http://www.eteknix.com/evga-gtx-970-feature-manufacturing-defect/
wonder if jacob can comment on this?
Its also being descused on overclock.net. Hopefully some one will go in there and do some damage control.
http://www.overclock.net/...n-flaw-in-evga-gtx-970

Would be a very easy fix for them but a definite shame it wasn't picked up on by quality control. This is going to turn a lot of people off from buying the ACX and instead go with other custom cooler brands. I guess the only upside to this is if it is fixed then temps could actually improve quite a bit.

That is indeed a bad news for eVGA fans:( I guess I will have to return my GTX 970 SC too.

If it is working perfectly fine for you right now then there is no reason to return it at all. The only problems you may see with this little hiccup from EVGA is slightly higher temps. This has nothing to do with the performance or integrity of the GPU itself (unless temp threshold is reached of course). Once again, it is not the GPU in question here, it's the cooler... Even with only 2 heat pipes used atm, it seems to be doing a great job at cooling. Besides, it is also possible this is only limited to a certain amount of coolers made early on.

astacy12
If it is working perfectly fine for you right now then there is no reason to return it at all. The only problems you may see with this little hiccup from EVGA is slightly higher temps. This has nothing to do with the performance or integrity of the GPU itself (unless temp threshold is reached of course). Once again, it is not the GPU in question here, it's the cooler... Even with only 2 heat pipes used atm, it seems to be doing a great job at cooling. Besides, it is also possible this is only limited to a certain amount of coolers made early on.

The thing is that if we just let this go, eVGA might keep doing it in the future and we will lose the old eVGA we love/care so much about. In addition, why should we stick with eVGA if MSI/ASUS/Gigabyte all offering better card at a similar price?

I agree

Stephenk291
Guys keep in mind that the two biggest heatpipes make full contact, its the 3rd smaller one that does not.  I wouldn't go so far as to say its a defect, but more or less kind of lame on their part with reusing an existing cooler that didn't necessarily fit all the way.  While it might not run as cool as some other brands, unless its going to affect performance or cause problems..don't start the witch hunt just yet.

I agree with this. Untill we don't have screen captures and numbers on temperature while eVGA GTX 970 is in use under heavy load (Furmark, gaming, etc.) that article in the first post is a total witch hunt.

yeah I dont think overall its a big issue but I felt the need to bring it up.

Thanks for the response jacob.

thanks jacob
 

aka_STEVE_b
1st world problems = killer 

Haha

Wreck3r
The FTW version also has another fin arrangement which should result in a different HDT placement given that the heatpipes would come horizontally and not vertically. Couldn't find a picture though.

You can just tell from the pics on the product pages that the FTW does in fact have a horizontal heat pipe configuration while all of the other 970's are vertical. If aligned well, maybe we could see similar/better temps with higher clocks with all 3 pipes be utilized.

As far as I know, the heatpipes were designed that way on purposed by EVGA so I wouldn't call it a defect in fact it was intentional, no need to worry about returning them because they were designed wrong 

astacy12
You can just tell from the pics on the product pages that the FTW does in fact have a horizontal heat pipe configuration while all of the other 970's are vertical. If aligned well, maybe we could see similar/better temps with higher clocks with all 3 pipes be utilized.

I was referring to the fact that I couldn't find a photo of the unmounted heatsink to see how the heatpipes touch the ihs (ftw edition). Should be a completely different situation.

This might explain why my GTX 770 is hitting 90c as well, could be the same problem, I been thinking about sending the card in for RMA because it, even though the card is working fine as is.
 
I'm definately not gonna buy an ACX card anymore, I'm going back to reference blower when I get my next one.

I had a feeling it wasn't going to be as bad as Asus and there issues with contacting GPUs (in the past). Glad it has been sorted, also I bet most would enjoy a bios that allows the fans to stop while in idle or under a certain temp. That is a very appealing feature on the oppositions cards.