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Igor of Igors Lab thinks he has an explanation for the problem. After referencing Nvidias documents for the RTX 3080s PCB style, he composes:
The BoM and the illustration from June leave it open whether large-area POSCAPs (Conductive Polymer Tantalum Solid Capacitors) are used (marked in red), or rather the rather more costly MLCCs (Multilayer Ceramic Chip Capacitor). The latter are smaller sized and have to be grouped for a greater capacity.
Its not uncommon to see some users publishing problems when a brand-new GPU or CPU launches, however theres early information recommending that some RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 GPUs have a stability issue when they push above or near-to 2GHz. Most reports have actually concentrated on 2GHz, however at least one user stated his GPU was below that clock.
Reports have started turning up online of stability issues most likely tied to GPU boost frequencies. Known-affected designs consist of the Zotac RTX 3080 Trinity and the MSI RTX Ventus 3X OC. MSIs Gaming Trio is pointed out, as is EVGAs RTX 3080 XC. These reports make around the exact same claim: The GPU crashes in one or more titles, often at around 2GHz. Reducing clock speeds can fix the issue.
Image by Igors Lab
The locations obstructed off with boxes and the set of 10 green rectangular shapes are all power rails. It would discuss why the cards destabilize and crash at high frequencies if the RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 are being fed unclean power.
Zotac, for example, utilized POSCAPS for all six rails:
Image by Igors Lab
Nvidia utilized 4 POSCAPS and 2 MLCCs, as revealed below. Igor notes hes been not able to crash his Founders Edition GPU, implying that this may be the cause of the crashing bugs. We do not understand for specific that the 3080 FE doesnt have this problem, however up until now no one reporting an issue appears to have an RTX 3080 FE.
Image by Igors Lab
We do not understand how many cards are affected by this problem. Even if using POSCAPs rather of MLCCs is the cause of the issue, it does not instantly follow that every POSCAP-equipped gadget has an issue. It appears most likely that a specific percentage of POSCAP devices would have issues than that Nvidia would fail to discover it had actually misleaded all of its AIBs and handed them bad manufacturing files. The former could cause some raised repair work rates and whining, while the latter would require the repair work of every RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 made to-date.
If you run into this issue, the very first thing to try is lowering the base clock on your GPU. Users are reporting that 80-100MHz always works. While overclocking your GPU is dangerous if you dont know what youre doing, its difficult to muck up a part by running it slower.
This scenario is going to develop over the next few days as Nvidia discusses it with AIBs and examines how best to repair the problem. I encourage keeping an open mind as far as what the prospective cause may be, not because I question Igor, however due to the fact that in some cases manufacturing analysis exposes extra issues that werent previously understood and couldnt be seen from surface-level evaluation.
No matter what the issue turns out to be, Nvidia or its partners have a mess theyll need to tidy up while also dealing with extreme card scarcities. Well keep you published on whatever the cause ends up being.
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Even if using POSCAPs rather of MLCCs is the cause of the problem, it does not immediately follow that every POSCAP-equipped gadget has an issue. The former could cause some raised repair rates and grumbling, while the latter would need the repair work of every RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 made to-date.
Known-affected models include the Zotac RTX 3080 Trinity and the MSI RTX Ventus 3X OC. MSIs Gaming Trio is discussed, as is EVGAs RTX 3080 XC. We dont understand for certain that the 3080 FE doesnt have this problem, however so far nobody reporting an issue appears to have an RTX 3080 FE.
