Sorry if its a bit late. I too just got this card and am worried about the 97c VRM temps. Could it have anything to do with the 10 Phase power or the back plate not allowing them to cool from the back side. My GPU-Z VRM reading reached 97c in every extended benchmark I ran. Wonder if a Kraken G10 would cool things down a lot more.

Sorry if its a bit late. I too just got this card and am worried about the 97c VRM temps. Could it have anything to do with the 10 Phase power or the back plate not allowing them to cool from the back side. My GPU-Z VRM reading reached 97c in every extended benchmark I ran. Wonder if a Kraken G10 would cool things down a lot more.

Pretty sure VRMs can handle up to 115C. I doubt it's an issue. You could buy some Thermal Pads and let the PCB make contact with the Backplate. Then again the backplate can only do so much since it's passively cooled. But i think it can lower the Temps by a good 5-10C.

I'm sure ASUS would of tested the VRM's to their max before using them. From what I understand they are 10 Phase VRM's, and after reading all the reviews most GTX780ti cards range from 70 - 95c. The Thermal imaging and sensor temp differences are strange though. I've got a Carbine 500R case, so there's a 200mm fan blowing directly onto the card. Thermal pad like Phobya Thermalpad Ultra 5W/mk - 0.5mm would be ok I'm guessing. Though I just saw the EK Waterblock, might be time to do some real watercooling on the card. Could pickup a XSPC Raystorm 750 EX240 Kit.

DCU 2 always looked awesome.

DCU 2 always looked awesome.

Couldn't agree more, the card looks awesome even without the stickers. (I have a all black theme going so I didn't put them on) Might try the Thermal pad's between the back plate first, Dropping the VRM's a few degrees cant hurt. 70c isn't that hot for the GPU and I don't see a need to overclock the card yet..