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[SOLVED] New RTX 3080 running modern games at 20-30FPS

Oct 23, 2021
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I replaced my RTX 1070 with an RTX 3080 a couple days ago, and got literally no change in FPS across multiple games. MSI afterburner seems to suggest a GPU bottleneck with GPU usage constantly 100% and CPU usage hovers 10-20%. Between the 1070 (23FPS) and 3080 (24FPS), there was negligible difference after a big leap in hardware.

This isn’t ‘I used to get 110 FPS and now only get 90FPS’. This is, I have good hardware and am getting 20-30FPS on most modern games. Something seems terribly amiss. What am I missing? I'm not even sure where the problem is.

Games: Riftbreaker CPU benchmark (avg 25 FPS) Riftbreaker regular gameplay (avg 24 FPS), Subnautica Subzero (36 FPS), Fallout 4 (60+ FPS)
GPU: NVIDIA Geforce RTX 3080 Ventux 3x OC
CPU: Intel i7-8700 CPU @ 3.20GHz
RAM: Corsair 2x8GB DDR4 @3200MHz (16GB total)
Motherboard: ASUS PRIME Z370 - A
OS: Windows 10
Storage: Crucial SSD 500gb
Power: XFX TS Series Core 650W ATX Power Supply

Previously tried solutions (not necessarily in temporal order):
  • Reinstallation of GPU hardware, seated firmly
  • Reinstallation of GPU drivers, clean install via Display Driver Uninstaller, version 496.13
  • Reinstallation of games (multiple, but I’ve been using riftbreaker as the primary benchmark)
  • Clean Windows 10 reinstallation, updated
  • Updated BIOs
  • Reinstalled RAM seated firmly and in correct A1-A2 slots
  • Confirmed DRAM set to XPM (3200MHz)
  • Confirmed CPU and heatsink correctly installed
  • NVIDIA control panel: Confirmed power maximum performance, v-sync off, highest available refresh rate
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Solution
Solved the problem.

It was my motherboard (ASUS PRIME Z370-A) PCI-E Slot. On a whim I changed my GPU from PCI-E slot 1 to slot 2 and it fixed everything. Now running ~140 FPS on Riftbreaker where before it was ~24FPS.

Thanks, tom's hardware for all the help. I am never buying another ASUS MOBO again, this is the second board that has been a nightmare to troubleshoot.
That is strange indeed. I don't have an answer but I can confirm I am running a 3080 with a 7700K OC'd to 5.0GHz and I am getting FPS way higher than that so I can't imagine your CPU is bottlenecking that bad. I did notice your PSU is 650W. The minimum recommended for a 3080 is 750. I will be interested to see what others say to help out. Just out of curiosity you didn't limit the FPS in Rivatuner by mistake did you? I have mine set to a limit of 160 with a 165Hz refresh rate on monitor.
 
Solved the problem.

It was my motherboard (ASUS PRIME Z370-A) PCI-E Slot. On a whim I changed my GPU from PCI-E slot 1 to slot 2 and it fixed everything. Now running ~140 FPS on Riftbreaker where before it was ~24FPS.

Thanks, tom's hardware for all the help. I am never buying another ASUS MOBO again, this is the second board that has been a nightmare to troubleshoot.
 
Solution