Nice to know this; thanks to let us know

Superbuttpain
Howdy.

I have been following the EVGA RTX 3090 FTW3 Bios Issues on the forum, and I was wondering how safe would I be if I bought the 24G-P5-3987-KR.

Pretty much I intend to buy one but kinda 100% unsure, also something is I wouldn't be able to buy extended warranty since it is not a verified reseller from the list EVGA gives which kinda sucks? :/

So tl&dr either get a RTX  3090 FTW3 for 2799€ but sadly no extended warranty or a Asus RTX 3090 OC Strix for 2999€.

I always liked EVGA and I owned a EVGA GTX 950 FTW some years ago and it was a solid GPU although 160€ vs almost 17,5 times more for a RTX 3090, but given the current market circunstances and the RMA spaghetti situation for the past months on EVGA related to 3090's, it kinda worries me given the fact it's a huge investment.

And at this point I am kinda unsure of what to go for although I feel like giving the extra 200€ to avoid the potential RMA's which could cost more in the end. :/

Any suggestion or advice would be great.

If your in the US i would talk to evga by email or phone and tell them the situation and see what they say. They MAY work with you on it, you never know. They are one of the few companies that really do try to work with every customer. If you got by with a 950 for this long a 3090 may be waaayyy more than you need for the games/programs your using and the monitor/refresh your using. Some games are much more cpu dependent and a good graphics card wont make much of a difference. Get in the evga notify queues for all the 30 series cards and be ready when the 3080ti/3070ti drops and you may snag one. Just watch your emails carefully or have them go to your phone with alerts cause you only get 8 hours to respond and after that the cards put back in the queue for the next guy.

Hi Everyone, hope everyone is doing good. 

I have a EVGA GeForce RTX 3090 FTW3 ULTRA (24G-P5-3987-KR) bought in November 2020. 
 
Can someone point me in the right direction as I read this very long thread. 
 
Is it just a straight RMA with this card  (24G-P5-3987-KR) ? A bit confused. Does this part need to be replaced regardless ? 
 
How do I check to see if my card is good?  Do I just play a game and see what the power draw is? I've never updated the BIOS on it. I have the switch in the OC position. With that said is there a target wattage I should be hitting? How do I measure the the slot draw ? There's probably a piece of software to monitor? 
 
 

MaxTheOwl
Disclaimer: I am by far no expert on this matter.
If the slot draw is really that concerning, why is EVGA only offering that program for the "3090 FTW3 Ultra" and not for the normal or the hybrid version? It looks like every original "3090 FTW3" that was sold has this problem, more or less, and they still selling this card it. Would'nt be thousand of systems be destroyed if this is such big of an issue?
They were selling us a card with a 450 watt BIOS and my card can reach that (not average but still) and the slot draw is 80 maximum with the Stock BIOS with the power limit set to 107%. The XOC BIOS just comes on top of what I bought. And with this BIOS I saw a maximum of 489 Watts and 83 watts on the slot.
I have read reviews of the FE cards that mentioned the same slot draw. Why is this not such big of a story?
I just try to understand all.

well the main problem here power balancing issues, card can be limited by PCIE slot PCIE 8pins, you can see such events on GPU-Z.
for example my card do following...
PCIE slot : up to 84W (not included 3.3V rail which adds another 8 to 15W to it) that is quite insane and boards are not designed by default for it as in spec is MAXIMUM 75W (including 3.3V)
PCIE 8 pin 1: 100W+
PCIE 8 pin 2: 100W+
PCIE 8 pin 3: roughly 60W below pin 1 and 2
 
if you stress card under those conditions you can see MAX 500W but what matters more is AVG which such card will not achieve and you will see results between 420 - 430W
Another problems which is my concern is that not every mobo can handle 80W+ on PCIE slot and may in best case shut down system. Worst case scenario could burn some components.
 
GOOD news is that EVGA has setup special 3090OC program to remediate such problems (especially power balancing issues)
 
kind regards
Tomas

mrfinnlagh
Okay, after searching, I believe I download Gpu-z. 

How do I check what BIOS came with and is on my card ?  What BIOS do I need to do this testing?  Do I update in Precision X1 ? What BIOS does that update? 

this will help you: GPU-Z Graphics Card GPU Information Utility (techpowerup.com)

MaxTheOwl

spider1701

MaxTheOwl
Disclaimer: I am by far no expert on this matter.
If the slot draw is really that concerning, why is EVGA only offering that program for the "3090 FTW3 Ultra" and not for the normal or the hybrid version? It looks like every original "3090 FTW3" that was sold has this problem, more or less, and they still selling this card it. Would'nt be thousand of systems be destroyed if this is such big of an issue?
They were selling us a card with a 450 watt BIOS and my card can reach that (not average but still) and the slot draw is 80 maximum with the Stock BIOS with the power limit set to 107%. The XOC BIOS just comes on top of what I bought. And with this BIOS I saw a maximum of 489 Watts and 83 watts on the slot.
I have read reviews of the FE cards that mentioned the same slot draw. Why is this not such big of a story?
I just try to understand all.

well the main problem here power balancing issues, card can be limited by PCIE slot PCIE 8pins, you can see such events on GPU-Z.
for example my card do following...
PCIE slot : up to 84W (not included 3.3V rail which adds another 8 to 15W to it) that is quite insane and boards are not designed by default for it as in spec is MAXIMUM 75W (including 3.3V)
PCIE 8 pin 1: 100W+
PCIE 8 pin 2: 100W+
PCIE 8 pin 3: roughly 60W below pin 1 and 2

if you stress card under those conditions you can see MAX 500W but what matters more is AVG which such card will not achieve and you will see results between 420 - 430W
Another problems which is my concern is that not every mobo can handle 80W+ on PCIE slot and may in best case shut down system. Worst case scenario could burn some components.

kind regards
Tomas

I get this. But my cards 3rd pin is always higher than the other 2. (Image from Everspace with heavy OC)
Average PCI-E slot draw is about 77-79 watts. Average overall depends on the game.
And it seems that the RMA cards are also suffering from this power balnancing "issue" and some of them only get to 450 or 460 watts with the BIOS they come with.
EVGA says that this RMA is only because of the power balancing not because of the PCI-E Slot draw. This is confusing to me.
But I get your points with the cheap motherboards.
I have a Z490 Aorus Master. This should be able to handle this.
In of my PR scores https://www.3dmark.com/pr/1025030

Kind regards

PCIE slot is part of that power balancing issues. Cards from the 3090OC program came back with fixed VRM module and most of the folks whos got them reports that their PCIE slot is from 65W to 67W mostly. Power balancing issues are still common on the cards you get from shops. My card SN 2112 (china) shipped from EVGA on march and still suffers from that issue.
I really do hope that newer cards will came with revised PCB by default. It would save lots of money to EVGA in case folks decide to mass RMA PCIE slot as it violates every spec thus safety regulation.
As per your screen I do hope that in long term it will do no harm to your computer (note that your max is not showing 3.3V as GPU-Z only shows W for 12V)
 
kind regards
Tomas

MaxTheOwl

spider1701

MaxTheOwl

spider1701

MaxTheOwl
Disclaimer: I am by far no expert on this matter.
If the slot draw is really that concerning, why is EVGA only offering that program for the "3090 FTW3 Ultra" and not for the normal or the hybrid version? It looks like every original "3090 FTW3" that was sold has this problem, more or less, and they still selling this card it. Would'nt be thousand of systems be destroyed if this is such big of an issue?
They were selling us a card with a 450 watt BIOS and my card can reach that (not average but still) and the slot draw is 80 maximum with the Stock BIOS with the power limit set to 107%. The XOC BIOS just comes on top of what I bought. And with this BIOS I saw a maximum of 489 Watts and 83 watts on the slot.
I have read reviews of the FE cards that mentioned the same slot draw. Why is this not such big of a story?
I just try to understand all.

well the main problem here power balancing issues, card can be limited by PCIE slot PCIE 8pins, you can see such events on GPU-Z.
for example my card do following...
PCIE slot : up to 84W (not included 3.3V rail which adds another 8 to 15W to it) that is quite insane and boards are not designed by default for it as in spec is MAXIMUM 75W (including 3.3V)
PCIE 8 pin 1: 100W+
PCIE 8 pin 2: 100W+
PCIE 8 pin 3: roughly 60W below pin 1 and 2

if you stress card under those conditions you can see MAX 500W but what matters more is AVG which such card will not achieve and you will see results between 420 - 430W
Another problems which is my concern is that not every mobo can handle 80W+ on PCIE slot and may in best case shut down system. Worst case scenario could burn some components.

kind regards
Tomas

I get this. But my cards 3rd pin is always higher than the other 2. (Image from Everspace with heavy OC)
Average PCI-E slot draw is about 77-79 watts. Average overall depends on the game.
And it seems that the RMA cards are also suffering from this power balnancing "issue" and some of them only get to 450 or 460 watts with the BIOS they come with.
EVGA says that this RMA is only because of the power balancing not because of the PCI-E Slot draw. This is confusing to me.
But I get your points with the cheap motherboards.
I have a Z490 Aorus Master. This should be able to handle this.
In of my PR scores https://www.3dmark.com/pr/1025030

Kind regards

PCIE slot is part of that power balancing issues. Cards from the 3090OC program came back with fixed VRM module and most of the folks whos got them reports that their PCIE slot is from 65W to 67W mostly. Power balancing issues are still common on the cards you get from shops. My card SN 2112 (china) shipped from EVGA on march and still suffers from that issue.
I really do hope that newer cards will came with revised PCB by default. It would save lots of money to EVGA in case folks decide to mass RMA PCIE slot as it violates every spec thus safety regulation.
As per your screen I do hope that in long term it will do no harm to your computer (note that your max is not showing 3.3V as GPU-Z only shows W for 12V)
 
kind regards
Tomas

These RMA cards also have the problem that the third pin is far behind. Just look back in this thread. And why is EVGA not doing a recall through the retailers than? Not everyone is looking at those values or at the forums.
And as I said the hybrid versions and normal versions don't have such a RMA program. This is very inconsistent!
It is driving my crazy.. .

Well, if RMA card would do the same (I mean exhibit same problems in manner of PCIE slot) I would call for another at expense of EVGA as they would deliver faulty merchandise.
Right now, my RMA was not yet approved (after 24 hours), hard to say what is taking so long for EU residents.
 
Kind regards
Tomas

spider1701
Well, if RMA card would do the same, I would call for another at expense of EVGA as they would deliver faulty merchandise.
 

They don't "do the same".  You do realize that different 8-pin cables supply power to different parts of the card, right? If the components on the third cable don't need as much as the first two, what issue are you trying to solve? Also, most users are pushing 1440p displays which have been proven to not get these cards up to full power especially without heavy overclocking. Remember, most of the users in this thread are jabbing low overclocking parameters into air-cooled cards and just stopping as soon as they have a small hiccup without understanding how to actually overclock Ampere. They then come here to complain about not hitting 500w.  As a user who spent literal DAYS undervolting and overclocking my first card I got to know the issue very well.  This revision card is miles above the original in performance, especially now that it is water cooled. I no longer have to dance around the 900mv range hoping to not push my card into the power-limit where it immediately started to downclock regardless of voltage and temperature. I think you need to identify what you are actually trying to get out of the card and seek to understand why the cards work they do, both the faulty cards and the revised cards.

spider1701
{Rant}

You misunderstand my post. I'm countering your claim that the revision cards are 'the same' as the non revision cards. Sure, looks like you have a problem with PCIe draw like most of the first available cards. But when it's resolved and you are still 60w or more lower on the third 8-pin realize that may be a constraint of board design considering the reference spec revolves around a two 8-pin design.

lobstar

spider1701
{Rant}

You misunderstand my post. I'm countering your claim that the revision cards are 'the same' as the non revision cards. Sure, looks like you have a problem with PCIe draw like most of the first available cards. But when it's resolved and you are still 60w ore more lower on the third 8-pin realize that may be a constraint of board design considering the reference spec revolves around a two 8-pin design.

I newer said that those cards are "same" I know that new revision are different.
“Statement: if RMA card would do the same”, I mean exhibit same problems in manner of PCIE slot.
If my wording implied that I mean same card I apologize for that 😊
 
Kind regards
Tomas

Completely off topic but if you guys are interested and qualify (Only in the USA I'm afraid) you can get 50$ off your monthly internet bill here cos of a covid bill that passed I'm doing it now pretty cool.
 
https://getemergencybroadband.org/ a buddy of mine at work told me about it so im checking it out:
 
https://www.nbcnews.com/t...-internet-bill-rcna906

Its not JUST for people below the poverty line. You are elligible if you are a single filer and you make less than 99k a year or married and you file jointly make 198k per year. If it was I wouldn't qualify but I do!

badass1982
Wow that's impressive just recieved my tracking number telling me the new GPU is going to arrive tomorrow. Good form EVGA now I hope its one with the power balance stuff fixed.

Mine as well. Next Day Delivery tracking number acquired
Edit: Should arrive by 10:30am tomorrow morning. And I'm not working.. perfect day to play with it and see how it goes.

badass1982
Wow that's impressive just recieved my tracking number telling me the new GPU is going to arrive tomorrow. Good form EVGA now I hope its one with the power balance stuff fixed.

Congratulation :-)
I am still stuck on "Pending Approval" thus unable to proceed :-(
It seams like EVGA EU is not working at all... I just send email to SupportEU@evga.com in hope that someone at least review the case.
Fingers crossed  

Any one got successful RMA in EU region? Were you able contact them?