kim666
sadly xc3 is not even a reference board.  more of a modded ref pcb
 
this is a ref 3080/90 pcb. there is a short and long version, but both have the same component layouts

reference pcb are good for water cooling, simplify block makers
the best reference 3080ti pcb is zotac amp holo black, it uses similar vrm as high end pcb, and is more efficient than all 3080ti out now.
 
FE is actually an nvidia customed board
 
other wise your 3080ti is performing as expected....355-366w average load, with peaks at 375w, at least reported on gpuz
 
the only way to get higher TS score is to use hybrid or waterblock cooling
 
 

Brendruis
Those numbers would be right, but thats not what I'm getting.  367.5W was the max load I was able to achieve during my benchmarking at 105% power.  At 100% power, I am never able to achieve anything more than exactly 349W, even though the board could obviously use more if it weren’t running into that hard barrier of 349W.  This hard barrier doesn't seem to exist on other cards such as the 3080 Ti FE which claims the same TDP power yet frequently peaks beyond it, as we would expect.  Now the XC3 can peak beyond this strange arbitrary 349W if you move the power slider 5% to the right and then begins to behave as a normal stock 3080 Ti (ie: roughly 19k 3dmark timespy graphics).

For reference my rig is 11900k not OC
MSI Z590-A Pro
16GB Corsair DDR4 3200
EVGA Supernova 1000W G2 (used to SLI)
EVGA 3080 Ti XC3 12GB at 105% power no OC.. max power draw exactly 367.5W, which coincidentally is 105% of 350W. at 100% power it is stuck at maximum 349W period it will not exceed that no matter the benchmark.

This is strange behavior in comparison to other 3080 Ti of similar make from different manufacturers. I feel like performance is being left on the table. My temps don’t exceed 67c on a timespy run for the GPU. Granted I have great cooling in the case but I feel something is still wrong.. if it’s that cold shouldn’t I boost higher and draw more at 100% than 349W especially in Unigine which I tried also. At least if reviews are to be believed. What’s going on here?

Brendruis
It hovers around 345-350 during the tests with peak at 376.5, exactly 105% of 350.. (ie: 350x1.05=367.5). That seems like a hard limit of 367.5 for peak, not 375. Can anyone with more experience enlighten me on what the peak power numbers for this ‘basic’ version of a 3080 Ti AIB (I guess you’d call it) really is?

I don’t know if I’m going to take the loss for a trade but if I’m limited that much that I might as well have a lesser card then I feel obliged to try to get what I paid for..

This is the first time I’ve heard of the nVidia FE parts being used on the actual PCB being superior to other manufacturers unless it’s new for this generation. I certainly would have spent $50 more on eBay if I knew for certain that was the case, and might even trade this for one if someone can prove it to me. I know they have a good look and have premium anodized metal finishes and accents on the outside that encase it in almost a shell which I’m sure adds a little to the value for some, and they have a worse warranty.

What steered me away from the FE this time was the strange push pull cooling that doesn’t perform as well that I’ve seen In reviews as the ICX3 cooling by eVGA or other solutions for that matter. it’s too bad you can’t take advantage of the cool temps because the card seems to be artificially power limited. If it could it would easily clock up and challenge a FE out of the box since it’s running at 68c (which it should, not be 6-700 points behind as it is at 100% power).

If changes were made when the other threads [which I’ve entirely read] came to prominence, who’s to say there isn’t still a BIOS issue lurking somewhere still? All I ask is that someone look into it if possible.

CraptacularOne

Brendruis
No ****, I wish I would have read that article before purchase. It would be pretty cool if this were more well known. Hey, maybe eVGA could have released review samples of the XC3 instead of just the FTW3 to oooh and ahh about and sweeping the poor scores of the XC3 under the rug.

I guess at least I can approach FE numbers at 105% power… it seems the problem was worse before. I don’t think I can stomach a 12% loss selling it on eBay and then another 7% plus scalper tax. We’re talking at least $4-500 to swap this for an FE since step up queue is down for new entries. Probably not worth it for 200 3DMarks and a few frames in whatever game. Still always hurts to be jipped… thank you for all the info provided.. unless there is an additional magical additional BIOS change which I doubt it seems it is a limitation of the hardware itself.

Cool, being a dick will get you far on this forum. The only person you have to be mad at is yourself for not doing any research before you spent your money. Why do people like you do this? Spend your money then decide to investigate what it is you bought then get mad? It's idiotic and ignorant. At the end of they day, you're still getting RTX 3080 Ti performance, you're just not going to be overclocking it as high. 

CraptacularOne

Brendruis

CraptacularOne

Brendruis
No ****, I wish I would have read that article before purchase. It would be pretty cool if this were more well known. Hey, maybe eVGA could have released review samples of the XC3 instead of just the FTW3 to oooh and ahh about and sweeping the poor scores of the XC3 under the rug.

I guess at least I can approach FE numbers at 105% power… it seems the problem was worse before. I don’t think I can stomach a 12% loss selling it on eBay and then another 7% plus scalper tax. We’re talking at least $4-500 to swap this for an FE since step up queue is down for new entries. Probably not worth it for 200 3DMarks and a few frames in whatever game. Still always hurts to be jipped… thank you for all the info provided.. unless there is an additional magical additional BIOS change which I doubt it seems it is a limitation of the hardware itself.

Cool, being a dick will get you far on this forum. The only person you have to be mad at is yourself for not doing any research before you spent your money. Why do people like you do this? Spend your money then decide to investigate what it is you bought then get mad? It's idiotic and ignorant. At the end of they day, you're still getting RTX 3080 Ti performance, you're just not going to be overclocking it as high. 

Don’t see where I was a dick at all what is your issue? Because I didn’t read that one article? I did actually search for difference in board components. I guess sorry my search wasn’t as fruitful or I used different keywords? I’m not sure why you are so angry.

This is the first time the Founders Edition has been so drastically different from reference boards and “budget AIBs” with a cut PCB, a modified power connector and completely different parts AFAIK. I owned a 3080 Ti FE not even a month ago before I sold it to buy this thing. It scored no different than eVGA 1080 Tis it any other unless they were OC models. This is the first series to exhibit any discrepancy and I asked politely if anyone knew anymore information about it.

I don’t get your response so I’m gonna disregard it unless you have information to add. Thanks to everyone else who contributed to the thread

Perhaps I took that the wrong way then, it seemed to me you were saying "No XXXt to me" as being condescending. 
 
All the initial reviews of the Nvidia FE cards went over how the FE cards this generation weren't in fact using "reference design" PCBs and this was the first time Nvidia themselves would be using a custom design and compete with higher end cards directly themselves. Your PCB isn't "cut" or limited, it's in fact adhering to Nvidia's recommended reference design power budget for your GPU. Had you bought a different card be it from PNY, Palit or Zotac etc that use the reference design they too are set to 366w max with a target of 350w. 
 
While this card doesn't use the reference design PCB, it does adhere to the recommended default power budget set by Nvidia, not EVGA. 

Brendruis

CraptacularOne

Brendruis

CraptacularOne

Brendruis
No ****, I wish I would have read that article before purchase. It would be pretty cool if this were more well known. Hey, maybe eVGA could have released review samples of the XC3 instead of just the FTW3 to oooh and ahh about and sweeping the poor scores of the XC3 under the rug.

I guess at least I can approach FE numbers at 105% power… it seems the problem was worse before. I don’t think I can stomach a 12% loss selling it on eBay and then another 7% plus scalper tax. We’re talking at least $4-500 to swap this for an FE since step up queue is down for new entries. Probably not worth it for 200 3DMarks and a few frames in whatever game. Still always hurts to be jipped… thank you for all the info provided.. unless there is an additional magical additional BIOS change which I doubt it seems it is a limitation of the hardware itself.

Cool, being a dick will get you far on this forum. The only person you have to be mad at is yourself for not doing any research before you spent your money. Why do people like you do this? Spend your money then decide to investigate what it is you bought then get mad? It's idiotic and ignorant. At the end of they day, you're still getting RTX 3080 Ti performance, you're just not going to be overclocking it as high. 

Don’t see where I was a dick at all what is your issue? Because I didn’t read that one article? I did actually search for difference in board components. I guess sorry my search wasn’t as fruitful or I used different keywords? I’m not sure why you are so angry.

This is the first time the Founders Edition has been so drastically different from reference boards and “budget AIBs” with a cut PCB, a modified power connector and completely different parts AFAIK. I owned a 3080 Ti FE not even a month ago before I sold it to buy this thing. It scored no different than eVGA 1080 Tis it any other unless they were OC models. This is the first series to exhibit any discrepancy and I asked politely if anyone knew anymore information about it.

I don’t get your response so I’m gonna disregard it unless you have information to add. Thanks to everyone else who contributed to the thread

Perhaps I took that the wrong way then, it seemed to me you were saying "No XXXt to me" as being condescending. 
 
All the initial reviews of the Nvidia FE cards went over how the FE cards this generation weren't in fact using "reference design" PCBs and this was the first time Nvidia themselves would be using a custom design and compete with higher end cards directly themselves. Your PCB isn't "cut" or limited, it's in fact adhering to Nvidia's recommended reference design power budget for your GPU. Had you bought a different card be it from PNY, Palit or Zotac etc that use the reference design they too are set to 366w max with a target of 350w. 
 
While this card doesn't use the reference design PCB, it does adhere to the recommended default power budget set by Nvidia, not EVGA. 

Thanks for any info and sorry if you took that wrong, I wasn’t saying “no ****” to you but more of just to myself.. like a surprised reaction. Sorry if offense was taken or if I got off topic

I meant the FE is a “cut” PCB and by that I just meant it has those diagonal cutouts to fit the custom cooler they have. I didn’t watch the release event or anything, and I only have myself to blame for that and missing that they were “competing with the higher end cards themselves now.” Do you happen to know if that’s an actual quote from someone at NVDA?

Thx again

Brendruis

talon951
Well you could try to score a 3x8pin card. It's not like it would be hard to sell the XC3 for good money right now.

It’d be $351 with 12% on eBay seller fees and 7% in Florida sales tax, that’s assuming I could sell the card for what I bought it for, which is unlikely given its now used or at the very least “open box” so I’d probably lose more than that.

I think a 3x8pin would solve the issue.. it’s just is it worth that amount. I would not be losing that small bit of performance and I wouldn’t have to go in and set power to 105%.. on the other hand I’m not much of an overclocker (too much variance in games with stability testing and scanning for artifacts constantly).

I agree there’s a choice to make.. hmm

Brendruis

talon951
Reality is the performance difference is small and you'll never notice without a frame counter probably. BUT, have you looked to see what cards are selling for right now?!

I know but if I didn’t reveal I got this card on eBay sealed and paid the scalper premium of $600 a month and a half ago. Prices have risen about $50 since. It would be totally worth it if I got this at MSRP on here or somewhere but I didn’t.