Adding my findings in case anyone else stumbles on this with same question as I had.Hey, maybe someone has experience with this. I'm trying to remove the RGB strip from Evga 1080ti FTW3 so it would fit without a tophat, but honestly I'm kinda stumped how should i proceed. Is it held on by the three tabs? I'm just concerned not to snap either the strip or the shroud...
I ended up just brute-forcing the strip open and it essentially consists of a top shell and a bottom base. Top is attached to bottom with clips, but the base is screwed to the shroud with 4 screws on the inside. You can see photos here:
With the RGB strip removed, the card is low enough to fit... if we disregard the PCIE connectors. I had these but unfortunately they are ~3 mm too high. Seems like only something like ultra low profile cables from https://kareonkables.com/ would work. Or just get a top hat.