[SOLVED] UPS Cutting Power During Gaming With RTX 3080

[oyesiku]

See system specifications below.
I created a new build on Thursday, December 31st, with the system info below with the exception that I had not received my RTX 3080 yet, so I used my existing EVGA Geforce GTX 1080Ti. Aside from some odd BIOS issues and audio issues, the system ran fine for several days. I played both Horizon Zero Dawn and Need For Speed Heat at the max settings that the GPU could handle.

Problem 1:
On Wednesday, I experienced several shut downs while renderings in Vray (Rhino); specifically, the UPS would randomly shut down, despite the LCD screen on the UPS showing load never exceeding 60-70% (with 99% battery). Per my system spec below, my UPS is plugged into a voltage regulator (a year ago, I was getting sporadic voltage drops which would cause several devices throughout my home office to shut down - receiver, TV, computer, etc. I haven't had a period of drops as bad as the one that prompted my to but the voltage regulator, but since buying, I've experienced a few voltage drops that tripped the regulator and the regulator has been able to keep power flowing smoothly to the various devices.). My computer, monitors and a second mini pc are all connected to the UPS. At normal use (browsing, working in AutoCAD, etc.), the UPS load is in the range of 26-36%. A few days earlier, I'd been rendering on the computer without any issues and the only difference was that I'd replaced my GTX 1080 Ti with the RTX 3080, however, the renderings on both days were CPU renderings and not GPU renderings, so this should not have made much difference.

Problem 2:
Today was the first time I played a game on the system since installing the RTX 3080 on Tuesday. I had just loaded Horizon Zero Dawn and had bumped the settings up to max to see what the new card could handle. I loaded my last save and moved around the campfire testing things out with the new settings and everything was running smoothly, until I started my first battle, at which point I heard my UPS click and it shut down. I started up again and tried several more times and it kept shutting down, despite the load of the UPS never going above 80%.
After several failed attempts to play with the UPS, I unplugged my computer from the UPS and plugged it directly into the voltage regulator and was able to successfully play for several hours (while playing, however, the voltage regulator kicked in on several occasions).

Based on the successful gaming session with the system plugged directly into the voltage regulator, I don't see any reason to suspect any part of my system is the issue and given the success without the UPS, I'm inclined to believe this is an issue with the UPS, however, I'm unclear if this is just a load issue or a faulty UPS issue (I've already reached out to APC on Wednesday regarding the shut downs during rendering and still haven't received a response from them ). I purchased the UPS to replace my old 600 W unit when I built my new system based on the estimated 320-380 W power consumption of the RTX 3080 and the 280 W TDP of the Threadripper 3970x. Since it's not reaching max load when the shut down occurs, it doesn't seem to be a load issue. However, I'm also hesitant to believe this is a fault UPS as this would be the 3rd one that I've had to replace for my workstation in 8 months. Is it possible my apartment's electricity is causing the UPS units to go bad (the voltage drops?)?



Motherboard: Asus ROG Zenith II Extreme Alpha
CPU: AMD Threadripper 39070X
RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 64GB (4x16GB)
GPU: EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 FTW3 ULTRA GAMING
System Drive: Samsung (MZ-V7E1T0BW) NVME 970 EVO SSD 1TB
Other Drive: Western Digital 2TB WD Blue SN550 NVMe Internal SSD (WDS200T2B0C)
Other Drive: WD Black 500GB High-Performance NVMe PCIe Internal SSD (WDS500G2X0C)
Other Drive: (2) Western Digital 3TB SATA Drives
PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower DPS G RGB 1250W (connected to the voltage regulator below)
Voltage Regulator: APC LE1200 Line-R 1200VA Automatic Voltage Regulator
CPU Cooler: Corsair iCUE H150i RGB Pro XT
Case: Corsair Obsidian 900D
UPS: APC Smart UPS SMT1500C (1500VA/1000W)
Windows 10 Pro ver.20H2
USB Peripherals: Powered USB 3.0 7-port hub, (3) WD My Book External USB Drives, XP-Pen Deco 01 V2, Logitech G600 Mouse, G-Skill KM780 Keyboard.
Monitors: (2) LG 32UN650-W monitors,

Mini PC: ACEPC T11 Mini PC (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GBM4JFN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1)
Monitor for Mini PC: Asus MG279Q

 

[Newtonius]

The 3080, or rather, the entire 3000 series gpu series has had known issues of having power spikes every now and then, especially during gameplay - some people reported spikes up to 489w. So when you triggered that battlescene in Horizon it probably had a moment where the power draw spiked really high, I'm playing that game right now on my 2080Ti and it can get pretty intense with all those chaotic movements from the machines. But back on topic, your UPS probably sees that spike as a possible power short and switches off to protect your other devices (even though your other devices are in no real danger).

It's just a possibility. It could be your home wiring, though I doubt it. Especially if it's up-to-date to US house standards: 120v 15A / 20A line at 14 or 12awg.

 

[oyesiku]

Thanks for the reply. As for my home wiring, unfortunately, I don't necessarily know if it is up to code - my building was renovated in the early 80's and the quality of the construction isn't very good, so I wouldn't take bad wiring off the table.

As for the power spikes, that's interesting to know. If your theory is correct, maybe there is a way to set the UPS to not shut down during these spikes. Alternatively, do you know if a way to set a power limit on the GPU that could prevent it from triggering the shut down?

 

[Newtonius]

Thanks for the reply. As for my home wiring, unfortunately, I don't necessarily know if it is up to code - my building was renovated in the early 80's and the quality of the construction isn't very good, so I wouldn't take bad wiring off the table.

As for the power spikes, that's interesting to know. If your theory is correct, maybe there is a way to set the UPS to not shut down during these spikes. Alternatively, do you know if a way to set a power limit on the GPU that could prevent it from triggering the shut down?

Try this

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sClh4270yg0

 

[oyesiku]

Wow, thanks! I'll try this today and let you know the results.

 

[oyesiku]

It seemed I was able to get good results with MSI Afterburner undervolting to 1850 Mhz @ .893v; I was able to play Horizon Zero Dawn and Cyberpunk 2077 with no reaction from my UPS. Also, yesterday, in response to an unrelated matter, a technician from APC informed me to disable "Green Mode" on my unit, which is apparently like an Offline mode for the unit and passes utility current straight through without protection, kicking in protection within 10 ms after a current issue is detected. I assumed this may have have been the issue so I play both Horizon Zero Dawn and Cyberpunk 2077 without undervolting and Green Mode disabled last night and it was perfect - no issues from the UPS or voltage regulator.

However, this morning I did another test and the voltage regulator and UPS kept intervening. I loaded up my undervolt profile in MSI Afterburner and tried both games and same result - voltage regulator and UPS kept intervening.

This leads me to conclude that neither disabling the Green Mode nor the current undervolt settings worked. Maybe at night the power being received from the utility has better/more stable voltage than during the day and I need even lower undervolt settings during the day, although the successful undervolt test on Sunday was during the afternoon, so don't know what to make of that.

Very frustrating.

 

[oyesiku]

Update:

I looked more in depth at MSI Afterburner and realized that once I set my profile, I was loading it without applying the profile (assuming the loading it modified the GPU settings). After realizing this, I tried again and the undervolting is definitely working - no issues from my UPS or voltage regulator. Thanks for your help!