I recently upgraded from an RTX 3060 to a Zotac RTX 3080 Trinity OC, but I'm really disappointed with the performance. In Steel Nomad, I'm only scoring between 3600 and 3800, while the average should be over 4300. My GPU runs pretty hot, reaching around 85°C, and the clock speed drops to about 1245 MHz when under load. I tried undervolting it, but things got worse, so I reverted to default settings. The noise from the fans is extremely loud, making my desk vibrate. Right now, I'm using a single PCIe power cable that splits into two connectors (an 8-pin and a 6+2-pin). Could this daisy-chained setup be causing my high temperatures and poor performance?
4 Answers
If your 3080 has been used for a while, the thermal paste and pads might need replacement. NVIDIA cards throttle at around 83°C, and consistent high temps can cause your card to downclock. I repasted my 3070 and saw a massive drop in temp, allowing it to run much better. If this card is new and still performing poorly, it may be worth returning it for a faulty unit.
What are the specs of your other PC components, like your CPU and RAM? Also, your 3080 might have issues with thermal pads on the memory chips; replacing them and redoing the thermal paste could really help in this case. Make sure to use separate cables for the power connections too!
There are a few things to check here. First, you should definitely avoid daisy chaining cables; a single PCIe cable should feed each connector independently. Secondly, consider the age and quality of your PSU and its cables. Lastly, if the thermal paste application is old or poorly done, that might be contributing to your overheating issues.
You definitely shouldn't daisy chain power cables. It's best to use separate cables for each PCIe connector on the GPU. That could really help with your performance and temps.
I have an i5-12400F with Kingston Fury Beast DDR4 2x16 CL16 RAM and a CX750 PSU.