EVGA GTX 1070/1080 GPUs Catching Fire Due To VRMs Overheating

[Azix]

EVGA are in hot water this week, in what seems to be the season of tech catching fire! We reported the other day that EVGA cards were sufferingoverheating issues and that EVGA suggested customers could add additional thermal pads to mitigate the issue. However, it seems EVGA may have underplayed the issue and cards have been bursting into flames all week… well f##k.

Huge numbers of posts are cropping up on EVGA’s forums, and all over reddit this week, with people reporting their cards, quite literally, going up in flames. This is obviously a huge hazard to any PC user, not just the graphics card.

“I was playing Shadow Warrior 2 and then suddenly the whole PC just shut down itself. I could see the sparkle inside the case which of course it freaked me out, a lot. Chemical smoke was coming out from the case and I was still not sure which part is faulty until now, it’s my EVGA FTW GTX 1070 (see above image) which I bought it from Amazon.” said redditor Crazy6a3er.

Img via – https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/580b8w/welp_my_evga_1070_ftw_just_killed_itself/

To put it blunty, EVGA customers are pretty pissed, and you don’t have to dig far through the link above to see why. The cards do not have sufficient VRM cooling, and it seems the range of GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 cards which feature the ACX cooling solution is affected by the issue, so it’s likely a good idea to remove the card or power off your system until a solution is presented.

This isn’t the first we’ve heard of EVGA customers complaining about black screening, dying cards, stability issues and more, but it seems the culprit is now sticking out like a sore thumb.

EVGA is already aware of the issue, obviously, and is implementing changes to the product to ensure it has correct cooling pads applied to the VRM. Of course, EVGA has been praised in the past for their warranty, and they’re intending to honor them on the faulty cards, although I suspect this will put quite a strain on the RMA team, so expect some delays.

You can either take the VRM thermal pad kit for free, and apply it yourself, or return the card for an exchange to one with the pad already installed.

http://www.eteknix.com/evga-gtx-10701080-gpus-catching-fire-due-to-vrms-overheating/

 

[flopper]

but Nvidia make so energy efficient and cool cards?
Must be fake.




Trolling and threadcrapping is not allowed.


esquared
Anandtech Forum Director

 

[DisarmedDespot]

And you thought the 480 power draw was bad! ...All joking aside, that sucks. EVGA's support seems good, but I wonder if this is gonna hurt their reputation.

 

[Arachnotronic]

EVGA missed the mark on this one, but they have good customer service and hopefully they'll make this right for current customers and make sure future cards have better/more robust cooling solutions.

This is exactly the sort of thing the Founders Edition, for all of the mudslinging at it, would never have.

 

[Markfw]

Could somebody link to the review at Toms Hardware that this references ?

 

[thesmokingman]

Could somebody link to the review at Toms Hardware that this references ?

I think it originated at toms.de.

http://www.tomshardware.de/nvidia-g...afikkarten-roundup,testberichte-242137-2.html


This is really getting overblown and its making its rounds at various forums. EVGA is already shipping vrm pads to those affected. Card is of course warranty against manufacturing defect which this is. It's not a fundamental design issue, but an AIC manufacturing defect and a really simple dumb one, not worth getting up in arms.

Btw, issue in a nutshell below.

https://www.techpowerup.com/227133/...g-issues-company-says-thermal-pads-a-solution

 

[Markfw]

I think it originated at toms.de.

http://www.tomshardware.de/nvidia-g...afikkarten-roundup,testberichte-242137-2.html


This is really getting overblown and its making its rounds at various forums. EVGA is already shipping vrm pads to those affected. Card is of course warranty against manufacturing defect which this is. It's not a fundamental design issue, but an AIC manufacturing defect and a really simple dumb one, not worth getting up in arms.

Btw, issue in a nutshell below.

https://www.techpowerup.com/227133/...g-issues-company-says-thermal-pads-a-solution

Thanks. Since I run mine 24/7@100% and overclocked doing DC, I was a little worried.

 

[nerp]

Small batch of cards. Already fixed. EVGA is the company to buy from when this ever happens. No issues getting a replacement, ever.

My GTX1070 from this summer has been running like a champ with tons of use.

 

[IronWing]

Is applying the thermal pads a laborious process or a peel and stick kind of thing?

 

[ConsoleLover]

Is applying the thermal pads a laborious process or a peel and stick kind of thing?

Depends on the design on the cooler, it does take some time and effort and the according tools(screwdrivers), the bolts can be pretty small, so you need a very small screwdriver to unscrew them.

So its relatively easy, but again depending on the design it can also be a pain in the ass.

 

[Azix]

"irresponsible amounts of performance". This isnt something i would expect to happen tho. With the power usage you'd think the VRMs and board in general shouldn't be that stressed. Compared to some of those 290x, 390x cards that use 250+ Watts.

Small batch of cards. Already fixed. EVGA is the company to buy from when this ever happens. No issues getting a replacement, ever.

My GTX1070 from this summer has been running like a champ with tons of use.

I doubt there would be issues with replacements for most manufacturers.

Not sure this is down to VRMs only. Might be other issues. VRMs shouldn't cause your GPU to spark after being turned on right?

 

[railven]

I wonder if this why EVGA started doing the free Power adapter for GTX 1070/1080 users?

FTW versions of the cards started to show issues. I guess as a Hybrid user they didn't want me fiddling witth the card and sent me sealed card.

Happy to report higher OCs, lower temps, and no more crashes Kudos to EVGA for prompt response.

 

[thesmokingman]

"irresponsible amounts of performance".

I doubt there would be issues with replacements for most manufacturers.

What do you mean by already fixed? how? Bios update? You would have to fix it in people's PCs without sending in or having to rely on them knowing to take apart and fix themselves, to call it already fixed.

It's a manufacturing flaw. The flaw has been fixed. New cards purchased since the fix will not have this issue. End users who have existing cards can either sign up for the vrm pad kit or rma/send card back for evga to fix it.

Btw, how that guy know to have the camera out in the ready? He just booted it, so how did it blow like that? Did you hear the fire catch? Did that sound like a match? I dunno if its real or not, but man my BS meter is beeping. After the fire, he cuts the video out like wtf?

 

[railven]

It's a manufacturing flaw. The flaw has been fixed. New cards purchased since the fix will not have this issue. End users who have existing cards can either sign up for the vrm pad kit or rma/send card back for evga to fix it.

Btw, how that guy know to have the camera out in the ready? He just booted it, so how did it blow like that? Did you hear the fire catch? Did that sound like a match? I dunno if its real or not, but man my BS meter is beeping. After the fire, he cuts the video out like wtf?

Tinfoil hatting aside, if I EVER see a spark inside my case, you think my response would be "I knew it?" Haha. This guy handled that so well, I don't believe it happened. And girl is taking smoke to the face with no response? If it's true, everyone in that video handled themselves amazingly.

 

[thesmokingman]

Tinfoil hatting aside, if I EVER see a spark inside my case, you think my response would be "I knew it?" Haha. This guy handled that so well, I don't believe it happened. And girl is taking smoke to the face with no response? If it's true, everyone in that video handled themselves amazingly.

Haha, I know I know lol. I was just thinking same damn thing. After see his rig fry, some fire, there's no concern at all, dude's pulse barely moved, no concern for catching his house on fire, the girl, himself, etc. But he makes sure to move the camera away from the gpu so you can't see shit. SMH.

 

[moonbogg]

Don't a lot of cards have VRMs that are only cooled by airflow? When I installed my blocks and put the VRM pad over them, it looked really thin and I wondered if it was making proper contact with the VRM's. There's no way to really know without removing the block and checking for imprints. They haven't exploded so I guess it probably OK at least.
Also, why criticize that guy in the video for not caring about his family's safety? If the fire continued, I'm sure he would have put it out. There was no need to panic about his family burning to death so I feel criticizing him is pretty out of place.
If it were me, I would have said nothing because its hard to speak when your heart isn't beating. After I came back to life, I'd write down every curse word in 3 different languages and proceed to scream every one.

 

[bononos]

Small batch of cards. Already fixed. EVGA is the company to buy from when this ever happens. No issues getting a replacement, ever.

My GTX1070 from this summer has been running like a champ with tons of use.

Small batch? From the article, its every card with the ACX cooler which could possibly mean every 1070/1080 without active VRM cooling.

 

[bononos]

Don't a lot of cards have VRMs that are only cooled by airflow? When I installed my blocks and put the VRM pad over them, it looked really thin and I wondered if it was making proper contact with the VRM's. There's no way to really know without removing the block and checking for imprints. They haven't exploded so I guess it probably OK at least.
.......

I think its cutting corners. Not much attention is given to the power delivery components in reviews also.

 

[3DVagabond]

Well, considering the concern we've seen shown with VRM temps of ~100°C on this forum something like this should be of major concern.

 

[Timmah!]

I was pretty lively, when i found out few days ago about this. I finally had my new rig being put together and i am worried my 2 FTWs may turn out faulty. I guess i can ask for those thermal pads, but then what? I suppose i would need to take the cooler down to apply them, dont i lose warranty in such case?

BTW despite the Evga´s official response i still find the whole thing rather foggy: i think there are actually 2 separate issues, both concerning VRMs:

- VRMs burning out caused by lack of VRM heatsink, fixed by additional thermal pads
- VRM IC being out of spec on 3-4 percent of cards, causing black screens and fans running at 100 percent - solved only by RMA, cause apparently those issues are not caused by heat, rather overcurrent protection kicking in, which is there to prevent hardware damage - i suppose burning out.

All in all, its typical. When i finally buy Evga product after all the MSIs, Gainward, Inno3Ds etc.. from the past, cause of their good reputation, ofc the card i buy turns out to be plagued by issues.

 

[USER8000]

Its becoming an increasing problem with higher end cards from both AMD and Nvidia. They rush them out before testing properly and its a poor show considering how much more high end cards cost nowadays.

 

[amenx]

The VRMs not likely to fail by themselves, but likely to heat up surrounding components like mosfets which can fail in poorly ventilated cases. Good in depth article on the issue, which basically states that its an EVGA design flaw of their ACX cooler.

http://www.gamersnexus.net/news-pc/2661-evga-mosfet-failure-possible-from-thermal-runaway-scenario

 

[Dave2150]

Small batch? From the article, its every card with the ACX cooler which could possibly mean every 1070/1080 without active VRM cooling.

Yep, every single ACX card, so as you said, every 1070/1080 non reference from EVGA.

No mistake, this is a major PR blow for EVGA. Their reputation has taken a hard hit - all their competition, even the founders cards, all have thermal pads to properly cool the VRM's. There is no excuse for the temperatures these VRM's are allowed to reach with the EVGA cooling design.

It will cost EVGA a fortune once word passes round and more and more people RMA their cards to get a GPU with adequate cooling. I also expect a few people to damage their cards when trying to fit them thermal pads themselves, don't think these people will be too happy....

 

[Azix]

It's a manufacturing flaw. The flaw has been fixed. New cards purchased since the fix will not have this issue. End users who have existing cards can either sign up for the vrm pad kit or rma/send card back for evga to fix it.Btw, how that guy know to have the camera out in the ready? He just booted it, so how did it blow like that? Did you hear the fire catch? Did that sound like a match? I dunno if its real or not, but man my BS meter is beeping. After the fire, he cuts the video out like wtf?

People sometimes record video to post when asking for help. Guessing that's why he was recording. Seems he dropped the camera and frantically plugged out wires after the spark.

 

[nerp]

Did some reading. Only affects cards with non-reference PCB. Meaning only FTW models. And ones shipped before Aug. 31. Non issue otherwise. SC cards like mine are not affected.