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EVGA-GTX1080

Well-nigh of the time, which OEM you choose to buy a GPU from isn't seen as having a huge impact on the performance of the card, though added value and included goodies often vary between manufacturers. Every now and and then, however, design differences between companies do play out in a more significant way, and that may be what has happened to EVGA and its GTX 1080 and 1070 lineups. Reports from Reddit and the EVGA forums suggest that a number of cards have failed catastrophically and in high-profile fashion.

Hot Hardware reported on one Reddit user, Mydst, who saw his card flame out while he was using it, and he's not alone. Abrupt-eyed readers on the EVGA forums have pointed to a Tom's Hardware Guide review, which picked up VRM (voltage regulator modules) temperatures exceeding 106C during stress loading. That's significantly hotter than the GPU itself.

02-EVGA-GTX-1080-FTW-Furmark

Image by THG. Note that the VRMs are significantly hotter than the GPU.

Photographs of the damaged cards besides points to the VRMs, as shown in this image from Crazy6a3er on Reddit.

nvidia-1070-vrm-damage-1280x720

Epitome by Crazy6a3er

EVGA has responded to the controversy by making a series of VRM pads available for complimentary to whatever consumer that requests them. As shipped, the VRMs plainly aren't covered or cooled by the primary frazzle fan. EVGA is sticking to their claims that the VRMs are fully capable of tolerating these increased loads. The company'south argument is reprinted below:

The test used in the referenced review from Toms Hardware (Germany) is running nether Furmark, an farthermost usage example, as most overclockers know. Nosotros believe this is a adept arroyo to have some idea about the graphics card limit, and the thermal performance under the worst example scenario. EVGA has performed a similar qualification test during the pattern process, at a higher ambient temperature (30C in sleeping room) with a thermal coupler probe direct contacting the key components and after the Toms Hardware (Deutschland) review, we accept retested this over again. The results in both tests evidence the temperature of PWM and memory is within the spec tolerance under the same stress examination, and is working as originally designed with no issues.

During our contempo testing, we take practical boosted thermal pads between the backplate and the PCB and betwixt the baseplate and the heatsink fins, with the results shown below. We will offer these optional thermal pads free of charge to EVGA owners who want to have a lower temperature. These thermal pads will be ready presently; and customers tin can request them starting Monday, October 24th, 2022. Also, we will work with Toms Hardware to practice a retest.

No retest details have been published nevertheless, merely EVGA has published an updated Furmark test event with the pads installed:

EVGA-FLIR

EVGA appears to be honoring menu warranties, but time will tell if the trouble is really VRM-related or not. If it is, then we'll see replacement GPUs failing over time equally well. If the pads solve the VRM issue, EVGA is likely to adopt them in future iterations of the card (and users who install them won't run into repeat failures). We've reached out to EVGA to encounter if the visitor had whatever additional response on this event and will update if we hear back.