emsir

Cyricor
Its a bit worse than just that EVGA decided to cut corners. Its a design flaw. Someone actually designed the cooling solution on this card that didn't have common sense.
They covered the mosfets with the midplate? One of the hottest components on the card? Whereas Asus and MSI with way more overbuild VRM solutions, that by design run cooler due to the much higher amperage they can handle, have them actively cooled.

Its a facepalm moment and worthy of my pity to be honest, if they tried to cut corners I would be angry, but all the evidence point to project failure, quality control absence and overall management bad decisions (The one responsible for the cooler design must be fired, even if he is the CEO's nephew as it seems :P ) .
Because its my firm belief that anyone with half a brain could design it better with the same or less cost.

I seriously consider dremel for the midplate to expose the mosfets to direct airflow, and attach some low profile copper heat sinks.

You think you are a pro, or work in a place where they make GPU's? 
This issue is absolutely not a project failuire. No card has been damaged due to this issue. This issue is handled proffessional by EVGA. Your post is just another attempt to put you in the spotlight and have your 2 minutes of fame.
Your solution is rubbish. Why? Because the thermal pad solution and bios update works just great. There is no heat issue and people are playing games just like they would normal. The cards work just great without issues.

 
RANT ON
Put me at a spotlight? where? at the back corner of the internet where I would not even have an account if it wasn't for the "optional" pads and "optional" vbios.? Lets leave the twisted sense of that and go for the problem at hand.

"Your solution is rubbish. Why? Because the thermal pad solution and bios update works just great."
Do you work in a place that makes GPUs or capacitors and inductors and are familiar with electronic component degradation to state that?
Have you actually measured the vrm temperatures before and after with something more meaningful than a FLIR?
(You can check at GamerNexus how easy it is to thermal prob vrms on a VGA) 
Do people suffer from mass disillusion when the post pics of thermalpads not making contact?
Are the other 5-6 companies that build 10series cards, stupid that actively cooling the exposed mosfets?
 
 "There is no heat issue and people are playing games just like they would normal." 
What about Cuda acceleration? Is that safe or not? is it like gaming or like furmark? Do i have the obligation as a customer to research the subject?

"The cards work just great without issues."
Are you in any position to offer me guarantee on your statements? Because I have installed the card on an editing machine that is actually used for work. I would be glad if you can stand behind your statements and accept to cover potential financial loss due to downtime.

RANT OFF

-While I have no problem waiting, and I still find EVGA support awesome and it rose to the occasion by  admitting their mistake, I would not be blinded to the fact that their cooling solution in regards to the competition is inferior and the problem highlighted beyond any doubt, that you should NOT cover the vrms. On the same extend, having thermalpads not making contact with vram shows lack of QC. And being the second iteration of the ACX cooler that is plagued by problems, the design team is at fault.

My post is not meant to trash EVGA as a company especially today that apple announced that touch IC disease is the owner's fault and appears after repeated drops! But changes have to be made on the company level, one more cooling mishap and the company is going to loose its image that build so many years now.

Now we just need a new BIOS for the modded cards, that is somewhere between the original and the too loud new one.

seahawkgfx
Now we just need a new BIOS for the modded cards, that is somewhere between the original and the too loud new one.

I think you are on to something, with these pads installed the fan curve could be easily tweaked further in a new vBIOS to reduce a couple of hundred RPMs for more silent operation.

How much time does thermal pads need to be shipped?
I am really surprised by EVGA noncurance of its european customers.
I was happy to buy EVGA despite of price just because they directly do assistance, i bought 3 EVGA cards for my PCs but i think i have made a big mistake that i won't do again for my next vga...

EVGA Germany has afaik shipped the pads to all FTW customers that requested them, the other follow this week.

emsir

akteni
the above extended guide is about VRM chip pad mod. Someone in reddit had mentioned that thermal pads on VRM chips are not pressed between baseplate and card. 
In the post, you will see 3 different link. You can check those and read comments. 
 
 
I am applying thermal pads tomorrow and will definitely check these VRM chip pads. thank god I bought extra thermal pads.

What someone post in Reddit is NOT recommended and approved by EVGA. What is important and recommended is what EVGA say, and not a person on Reddit or Youtube. All these "experts" know nothing and has no experience in making Graphic cards at all. People should stop reading all these so called "expert tips and guides".
Read what EVGA says and follow the recommended guide how to do the thermal pad mod and the BIOS update. Remember that the Thermal mod is OPTIONAL  and if you have updated your BIOS, you really don't need the thermal mod. You should always read what EVGA post here and forget what is being posted else where.
 

If you are applying a solution to mass production, it is not optional. It means that you don't believe in your design and had to implement solution to your obvious problem. 
 
I am not chip or electronic expert but I am literally heat transfer expert. Air is used as heat isolation material in the industry. If there isn't pad or pads are not pressed well, that means you have a obvious cooling problem. 
I checked VRAM pads and pressure wasn't enough. I also saw that another FTW had good pressure so this is manufacturing variance which means EVGA's fault. 
 
We left the design work to EVGA in the beginning by buying our $450-$650 cards, see what happened. Therefore no one can blame customer for not trusting EVGA's thermal pad mod guide. 
 

Now we just need a new BIOS for the modded cards, that is somewhere between the original and the too loud new one. this is spot on!

All evga card who explods was FTW cards no ?

I got my thermal mod from EVGA last week but I've decided against installing it on the basis that (a) they claim it is optional; and (b) I'm not comfortable with dismantling a £600 graphics card even if the process is relatively simple and EVGA will replace the card if I somehow damage it.
 
I figured that if this new card does develop another fault (my previous card had the black screen/100% fan issue) then EVGA can replace it and send me one back with the thermal pads installed. The fact they are still stating the mod is optional means that I'm not concerned about it overheating. I game with v-sync enabled on a 60 Hz display at 60 fps and rarely run stressful benchmarks so only time will tell if the card will survive the heat of next summer. However, there is a good chance that I will have upgraded to a new card by then anyway as I typically upgrade every 12-18 months.