without knowing the shipment date of your card I would suggest you check with EVGA if the card has been manufactured before 8/30. If yes, there is a chance it is part of the faulty batch. This is not an "overheating" issue. This is an issue of a part of the chips on the PCB being not up to par and thus not able to withstand the specified wear.
 
Just so you understand: The "ticking timebomb" is not caused by overheating. It is caused by bad VRM that wear out really fast. The logical conclusion is that everyone having a card manufactured in the timeframe before 8/30 should consider a RMA request, linking to this announcement and requesting a new replacement to prevent this from happening OR a return to the reseller if possible OR taking the risk that your unit might be not part of the affected 4% of the bad batch.
 

shannonjpower
 
 
If they done independent testing and the results came back the same (it was within specs) but still offered the thermal pads for customers, than EVGA would be be receiving nothing but praise. Instead there's speculation and misinformation floating about all over the web and ultimately in my opinion damaging EVGA's already awesome reputation.
 
Hell, even if they released their own in house tests results with details it would have been better than anything they've said so far.
 
If what EVGA are saying is correct and within specs after testing, there was potential to turn this negative into a HUGE positive for EVGA. But unfortunately I can't help to feel this was handled all wrong.

This is spot on.
 
EVGA just stating that the cards are ok won't cut it, when there are people out there testing and demonstrating some cooling shortcomings.
 
Maybe just some communication naivety on EVGAs part?

Angier_1985
@NucleusX last night I dismantled my 1080 and looked for this "gap" issue. To my surprise, there was not a single gap. Also, the VRM have been attached to the midplate via just such a thermal pad.
 

Dismantled mine yesterday and was pleased to find no gaps either. Physically i could not find a single visual defect, but that alone won't dismiss my trepidation.

First thing you should do if you own one of these cards is fix the fan profile! 35% fan speed is doing absolutely nothing to actively cool the base plate / VRM and memory heat spreader plate under full load.
 
If EVGA shipped these with a better fan curve in the factory BIOS, we'd probably be seeing a lot less cases of dying cards
 
 

Angier_1985
@op I'd be interested in pics of the burned out PCB (you can dismantle it and still claim a refund as EVGA warranty covers cooler disassembly from card) and if there are any other affected parts of your rig.

First of all thank you everyone for listening. To Angier, as stated in my original post, I was unaware to even know to look under the backplate for a problem.  I didn't know to do so until after my card was already shipped off for RMA.  So long as EVGA makes good by me, and steps up to the plate for others I will let this issue drop.  Until then it is my personal mission to warn innocent folks like myself, how EVGA should have done in the first place.  I'm doing my best to give them the chance to do so before I make it a full blown social media fiasco.  With over 1 million twitter impressions monthly (99 percent gaming related), I could have a big impact on them if need be. See included picture if you need proof.
 
 
 
 
 
 

no matter what this whole situation is a big disappointment and reputation loss for EVGA, imo.
it's not enough to have a good customer service, you have to design good products as well.
can someone explain why VRMs at EVGA work 30 degrees hotter than the other brands ones?!
that's ridiculous and obviously unnecessary, but even if then you have to provide the required cooling. 

Checked my 1070 FTW right now and I'm pleased to have found no gaps either.
Thermal pads on VRM are thick enough and seem nicely compressed between the VRMs and the midplate.
Thermal pads on Memory don't seem compressed, but no gap at all.
 
I had not a single problem. Until now all fine.
But I'm aware my processor (i7 2600) is not giving enough feed to the graphics card to go 100% power, so.... I'm never at full throttle.
 
My 5 cents.

This is possible to check the gap without remove the graphic card ?

ilyama
Yes but those who had the issue, even if it's not the same temperature, it would be a good information to know if the gpu was at 50 degres celsius in load or 75...

Mine is max at 50 degres celsius... I think its more safe like that no ?

Although, i suppose dropping your over-clocks and power limits can directly reduce the overall current draw at the power 
delivery stages and thus reduce over-all heat. This would probably be the best way to keep gaming if you have to. If it 
where me, id also under-clock if anything, drop other values below 100, and lower the image quality in games. Then
when your thermals are all done and feel confident its ready to go, run at defaults for a while, increment from there.

 
I've been reading these threads, and I guess I don't understand how using anecdotal information or presumption is helping the situation any. People can and should certainly be put off that their cards have failed, but it's pretty clear that people also don't know what generated the failure of the card OR how many have actually failed. Extrapolation to a systematic problem is unwarranted. It's just adding angst for people that aren't having problems and not working towards any particular solution.  
There is limited actual information out there. Toms Hardware did a good job identifying a problem. EVGA didn't do a good job of providing a top-tier cooling solution and that should hit their reputation. But everything else right now is just conjecture.
This whole thing rings a lot like the AMD PCIE issue - poor implementation yielding an identifiable problem that then gets the interwebs spinning... but is for the majority a non-issue. Time will tell i suppose.