Question RTX 3090 TDP drops during stress test causing low FPS in games

[UsefulTroglodyte]

I'm having some concerning issues with my Galax RTX 3090 that has a 350W max TDP. When I run a stress test in MSI Kombustor, the TDP initially reaches 100% but then after 3-4 seconds, it starts dropping rapidly and settles at around 60-65% within a few seconds . The GPU temperature reaches 75-78°C during this.I tried increasing the max temperature and power limit in MSI Afterburner but it had no effect on the TDP behavior . Games have also become unplayable with very low FPS, which wasn't the case earlier.

I have reinstalled the Nvidia drivers as well.I've attached some screenshots from HWiNFO while running the Kombustor stress test that show the TDP and clock speed drops.

Has anyone else experienced sudden TDP throttling like this on a 3090? The card seems to be hitting a power limit and downclocking itself very aggressively.I'm concerned this is causing the terrible gaming performance I'm now seeing. The 3090 was working fine before. Any suggestions on what could be causing this or troubleshooting steps to try?
My specs:

• Galax RTX 3090 (350W TDP)
• Intel Core i7-13700K
• ASUS Prime B760M plus
• 32GB DDR4-3200Mhz
• Deepcool DQ850M-V3L 850W 80 Plus Gold

Thanks in advance for any help or advice!

https://imgur.com/VENwGwx

 

[thestryker]

Your hotspot temp is the reason it's throttling. There's something extremely wrong with the cooling in some fashion as the difference between GPU and hotspot temp should be around 20c at most. May need to take the card apart and check thermal pads and paste. If it's still under warranty you could potentially RMA it.

 

[UsefulTroglodyte]

Your hotspot temp is the reason it's throttling. There's something extremely wrong with the cooling in some fashion as the difference between GPU and hotspot temp should be around 20c at most. May need to take the card apart and check thermal pads and paste. If it's still under warranty you could potentially RMA it.

That makes sense. Is there any chance that the heat sensor is malfunctioning?

 

[Dragos Manea]

That makes sense. Is there any chance that the heat sensor is malfunctioning?

Doersnt matter if it works properly or not, important is what the card sees and curently it sees that hotspot is over 100 degrees C so it will throtle. Usually is the memory pads that are too thick and make the core have a bad contact with the heatsink but if you are under warranty, how it was said, go to RMA it.

 

[rene641]

Check thermal pads...

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=Ao_3P28U1gU

 

[UsefulTroglodyte]

Doersnt matter if it works properly or not, important is what the card sees and curently it sees that hotspot is over 100 degrees C so it will throtle. Usually is the memory pads that are too thick and make the core have a bad contact with the heatsink but if you are under warranty, how it was said, go to RMA it.

got it