nVidia 3080 - driver shows device error, screen keeps resetting

[Xyclops]

Hi,

In case anyone else experiences this, thought I'd tell you my findings. After I installed the drivers I saw that Windows was using the Microsoft Basic Graphics adapter and the screen kept resetting (going black for a second or two) whilst windows was trying to enable the device.

Resinstalling windows didn't help. In the end I found the problem was resolved by changing BIOS setting to set the PCIe mode to 3 rather than auto. In my case this is probably due to my PCIe 90 degree adapter not supporting PCIe 4. So I will have to find a replacement. Having said that though the scores the GPU is getting in Port Royal are about average for the same GPU / CPU combination. So I suspect the 3080 is not actually needing the PCIe bandwidth.

 

[zx128k]

Port Royal is limited by the GPU RT cores.

 

[Jamin280672]

Hi,

In case anyone else experiences this, thought I'd tell you my findings. After I installed the drivers I saw that Windows was using the Microsoft Basic Graphics adapter and the screen kept resetting (going black for a second or two) whilst windows was trying to enable the device.

Resinstalling windows didn't help. In the end I found the problem was resolved by changing BIOS setting to set the PCIe mode to 3 rather than auto. In my case this is probably due to my PCIe 90 degree adapter not supporting PCIe 4. So I will have to find a replacement. Having said that though the scores the GPU is getting in Port Royal are about average for the same GPU / CPU combination. So I suspect the 3080 is not actually needing the PCIe bandwidth.

Theres only 1 replacement and its not cheap, its called LINKUP - ultra PCIe 4.0 riser cable and I just paid £70 for one, Im glad I got it when I did as they were selling like hot cakes when the 30 series cards came out, I managed to grab a 90o one, currently OOS though, unfortunately, although it is currently in use on my new 3070, due to the chaos with the latest Ryzen 5000 CPUs and me ending up on the pre-order list, im having to use the CPU out of the computer I built for my dad which is a 3400G and in my board, it only allows the GPU to run at PCI-e 3.0 x8 mode, so I cant fully test the cable until I get my 5900X

 

[Xyclops]

Theres only 1 replacement and its not cheap, its called LINKUP - ultra PCIe 4.0 riser cable and I just paid £70 for one, Im glad I got it when I did as they were selling like hot cakes when the 30 series cards came out, I managed to grab a 90o one, currently OOS though, unfortunately, although it is currently in use on my new 3070, due to the chaos with the latest Ryzen 5000 CPUs and me ending up on the pre-order list, im having to use the CPU out of the computer I built for my dad which is a 3400G and in my board, it only allows the GPU to run at PCI-e 3.0 x8 mode, so I cant fully test the cable until I get my 5900X

Thanks for the info. However, I have just found that my 20cm thermaltake riser cable works at PCI-e 4 even though its only rated to be a 3.0 cable. Before I had the 90 degree adapter (cheap thing from china) then the thermaltake cable then the GPU. I have now bypassed the 90 degree adapter and used the cable directly to the motherboard. This does make it a little tight and it only just reaches the GPU, but it seems to work fine.

I benchmarked TimeSpy both in PCIe 4.0 and PCIe 3.0 mode. There was a very very slight improvement with PCIe 4.0 but I would say small enough to be considered margin of error. So, at least in that test, the 3080 does not fully utilise PCIe 3.0. This should be comforting for those people that still have 3.0 motherboards.

 

[Xyclops]

Quick update, so it seems that my PCIe 3.0 cable has now stopped working at PCIe 4.0 speeds. It still works at 3.0 speeds though. So I have purchased one of those LINKUP cables. Hopefully that will do the trick on the 3080. I am also adding a 1660 super GPU to this computer, so I can use that with my 3.0 extension cable. So not a complete loss.

 

[Xyclops]

Another update. The LINKUP cable (£65) works perfectly at PCIe 4.0 speeds. I have validated this by checking that GPU-Z shows it using PCIe 4.0 and I have done some benchmarks and gaming with no issues. Of course it hasn't made any real difference to the scores over PCIe 3.0 but at least I know I have the fastest possible connection now.