Try giving EVGA a call at 1-888-881-3842 and tell them basically everything you posted. They should work it out for you.

gamesturbator
 

For the love of God, remove the plastic protective material!  That material is only there to protect the card during shipment.  Once you receive the card, you are supposed to remove that plastic otherwise it could burn off.  You especially want to remove the plastic from the center of the fan; if that plastic comes off, it could lodge itself in the fan or heatsink and cause video card temperatures to skyrocket.

I am not understand the problem.  The soft plastic is just that, soft plastic to protect the stickers.  The same thing is put on the edge of shiny parts of monitors, home audio, etc.  Just peel off the soft plastic.

lol oh man... dude, you need to peel that off. It's a protective film.
 
Goes to show how foolproof they've made installing these things into a system though for the average person ;)

If that the worst you ever do then congrats youve done well.
 
I know someone who broke a brand new $450 cpu...(shifty eyes)

 
Just make sure you get the one from the fan hub as well, welcome to the forums and thanks for the giggle....

gamesturbator

Meanwhile, I was testing my cpu last night and it got up to 98 c at one point (about 3 minutes of the test I think). It's really difficult to find a good TP pattern for the Cooler Master 212 HS. So after bringing the temp down to 58c (guess some q6600's just can't handle the slightest overclocking) my EVGA Motherboard quit on me. It came with the computer I bought and I don't have the sellers contact info, no idea if he registered it anyway, so no hope of getting it replaced . This after going without a working gpu for over a month!

Considering the max Tcase for the q6600 is 62c or 71c (depending on the version) that could be a problem.
 
You sure the mobo died and not the cpu?, was that the temp of one of the cores, or the CPU itself?

Q56_Monster

How do you know it's the 780i FTW mobo?  What's a TP pattern?

Thermal Paste pattern?   Just a guess.
 
I would definately consider that the CPU may have failed instead of assuming that the motherboard failed.
 

Meanwhile, I was testing my cpu last night and it got up to 98 c at one point (about 3 minutes of the test I think). It's really difficult to find a good TP pattern for the Cooler Master 212 HS. So after bringing the temp down to 58c (guess some q6600's just can't handle the slightest overclocking) my EVGA Motherboard quit on me.

 
Define slight.  98c is very very high for a CPU.

TP=Toilet paper or Thermal Paste! My reply didn't go through so a few replies beat mine. DARN!
 
I repasted 6 times before I got back to normal temps. Gamed for hours and everything was fine. Was downloading some files and everything locked up. Now I don't even get beep codes when I start the computer.
 
I was running IntelburnTest and Prime85 with CoreTemp and Real Temp as well as Hardware Monitor, so the temps were accurate. I installed the cpu to my Biostar MB (which I am returning tomorrow ALL PRAISE TO NEW EGG'S CUSOMER SUPPORT) and it was fine. I've used up my spending budget on the video card, so will have to sell kidney or failing eyes to have enough to replace the motherboard. Hate the Q6600 as it is pretty iffy whether or not it can overclock. Failed to overclock on BOTH boards!

Don't hate the Q6600 too much, especially if it still works after you fried it like that 
 
If the CPU really got that hot (and not just a core), it may have caused a problem with the CPU socket and killed your board...really just a guess though.

I am assuming bringing it up to 98c led to the failure a few  hours later as it probably weakened something in the process making it even more susceptible to damage from the following tests and playing Shattered Horizon on Ultra settings. Oh, there did seem to be a tiny  slightly darker area on the cpu but my eyes are shot and I have trouble with lighting  so maybe they're just playing tricks me. Maybe I got thermal paste on it!
 
The other motherboard had dead sound jacks and would not allow me to use my factory recommend voltage for my ram (2.1 vs 1.88) and their automatic overclock was just plain broken. The PCI-E lock fell off as soon as I seated the card. Everything on that board was flimsy as hell.
 
Plus side, the labeling was excellent and all the pretty colors!
\

Obviously under the motherboard thread. :) Thanks.

Thinking maybe I got arctic silver on something and that could short out components from what I read. Don't see anything, but I shall clean the area thoroughly just in case. Then again, if something did short out cleaning it isn't going to help.

Yeah I was thinking the TIM was shorting something out. Also check for basic things. It could just be a wire that fell out of place? you never know!

Thanks, Matthew. Roommate is using her paypal card so have to wait till she wakes  up. UPS is awesomely fast usually so thinking about the $30 ground option vs the $40 second day. Keeping this up I could convince myself to go with the UBER DUBER $50 overnight/sat delivery option. NAAAAH! Edit: $30 option: Done!
 
Now if only I could find a cheap replacement mb. Found a $50 750i on Amazon, but I don't trust Nvidia chipsets any more. For instance, in the case of SSDs the MS drivers are said to be superior (per OCZ forum which I haven't been on in a while). Also not crazy about the instruction manuals from EVGA or the bios options. Thinking MSI or even Gigabyte this time.