So I did a step-up for my 980ti and had paid for it sept 1, and shipped a few days later and received my card on sept 16
I received a EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 GAMING ACX 3.0
 
Question is do you think I have avoided the heating issue? Havent used my card yet as I am still saving some money for a new i7 6700k or maybe kaby lake later ( not sure yet?). and z170 mobo.
 
If there is a way to tell in my situation or anything at all if my card is affected if someone can point me in the right direction that would be great! Have had no luck googling as it only mentions FTW but I heard it affects the ACX 3.0 coolers.

If you know where to look between the cooler and PCB for the VRMs, you should see thermal pad, otherwise, would have to take the card apart and check that way if you are unable to tell.

EVGA need discount HYDRO COPPER Waterblock for GTX 1080 for who want upgrade to water cooling or EVGA need change front plate to fix this issue
 

I dont really know how to set up a waterblock for graphics cards otherwise I would Havent really found any info yet only looked a bit. ( personally in my mind seems like a water loop which I bought a case for but havent figured it all out yet if there is a place to learn point me to it ^^).
I will grab my card and take a look .

no luck, i would probably have to take it apart, I bought a 16 piece toolkit cheap so I can consider that, I might also email support and ask if I can just send it in, I am generally fine doing most things but taking aprt my GPU/CPU etc is a bit much for me personally. I am a bit too cautious.

Call EVGA and have your serial number ready, they can tell you.

yea looks like it is, its all ACX 3.0 cards so i guess you can do an update but im gonna get the thermal pads too, have a tool kit for computers and a wrist strap and all that ill just have to do it lol.
hows that z170 board? any good or is there a better one?

So glad I bought the reference design vs SC/FTW versions. So many issues with those cards!

Since the issue was found in October, I doubt cards shipped in September were prepared prior to finding the issue, lol.

The issue is simply fan speed. You can use MSI Afterburner to turn the fans up to 50% or so, and get much better cooling until the thermal pads arrive. It takes maybe 45 minutes to install the pads and is extremely easy with very little risk to the card (dropping the card or using a hammer would be a risk)

So if we see thermal pads under the pcb we're good? or its the thickness thats the issue. I do have them there.