Question Gigabyte RTX 3080 Ti – Random Crashes, No Display After Reboots, Potential VRAM/Driver Instability

[CiaranM578]

Bought an RTX 3080ti msi trio used off eBay from a reputable seller some months ago, card came in excellent condition and working order giving 0 issues up until a couple days ago. Playing when I get my first crash, screen flickered crashed, black screen, reboot to windows, this happened a couple times after retrying a game, until eventually after crashes it just stays off and doesn’t give a display. Put different gpu in system to boot in safe mode and uninstall drivers using ddu before putting original card back in and installing new drivers.
The GPU initially worked after reinstalling drivers, with several hours of gaming and idle stability. After leaving the PC off for ~20 hours, I started a game and returned to find the system had crashed. Upon reboot, there was no display output, and testing confirmed the issue is isolated to the GPU (motherboard, PSU, and other components were ruled out using another GPU).
2nd attempt to reinstall drivers after performing a clean removal with DDU (in Safe Mode) resulted in a blue screen during installation, with the error: "Attempted to write to a read-only segment." Post-crash, the system rebooted without a display.3rd attempt at cleaning and reinstalling drivers worked with no issues (note the first time I reinstalled the most up to date driver so this time I tried with slightly older driver)but of course when put under stress tests in furmark the system crashe.Additionally, after installing MemTestG80, artifacts such as flickering and black squares briefly appeared while the system was idle(with memtestg80 not even opened for the first time), even without drivers installed.

* Tested the GPU in another monitor and cable setup: still no display output.
* Another GPU works flawlessly in the same system, ruling out issues with the motherboard, PSU, or display.
Driver Diagnostics:
* NVIDIA drivers installed successfully after a clean removal via DDU, but crashes persisted during stress or testing.
VRAM Diagnostics:
* Ran MemTestG80 to test VRAM but encountered crashes and app closure during testing.
* Artifacts (flickering, black squares) suggest potential VRAM instability or hardware-level faults.
System/Power Monitoring:
* Power delivery to the GPU monitored via MSI Afterburner during the stable period; no anomalies detected.
* Temperatures were within safe operating ranges under load (no signs of overheating or throttling).
RAM and CPU Stability:
* System RAM passed MemTest86 with no issues.
* No signs of CPU-related instability or thermal issues.
Any ideas what’s going on here? Pretty expensive card to be failing on me…


Ps. Some extra info when analysing dumps in who crashed it’s showing kernel nvidia driver faults.

Thanks!

 

[Eximo]

You can try underclocking the memory to see if it improves, but if one of the chips is failing not much to do.

Just because some of the GPU sensors are returning good temperatures doesn't mean everything is. May be worth taking the card apart and making sure all the memory has good contact with thermal pads, re-doing the paste.

Visual inspection for PCB cracks and the like.

You can get it repaired potentially, but it will be a few hundred if that is worth it to you.

 

[Lutfij]

When posting a thread of troubleshooting nature, it's customary to include your full system's specs. Please list the specs to your build like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
include the age of the PSU apart from it's make and model. BIOS version for your motherboard at this moment of time.

Upon reboot, there was no display output, and testing confirmed the issue is isolated to the GPU (motherboard, PSU, and other components were ruled out using another GPU).
Might want to also mention the GPU used to troubleshoot your system. Please be wary that an RTX3080Ti equipped system would need a 850W+ PSU due to transient load spikes.

Any ideas what’s going on here? Pretty expensive card to be failing on me…
Possible that the card's conked out after being in someone's else's hands prior to your purchase