So, I really, really need help. Let's tell the tale...
Ordered a pre-built PC last december. The store didn't have a GPU, so I bought it in another place. It arrived a little after the rig. All system specs are in the end of this message.
The GPU, an ASUS TUF RTX 3080 OC, seemed to work fine. Under stress, it had no issues. After more-or-less one month of use, one morning, I started my PC as usual. Boot screen seemed normal. Couple of seconds in Windows, I saw artifacts -- a small pattern of black rectangles that changed from one place to another on screen. Having some experience with failing GPUs, I decided to run a rendering test -- the Heaven Benchmark. The rendering showed severe artifacts (color aberrations, unrecognizable shapes). I thought the GPU was dead, but after a restart, everything was normal again. Given the nature of the issue, I knew I'd see it again. Contacted the store. As they wouldn't be able to reproduce the issue (I couldn't), they told me to record a video if it happened again. And surely it did happen after some 40 days. Between this time, I experienced some BSODs that seemed to be GPU-related. But when the artifacts themselves reappeared, I started having troubles even on simple things like YouTube. Degradation seemed to be real. GPU was finally sent back to the store and it's being tested.
Well... convinced that it was a hardware problem and that the store certainly don't have a new one to send, I bought a new one, in another store. This time, a ROG Strix 3090 OC. Arrived some days ago, and I installed it last wednesday. Worked flawlessly, until... this morning. Same story. Started the PC in the morning, couple of seconds on Windows, and to my dismay, I saw some black rectangles...
Again, ran Heaven Benchmark. Again, some severe artifacts. The pics don't quite do justice, but you can have an idea. I have video if needed, though.
Finally the test stopped with these errors:
...
After a reboot, everything is normal again... until the next time this happens. And I'm couting on some sort of degradation in the near future.
So, it really seems to me a GPU hardware failure. Artifacts resemble a lot the ones you get with VRAM issues. But there's the fact: the exact same failure, on two different cards, different models, different GPUs? Naturally, I'm trying to figure out something that isn't GPU's fault, after all. But it's hard.
So that's it. I'm pretty much lost and really need help.
Finally, system specs and important details:
CPU Intel i9-10850k at stock settings (no MCE, fine-tuned voltages because "auto" mode was giving me really high voltages. VCORE is at 1.21v, VCCIO and System Agent at 1.28v -- a bit high, but it's stable).
MOBO ASUS ROG Strix Z490-F Gaming. Not sure about BIOS version, but I know it was updated in late november / first days of december, last year.
RAM 4x8GB DDR4 Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO, 3600MHz, the B-Die version. Just default XMP applied in BIOS.
GPU ASUS ROG Strix RTX 3090 OC, white version. Former GPU was an ASUS TUF RTX 3080 OC.
SSD Corsair MP510 480GB for OS and MSFS 2020, HDD Western Digital Black 2TB for everything else.
PSU Corsair RM850x, 850W.
OS Windows 10 64 bits, 20H2, 19042.867. VGA drivers were 461.09 for the 3080, now 465.89 for the 3090. All driver changes performed after DDU cleanup. MSI Afterburner in use, no overclock, just custom fan profile. Software was uninstalled and reinstalled while I changed GPUs.
Temperatures are fine. The 3090 tops at ~68ºC under stress, with the case closed. CPU is cooled by an AIO, and under AIDA64 stress test reaches 54-57ºC across the cores.
The most simple question: can I be unlucky to the point that I simply got a second GPU with very similar hardware fault as the first one? I guess this theory can't be discarded...
But I'd be really afraid to RMA a second card just to see the same failure on a third one...
So please, help.
Thank you, sorry for long message.
Ordered a pre-built PC last december. The store didn't have a GPU, so I bought it in another place. It arrived a little after the rig. All system specs are in the end of this message.
The GPU, an ASUS TUF RTX 3080 OC, seemed to work fine. Under stress, it had no issues. After more-or-less one month of use, one morning, I started my PC as usual. Boot screen seemed normal. Couple of seconds in Windows, I saw artifacts -- a small pattern of black rectangles that changed from one place to another on screen. Having some experience with failing GPUs, I decided to run a rendering test -- the Heaven Benchmark. The rendering showed severe artifacts (color aberrations, unrecognizable shapes). I thought the GPU was dead, but after a restart, everything was normal again. Given the nature of the issue, I knew I'd see it again. Contacted the store. As they wouldn't be able to reproduce the issue (I couldn't), they told me to record a video if it happened again. And surely it did happen after some 40 days. Between this time, I experienced some BSODs that seemed to be GPU-related. But when the artifacts themselves reappeared, I started having troubles even on simple things like YouTube. Degradation seemed to be real. GPU was finally sent back to the store and it's being tested.
Well... convinced that it was a hardware problem and that the store certainly don't have a new one to send, I bought a new one, in another store. This time, a ROG Strix 3090 OC. Arrived some days ago, and I installed it last wednesday. Worked flawlessly, until... this morning. Same story. Started the PC in the morning, couple of seconds on Windows, and to my dismay, I saw some black rectangles...
Again, ran Heaven Benchmark. Again, some severe artifacts. The pics don't quite do justice, but you can have an idea. I have video if needed, though.
Finally the test stopped with these errors:
...
After a reboot, everything is normal again... until the next time this happens. And I'm couting on some sort of degradation in the near future.
So, it really seems to me a GPU hardware failure. Artifacts resemble a lot the ones you get with VRAM issues. But there's the fact: the exact same failure, on two different cards, different models, different GPUs? Naturally, I'm trying to figure out something that isn't GPU's fault, after all. But it's hard.
- Drivers: the cards used different drivers. All driver installations were performed after DDU cleanups.
- System RAM: could the RAM give this kind of artifact? And the system worked very, very well in the time without any dedicated GPU. Also, if my RAM was bad, wouldn't I be seeing other issues? General instability etc.
- PSU: not sure. All the artifacts were observed with an almost idle system. In fact, in high-demanding applications, the whole system works very well. If PSU was at fault, wouldn't be expected to be more prone to fail as the load increases?
- PCi-Express: well... maybe. But against this, there's the aspect of the artifacts. They don't look like bus related. Also, if the slot was bad, I think I'd know by other symptoms (CTDs while gaming, black screens, and different artifacts; and perhaps the failures would be more frequent).
- Monitors and cables: hardly, I guess. A failure here wouldn't give the messages I received on Heaven's error report.
- CPU: my best bet after the GPU itself. But if so, this is a bit weird. System runs fine otherwise (i. e. without dedicated GPU). Shouldn't I see some other forms of errors, as well?
So that's it. I'm pretty much lost and really need help.
Finally, system specs and important details:
CPU Intel i9-10850k at stock settings (no MCE, fine-tuned voltages because "auto" mode was giving me really high voltages. VCORE is at 1.21v, VCCIO and System Agent at 1.28v -- a bit high, but it's stable).
MOBO ASUS ROG Strix Z490-F Gaming. Not sure about BIOS version, but I know it was updated in late november / first days of december, last year.
RAM 4x8GB DDR4 Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO, 3600MHz, the B-Die version. Just default XMP applied in BIOS.
GPU ASUS ROG Strix RTX 3090 OC, white version. Former GPU was an ASUS TUF RTX 3080 OC.
SSD Corsair MP510 480GB for OS and MSFS 2020, HDD Western Digital Black 2TB for everything else.
PSU Corsair RM850x, 850W.
OS Windows 10 64 bits, 20H2, 19042.867. VGA drivers were 461.09 for the 3080, now 465.89 for the 3090. All driver changes performed after DDU cleanup. MSI Afterburner in use, no overclock, just custom fan profile. Software was uninstalled and reinstalled while I changed GPUs.
Temperatures are fine. The 3090 tops at ~68ºC under stress, with the case closed. CPU is cooled by an AIO, and under AIDA64 stress test reaches 54-57ºC across the cores.
The most simple question: can I be unlucky to the point that I simply got a second GPU with very similar hardware fault as the first one? I guess this theory can't be discarded...
But I'd be really afraid to RMA a second card just to see the same failure on a third one...
So please, help.
Thank you, sorry for long message.
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