Yeah.  I can barely stand to look at the case with that ugly wart in there....  ;)

TRClark911

ghastlyone
 



You can keep the back plate in place. 
 
To be honest, I thought the install couldn't get any easier.

Yeah I didn't consider it difficult... it was just time consuming and the instructions weren't helpful.

I agree it wasn't difficult, just too way longer trying to follow their instructions, the 2nd card took 15 minutes to swap and most of that time was dealing with screws. Happy to see I can keep the back plate from the founders edition. I'll upgrade those cards tonight.I did waste a good 20 minutes trying to take apart cooling assembly on the SC edition as it felt like I couldn't just pull the PCB off the assembly after removing the back plat and spring screws. While trying to take the fan assembly apart the PCB started to pull away on it's own.

cyberdimensions
How about all the thermal pads? Do you take them all off, and are there replacement ones included or even pre mounted on the new stuff, or do you need to transfer them all to the card in case some stick to the cooler when taking the card apart?

Thermal pads were included pre-attached to the die cast part. Each pad has it's own protective backing to remove that then want to static cling to everything.

Just an FYI to anyone doing the GN mod. You don't need to tear down the entire card to do it. I wouldn't recommend using his video for instructions because that isn't really why he did it.

To put the 1080 kit on a 1080ti or Titan you only need to take the heat sink shroud off and remove the heat sink. It's literally like 8 or 10 screws. No need to take the backplate off. No need to separate the midplate and PCB.
The only pain is plugging in the fan but if your patient it isn't to bad. Took me only an hour and that's because I'm clumsy when working with small tools. Assuming you are more dexterous it could take only like 20min.

Here is the basic guide I used.

http://m.imgur.com/a/hr8lI

Note the guy in the guide mounted the pump/block wrong. I wouldn't recommend doing it to the rear, do it to the side like in the GN video.

GamerDaddy84
Just an FYI to anyone doing the GN mod. You don't need to tear down the entire card to do it. I wouldn't recommend using his video for instructions because that isn't really why he did it.

To put the 1080 kit on a 1080ti or Titan you only need to take the heat sink shroud off and remove the heat sink. It's literally like 8 or 10 screws. No need to take the backplate off. No need to separate the midplate and PCB.
The only pain is plugging in the fan but if your patient it isn't to bad. Took me only an hour and that's because I'm clumsy when working with small tools. Assuming you are more dexterous it could take only like 20min.

Here is the basic guide I used.



Note the guy in the guide mounted the pump/block wrong. I wouldn't recommend doing it to the rear, do it to the side like in the GN video.

Well, that sounds good in theory. And for exactly the reason you mentioned - getting access to fan header - you are going to need to remove the backplate. Unless you want zero integration and control with pump and radiator, the backplate will need to come off.
 
Note: you have to UNPLUG the existing fan from the GPU PCB header to splice that loop together and then re-plug that loop into the board. No other way to do that without removing the backplate in it's entirety.
 
Edit: You would have to be Houdini to be able to get to that header without removing the backplate.

Well, that's terrific EVGA! The Hybrid cooler has been available all day for purchase from your EU store. So when can we expect availability again in the US?

cyberdimensions
Thabks for the clarification on the thermal pads, and I am with Hemi, when can we get ours?

So far my opinion is holding up: They are withholding the kits so they don't cannibalize the sales of their 1080 Ti Hybrid models.  SSDD every time.
 
It's tempting to edit this post...

Well, they got my money. I ordered 1 kit and 1 power supply and my payment went through. So here's hoping everything is good. Now I just have to wait 25 days to start a step up. I'm holding out hope for another step up option.

sousinho
Just got my kit 1080ti hybrid kit, so to clarify, is the first step is is to take off the backplate then remove the shroud?  Had a quick look at the instructions and i find it shocking EVGA cant update them.

What worked for me was watching this video on taking the card apart.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ-Y08enNG0
 
Yeah, it's well known the instructions are bad... LOL

This looks completely the same as EVGA GTX 1080/1070 FTW Hybrid Waterblock Cooler Cooling 400-HY-5288-B1