Hi after owning a GTX 1080 SC for some time now, is there a way to tell if the VRAM or VRM is damaged or stressed from the heating issues? Are there performance decreases, glitches or artifacts I should look for? I do notice some slight cracking noise from the video cards at times. I'm running two 1080 SCs in SLI and my top card is the older of the two and runs hotter than the bottom card. Also can I RMA my cards if I discover the VRAM thermal pads are not making contact or making improper contact with the VRAM? Thanks.

My take on this whole thing is that if the VRAM or VRM is damaged the card will eventually (sooner rather than later) fail. If it fails within 3 years, you can RMA it under warranty. If it fails outside of warranty, well then you are SOL, but by that time the card might be obsolete anyway. I am in the same boat with my 1080 FTW. 

Yea that's what I initially thought, but would we get decreased performance?

From what I have read, it is an all or nothing event. There do not seem to be many warning signs. The black screen + 100% fan issue seems to be another problem altogether. 
 
I am just going to keep using my card as I have been for the past 4 months. If the issue is as serious as most seem to think it is, then it will fail before three years are up. 
 
If you are worried about decreased performance, just keep an eye on your sustained clocks and voltages. If these start to change, then perhaps something is going on. 

brian9107
Hi after owning a GTX 1080 SC for some time now, is there a way to tell if the VRAM or VRM is damaged or stressed from the heating issues? Are there performance decreases, glitches or artifacts I should look for? I do notice some slight cracking noise from the video cards at times. I'm running two 1080 SCs in SLI and my top card is the older of the two and runs hotter than the bottom card. Also can I RMA my cards if I discover the VRAM thermal pads are not making contact or making improper contact with the VRAM? Thanks.

Well if your Vram is damaged, at some point you will start seeing artifacts (blue, white green dots all over the place, or something like, sensation, in that case unl that artifacts may very), and eventually when Vram is completely poped, you will get blackscreen, by that point u know your gpu is kaput, same goes to vrms, mosfets, if they get damaged you will feel funny smoke and burned sensation, by that moment your whole pc can be damaged, luck of the draw I guess.