I've tried ddu, clean installs through the driver installer, and still i get a couple of seconds of picture, then the driver seems to try restarting itself, rinse and repeat. I can't seem to get nvidia control panel up either. Anyone else experienced this or has some advice to offer?
 
thanks in advance

Try going into device manager.  Display Adapters.  Disable the RTX 3080. Uninstall the Nvidia software (everything including geforce experience).  Also uninstall all video card software like Precision X or Afterburner.  If they ask if you want to keep your settings during the uninstall process, say no.  Just wipe it all out.  Then for good measure back in device manager, right click the 3080 and "Uninstall device" and if/when given an option to also delete the driver from the system, choose yes.  Then try rebooting. Install the latest Nvidia drivers.  Then enable the card in device manager.  If that didn't work, repeat the exact same thing but this time after you restart, don't install the Nvidia drivers.  Just enable the video card and see if Windows will install drivers automatically in the background.