MikhailTessier

I replaced the pads with 0.5mm thermal pads which fixed the issue for me.

What i think happened was that who ever built mine put 1.0mm thermal pads in all areas. Instead of 0.5mm on the memory IC and 1.0mm on the MOSEFET and Coils. I will upload a photo when i tear it back down to replace the pads with the new ones that came in today. The issue was so bad that the pre applied thermal paste wasn't making full contact. As i smooched down the pre applied thermal pads the thermal paste was making more contact with the GPU die.

This is after I smashed down the pre installed pad to make them thinner. Got new pads coming today

Hey can you confirm the thickness of the 2080ti as well. I have been having issues with my XG7 due to what i think is the thermal pads being to thick in some areas. I was seeing the gpu bowing in certain places due to this. I was able to smash the pads down a bit which helped the bowing but decided to order new thermal pads at 0.5mm and 1.0mm to fix this issue.