RTX 3080 Ti Stuck at 220W and 900 MHz Despite Low Temperatures
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MellowPine47
I recently bought a used GALAX RTX 3080 Ti Gamer and tested it with 3DMark, but the score is only around 2,800 instead of the roughly 5,000 I expected. GPU-Z shows the core clock staying near 900 MHz rather than boosting to around 1,700 MHz. Power draw also tops out at about 220–225W instead of the card's default 350W limit, and the PerfCap Reason remains stuck on PWR. Temperatures average only 52°C, so this doesn't appear to be thermal throttling.
I already used DDU to completely remove and reinstall the NVIDIA drivers, reset MSI Afterburner to its defaults, and confirmed that the graphics slot is operating at PCIe x16 Gen 3. The system has a Seasonic 750W Gold power supply connected with two separate PCIe cables. Could a faulty connector, cable, or power-delivery circuit on the card be causing this? The seller says it worked normally before shipping and has offered a return, but I'd like to troubleshoot it before sending it back.
Answers
The first thing I’d check is every power connection. Try different PCIe cables from the PSU and make sure each connector is fully seated on the card. A 220W ceiling is suspiciously close to what the card could receive from the PCIe slot plus only one properly powered 8-pin connector, so the card may not be detecting power from one of its inputs. If the connectors and cables are definitely good but the limit remains, the card’s power circuitry may have been damaged, possibly during shipping.
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You can test with another known-good power supply if one is available, but a quality 750W Seasonic unit should normally be sufficient for a 3080 Ti when the cables are connected correctly. I wouldn’t buy a new PSU as the first solution. Since the card is used and the seller accepts returns, send it back if alternate cables and a careful connector check don’t resolve the PWR limit; a fault in the card’s power-delivery hardware is a real possibility.
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MellowPine47: That makes sense. I’ll test the available cable and connector combinations, and if the power limit doesn’t change, I’ll return the card.