Any chance we'll get some clarification on the  at some point?
 
Part of the reason I'm asking is that I'm (unsurprisingly) a bit worried about the lifespan of the card in case there was an improper contact on mine... and decided to go "maybe I should go for the extended warranty" as I keep cards ~4 years and don't quite have as much confidence in EVGA's QA I used to have, only to realise that I'm about a week-and-a-half out of the 90 day window. In other words, I missed the window when all of this broke lose, great.
 
Went to ask customer support and their answer was basically "VRM pads are optional, you can't purchase extended warranty, but you can RMA it". That leaves me a bit puzzled because a) it doesn't address the VRAM issue at all and b) surely, me giving them money for the extended warranty while "fixing" it myself with the thermal pad kit is a better deal for EVGA (and less hassle for me) than RMAing the card? 
 
Some clarification regarding the VRAM clearance issue would really help to untangle that confusion.

WhatGravitas
Any chance we'll get some clarification on the  at some point?
 
Part of the reason I'm asking is that I'm (unsurprisingly) a bit worried about the lifespan of the card in case there was an improper contact on mine... and decided to go "maybe I should go for the extended warranty" as I keep cards ~4 years and don't quite have as much confidence in EVGA's QA I used to have, only to realise that I'm about a week-and-a-half out of the 90 day window. In other words, I missed the window when all of this broke lose, great.
 
Went to ask customer support and their answer was basically "VRM pads are optional, you can't purchase extended warranty, but you can RMA it". That leaves me a bit puzzled because a) it doesn't address the VRAM issue at all and b) surely, me giving them money for the extended warranty while "fixing" it myself with the thermal pad kit is a better deal for EVGA (and less hassle for me) than RMAing the card? 
 
Some clarification regarding the VRAM clearance issue would really help to untangle that confusion.

EVGA has stated they will be sending vram pads as well.

I ended up buying my own thermal pads.
Two kits of arctic cooling pads, 1.5x145x145 and 0.5x145x145
Succesfully modded my card without breaking or exploding anything, for a wide pad i used stack of 1.5+0.5mm, for everything else 1.5 made a solid, firm contact including vrms and ram chips under mid plate.
Thermal grease i used was from noctua, temps stayed the same as they were.. around 65 degrees with 65% fan speed.

alan242

mikedowen
I'm not sure that the pads have started shipping yet.

The pads started shipping last week. Mine were shipped on 10/31. They are going regular postal mail. They are shipping from California. Mine arrived here in Phoenix last Friday 11/4. You may want to look at the USPS site for estimated delivery times to your area. Since my pad package was shipped before the announcement of VRAM pads, I have put in an followup request for those pads.  Depending on stock, etc. that may take another 1 to 2 weeks to ship.

I'm in the UK and from what I can gather from the EVGA rep over on the OCuk forum (UK based site) they are not starting shipping for us in the UK till next week at the earliest. Also depends I suppose, on where they are going to be posted from (IE. UK EVGA site, or from the European one over in Germany). So I suspect it very much appears to depend on where in the world you are.
 
I'm not that bothered really. Only had my 1070 FTW a couple of weeks. So I've not been stressing it until I get the "optional" pads fitted. Appears to OC well and zero coil whine. And not too bothered to do these fixes myself. C'est la vie as the French say. Though maybe the American version is more appropriate in this case "Sh*t happens".
 
Don't think I'm as stressed as some appear on this issue. Not ideal ... but EVGA appear to be addressing the situation. And ultimately I have my fully transferable 3 year warranty to fall back on.
 
But it's up to individuals as to what course of action they want to take. Not looking for a flame war guys. Each to their own.

do i need thermal pads for my 1080 classifieds cards?

All these information about evga 1080s burning up is getting me worried on the £1600 i spent on 2 classified cards.

Also the bios update, not that i want to do it but if i did update the bios how would i do it, i have 2 cards running in sli, do i have to do it twice or do i need to take one card out of the PC then update bios and then do it again with the other card? or does the flashing update the 2 cards in my PC?

hobib_ali
do i need thermal pads for my 1080 classifieds cards?

All these information about evga 1080s burning up is getting me worried on the £1600 i spent on 2 classified cards.

Also the bios update, not that i want to do it but if i did update the bios how would i do it, i have 2 cards running in sli, do i have to do it twice or do i need to take one card out of the PC then update bios and then do it again with the other card? or does the flashing update the 2 cards in my PC?

First thing, go to the very first post in the thread which contains all the information you need. BUT I will copy and paste from said first page your answer to your SLI question:
Q. How do I apply the BIOS to both cards on an SLI system?
A. On SLI systems the BIOS is automatically applied to both cards.

Just updated the Secondary BIOS on my 1080 CLASSIFIED,Followed there Windows (64bit) Installation steps. Restarted and windows said gpu was unsupported (running on default drivers).Ran DDU and reinstalled the 375.76 graphics drivers issue solved.

gara024
Just updated the Secondary BIOS on my 1080 CLASSIFIED,Followed there Windows (64bit) Installation steps. Restarted and windows said gpu was unsupported (running on default drivers).Ran DDU and reinstalled the 375.76 graphics drivers issue solved.

so your not getting the thermal pads for your classified? u just updated the bios so the fans work harder?

Can anyone tell me the difference between Master and Slave BIOS on the GTX 1080 FTW please. I'm currently on the Master BIOS but I don't know which BIOS is best for me. A post before said the voltage is increased and fans are increased with the Slave BIOS, can anyone explain what that means exactly. Fan noise isn't an issue for me as my case has sound proofing and it's very quiet even with the GPU fans at 100%.

I applied for the thermal pads and got an email for the thermal pad mod request, waiting on the request verified email. Also you seem to imply that the fans working harder means something bad,I see it as lower temps. On my older classifieds,I had them both on 100% fan speed out of the box till i got this card.