I'm very satisfied with my GTX 970 ftw+ but i just remember that the maxwell génération has known 3 different cooling systems (ACX, ACX 2.0 and ACX 2.0+) in  only 2 years of production, the first 970 (ACX) had a little misconception having some of its heatpipes not fully contacting the GPU, this issue didn't cause any damage as far as i know and was solved quickly but it makes me feel a little dubious with the cooling solutions EVGA has been carrying with the last GPU générations
 

pawelblyskal

ZeroBANG
(i love being quoted while i'm editing ;P )  

Piers123
 It only happened a couple of times in Fallout 4 - no other game that I tried. 

it just needs to happen once to know that you got one of the lucky 3 - 4% of cards from that bad batch of VRMs.  

3 - 4 % thats a joke. The issue is across all units.

The "black screen + 100% fan" issue was caused by faulty VRM IC chips used in early production (before Sept-2016), and EVGA stated that 3-4% of the IC chips were out-of-spec. 
 
Emphasis:  NOT 3-4% of cards, but 3-4% of the IC chips.  There are (12) of those chips on a 1080FTW.


Only EVGA knows the actual percentage of CARDS affected, but suffice to say -- if 3-4% of the IC's were bad, and there are (12) of them on the card, the chance of having at least (1) bad chip was much more than 3-4%. 

Honestly, it sucks that this is happening. However, I can't say how amazing it is, that EVGA is stepping up and being accountable in these types of situations. I work in the Customer Service industry, and companies who take this kind of responsibility are rare and beautiful.

Rylant

ZeroBANG
It is VERY interesting that you had the black screen + fan at 100% speed issue already and THEN the VRM exploded.  
 
you should read this, a user quoted a EVGA support email a while ago where they say that they had a bad batch of VRMs that run out of spec and this entire black screen issue is a "Over Current Protection" mechanism:  
 http://forums.evga.com/1080-FTW-owner-Am-I-the-only-one-thinking-that-all-this-is-a-bad-joke-m2574912.aspx#2575115  
 
so far there has been no proof of a connection between the black screen issue and the exploding VRMs.  
you just delivered a very interesting puzzle piece.  
i think we now know what happens when this OCP mechanism fails... POOF.  

I was told the same thing when I requested an RMA of my previous GTX 1080 FTW which started exhibiting the black screen/100% fan issue randomly in games after two months of owning it. While I waited for the replacement to arrive, I switched from the default fan profile (the one that spins the fan above 65 C on the GPU) to a custom one and never saw the black screen issue again on that card. Of course, since then EVGA have released an updated BIOS which is supposed to cool the card better and the black screen issue was caused by something different but it does seem an odd coincidence that my ramping up to a more aggressive fan profile that was always spinning that I "fixed" the issue on my old card.
 
I have not seen the issue on my new card and since the BIOS update temperatures have been much lower (it is, of course, late autumn here in the UK so it is cooler) with the highest being 67 degrees C. I have not had this card two months yet so it remains to be seen if the issue really is fixed. I am trying to stay positive but with that issue and the whole thermal pad fiasco my faith in EVGA has been shattered somewhat and I certainly won't be considering them first any more for my next graphics card upgrade.

For good PR and faith. They could easily send you brand new components all EVGA stuff. Or cut you a fair check to buy the stuff you have again if you wanted to. 

UPDATE 18-11-2016
An man came to collect the item, but did not bring suitable packaging (a bag and label, as I understood he would) so the collection has been delayed until Jan is able to re-arrange it.
 
I will continue to post updates for those interested.

I have now tested a 970 using the second PCI-E slot. I'm hesitant to test the card in the same slot the 1080 was in as EVGA has advised.

Any advice?

I got my Advance RMA yesterday after 2 weeks+ of waiting, still curious about the FTW card with the thermal pads installed and new bios which will have a louder fan noise. I have a similar issue like you but not as bad as u mentioned, here's the pic I took 
 One of the VRMs has been fried and had a blackscreen..
 
After dealing with their delayed email and non response phone call from the EU department, I finally got an approval from their RMA, paid the amount they requested and the card is coming from Germany next Tuesday. I'm not sure how much I'm going to pay for the return tho, do I get the delivery payment back or they will call it problem solved? :S
 
The reason I purchase the FTW verison is because I wanted to have a quieter fan noise along with the performance... 

Piers123
I have now tested a 970 using the second PCI-E slot. I'm hesitant to test the card in the same slot the 1080 was in as EVGA has advised.

Any advice?

 
I think you would be fine to test it.

I'm sure they'll replace the 970 if anything happens to it on their advice.
It's also highly unlikely to be the slots. Especially if it works fine in another one. They are all hooked up to the same power source.