There are now initial explanations for what is causing the crashes with the RTX 3080. The problems are likely due to a component: capacitors on the graphics card cannot withstand the performance spikes of the GPU.
What kind of crashes are these? Players have reported crashes with the RTX 3080. Initially, it was suspected that a too weak power supply could be the problem for some users, causing the graphics cards to crash.
However, the debate has now taken a completely new direction. The focus is on components used in the graphics cards.
What is the debate about? IgorsLab pointed out that certain components on the graphics card could be causing problems.
causing problems. On the other side of the capacitors is the graphics processor. In the image: a graphics card from ASUS.
RTX 3080 Crashes: Is a component to blame?
These components are at issue: The debate, which can be followed on reddit.com, is currently revolving around components used on the back of the graphics card.
It concerns the capacitors located on the back of the graphics card (see image). The graphics card needs these to operate at high performance and cope with changing frequencies. Good capacitors are therefore necessary if you want to overclock your card stably.
Simply put, graphics card manufacturers can choose between two types of capacitors to place on the back of the board and on the back of the graphics processor:
- POSCAPs (Conductive Polymer Tantalum Solid Capacitors) are larger. However, they do not withstand high frequencies and performance spikes as well. They are better suited for low frequencies (via industrial.panasonic.com).
- MLCCs (Multilayer Ceramic Chip Capacitors) are smaller and significantly more powerful, but they do not cope well with lower frequencies (via elektronik-kompendium.de).
On average, the smaller MLCC capacitors also cope better with high voltage fluctuations than the larger POSCAP components. However, the larger components are better suited for lower voltages (see image).
The capacitors also differ within their own groups: not all POSCAPs or MLCCs come from the same manufacturer. Whether the crashes of the RTX 3080 are actually due to the quality of the capacitors is currently hard to say: according to newark.com, the performance of the two capacitor types is very close to each other.
In principle, graphics cards that use a mix of POSCAPs and MLCCs seem to have better performance rates (via reddit.com), but that does not mean that other users do not have problems. There are also users affected who use graphics cards with MLCC capacitors (via overclockers.co.uk).
What is certain is that POSCAPs are significantly larger than ceramic capacitors. To illustrate the size difference between POSCAPs and MLCCs: 10 MLCCs fit in the space of one POSCAP.
RTX 3080: What speaks for and against the components
What we do not know: It is not yet known what voltage changes occur between the GPU and the power supply, and whether strongly fluctuating voltages are actually responsible for the problems. In technical terms, this unintentional voltage drop is called a “Brownout”.
A reddit user explains in a detailed post why he finds the discussion unhelpful, stating that “without knowing the frequency of the voltage drop, it is completely pointless to have a debate about a ‘team of small capacitors’ (better at high-frequency changes) versus a ‘large capacitor’ (better at low frequencies).”
If the voltages only fluctuate very slightly, the supposedly cheaper POSCAPs perform significantly better.
For example, Paul’s Hardware (in English) shows in his YouTube video that a whole range of graphics cards are affected – no matter which components they are using:
In his video, he tests the FE RTX 3080 from Nvidia, the ASUS TUF OC RTX 3080, the Gigabyte Gaming OC RTX 3080, and the Zotac Trinity (non-OC) RTX 3080. Under normal load, all graphics cards run stably, including those cards that are factory overclocked (Gigabyte and ASUS). Once the graphics cards exceed the 2GHz mark, all mentioned graphics cards crash above 2GHz.
What is in favor of it? Some users report that the problems are significantly reduced when the graphics card’s performance is lowered. (via techpowerup.com):
RTX 3080 – Graphics cards that are clocked down by 50 – 100 MHz do not reach frequencies over 2GHz even in Boost mode, resulting in significantly fewer frequency spikes.
RTX 3080 Crashes: What manufacturers say about the problems
What do manufacturers say? Several manufacturers have now commented on the problems: EVGA writes (via forums.evga.com) that they have exchanged components in production. EVGA has also stated that the problems only affect a certain group of graphics cards:
During our quality control for mass production, we found that a complete solution with 6 POSCAPs could not pass tests for real-world applications. It took almost a week of research and effort to find the cause and reduce the POSCAPs to 4 and add 20 MLCC capacitors before the production boards were shipped. For this reason, the release of the EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 FTW3 series was delayed. No 6 POSCAP production cards of the EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 FTW3 series were shipped.
EVGA, via forums.evga.com
Other graphics card manufacturers (via videocardz.com) have also commented:
- COLORFUL has recalled graphics cards that had been sent for testing.
- MSI acknowledged the issues during the MSI Insider livestream but currently attributes them to driver problems.
- ZOTAC has since reported on Facebook with users. They should contact the manufacturer directly if they purchased a Zotac graphics card.
- GALAX (via Videocardz.com on Twitter) stated that adjustments and optimizations will be made to individual products.
- GAINWARD (via Videocardz.com on Twitter) stated that all RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 models will use a mix of POSCAPs and MLCCs.
Where does Nvidia stand in the debate?
There are various statements regarding the Founder’s model. For example, igorslab.de states that stability issues could not be proven with any Founder’s Edition of the RTX 3080. And “if something went wrong, it was most likely a driver issue.”
Another example shows Paul’s Hardware: In his YouTube video, he demonstrates that the problems also occur with the “Founder Edition” from Nvidia as soon as the graphics card is overclocked beyond 2GHz.
Are you also affected by the crashes or have you so far been spared from the problems?
By the way, you can find out where the differences between RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 lie here:
