Source
r/nvidia•
post_ironic

Does anyone here with an EVGA 3080 or 3090 that actually uses their card "a lot" have a good experience to write about?

Question

Hey everyone,

Easy to doomsay and act like the world is collapsing when you're the one having a problem, but I bought a 3080 FTW3 last month and had used it for two weeks without problems before it became a common issue to have a driver crash, drop input signal, fans jump to 100% and no workaround besides restarting the computer.

I had to ask the retailer (Canada Computers) for a replacement and they provided one. Two weeks later, here I am again with the exact same problem and waiting for another card and entertaining the idea of just getting a full refund since this is the worst hardware experience I've ever had in 18 years of being a computer nerd. My friend also bought a XC3 3080 and had the exact same problem after three days of barely even putting any load on it.

As troubleshooting goes, I've spent a lot of time on the EVGA forum (https://forums.evga.com/EVGA-GeForce-RTX-30-Series-f113.aspx) and this issue is NOT uncommon at all. Every day there's at least one new post about it. But I'm not so delusional as to think that only the people who are posting about problems are the only ones who own the cards.

So, I'm curious on what the the r/nvidia community is experiencing. I've been an EVGA fanboy forever, but this is pretty bullshit. Drinking the STRIX koolaid is not something I find appealing but if I have #3 shit the bed on me then it's hard to justify being a contrarian.

Some obvious questions out of the way:

  • I ran the card on stock the whole time. I downloaded PX1 just to turn off the RGB.

  • The heaviest GPU load thing I did was run cpubenchmark. Everything else was low load and video games that aren't even GPU heavy: World of Warcraft, Dota 2, League of Legends, Genshin Impact, Final Fantasy XIV.

  • 850w SeaSonic PRIME Gold with 3 6+2's

  • PCI slot is fine as other cards are plug and play with no issues.

  • Tried 4 different driver versions

Posted Dec 15, 2020, 8:04 PM UTC

1044
Captainpapiii•

My ftw3 has not ran into any issues ever since I got it almost two months ago. I’ve been using my system a lot since then too.

Really sorry to hear you’re experiencing issues, I know more than anything how infuriating troubleshooting a pc is when it seems like you’re not getting anywhere. Hope you get it resolved soon.

13
kwizatzartEVGA 3080 FTW3 Ultra - 5600X :cat_blep:•

My 3080 FTW3 Ultra is perfect since 2 months

I suggest you to run 3Dmark Timespy and save all the temps/perf graphs, then share what happens here, cause without knowing anything it's hard to say

You didn't speak about your temps and case fans setup at all. With the best card out there if I build a perfect oven I can make it crash all day

9
post_ironicOP•

Haha, my temps weren't ever going above 65.

1
[deleted]•

Someone went along and downvoted every single comment in here, so i upvoted everyone.

8
TajTiger•

I got the 3090 XC3 Hybrid last week, been putting through its paces with 3DMark, Cyberpunk, and Blender.

Compared to my previous card, an EVGA 2070 Super, it's been taking everything I can throw at it. Blender has been astounding (my primary use) with the extra VRAM and render times have been cut by 400% versus the 2070S. Cyberpunk, with the recommended dumbing down of the settings, runs like any modern game, with temps staying in the low 60s.

I'm a bit of a novice, but I've overvolted it, undervolted it, overclocked it, and tweaked it for hours running stress tests trying to find a good balance between heat, noise, and performance. I settled for a modest undervolt for now, but I know it can do a lot more.

I've been using EVGA cards since the 1060. I can fairly confidently say that I'm not a fanboy and am not locked into a brand. I honestly was prepared to get a Asus Strix or GB Aorus card, but the waiting list worked out and I ended up with EVGA again. Got a 5 year warranty (+$30) just in case, since I fully expect to work this card everyday.

I'll come back later and report any fires, but mine's playing nicely so far *knock on tempered glass*.

7
MyojoRepair•

Any chance you're encountering this?

https://old.reddit.com/r/hardware/comments/k5lgm4/psa_3090_3080_transient_load_spikes_north_of_500w/

6
post_ironicOP•

I don't think so, because the system isn't rebooting involuntarily. It's just that the display driver crashing and the signal not retrieving isn't fixable unless you reboot. There are tons of people running 750w/850w with 3080s that aren't having issues.

Besides, it was happening to me sitting on desktop with nothing open.

1
Ark161•

The MCU update seems to be shitting the bed to be honest. personally why I refuse to use Precision X at the moment; regardless of the benefit. One thing I would also check is that there were 5 MS Win10 Updates over the past few weeks (not sure of the KB#), but they were causing random lockups. I thought it was a bad overclock on my side, but I uninstalled them and have been running stable since. Two of the updates installed MS edge and the other 3 were security updates. I will see if I can scrape my history and find them for you. But check installed windows updates to see if there were any updates around that time. Not saying that it is that indefinitely, but you should also make a boot usb for memtest86+ (the free one not by passmark) to make sure your ram didnt flake out on you.

5
falkentyne•

A Seasonic Prime Gold uses the old OCP system from the original X-series days, which can trip with 3090 or 3080 cards.

Since you had this problem with TWO cards, it's obviously NOT the cards that are the problem.

Contact Seasonic with a RMA request (be polite, VERY polite, since you're basically asking for a PSU upgrade), and ask them if they can RMA exchange your PSU for a Prime "GX-850". the TX/PX/GX versions (as opposed to "Prime Ultra Titanium, Prime Ultra platinum, prime gold, focus gold, etc") have the upgraded OCP circuitry for high current video cards. See if that solves your problem.

If it doesn't, then you can bring out the pitchforks and flaming oil.

5
post_ironicOP•

Since you had this problem with TWO cards, it's obviously NOT the cards that are the problem.

That's certainly an easy conclusion to come to. Do you find it at all strange that the card would stay stable during benchmarks and video game use and then randomly get tripped by the PSU at desktop at 2 or 0% load, culminating in a driver crash and set the fans spinning at max while losing signal instead of a total system shutdown?

1
falkentyne•

As I said, RMA the PSU first, then get out the pitchforks.

You have a PSU unit that is not fully compatible with these cards. That has been discussed at length multiple times. I would give you other possible suggestions IF you were using one of the updated 100% compatible variants (2019+ newer) GX, PX or TX Oneseasonic models.

Also, black screen+100% fans is a classic example of +12v voltage dropping too low as well as a general GPU fault (e.g. heatsink failure, GPU reaching 100C). I got this EXACT same problem on my r9 290X, when the PCIE cable degraded (I was using an 8 pin (actually 12 pin) into 2x8 pin split, which slowly degraded the cable, and I had the EXACT SAME ISSUES YOU HAD---it would black screen at LIGHT LOAD or watching Youtube or something, or playing something wooden like League of Legends, but not at full heavy 3D load, but the +12v was droping down to 11.18v-11.25v. Example, it would often black screen after a game was over in Overwatch, after play of the game (when the FPS 60 fps cap occurs), for example.

When I discarded that cable and switched to two separate 8 pins (or rather, 12 pin into its own 8 pin per PSU port), it was back at 11.75v, which it was when the PSU and original cable were brand new. ALL crashes completely stopped. and the same PSU and config worked perfectly on my Vega 64 as well (Until I basically killed the card). I still have that PSU (Seasonic 1000W Platinum SS-1000XP; 2012 year model) in a backup Z490 system, but my 3090 FE is being fed by a Seasonic PX-1000 now, with Seasonic 12 pin FE cable.

So yes, I don't spend my time here to help you for my good looks. I speak from experience and I can't tell you 100% what the problem is. I can only tell you based on what I've seen on my hardware, and what I think you should be focusing on first--the PSU itself.

I'm sorry if that's not what you want to hear. Good luck with the RMA from Seasonic (request a GX-850 OneSeasonic model, or even PX-850 if they are out of stock).

8
PorkBellyFutures•

My spidey senses pointed towards the power supply as I read your post. This does not dissuade me.

3
[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
another-redditor3•

seasonic has a bulletin out for this issue, so theres no reason to plead with them for a replacment. they flat out say if you have one of these psus and your experiencing symptoms, contact us.

my 3090 kept tripping my psu last week, and i contacted them about it. within 24hrs my rma was approved, and the next day the psu was shipped out (advanced rma)

i went from the old focus plus gold to the gx gold, 850w on both of them. ive been beating the hell out of the 3090 with every stress test i can throw at it, on the factor max power setting. not a single issue.

1
Starving_Marvin_•

I thought there was a post a while ago about Seasonic cards having their OC protection kick in too aggressively with 3080/3090 series cards. You may want to try a new PSU.

I have been using a EVGA ultra 3080 for the past month and have put good hours gaming in graphically intense games. I have had no issues GPU wise at all.

4
Intotheblue1•

3090 XC3 Ultra here. Have had it for 6 weeks and it's going just fine for me. Not the best performance compared to 3 8-pin models but that's to be expected. I don't get any crashes generally that aren't the fault of the game or something else.

4
ertaisi•

What CPU/RAM? Navi users often had similar crashes and some that refuse to believe it could be anything but drivers/GPU still do, so I suggest keeping an open mind.

3
post_ironicOP•

9900k, 16 @ 3200

2
ertaisi•

Virtually all of the issues I'm fishing for are with AMD CPUs running XMP'd RAM, but it wouldn't hurt to test if reverting any CPU OC to stock and RAM XMP profile back to JEDEC speed has a positive impact.

2
post_ironicOP•

Thanks for the suggestion; I've already tried both.

3
S1iceOfPie•

No issues here with a 3080 FE going strong for a few months now in several different AAA games. Any crashing I've experienced has been due to unstable undervolting.

I'm wondering if you're on the opposite end of the spectrum. Maybe this crashing you're experiencing has to do with core clock instability in the MMOs you play. I'd say you're more likely to see sudden spikes in load based on what's happening on the screen whereas heavier games or benchmarks will likely saturate the GPU more consistently.

There's a thread on the EVGA forums right now where the user says he or she is experiencing similar issues as you in WoW when going "through a portal or simply turning [their] camera at water." I feel like either of those actions can cause spikes in load and/or GPU boost frequency.

This is just a guess and isn't ideal at all, but what if you lower the boost clock slightly from stock? Say 30MHz. I wonder if your issues will go away.

3
post_ironicOP•

Well, FE isn't an EVGA manufacture, right? But thanks for your post anyways. I tried lowering clock by 50mhz and it still happened.

2
Stellar_Dream_RocAMD Ryzen 5 3600x & EVGA XC ULTRA 2070 Super•

You can also update the firmware of the card by downloading precision x1

1
ironlung1982•

Had my FTW3 Ultra 3080 since October 8th and no problems at all with +100/+500 OC

2
Raikko•

Seems like a really annoying issue. I feel for you, are you running your psu in hybrid mode? If so try switching it to normal. Clean windows install might be worth a shot as well. Good luck.

2
Geryboy999•

I have mine for 1 month now, "sadly" above 2050Mhz it gets a little unstable with crashes within 1 hour of gameplay. But so far I'm happy with it and having fun. Once I reduced manual OC it runs like a charm. Just tried to get to that magic 2100Mhz which wasn't working for me.

2
dthorus•

My first 3080 FTW3 Ultra started doing this only after a week of light use (signal lost, 100 % fans,only recoverable with a reboot) then died a few days later (well i think it's dead, can't get a signal out of it anymore, and the EU support is extremely slow & unresponsive, so no RMA started for me yet after 2 weeks). This was an early production, serial 2012.....; made in Taiwan, red 'clown'-accent card, miraculously purchased at MSRP mid-November.Boost clock: 1965 out of the box Second card is doing fine(knock on wood).Black accent, serial 2014... boost clock 1920 out-of-the-box. My working theory (i have visited the forum thread you linked before) is that there was a problem with a portion of the early-bird cards and it was quietly fixed in later revisions. Not all of course, most of the world record holders FTW3s are from the serial2012.. made in China-batch (rumor,unconfirmed!)

2
post_ironicOP•

Thanks for the info. Makes sense there would be some kind of production issue on the earlier cards with all these posts about the problem, whereas newer revised cards wouldn't be in people's hands yet :re shortage and all that.

3
miamihotline•

3080 XC3 Ultra running perfect for 7 weeks. My biggest complaint is the red clown lips.

didn't bother OCing or undervolting

2
InHaUse3700X | 3080 | 32GB 3533 16-18-18-18-36•

I've been using my XC3 Ultra for about a month and it's fine. I used MSI Afterburner to undervolt it and I'm running 1910MHz at 900mV. I did this to get rid of the annoying coil whine, with of course the side benefits of reduced power, noise, and thermals.

2
Blacksad999•

I've had a 3080 FTW since right after release, and haven't had any issues. Did you download Precision X1 from the EVGA site and update the firmware?

2
Proudwing•

I got my FTW3 Ultra a week ago, and it's been handling everything fine as far as I can tell. I don't have any errors or warnings in event viewer that are related to the display driver. Only thing I've had issues with is crashing in Cyberpunk 2077, but I think that's more the fault of the game since nothing indicates it's the GPU.

1
fattdogs•

Looks like evveryone is pointing out that its probably the PSU, but to answer your post, I did have a similar issue with cyberpunk 2077 doing that to my PC, turns out the undervolt wasn't 100% stable, now it runs fine.

1