Good afternoon,
 
I've got lucky with an RMA; I've exchanged a 980ti SC and received a 1080... quite an upgrade!
 
One night whilst playing a game, I had artifacting followed by a shut-down and a smell of burning. Suspected the 980ti, so tried it on a few different PSU leads and PCI slots, nothing lit up and fans didn't spin so sent away the card assuming it was dead..
 
Received my 1080 today, so slapped it in, powered up and still nothing. Tried different PSU leads, still no... tried a different PCI slot, and works.
 
Unfortunately, the PCI slot that has stopped working is a PCIEX16 and the one it's now plugged into is a PCIEX8; not sure what impact this has on overall performance. Also, it's a lot closer to the bottom of my casing so a bit concerned regarding airflow, however I realise this may be unjust as some people install multiple cards with barely any gap around them.
 
Is there reasonable concern that the GPU has also damaged my mobo? It's a Gigabyte GA-Z170X Gaming 7 so whilst not silly expensive, it's still a chunk of money. Should this be raised and would EVGA even care, or should I just be chuffed I've walked away with a 1080 and stay quiet?
 
Cheers.
 
Edit: Oh, and the new card has a reasonably quiet but high pitched whine to it that seems to respond to movements in games and such?

Check your motherboard warranty and see if it is expired. If not RMA time.

Hello,
 
Yes as the above users have said please check with your motherboard manufacture regarding warranty on it, it is very unlikely that a graphics card could damage a motherboard as power only goes one way from the board into the card. 
 
The difference between 16x and 8x is not really noticeable as it is only a few fps in most cases.