Sajin
Hmm. Ok. Let me know how that goes.

Will do, but fair warning I won't be doing it that soon lol, it's bit of an undertaking. I'll have to get fed up enough of single screen usage first.. and the Marauders beta starts tomorrow, basically the only game that doesn't suck and honestly most of the reason I didn't wait for 40 series cards. All free time scheduled for the next 5 days!

Time to upgrade your operating system.

I installed Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit on the following combinations recently, it was a success as long as I installed KB2999226 from Microsoft before the vanilla nVidia driver package 473.81 (without the patch the installer just quits after unpacking itself)
- ASUS Strix x470-F
- ASUS Strix 3080 12GB

It is not a EVGA card but hopefully this experience is useful to someone.

ckhwong
I installed Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit on the following combinations recently, it was a success as long as I installed KB2999226 from Microsoft before the vanilla nVidia driver package 473.81 (without the patch the installer just quits after unpacking itself)
- ASUS Strix x470-F
- ASUS Strix 3080 12GB

It is not a EVGA card but hopefully this experience is useful to someone.

All drivers are made by NVidia, not asus, evga, or any other AIB, so this should absolutely be able to help someone else :-)

I figured it out (no .inf changes necessary)
(3080 12GB)
 
1.Make sure you have Windows updates KB4474419 and KB4490628 installed. This is a requirement for the installation of the drivers
2.Install 472.12 NVIDIA driver as normal with any video card below the 30 series. It just has to be a card that the driver applies to. (Any in the driver compatibility list will do, just get a cheap functioning one.) This step is crucial for the installation of the NVIDIA control panel, HD Audio etc...
3.Turn off the PC, disconnect power and swap the temporary video card with the 3080 12GB and turn on your PC.
4.Download the 473.81 driver and extract it with 7zip.
5.Go to "Device Manager"->Display adapters->whatever Windows 7 is calling your 3080.
6.Double click the VGA device.
7.Choose the "Driver tab" then click on "Update Driver" then "Browse my computer for driver software".
8.Set the driver location to the folder called "Display.Driver" in extracted 473.81 driver folder.
9.Click Next etc. and you're done!
Note: If this doesn't work swap the 472.12 driver with the 473.81 driver in the instructions. I may have mixed them up.
 
Update: After a couple of days of playing games (with the 3080 12GB), tinkering with the NVIDIA control panel and a couple of restarts I attempted to re-install the 473.81 driver as normal. To my surprise it worked!

johnny7pop
I will check that once my GPU returns from RMA should be few days, got few copies of fresh windows 7 installed with simplix net.framework 4.8 directx and VC redist and will test this method.
igottheanswer would you be able please to check your card hardware ID I'm wondering about is it the same as mine " DEV220A" or there are different 3080 12GB as well.
Might the users of the old windows 7 be still saved.
Thanks in advance

Same ID. Make sure you have KB4474419 and KB4490628 installed. Let us know whether it works or not.

johnny7pop
Thanks for the heads up.
I've rechecked SimpliX october update pack and it contains KB4490628 and KB4474419-v3 also I've been informed that the Universal C Runtime (CRT) might be required but SimpliX has it already too so it would have to be confirmed. I guess once all is confirmed it will be a great relief for those who still prefer old windows 7 instead 10 and 11 for various reasons, I'm one of them, I do use rarely 10 or 10 slimmed for the soft/games that no longer support 7 but in my opinion 7 still rules for my daily use, especially when properly updated and then slimmed to minimum. Once I get back my 3080 I will test various  scenarios and drivers.

What do you find superior about Win 7 versus win 10, besides the interface which I deal with using Start 11?

For me and my platform windows 7 has many advantages, I wouldn't call it superior but as I said in my opinion it still rules when it comes to my platform x79.

One it's tested and stable for many more years than 10, still receives security updates, lacks all the bloatware, telemetry (when updates chosen properly) yes some people will argue that you can block telemetry in 10, but not all, and people still argue that they really don't know how deep the windows 10 telemetry goes, suspect go all the way to kernel so it seems it cannot be fully disabled.
Next I would go to the performance of some games, not all but many run smoother on windows 7 example Escape from tarkov tested on my system runs a lot better than on windows 10, same goes for CS GO and more titles. Yes it's true some run better on W10 but the ones I play work better on 7.
Memory usage I have found is better in windows 7 while 10 keeps more in RAM
Amount of process/services running in background less in W7
And yes windows 7 is old and lacks DX12 and G-Sync but for some people it matters little.
Also the amount of disk space it takes is lesser in windows 7.
Next would be control of the operating system, seems to me that W10 does whatever it wants whenever it wants, installs updates, then I have to reboot and wait 10 mins to finish updating, and it often fails. It can be configured but again partially.
Lastly, when I'm getting my system W7 ready it's already updated and integrated. Only drivers that I need are present and all unneeded tools/services are removed or disabled. Using NTLite and WinReducer with all my ISO wheys slightly less than 1GB and after installing about 5GB on SSD.
I do still work on 10 but I really don't like it, I do tried to do it the same as windows 7 to reduce size, remove unneeded components and services, but MS makes it always more difficult there are to many dependencies once you remove some components something else stops working as well, so I got tired of trying to make perfect 10 for myself. 
I'm much better at fine tuning W7 then W10 and that to me is a big advantage.
Do not mistake me. I do still use 10 in fact 2 of them are quad boot W7 W10 lited, W10 full and Linux, but still I prefer 7, as for 10 I'm forced to use it as some games now requie 10.
As for the driver, I'm gonna try to do the same, go straight to 473.81 and see if it works.