I couldn't tell you then. If you can't duplicate the problem then it's anyone's guess. I just thought that if it worked again after the system cooled down it could be a thermal issue. Glad to learn the problem was solved though. 
Then I don't think it was a thermal issue because I shutdown my PC every night anyway. But yeah I'm glad too I solved it.
Regarding GPU options, aside from the price, it also boils down to customer service and product guarantees/warranties from the manufacturer. EVGA has been mostly trouble-free for me when I have had issues with their products. They've been less of a hassle compared most companies.
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Thanks, urbanman. I have decided to wait and see what AMD/VEGA will come up with considering AMD is supposed to be releasing their new graphics cards next month. I'm not in a tremendous rush but a new card is definitely due.
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This has also been my experience with EVGA. Their products have been surprisingly trouble free for me, but on one occasion where I did get a lemon, they stood behind it and promptly replaced it. They are also one of the few companies who won't cancel your warranty if you remove the cooler, which is an extremely important consideration for the H2O coolers among us.
I saw a few comments about exploding MOSFETs, as if EVGA manufactured these components themselves, in their lab. This is obviously not the case; all GPU vendors have a supply chain, upon which they rely. I'd be surprised if EVGA, Asus, MSI, Gigabyte and etc. aren't all using the same, small handful of component suppliers and because of this, any one of them could potentially receive a bad batch of MOSFETs, or any other component.
Something that I haven't seen mentioned is the complexity of today's, solutions. We're far beyond your grand pa's Tseng Labs ISA card, trying to draw a few triangles to the screen. if one stops and thinks, the exponential complexity of the hardware is obvious. Then we have standards, which it seems aren't standards, at all. For instance, one GPU may support one subset of DX12, while another GPU supports a different subset of the DX12 "standard." Meanwhile, Vulkan is evolving in real time, right in front of our eyes. Regardless, we expect that ALL GPUs should render DX12 and Vulkan games flawlessly, all of the time. And then there are the the drivers. I just looked on the Nvidia site. The latest WHQ W10 driver for a GTX1080 is 417.59MB. That's right, a 417MB binary!!! How many friggin' lines of code is that?!?!?! Since all code always has bugs, it is no wonder that anything this complex coughs, snorts and stutters from time to time. Our consumer GPUs are not mission critical devices, intended to power the next flight to Mars, so the quality of the code is deemed good enough for the intended purpose, regardless of our expectations.
If I sound like an apologist, I assure you that I am not. This is just a quick reality check from someone who grew up with CGA graphics, which seemed miraculous at the time. If I have a look at customer comments on NewEgg's site, I see a lot of happy customers. More specifically, every model of the GTX1080 that has been reviewed, has an average of four to five eggs, with the exception of one card. That one, individual card is a refurbished EVGA card and it has precisely three negative reviews, out of a total of five. Clearly there are decent GPUs available, if one does his homework.
Now for the bad. WTF EVGA? There is no f'ing excuse for a refurb card not being perfect. That card was returned, because it was misbehaving for the original owner and what do you do? You put it in a new box, knock $50 off and saddle some other poor bastard with YOUR problem? What kind of customer service is that? One guy mentioned that his refurb was overheating and that the fans weren't even plugged in! WTF EVGA! Did you even bother to look at this card when the original owner returned it? Or, is it that your incompetent techs left the fans unplugged when they "refurbished" it? I don't know which one is worse! Either way, it's an epic fail.
And another thing. What's all this bullshit from the manufacturers trying to convince us that coil whine is normal and that we need to live with it and like it?!?!?! Sure, coil whine is a thing, but I'm not going to stand for it. You need different components, a different design, or different mitigation strategies, or I'm not buying your crap. Period.
Last, but not least, why is there such a drive to get folks to pre-order games, these days? Well, it seems that any swingin' dick who can fog a mirror can code games for the big developers and these developers know that their code is utter crap, so they need to lock you in with a pre-order. Some companies, such as Ubisoft, routinely turn out crap, after crap, after crap. It seems as though they have decided to outsource their QC to their paying customers. WTF Ubi, if this is your plan, why not have an open beta and sell the game at a discount, to those who ware willing to do YOUR QC testing and YOUR bug reporting for you?
Sorry, just the mention of Ubisoft makes the veins pop out on my temples. I need to go, before I get REALLY aggravated. I'll just leave you with one thought. There are many links in this particular chain and while the hardware manufacturers are far from perfect, they are certainly not the only, nor the worst offenders. There is plenty of "credit" to go round when we encounter a sputtering, stuttering mess on our monitors. Additionally, a lot of the negativity that I see is due to unreasonable expectations on our part. For instance, sure, every one wants to see Vega launched. But, why is this an excuse to attack the RX580? I don't get it. Intel tick tocks. Nvidia tick tocks. But, for some reason AMD is attacked and their refresh is badmouthed, because we want to see Vega? What new form of lunacy is this? If AMD releases the card before it is ready, they will be attached. But if AMD does their due diligence to make sure that Vega hits it out of the park, they are attacked for that, too. I don't get it. IMHO, Ryzen was released a couple of weeks too soon and, frankly, it still needs some polishing. Do we really want a repeat of this for Vega?
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As late as it is currently (1am my time), I conjured up attention span to read through ur semi-rant response to my comment (no offense). Although u were all over the place, based on your statements I can relate to those instances mentioned b/c I've experienced them before. However u def need to take a chill pill bro, life is too short to have a cow over another company's (subjectively greedy/poor) business practices. In the end, just know that everything is gonna be ok 
urbanman I'm inclined to agree. So much so that I have also been prompted to say "Hello, NVIDIA. Goodbye AMD."
Every things gonna be alright 
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Barking Mad 
That was one of the most beautiful rants I've read in some time. I gotta say, just got the EVGA GTX 1070 and I am very pleased with it so far. Sure, I had to pay about 300 Canukles more than I intended for a half decent card but in the grande scheme of things I still think the price was right. This is not a good time for graphics card buyers. I know my fellow enthusiasts will be inclined to disagree with me when I say AMD is largely to blame for this. Frankly, I'm done with sacred cows. AMD sucks for what they did recently but I better leave off that subject before I generate a rant that makes yours look like a nursery crime. Personally, I have no respect for AMD anymore and should they even remotely fulfill the great expectations of their FAN BASE I can already see it will be a "Hello, New Boss. . . Same as the Old Boss" scenario. I suspect VEGA will probably end up in a train wreck but I could be wrong. (It's happened before.) Either way I know NVIDIA is not to be outdone. Every dog has its day and my "spidy" senses are telling me that AMD's moment of glory is about to come to an abrupt end in the GPU department. I suspect a lot of people are going to be disappointed with VEGA.
To be fair I have been a AMD GPU fan boy for over 12 years and only recently I've been learning the price of being a fan boy of any company. (That includes ASUS). The only EVGA products I purchased were power supplies, which I have to say, not a single one has died to the best of my knowledge in 14 years! I considered this before I opted for my EVGA 1070 (as a good many of us already know the potentially risky history of this card) and took a gamble. I also called EVGA after registering the unit just to confirm that my card didn't have the perceived "thermal issue" and I have to say I was very impressed with their support system. It was my experience that these people don't like to waste your time and that's a big plus with me. To be true it was the first time I ever called EVGA for support on anything but that too runs to their favour. Perhaps it is a little early in the game to say anything one way or another but so far from what I've been seeing from EVGA is nothing less than impressive. Thanks for sharing.
IDK, I just bought a new videocard and i kind of had the opposite reaction. Maybe its because i ordered a higher tier of card than i have ever done before. Or maybe its because i ordered a reference cooler. But my ASUS 1080ti founders edition seems extremely high build quality, way higher than my previous Gigabyte GTX 970 Windforce.
Yeah, i would hope you had that reaction. You went from an above average card to second place on the tier list. A 1080Ti Founder Ed. had better be outstanding quality compared to a regular GTX 970.
Sorry, what has Team Red done (lately) to put you off?
As a frustrated dual-booter, I moved to Team Green back in the early 2000's and have largely been happy. I don't consider myself a fanboy, as I'll happily use whatever works best. For instance, I'm about 98% Linux now, so Nvidia's closed drivers are becoming more and more of a pressing issue for me. Therefore, I do look in on AMD from time to time, but as with AMD's CPU business (until very recently), I haven't seen any compelling GPUs & drivers on offer. Believe me, if AMD could produce a GPU capable of Pascal-level performance, with decent open source support for Linux, I'd support them in a New York minute.
On the other hand, perhaps if Nvidia's drivers were open sourced and Nvidia GPUs supported FreeSync (pinch me, I'm dreaming!), I could be convinced to be a fanboy, but so long as Nvidia continues down the proprietary path, I'll always be on the look out for a viable alternative. Hey Matrox! Wake the hell up; are you still out there?!?!?!
Whatever happens, I sincerely hope that Vega does not turn out to be another Bulldozer. We've already seen what true competition has done to build a fire under Intel's ample and lazy ass and we also need serious competition in the GPU business, in order to keep Nvidia on their toes.
well, when i bought my GTX970, i don't think there was a 980ti or titan yet, so it was probably the 2nd most powerful card at the time, not really mid range. Also the 970 was over $400 when i bought it, probably like $450, so like $200 more than what i paid for the 1080ti. Which is a lot... which is why i mentioned that in the disclaimer... but it isn't like night and day. Its not like the 970's cooler was way higher build quality than the 660ti i had before it despite it being a higher percentage price increase.
Been an EVGA customer since 2007 and they haven't let me down yet. Glad to see ur 1070 is working out for u. I have Asus 1070 which I had to get RMA'd earlier this yr with minor difficulty but all in all I was sent a brand new working card as a replacement. I couldn't be any happier.
Okay, I'll try to be as brief about this as possible. Back in 2013 when crypto currency hit a spike (as it has this year) the data miners were buying out all the AMD cards so enthusiasts and PC builders alike had a hard time getting the cards because they were simply not to be found. Retailers had everything on back order. Come 2017 we face another icy blast from the past. I can't get my Sapphire Nitro+ RX 580 (let alone the LE) OR even a lousy RX 480 because it's business as usual and the RETAILERS can't deliver because AMD ... FAILED... to deliver. There is no excuse for this. AMD could have easily developed a card targeted to data mining and 50 bucks cheaper and the crypto-crunchers would have snapped them all up like candy. It isn't as though AMD didn't have the coin to do this and still honour the other side of the equation : namely the enthusiast and builder base. AT least NVIDIA made an effort in this regard. So it becomes vastly evident that if the bottom line is the quick dollar and the enthusiasts can go pound sand if they don't want to pay triple or quadruple the retail list price for their not-so-"budget"-after all cards... then AMD is no different than INTEL, MICROSOFT, and the rest of the FAT CATS. Meet the New Boss same as the Old Boss? Well, if I have to pay 600 bux for a high end card to avoid paying 1500 bux for a so-called "budget" card it's really a no-brainer. AMD drove me back into the loving arms of NVIDIA. Hey, maybe I should be happy for that
I come from a different industry, so I can not speak with any authority on this topic. Hopefully some silicon industry insiders can chime in.
First of all, who has a crystal ball and can tell with any certainty the precise date that the next crypto currency fad will suddenly grab the community by the lapels, thereby putting pressure on GPU inventories, much less which particular GPUs will be the preferred tool of the miners? Who foresaw that the latest craze would value team red cards over team green counterparts? Is your crystal ball accurate enough to gamble the very health/existence of your company?
Sales forecasting, whether on the sales side, or for the service side has always been a mind numbing pain in the ass for me, because there are literally so many variables, some of which simply can not be known. You have to analyze your sales history, your competitor's sales history, your target market, who can be expected to be ready to upgrade, when leases are expected to expire, targeted conquest markets, the health of the economy, the mood of the customer, interest rate trends, expected marketing budgets/incentives and etc. This list goes on and on and many variables just can not be known. And, you have to do all of this for every single product model and single every market!
Why is so much effort expended on forecasting? Volatile markets can be extremely dangerous for a company. If a customer is ready for an upgrade and you do not have product on the shelf, you run the risk of loosing that customer to the competition, perhaps forever. Keeping a customer is relatively cheap, but gaining conquest customers is extremely expensive - think marketing budgets. Likewise, if you over estimate demand, you may have to spend more on incentives than you have budgeted in order to move product. If you've grossly overestimated, you may have to lay off talented personnel, in which you have a huge investment, or even shutter assembly lines.
Accurate forecasting is essential, because most industries are simply not as nimble as you seem to think that they are. It is not as simple to turn the product supply faucet on and off whenever needed and or convenient. Why is this? In any manufacturing endeavor you typically have long lead times for raw materials and sub assemblies. You have to sign contracts with your suppliers months in advance of when your anticipated needs are.
We are all well aware that there are RAM shortages, which are expected to continue through 2018. We also know that silicon fabs are few, due to the huge cost of entry, they have limited production capabilities and they have other customers which have already contracted for fab time. But, the reality is that production could just as easily be held up by something as innocuous as a fan motor. If your current fan motor supplier can not satisfy your increased demand, because you did a piss poor job of forecasting and you are now trying to revise your orders upwards, it takes quite a while to recruit another supplier to fill the gap.
Assuming that you own your fan design and can provide complete documentation to the new supplier, so that they do not have to design a solution from scratch, they will still require time to contract for raw materials from their suppliers, design and build the tooling and then schedule available time, in order to do a manufacturing run. Plus, they won't want to be bothered with a few thousand, or even a few tens of thousands of fan motors. Tearing down and setting up tooling to do a manufacturing run is costly and time consuming. You will have to contract for a metric crap ton of them and it will take many, many months before you'll see them.
So, how long can this latest crypto craze be expected to last? Is ordering millions of fan motors that you won't see for another nine months (or likely more), at a huge, unexpected cost a viable solution? Perhaps. Then again, perhaps not. These are the decisions upon which companies live, or die.
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@BarkingMad This is absolutely spot on.
AMD had no idea this was coming. I don't blame them for the shortages. They want to sell as many cards as possible to make up for their lousy market share the last few years. So willingly causing a shortage to inflate prices is highly unlikely.
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Any manufacturer will tell you that at the end of the day they want to have made every possible sale, minus one and that is how they plan. In other words, product demand is a good problem to have, so long as you are not loosing customers over it, yet they do not want to be in a position where they are sitting on an excess inventory, which they can not move. It is a delicate balancing act, based on incomplete information, because these decisions are made many months beforehand..
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Men, they have the technology. I make no excuses for AMD. 50 years ago marketing companies were operating on algorithms and sales projections. I highly doubt it is that much different today. It's not like they didn't know what happened in 2013 and it's not like they didn't see the crypto currency trending. Please. Give me a break. I hardly think the marketing boys and girls at AMD are so naïve. To be true the bottom line in any business is profit and you can be rest assured they saw a market and fulfilled it. My beef with AMD is that they did so at the callous expense of their enthusiast fan base and other markets consequently cutting the noses off their own faces. Well, perhaps I'm mistaken. Evidently there are people who don't mind paying triple or four times the listed retail price for a graphics card because they're AMD fans. Let them fill their boots. It was a rude awakening for me after being an AMD fan boy myself for nearly 14 years but sooner or later we all have our lessons to learn. I have certainly learned mine and I rather doubt I'll be purchasing many AMD graphics cards or AMD products in the future. I will certainly make a point of avoiding them as a matter of principle, even if it costs me more to get something BETTER. (Like I just did.)
Umm, isn't Nvidia having the same problem? neither side saw it coming and people in the industry are concerned about turning people off of PC gaming.
Fanboyism in the tech industry is stupid. If you're going to avoid AMD cards because of this and buy Nvidia when AMD provides comparable if not better value, then you have no one to blame but yourself when the market where Nvidia has no competition grows and prices become even further inflated from lack of competition.
Also, why are you in such a rush to buy a videocard? Especially with Vega around the corner... Thats probably one of the major reasons for a shortage, third parties don't want to buy a shit ton of last gen videocards right before Vega comes out and then be stuck with them after Vega launch.
Finally, even if this was intentional and was a scheme on AMD's part to maximize profits, its not like AMD's GPU division is wildly successful and they're milking a cash cow. They are clearly struggling in the GPU segment. They can't compete with Nvidia's high end. If they do something to make their gpu segment slightly more profitable good on them.
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"Umm, isn't Nvidia having the same problem?"
A: Not exactly. When NVIDIA saw the problem they actually made an effort to provide a solution by developing a card that was targeted specifically for data miners and still honoured their enthusiast/builder base by making sure that there was an available supply of graphics cards at reasonable prices.
"Fanboyism in the tech industry is stupid. "
A: You know it. I have learned my lesson. I repent. I'm a convert now. No more fanboyisms for me. The sad part of that is what does this leave me when all that there is to choose from is NVIDIA or AMD? PC builders need more players in this game.
"If you're going to avoid AMD cards because of this and buy Nvidia when AMD provides comparable if not better value, then you have no one to blame but yourself when the market where Nvidia has no competition grows and prices become even further inflated from lack of competition."
A: Agreed. And I most certainly DO blame myself for so blindly believing that AMD could deliver on those list retail prices. And I wonder sometimes what the retailers must think having all their stock on back order for weeks on end because AMD ... FAILED... to deliver. My only logical solution to this was to get something better for less. NVIDIA provided me that means. "Comparable" doesn't really work for me when I can get better performance for much, much, much less expense.
"Also, why are you in such a rush to buy a videocard? Especially with Vega around the corner... Thats probably one of the major reasons for a shortage, third parties don't want to buy a shit ton of last gen videocards right before Vega comes out and then be stuck with them after Vega launch."
A: I am an enthusiast/builder. When I'm on a project I don't much feel like waiting months for a component to complete my project. Time is ticking and warranties are not forever. As for Vega, I've had my finger on the pulse for about as long as that term was mentioned in the AMD online circles. I'm not holding my breath and from what I've seen so far I've definitely made the right choice.
"Finally, even if this was intentional and was a scheme on AMD's part to maximize profits, its not like AMD's GPU division is wildly successful and they're milking a cash cow. They are clearly struggling in the GPU segment. They can't compete with Nvidia's high end. If they do something to make their gpu segment slightly more profitable good on them."
A: Well, it isn't exactly like they're hurting for money either. After the 1 BILL + they just got from Intel I'm quite sure they're sitting pretty. For the consumer BANG for the BUCK is what it's all about. I suppose they satisfied that market as far as the crypto currency crowd is concerned but not for me and I dare say not for the enthusiast. I wholeheartedly agree with you when you say that AMD cannot compete with NVIDIA's high end. This holds especially true when I can get 2 or 3 GTX 1070 cards for the price of one lower performing RX 580. So if AMD wants to cut the noses of their own faces in their efforts to cater to the crypto crowd let them have their cake. My loyalties are not with them as their loyalties are not with me. Lesson learned.