Hello all, -(picture shows issue)
 
 
So Saturday night while i was playing crysis 3 my computer black screened followed by a horrible burning smell.  I unplugged it and powered it back on. It booted fine and booted up hwmon to check my temps which were ok.
 
Every thing seemed fine so i booted up crysis 3 again and i was faced with horrible fps 1-48 with artifacts. Under load the card started making a squealing sound. (its not the fans)
 
I quickly shut down my rig and pulled the card. I checked out the back pcb which looked fine so i removed the heat shield to look at the top of the pcb. Once the vrm heat shield came off the problem was clear as day. 4 resistors are charred and burned to a crisp.
 
Now I have to hand it to evga, I think they have the best customer service ive ever experienced. Seriously A+
 
They took there time to listen and helped me set up my rma.
 
With in hours i had already purchased my 980 replacement and will be shipping the old one back as soon as my new one ships.
 
Im not complaining, ive used Evga for years and this is the first time ive had to rma anything. And the rma processes has been so easy as of now. If my rma goes through with out a hitch i'll never buy a gpu from any other company other than evga. ~ They didnt even care i removed the heat shied and repasted it with mx4.
 
 
 
My question is, what could have caused these to fail so bad it looks like my mothers cooking at Christmas
 

 
just bad luck?
 
specs
 
I704790k @ 4.5ghz on stock cooler
HyperX Fury RAM
ASRock anniversary z97
600b 600w 80b Evga psu
Evga Gtx 980 SC ACX 2.0

Tbh not a clue, i know they were usually around 70c gaming. Leading up to the moment the card failed, i was caught up in the game not paying attention.
 
I had only had the card for 2 weeks, it was a "new in box" refurb card. I had only just started gaming on it a couple days before it went.

"600b 600w 80b Evga psu
Evga Gtx 980 SC ACX 2.0"
Ill have to dig out my multi meter to check the voltage, but the computer is running fine on the igpu.
 
Im on an E550 UPS so we can eliminate a outlet power surge.
 
Every thing is brand new 2 weeks or less, My 4790k was the last part of the build
 
Also i never dissembled the gpu until after it had incinerated. The pcb is black around the area and the thermal pads looked oily, but im not sure what to look for in a malfunctioning card pcb.
 
I did notice hwmon showed the voltage as 1v min 1v current and 1v max, (post failure) To be clear it was not user overclocked.

70c = no problem.
 
Oily pads = not a problem.
 
Looks like you just got a faulty card. It happens. Gotta love warranty. 

Well, I got my new card and put some MX4 on and its great.

However if you RMA'd a gtx 980 and owned a cat with white hair and no dust filters on your computer I have you card.

Not joking, there was a build up of cat hair under the vrm shield. Mostly stuck in the thermal pads off the vrms.

Not complaining, I just found it funny. I'm glad the new card is working fine, hopefully it will last longer than 2 weeks this go. :)

glad it all worked well, enjoy your new working card. 

Tekgnome
Well, I got my new card and put some MX4 on and its great.

However if you RMA'd a gtx 980 and owned a cat with white hair and no dust filters on your computer I have you card.

Not joking, there was a build up of cat hair under the vrm shield. Mostly stuck in the thermal pads off the vrms.

Not complaining, I just found it funny. I'm glad the new card is working fine, hopefully it will last longer than 2 weeks this go. :)

That is pretty funny. :P Though shouldn't EVGA have noticed???