Synapt
So a brief update to this just in case it helps anyone else, the 1.2A "Maximum" indicated in the xdevs documentation I can only assume is a literal like "We can't even power this" limit.
 
I'm going by this consideration as I bought two new fans, installed them and at absolute max 100% power they should only be 0.22A.  And yet when both are plugged in you can see a VERY notable draw decrease, meaning that I wasn't even doing .5A and it was literally already pulling so much of a draw that it was reducing the overall capacity of both fans down to maybe a 70-80% total.  Which got really obvious at the 50% minimum as the fans were both running at such a low RPM / % that the bearings were even squeaking.
 
Maybe this is a defect in my card (Not a big enough of a deal to send it back) or perhaps the 1.2A is a bit of a mis-phrased maximum (as in literal bad maximum and not so much "We can provide a solid 1.2A flow" maximum).  So for the time being I just hooked the radiator fans to the rear two DG86 pins on the case and have it getting controlled by DG Tuner at a minimum 80%.
 
So yeah, I'd recommend anyone wanting to really juice out the fan controller from this card test with some lower amp fans first, don't try to fill out the full 1.2A right away.

What fans were you using ?  Did you also try them on the external fan header of the card and get the same results ?

sparetimepcWhat fans were you using ?  Did you also try them on the external fan header of the card and get the same results ?

Just some Corsair ML120's w/ white LED.  I tested them at about 0.22A at 100% speed so just two of them should have been well under the 1.2A total claimed on the card.
 
As for the header, assuming you mean the PWM Fan header on the end of the card, I did not.  I didn't have a splitter handy plus I didn't wanna risk overdrawing it if it had a different power output as the xdevs page for the card wasn't explicitly clear if that header shared the same feed or was separate.
 
But if it's sharing the same draw I would assume it would have the same issue, the cabling definitely didn't seem to be a problem (both female plugs work fine each if used alone, it's just when using both you can see a very distinct power draw impact).
 
So far it's been pretty functional just running them off the rear DG fan controller ports, keeping them at 80% minimum has been doing well.

If you use high rpm fans like 2400 and up thats the fan header that needs to be used, its not limited to the rpms reading like the original header on the card. I was using 2 of the noctuah 3000 rpm fans with a splitter cable on the external header without issues, but if running them on the original header they would not read properly because of the bios being limited to the oem fan specs. 

Wow they actually have the kingpin hydro copper in stock right now. https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=400-HC-1589-B1&associatecode=5XTLDFI2DFXIPA7
 
Wow those went quickly back out of stock.