SOLVED: Plugged in wrong HDMI cable that was not able to handle the bandwidth required from GPU intensive games. To future readers make sure to check to make sure your HDMI cable display port requirements and ensure your HDMI cables match!

Shoutout to @RJohnson11 for his input and special thanks to all those who aided me in my plight.


Greetings EVGA Community,

I have been plagued for the last 6 days with a black screen issue when playing games through steam (Specifically Hunt: Showdown and Risk of Rain 2). For some context, I can play from anywhere to 5 to 30 minutes without issue and then suddenly I lose complete control of my monitors. My primary monitor black screens and then my two tertiary monitors go black. After 15-30s they all come back on and whatever game I am playing moves to a different monitor. After another 5-30s all monitors will black screen again and the game attempts to move back to my primary monitor. This usually results in  a crash or needing to ALT + F4 out of the game in order to regain control of my screens. 

The odd thing about this is it seems to only be more graphic intensive games. I can play games like League of Legends, Team Fight Tactics and Minecraft for hours without any issues. 

Specs:
Motherboard: ASUS ROG Strix X570-E Gaming WiFi II
Memory: Cosair Vengeance LPX - 2 x 16GB
GPU: EVGA FTW3 Ultra Gaming LE iCX3 GeForce RTX 3080 TI 12GB
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900x 3.7GHz 12-Core Processor
PSU: Corsair HX1000 Platinum  || 1000 Watts 

Things I have tried to resolve this issue:
1.) Updating my GPU drivers
2.) Clean uninstall of my GPU drivers using DDU/SafeMode
3.) Rolling back GPU drivers to a safe/previously working version
4.) Switching HDMI Cables and ports
5.) Uninstalling Hunt and Reinstalling Hunt
6.) Disabling DirectX 12 and Using DirectX 11
7.) Running the game as Admin
8.) Allowing Hunt and EasyAntiCheat through my firewall
9.) Changing my 3d settings in my Nvidia Control Panel
10.) Disabling FullScreen Optimizations
11.) Reset my bios to default - so no overclocking
12.) Updated AM4 Socket Chipset Drivers
13.) Disable Link State Power Management
14.) Updating Windows
15.) Checking for Overheating - cleaned CPU and reapplied thermal paste
16.) SFC/ Scan Now and DISM Related Commands 
17.) Disassemble my entire PC and reseated everything
18.) Disabled Fast Boot/Startup

Note: I unfortunately do not have any spare parts to test anything.

Notable Events in Event Viewer/Reliability History:
LiveKernalEvent Id: 1a8 and 1b8 
LiveKernalEvent Id: 117

Any Advice or Trouble Shooting is appreciated!

Hi there,

Thanks for the response. I appreciate the information and provided links. Here are the answers to your questions: 
1.) I am running Windows 10 64-bit (10.0 Build 19045)
2.) I could not find anyone else reporting issues for steam games with this specific problem that was not resolved by clean installing their graphic drivers with DDU
3.) I have some software running at all times in the background: Razer Synapse (Mouse/DPI Profiles), Wave Link (Elgato Wave 3 Mic Control), Discord, Sound Blaster Command (Headphone Control), and occasionally NZXT Cam to monitor temps throughout my pc
4.) I had previously run into many of solutions provided in the links such as the NVIDIA Firmware updater and the shortcuts (Windows logo key + P or Ctrl + Alt + Del and Windows logo key + Ctrl + Shift + B.) However these did not work for me.

Hello Sajin,

My PSU is only a year old. I have not tried to underclock my card. I will add that to my list of things to try. I just used EVGA Precision to update some firmware that was one thing I had not yet found.

jkroll98
Hello Rjohnson,

Thanks for your response. I recently updated my bios twice and it is now fully up to date. In regard to the cables… I am still using the stock cables that came with the BIOS, GPU and PSU. I would assume these are certified? Does this mean the integrity of my wires would be at risk of wear and tear after only a year?

I think RJ is talking about the cables from your GPU to your 3 monitors
 
How to Choose a DisplayPort Cable, and Not Get a Bad One! - DisplayPort
 
 
---> What browser are you using for online gaming?
---> What security software are you using?
 
 
Tests:
1) use only your main monitor
2) Turn off all background software except security & Discord game
3) Turn off your Browser plugins
 
---> If the issue goes away with those items off, test one background software/ browser plugin at a time until the issue returns
 
 
Not sure this is what the issue is but worth a look: 
 
How to Fix VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE BSODs | Tom's Hardware
 
Timeout detection and recovery (TDR) - Windows drivers

Unfortunately using only one monitor and turning off all background software did not solve the issue. I still get the black screen crashes with nothing but the game/steam/discord running. I also still get the crashes after under clocking both core and memory to max negatives.

I'm having the same issue even using 1monitor (XG27AQM) which is 1440p 270Hz monitor, I use the DP cable it comes with... I did not try switch to other cable and if it may solve the issue I'd be surprised (but I may try after reading here although it's the retail cable the monitor comes with...) literally nothing runs on PC but the game (CSGO for e.g) and discord, and the monitor may crash/black screen after a while (it may be minutes or even after 30mins) did try disable OC, checked thermals and I have corsair HX1000i PSU so I'm not sure whether it's an issue of lacking WATT... when monitor crash I'm pretty much stuck and needed to restart PC.

rjohnson11

Yikesdee
I'm having the same issue even using 1monitor (XG27AQM) which is 1440p 270Hz monitor, I use the DP cable it comes with... I did not try switch to other cable and if it may solve the issue I'd be surprised (but I may try after reading here although it's the retail cable the monitor comes with...) literally nothing runs on PC but the game (CSGO for e.g) and discord, and the monitor may crash/black screen after a while (it may be minutes or even after 30mins) did try disable OC, checked thermals and I have corsair HX1000i PSU so I'm not sure whether it's an issue of lacking WATT... when monitor crash I'm pretty much stuck and needed to restart PC.

Try an HDMI cable. Most homes use an HDMI cable for their TV so you could 'temporarily' borrow one for testing. 

I may try but I guess my monitor may get its full capability only with display port (1440p 270hz)

Apply for a RMA.

Black screen can be very tricky...
I change my FTW3 Hybrid back to Air Cooled today, and got black screen all day (able to have graphic for only few seconds...)
It takes me couple hours to figure out the issue. I tried everything I can think of...flash bios, clear cmos, reinstall ram, reinstall cpu, unplug and replug all headers, etc..
 
turns out is the thermal pad I used on VRAM is too thick... I used a 2.5mm (30 shore, very soft) thermal pad and hope it can be compressed to 2.25mm when I put the back plate on. 
Unfortunately, it stay at 2.5mm and cause heatsink cooper not touch GPU die at all . When I open the heatsink, the thermal paste I applied is still the same as I first applied them.
 
I switch to 2mm thermal pads on VRAM, and now I'm typing this reply....