Hi Brian,
The esupport replied just now (3 days later) saying I need to contact the original supplier (Newegg), but newegg states they only do warranty replacements within 30 days of purchase and to contact the manufacturer (which I did). This is also stated on the invoice I linked on the support ticket too.
Serial is SN160141028001
I don't mind if you're honest with me if there's little point in trying to get it replaced (reading some nightmare issues when I google Gigabyte RMA problems) - I can always get a 1070 elsewhere and claim as a business expense since it's for the work PC. It's just last night I was gaming with friends and when they found out I had a Gigabyte 980ti they blasted me for buying a Gigabyte saying it's going to take months to try and get a replacement. Not the best for confidence! To be honest I didn't know Gigabyte had this type of reputation for warranty so I'm a bit gutted. Everyone says to buy EVGA since their support is so good but I guess you know this, people stated it in the thread asking about improvements to Gigabyte in the top thread on the gigabytegaming subreddit.
Also the eSupport isn't even "native" English. "Ask more Question" is the button for replies. Not sure this gives the best impression to anyone who ever has to use this system, as well as how slow it is and how the reply so far didn't even read return policy on the invoice (https://1drv.ms/b/s!AvDconoEVC4Wg_ZA38VIrlDdNBs9yA).
If you read my thread on reddit thats all the issues I've been having, I've gone as far as replacing everything apart from the CPU. Even watching a facebook video yesterday and the card made a kind of "pop/crack" noise and rebooted - but not to the primary monitor the GPU is on, but to the secondary monitor connected to the motherboard gpu. The primary monitor stayed black. So that's why I'm not risking it even being in the PC any longer and I've taken it out completely.
Appreciate any help or advice.
Kind regards, Richard