Thursday, September 24th 2020

RTX 3080 Users Report Crashes to Desktop While Gaming

A number of RTX 3080 users have been reporting crashes to desktop while gaming on their newly-acquired Ampere graphics cards. The reports have surged in numerous hardware discussion venues (ComputerBase, LinusTechTips, NVIDIA, Tom's Hardware, Tweakers and Reddit), and appear to be unlinked to any particular RTX 3080 vendor (ZOTAC, MSI, EVGA, and NVIDIA Founders Edition graphics cards are all mentioned).

Apparently, this crash to desktop happens once the RTX 3080's Boost clock exceeds 2.0 GHz. A number of causes could be advanced for these issues: deficient power delivery, GPU temperature failsafes, or even a simple driver-level problem (though that one seems to be the least likely). Nor NVIDIA nor any of its AIB partners have spoken about this issue, and review outlets failed to mention this happening - likely because it never did, at least on samples sent to reviewers. For now, it seems that manually downclocking the graphics card by 50-100 MHz could be a temporary fix for the issue while it's being troubleshooted. An unlucky turn of events for users of NVIDIA's latest and greatest, but surely it's better to face a very slight performance decrease in exchange for system stability.
Sources: ComputerBase, LinusTechTips, NVIDIA Forums, Tom's Hardware Forums, Reddit
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83 Comments on RTX 3080 Users Report Crashes to Desktop While Gaming

#1
tomc100
So it begans. There were multiple problems with the RTX 2000 series when that was released too. Best to wait several months for them to iron out all the problems.
Posted on Reply
#2
Vya Domus
tomc100Best to wait several months for them to iron out all the problems.
2080tis still have atypical failure rates.
Posted on Reply
#3
ratirt
tomc100So it begans. There were multiple problems with the RTX 2000 series when that was released too. Best to wait several months for them to iron out all the problems.
or just buy a bitch-ass monstrous PSU and forget about it :P
Posted on Reply
#4
SIGSEGV
deep condolences to all RTX 3080 users. ;)
I felt somewhat these cards were released in hurry. I told ya.
Posted on Reply
#5
Caring1
Memory issues again?

The memory chips used are rated up to 95C, yet reportedly run up to around 120C.
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#6
ZoneDymo
bet its the bots overloading the pc's trying to purchase the card in their systems
Posted on Reply
#7
delshay
I would think most reviews tested the card in an open bench, so the problem never turned up. Most if not all end user(s) will fit it in a closed case. I say take the side panel off & see if the problem disappear.
Posted on Reply
#8
dayne878
Well then, I'm thinking maybe the extreme shortage of RTX 3080s at the beginning is actually a good thing for me. I'll stick with my 2080ti until the 20GB version comes out or at least until I hear they've ironed out the bugs in the 3080 (and they're back in stock).
Posted on Reply
#9
Vya Domus
Caring1Memory issues again?

The memory chips used are rated up to 95C, yet reportedly run up to around 120C.
Now that I think about, knowing this, could it be why they included that error correction ?
Posted on Reply
#11
bug
Caring1Memory issues again?

The memory chips used are rated up to 95C, yet reportedly run up to around 120C.
They're not rated for anything, Micron has not disclosed that info for their GDDR6X modules.

Though yes, with GDDR6X being new, it makes for credible suspect.
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#12
EarthDog
Raevenlordlikely because it never did, at least on samples sent to reviewers.
Or, you know........... they simply never experienced the issue during testing. Feels like inffered cherry picking samples here?
Posted on Reply
#13
AsRock
TPU addict
Maybe Jayz on to some thing with this, as he goes on about the FE having the issue if clocked high enough but kinda gets around it.

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#15
ZoneDymo
AsRockMaybe Jayz on to some thing with this, as he goes on about the FE having the issue if clocked high enough but kinda gets around it.

Gamers Nexus showed the same, the card not being very overclockable and when you do it, certain titles will crash.
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#16
Vayra86
The VRAM plot thickens...
Posted on Reply
#17
lightofhonor
Sounds like people are stretching their current PSU's. Even if you are below your max wattage, quick spikes in power usage can cause droop.

It's been theorized that a lot of the AMD 5700 crashes were due to the same thing (me included, and a new PSU fixed it), which didn't happen to reviewers since their PC's are maintained and overbuilt. Looks like the newer GPU's are more demanding on the PSU than just flat wattage.
Posted on Reply
#18
Space Lynx
Astronaut
October 28th, you will finally know true power!!!! It will be glorious! 7nm EUV will not suck your PSU so hard!
Posted on Reply
#19
Vayra86
LightofhonorSounds like people are stretching their current PSU's. Even if you are below your max wattage, quick spikes in power usage can cause droop.

It's been theorized that a lot of the AMD 5700 crashes were due to the same thing (me included, and a new PSU fixed it), which didn't happen to reviewers since their PC's are maintained and overbuilt. Looks like the newer GPU's are more demanding on the PSU than just flat wattage.
Agreed, this sounds plausible too.
Posted on Reply
#20
Vya Domus
LightofhonorSounds like people are stretching their current PSU's. Even if you are below your max wattage, quick spikes in power usage can cause droop.

It's been theorized that a lot of the AMD 5700 crashes were due to the same thing (me included, and a new PSU fixed it), which didn't happen to reviewers since their PC's are maintained and overbuilt. Looks like the newer GPU's are more demanding on the PSU than just flat wattage.
These GPUs are not the first ones to draw a lot of power. A 5700 uses a lot less power too.
Posted on Reply
#22
Caring1
bugWho reported 120C surface temps?
That I don't have a link to, it was mentioned in threads here.
I'm not going to go back and read all of them now to find references to it, lol.
Posted on Reply
#25
nguyen
This is just silicon lottery, some chips just can't clock past 2Ghz no matter the voltage. My 2080 Ti is the same and i'm not alone (GPU is stable at 1995mhz/0.975V but 2010mhz is not stable no matter what).
Best thing to do is set a maximum clock in the freq/voltage curve (undervolting) that the GPU will not boost above, so yeah while the GPU may not set some benchmark record the efficiency gain is nice and that is what matter when gaming.
Posted on Reply
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