i know this news couldnt come at a worse time but it has to be said before someone in the challange looses more than some hardware due to the possiblity of fire.
 
http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/evga-gtx-1080-1070-overheating-issue/
 
All EVGA GTX 1080 and 1070 cards with the dual-fan ATX cooler use the same design and thus suffer from the issue and could catching fire due to no active cooling on their VRMs. if you have an effected modle reduce the power limit and get with EVGA for a thermalpad kit. 
 
http://www.evga.com/thermalmod/
 
UPDATE:

howdy2u2
You are combining 2 separate issues:
1) Temperatures on the PCB because of a "torture test" using stress tests not recommended by nVidia on the Pascal GPU. EVGA also states their testing method and again states that the temperatures are with in tolerable limits of said hardware. EVGA is addressing those who are concerned with the temperatures by providing thermal pads to help dissipate the heat more evenly. (It's all in the 10xx forum section you'll have to dig for it) 
 
2) VRM's giving up the ghost/ sparking/ letting the smoke out (what ever you want to say) Again EVGA posted a statement saying that some VRMs were not to spec (4% affected) and failing, they even identified the maker of said VRMs in a post (again, I am not going to dig it up in the 10xx forum section) EVGA has also stated (in a post in that section) that they have corrected this issue.
 
These 2 issues have been intertwined in almost every thread in the 10xx forum section.
That's all I have to say on the issue, take it for what it's worth.

ah, thanks for the clarification. i saw that they are giving away thermal pads and said 3rd party article made it sound a lot worse than it really is. i haven't had to time to dig up other threads and find the details behind it all and just posted this thread after reading it. but its good to know that not all said GPU's are effected by the failure, only a very small fraction, but they are offering the thermal pads to help elevate some concern of the issue.

Ya, that section is soo active i do not visit it often so i thought i would post this here for those like me.

I didnt want to bring the issue here as much as bring awareness to the issue.

That subject is turning into a flame war.
My rig has been running full bore for months. No problems with my 1080FTW. Discover order the pads anyway. My backplate has hit close to 60 degrees though.

You are combining 2 separate issues:
1) Temperatures on the PCB because of a "torture test" using stress tests not recommended by nVidia on the Pascal GPU. EVGA also states their testing method and again states that the temperatures are with in tolerable limits of said hardware. EVGA is addressing those who are concerned with the temperatures by providing thermal pads to help dissipate the heat more evenly. (It's all in the 10xx forum section you'll have to dig for it) 
 
2) VRM's giving up the ghost/ sparking/ letting the smoke out (what ever you want to say) Again EVGA posted a statement saying that some VRMs were not to spec (4% affected) and failing, they even identified the maker of said VRMs in a post (again, I am not going to dig it up in the 10xx forum section) EVGA has also stated (in a post in that section) that they have corrected this issue.
 
These 2 issues have been intertwined in almost every thread in the 10xx forum section.
That's all I have to say on the issue, take it for what it's worth.
 
 

mektacular
Not to extend this, but are the FTW Hybrids effected?  Based on what I've read no, but want to make sure.

As much as I have been following and sorting through all the misinterpretations and misinformation, you are correct. They do not seem to be affected by this because of the cooling solution being used. If you are seriously that concerned contacting support is your best option instead of trying to sort through all of this garbage.

howdy2u2
You are combining 2 separate issues:
1) Temperatures on the PCB because of a "torture test" using stress tests not recommended by nVidia on the Pascal GPU. EVGA also states their testing method and again states that the temperatures are with in tolerable limits of said hardware. EVGA is addressing those who are concerned with the temperatures by providing thermal pads to help dissipate the heat more evenly. (It's all in the 10xx forum section you'll have to dig for it) 
 
2) VRM's giving up the ghost/ sparking/ letting the smoke out (what ever you want to say) Again EVGA posted a statement saying that some VRMs were not to spec (4% affected) and failing, they even identified the maker of said VRMs in a post (again, I am not going to dig it up in the 10xx forum section) EVGA has also stated (in a post in that section) that they have corrected this issue.
 
These 2 issues have been intertwined in almost every thread in the 10xx forum section.
That's all I have to say on the issue, take it for what it's worth.

ah, thanks for the clarification. i saw that they are giving away thermal pads and said 3rd party article made it sound a lot worse than it really is. i haven't had to time to dig up other threads and find the details behind it all and just posted this thread after reading it. but its good to know that not all said GPU's are effected by the failure, only a very small fraction, but they are offering the thermal pads to help elevate some concern of the issue.

It seems like this is much ado about nothing.  In addition to the fact that many of us here have been folding on 1070s for months and haven't had any issues, read what EVGA is saying:

• Under extreme testing conditions the GPUs still operate within their designed heat tolerances, albeit at the very high end of the spectrum.
• EVGA is addressing this issue with a VBIOS update to change the fan curve and offering optional free thermal pads to anyone with the effected GPUs
• The VBIOS update will simply create a more aggressive fan curve and fully resolves the issue. 
• You can set a higher fan manually in EVGA Precision to address this issue if you are at all concerned: the new fan curve maxes at 2200 RPM rather than 1600 RPM (Source: Gamers Nexus)
• Both the thermal pads and VBIOS update do result in lower temperatures on the VRM (Source: Gamers Nexus)
• Regardless of whether you have installed the VBIOS update or thermal pads EVGA backs the warranty of its cards 100%.  If there is any issue simply contact EVGA for an RMA
• More information on the issue: http://forums.evga.com/EV...e-Update-m2573491.aspx

Been running my 1080 FTW's for the last month Folding 24\7. Have not seen any unusual temps or issues..
And my ambient air temp in my workshop is about 28'c

troy8d
I usually use Arctic Silver 5 but I hear Arctic MX-4 is good too.  I believe the thermal pad kit does come with some thermal paste as well.

I would avoid conductive thermal pastes like arctic silver for gpu aplications, as there isnt a heat spreader on the gpus and too much can result in shorting the parts right beside the gpu.

Chris21010

troy8d
I usually use Arctic Silver 5 but I hear Arctic MX-4 is good too.  I believe the thermal pad kit does come with some thermal paste as well.

I would avoid conductive thermal pastes like arctic silver for gpu aplications, as there isnt a heat spreader on the gpus and too much can result in shorting the parts right beside the gpu.

Give that man a ribbon!! (good advice)

It looks like for GPU application, my Noctua paste is only .5 C warmer then the mx4 paste. The only real better option according to tomshardware chart is the gelid extreme paste and it's relatively hard to apply.