I figured for a 980 a 1060 is what would be offered  not a 1070  [ but who know what offered in the end  ]  
 
like from here maybe ?
 
https://forums.evga.com/What-would-a-replacement-be-for-a-980-FTW-RMA-if-no-980-FTW-are-available-m2732686.aspx
 
looks like his RMA got turned down in the end for user abuse
 / water damaged
 
 
I never seen where evga allows yyou to pay extra for a better card under a rma deal ??
 
let us know back on that 

well that's what I mean ,   if you had 2 evga matched cards  in your sli evga would rma  for sli  .
 
either  by   a direct replacement  of the bad card or you send in the 2 cards and get 2 matched cards back that don't break up your sli set up   [I think that's how I see that work out here ]
 
found this in a thread here ?
 
''Hello SnowKatana,
 
I do apologize for any inconvenience or confusion, I can confirm that we did receive an email from you with the issue your GTX 780 was experiencing and our customer service team replied with the instructions to complete the RMA process.  Within the process, there is an option to elect if you have a SLI configuration.  You may have forgotten to select this and as such the RMA was processed without a SLI configuration notation.  In cases where we do not have the original model, an equal or greater performing unit is provided for replacement.  We unfortunately do not offer replacements based on price paid.  
https://forums.evga.com/RMA-Replacement-issue-m2397762.aspx
 
I just don't know  with out having matched evga cards in use ?  thing not said is if this    is it one better card  to replace the full sli equal ?   would you need to send in the 2ed card as well  ??
 
I did sli once and my little joke on it is
 
sli= S-udden L-oss of I-ncome  
 

'Dear whitnasty1,
 
I can confirm that we are here to assist with a replacement of equal or greater performance when processing an RMA request. In this case the GTX 570 was not available and in order to avoid any delays a GTX 660 Ti was sent out to assist you. Since you are running SLI we can assist with having your other GTX 570 changed to the same model as your recent replacement through the RMA process if preferred. Please email me at chrisb@evga.com if you would like assist with this process. I will be awaiting your response.''
 
 
see??
 
''Since you are running SLI we can assist with having your other GTX 570 changed to the same model as your recent replacement through the RMA process if preferred.''
 
https://forums.evga.com/GTX-570-SLI-RMA-Why-would-I-be-getting-a-660ti-back-m1842212.aspx
 
 
 
I'd get it back and use that option then

just thinking  a 1060 don't do sli  so if you did the 2 evga 980's   under that sli RMA deal as said above  you at least get 2 980ti/ 1070's    if no 980 series  were available  , but that's between you and evga in the end on whats really going to happen 
 
you just got to start that rma process and fingers crossed on the outcome

Hahaha that would truly be a Merry Christmas from EVGA xD 

If I get another 980 I'll be more than happy to be honest (as long as it's not a reference one). I'm doing fine with 2 980's right now so not really looking for an upgrade; I'd much rather have 980 sli instead of 1070.

They seem like the same price. But if I get a 1070 that'd be quite a performance downgrade. Hope there is at least an option to pay the difference to get like a 1080 or something.

No keep in mind it's a 980 SLI. A 1070 is definitely better than a 980 but not better or equal to 980 SLI.

Yeah if EVGA agrees I'm sure my friend would give me that 980 to send in for a trade.

Yeah that'd be great; considering GTX 1060's don't support SLI I won't be able to get those.

Yeah though as I said; even if I get a 980 I'll be happy. It doesn't look like this can go wrong to be honest; and with EVGA's known customer service I'm almost certain it won't go wrong.

Yeah that may be possible as well since a 980 SLI setup runs faster than a GTX 1080.

I opened the RMA request last Tuesday and they told me to send it but I've been sick all week and couldn't go to ship it. I'm hoping I'll be able to go tomorrow. When I spoke to EVGA regarding the fact that I'm running SLI they told me that I'll have to wait a bit longer so that they'll be able to get me another 980 to not break the SLI configuration. I'm happy with that as long as 'wait a bit longer' doesn't mean wait like 2 weeks extra; cause I like playing games @ 4k and a 980 can't really handle that by itself :/

They didn't ask me if the second card was EVGA. They said since you ticked that this card is in an SLI configuration when applying for the RMA we will know that we need to send you another 980 to not break your config. 

Yeah I can get the other one; I'll contact a rep and see what he says tomorrow.