Thanks for the post Broken.
Shannon, it's hard for EVGA to make a statement when everyone ignores the statements they make. Yes, it happens. Yes, evga already made a statement saying that the card operate within the designed temp limits. Yes evga already stated (as well as nvidia) that furmark should not be used. Yes, EVGA said "we know the customers want lower temps, so we will offer optional thermal pads to help reduce temperatures further".
The rest is user speculation. As I stated, the design of the heat plate and ACX has been used for years. Only one thing changed, and that was the fan speed to reduce noise. I set my card to run the slave bios (ftw) and fan went from 30% to 50% and temps dropped considerably.
If users want silent system, expect higher thermal output at the same tdp. If users want lower temps, they are required to make a little more noise or invest into some form of liquid cooling.