Starting my RMA process for the 3090 now. I'm genuinely concerned about using the same block on the replacement card. Has anyone had luck with their replacement working? Or did you switch water blocks entirely? Still haven't heard anything back from EK. I sent them the same photos and explanation as I did to EVGA. Its clear that this is a bigger problem than a few isolated incidents.

I switched blocks myself and went with alphacool as I shared your same apprehension re-installing the same block on my replacement card. I’m out $280 for the EK block, but at least i’m up and running now with a fully functioning card and my pc is no longer a space heater lol

crestline33
I switched blocks myself and went with alphacool as I shared your same apprehension re-installing the same block on my replacement card. I’m out $280 for the EK block, but at least i’m up and running now with a fully functioning card and my pc is no longer a space heater lol

If I could find an alphacool block in stock, i might do the same thing. I "think" i'm still in the return window for EK, but i want to give them a chance to respond first.

Got a response back from EK this morning. I had sent them the same message and pictures as I did to EVGA:
 
"Regarding the issue with your FTW3 graphic card and our water block.
We recommend that you open an RMA ticket where you purchased the graphics card as you have done.
One customer informed us that after a successful RMA replacement of the graphics card and reinstallation of our FTW3 water block, everything works as it should be.
The problem must have occurred while removing the stock cooler.
After you receive a new graphics card from RMA, we recommend that you remove the stock cooler very slowly and carefully. Stock thermal paste and thermal pads are very sticky and can damage the graphics card when removing the air cooler if you are not careful.

If you will have any problems with RMA, please let us know.
Thank you for understanding.

Best regards,"
 
Looks like they are sticking with the narrative that the issues are caused due to improper disassembly and removal of the stock cooler from the 3090 FTW3.
This means I'll have to re-order the thermal pads, as i'm sending back the card with the EK pads already on it. It also means that I still don't really have a clear answer as to what exactly went wrong in my case, as its relevant to many of the people here as well.  
 
After looking over the install manual of the Alphacool block, I see significant differences in thermal pad thickness on both the back plate and front block. I'm thinking for my own sanity and peace of mind, I might try and grab one of those once they are in stock again.

AJKagan
Got a response back from EK this morning. I had sent them the same message and pictures as I did to EVGA:
 
"Regarding the issue with your FTW3 graphic card and our water block.
We recommend that you open an RMA ticket where you purchased the graphics card as you have done.
One customer informed us that after a successful RMA replacement of the graphics card and reinstallation of our FTW3 water block, everything works as it should be.
The problem must have occurred while removing the stock cooler.
After you receive a new graphics card from RMA, we recommend that you remove the stock cooler very slowly and carefully. Stock thermal paste and thermal pads are very sticky and can damage the graphics card when removing the air cooler if you are not careful.

If you will have any problems with RMA, please let us know.
Thank you for understanding.

Best regards,"
 
Looks like they are sticking with the narrative that the issues are caused due to improper disassembly and removal of the stock cooler from the 3090 FTW3.
This means I'll have to re-order the thermal pads, as i'm sending back the card with the EK pads already on it. It also means that I still don't really have a clear answer as to what exactly went wrong in my case, as its relevant to many of the people here as well.  
 
After looking over the install manual of the Alphacool block, I see significant differences in thermal pad thickness on both the back plate and front block. I'm thinking for my own sanity and peace of mind, I might try and grab one of those once they are in stock again.

Got the same generic response from EK multiple times now. However they dodge my questions, whether they communicated this issue with EVGA directly.

renbin
I received my new RTX 3090 FTW3 Ultra from the RMA today. I'm not sure yet whether I should reinstall the EK Waterblock anymore... During the first installation I noticed that a component from the PCB backside was actually too high. This component has pressed through the pads onto the backplate. Maybe that was the problem. Unfortunately I don't know... Unfortunately i only noticed this later during the de-installation. It is possible that EVGA does not use exactly the same components on the PCB. That would explain why it does not occur with every user. And EKWB is simply more susceptible to manufacturing tolerances due to the thin pads

 
I broke down an ordered an Alphacool block. As many others have suggested and had success with. Now I need to see if EK will let me send back the old block. I'm not chancing bricking another card and being told "you weren't careful enough with disassembly" 

Filip1995
Just received a response from EK support. They confirmed to me that they did not communicate the issue with EVGA. Thats really disappointing... Guess EK concluded this thing is just user mistake during assembly. Not happy with this conclusion. Also, I am not sure why EVGA didnt make any comments yet...

Omfg. What is EK doing? Ofcourse they should've contacted EVGA. No wonder why EVGA isn't giving out anything. They will not tell that their GPUs have a soldering problem or something like that. 

HeinzNeu
What exactly do ya mean by "their GPUs have a soldering problem"?
Do ya really want to say, that the thermal paste sticks so hard to the GPU and the cooler that removing the cooler can rip off the GPU? I would highly doubt it. 

Not particularly rip a GPU off but maybe a little joint here or there. That’s what EK states. Not my opinion.

Filip1995
Did any of you get response from EVGA support regarding this issue recently? I submitted now two tickets asking about this problem with weak pcb and they did not respond for a week now. This is really out of ordinary. They usually respond in two days.

They will probably ignore all uncomfortable questions just like Evga-Jacob does on twitter..

Filip1995
Did any of you get response from EVGA support regarding this issue recently? I submitted now two tickets asking about this problem with weak pcb and they did not respond for a week now. This is really out of ordinary. They usually respond in two days.

I got a typical response:

"Thank you for reaching back out to us and providing us the photos of the card. This is very helpful information and I noted your thermal pad and compound application on the card. I have submitted your RMA so we may start this warranty process and receive your card for further testing and repair/replacement.

Please allow 1-3 business days for your RMA to be approved, in which you will receive two emails, one stating that we have started the RMA process and two the confirmation that your RMA has been approved. Additionally this email will provide you with instructions related to where you can have your unit sent to us and how to properly package your unit for safe transit as not to incur any damage. Please do not send your unit in any envelope style packaging, as this will be denied. Any damage to your unit during shipping to us will be at your own financial cost. You are responsible for the cost of shipping your unit to us, and as a courtesy we will take care of the shipping costs of your unit back to you.

Please let me know if you have any further questions or require additional support."
 
I even linked them to this thread. and sent over extensive before, during and after photos of the block mounting process. 
This is why i'm not taking any chances on the replacement and I'm opting to install the alphacool block instead.
 

So I was reading through this post and it got me thinking.  Are all this issues with the EK blocks somewhat related to the delay of the EVGA HC's?  Maybe EVGA saw this "known" (somewhat similar?) problem with their design and had to fix it and hence the delay of the the HC's.  Something to think about.

EK did take a while to produce a block.

ekasus
Interesting. I'm not shocked if its ekwb as there quality control isn't known to be that great. I just installed the Optimus Block and hopefully nothing goes wrong there.

Let us know how it works out. I just sent back my RMA to EVGA and have an alphacool block coming in for when I get the replacement back. 
Anyone want to buy a lightly used EK block? 

Not to get too off topic. But was your actual turn around time on the optimus block really in that 4-6 week window? I saw a forum thread hundreds of pages long on overclock.net complaining about the turnaround times being several months and some just never even arriving. Turned me off to even considering it.

AJKagan
Not to get too off topic. But was your actual turn around time on the optimus block really in that 4-6 week window? I saw a forum thread hundreds of pages long on overclock.net complaining about the turnaround times being several months and some just never even arriving. Turned me off to even considering it.

That was nov/dec. They are now shipping up to feb 16 2021 orders. They do weekly batches now. I assume you are talking about the ocn forum, there are lot of impatient ppl there unfortunately.

Theres heatkiller upcoming one and that one looks nice based on it xc3 too but that summer launch. They still have to release rads and the next block up is amd 6000 series. Lot of uproar over on hardwareluxx German Forum