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having issues with a new build, 2x RTX 3090's custom water cooled, ryzen 5950x.

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For those of you who are reading this a second of third time, you will find that the complete story has changed some what compared to the original story that I posted last night. I' am sorry for the change, but after conversing with others on this forum, I just found it very hard to keep the same questions now that I know the answers to them so as much as I fought with myself to maintain the same questions and to only clean it up a bit since my first edition was so sloppilly written that I was forced to correct it,(that's not saying anything bad on those who wished me to correct it, that just how bad my original message was written.) that I felt obligated to do so, and while doing so this version somehow landed on the screen instead I am over tired now, and I think I went into this kinda like in auto pilot mode (reference the the movie "Click" if you have seen it) and out comes this totally different take on the same exact system but with more insite to the issue that I do believe we will discovered as the final outcome reveals itself in the near future. So the story morphed into this thing now. all that i wrote is true, just a different perspective of it. Id like to claim it isn't my fault but it all is my fault. as I'm the only person who has made any changes to it. I didn't start out trying to change it really I didn't , but the more I proof read it, the more shit I kept changing until it turned into what it is now, and I'm too damned tired now to change it back again. I'm kinda stuck as I was just going to to hit the cancle button because I'm no longer happy with this version either, but that would only make the original version come back again, and even I can't tolerate reading it. at least this version has paragrahps in it. so between the two this has to be an improvement, just not sure of its purpose, of if its message still can be figfured out. and it if made any sense. Again sorry but something has to step on the orignal message in order to get rid of it, so this is it.


Before I get into this issue here are the specs:
* Asus Crosshair VIII formula MB
* 2 NVMe SSD's connected to both NVMe slots on the motherboard. Samsung 980 Pro's if I remember correctly
* Ryzen 5950x CPU
* 128GB G.Skill trident Neon Ram
* 1600 Watt EVGA Power supply
* 2x Asus ROG Strix RTX 3090's in SLI mode, Initially came to me unbridged, as just separate cards, I then placed the bridge onto the cards and since then tried to turn on SLI but could never get that far
* Equipped with an EK custom water cooler kit
* Case has 3-3 fan radiators, and 1 single fan radiator. So total of 4 radiators all together, or 10 sing fan radiators. - Plenty of cooling power.
* Loop travels from water pump to side mounted 3 fan radiator, then through front mounted 3 fan radiator, from there through both video cards, then thru the CPU water block, then through rear single fan radiator, then finally thru top mounted 3 fan radiator before returning back to the pump reservoir.
* All parts brand new, except for the 2 video cards, they were purchased from a friend of a friend, but as I see it, they can't have too many hours on the clock being as new as they are, or could they?

This is a customer of mine who brought in his custom built rig due to having issues with it booting up. and I've pretty much eliminated it down to the video cards. Here's where I am with the troubleshooting:

If I boot up into safe mode, the machine will boot, I log into Windows 10, then device manager/Display adapters. I remove the Nvidia drivers then reboot. this will set the "Microsoft basic display drivers" as default. If running with these drivers, the machine works all day long with no issues. Of course this is like driving your car in "limp home mode" and there's no using any of the features that the 3090's has to offer. No different than if I was running an ATI video card from 10 to 15 years ago, or has it been longer than that? . As soon as either windows automatically installs, or I manually install NVidia's drivers, the display flashes as normal, comes back on for a few seconds, then I get a black/blank screen, the whole system appears locked up and I do not ever get a BSOD. Nothing that I can see in the event logs that points to the error.

I've performed all your general trouble-shooting techniques that I know of.
1)I've tried a slew of different versions of the Nvidia drivers. The cards are both ROG Strix gamming 3090's, so I also tried Asus's video drivers.
2) I've removed the SLI bridge and tried them as separate cards.
3) I've performed a clean install of Windows 10, I've performed a clean install of Windows 11, with both installs, nothing else was installed but just the Nvidia drivers to eliminate any 3rd party apps or drivers. 4) I've updated the Motherboard's BIOS to the most current BIOS,
5) Video card's BIOS was updated to ver 4. I can't remember what version they were prior to the update to 4, but it was below v3 I do know that.
6) When v4 did not seem to correct the issue I tried back-flashing to ver 3 but that was no allowed. And I don't believe it would have made a difference anyway.
7) I've updated every driver in the system to most current,
8) I've enabled then disabled resize Bar settings in BIOS
9) I've tried slowing the PCIe bus down to Gen 3 but normally it was set for PCIe 4 8x8
10 Actually the two video cards as well as the two NVMes were all set on auto as I received the machine, and I had made the changes from PCIe-4/or auto to PCIe 3 on both the video cards and the SSD's just out of curiosity to see it that made any difference. it did not. Then first went back to auto on the SSD's but left the video cards on pcie-3 then finally all parts back to auto which places the video cards into PCIe-4 mode, not sure of which mode the ssd's went into on auto, but not interested in that anyway as they seem to be working just fine.
11) played around with several settings within the BIOS until I told myself, who am I kidding with, simply setting the settings to default should at least be enough to boot the machine and every piece of hardware attached should function in their proper mode then. May not be the most optimal, but should at least be enough for troubleshooting purposes.

Nothing so far helped.

on my customer's first visit after dropping off the machine (And per his request) he did not want me to take apart his cooling system, I have already told him I've not been exposed to custom water cooling yet, that as far as water cooling goes, I have an AIO in my personal machine and that is my extent I have been exposed to so far. This being my first custom water cooling system I've worked on, he felt better and so did I, that he actually be present when or if we decide to remove it to be able to pull these two video cards out. And on the other hand, this was my customer's very first PC build, so he had more experience than I with the plumbing, but when it came to troubleshooting, he was at a loss. So i couldn't do much without his presence on this issue so we had to time these visits where he and I both could arrange for the time to do this together Just so everyone is on the same page and not wondering why I wasn't going ape shit on this thing in a few days. it has taken a few weeks to have been able to have two visits with the both of us present at the same time. This is also when he explained to me for the second time how much trouble he had working with the thermal pads he had purchased, or had extra, or had to replace, due to the original ones crushing on him. And this is why he felt so strongly to be present, because he knew just how hard it was for him to deal with and knowing that I haven't been exposed to that type of thing made him to want to be there when or if we had to open the water blocks. And by the sounds of all that, I had no problem with that request either, as I felt I was going to be taught hands on, about custom water cooling kinda like a crash course and that's all it'll take for me to get the hang of it anyways, so I wasn't in the least bit offended about his request, and sorta felt relieved actually that he requested that it be that way. After all, the guy seemed sharp, and somewhat knowledgeable for the little amount of experience he did have. So if it it's going to be that way where a kid twice as young as I teaches me the workings of custom water cooling I'm not too proud to turn that down. I'll take it anyway I can get it. And he's going to pay me to boot, so why the heck object to that?

I know what thermal pads are, and have worked with them in the past on laptops and sometimes on M.2 SSD's but never experienced any of them ever "crushing" on me, so I wasn't exactly sure what he meant by this unless these pads are somehow of a different type perhaps? But the way I saw it was, hey you can explain that to me better once we open up these water blocks, and have a look inside, but we're not there yet, all we're doing on this visit is seeing how a single 3090 works alone in the machine. but just the same i took note of that, and he began to mention that perhaps this may be why these cards are acting this way.

Next step move was to remove the cards, Customer came back over for a second visit, he brought with him his (spare RTX-2080) So we carefully drained the loop, then removed both video cards from the system and replaced them with a single RTX-2080, with factory cooling fans in place, we jumped the cooling blocks of both video cards where the water cooler was only cooling down the CPU, then fired up the system, system started with the Microsoft basic drivers, and before I could manually install Nvidia drivers, from nvidia's website, Windows had already downloaded then installed what it thought the most current drivers should be. At this point I wasn't to interested as to which version of Nvidia drivers it chose, I was simply interested in whether the system would be stable with any Nvidia driver loaded. So I never checked the version and frankly to me, it didn't matter, the video card took the driver and loaded it and maintained stability, and that is all we wanted to know with the 2080. So this proves that the motherboard is good right?

So that brought our focus to the two RTX-3090's. Before the swap out of the video cards, we wasn't sure if the problem was coming from the motherboard (more likely) or the two video cards (Less likely, or perhaps we were both wishfully thinking, due to the warranty still being good on the motherboard, and not so with the video cards). So accepting the motherboard is working ok, that's an easy acceptance no problem there at all. However by we accepting that truth, we also accept the what has failed is actually two independent video cards both failing at the same exact time, with the exact same failures, showing the exact same symptoms of failure, and that is a harder for me to swallow. Or could it be just one of the two cards but since both are installed could one being broken possibly bleed into the other card, making it "act" broken as well.? The fact that they were first brought to me NOT in SLI mode but independently operating as two separate cards tends to have me thinking if either one was working and the other not, simply moving the display cable to the other card would have exposed the good card, however since if either card causes the machine to lock-up there's really no way in telling 100% for sure yet until we try each card alone in the machine. With me so far? Good.

Even though they were in the same machine, electronically speaking, they could have been miles apart from each other assuming nothing is wrong with the power supply, and since the one RTX-2080 came out without a scratch we can safely assume the power supply is working properly, right? After all it is A 1600 WATT P/S I almost got sstuck with that just niow thinking well, you are ruinning to high power cards...but no 1600 watts is P.e.n.t.y. of power with amps to spare so then that leads me to question this, what are the odds of both video cards failing at the same exact time, with the same exact failure, with the same exact failed symptoms? I'm no mathematician, but I can surely guess that those odds are awfully low. Just a hunch but I could guess probably somewhere between getting hit by lightning or winning the lottery perhaps? maybe not *that* low but you get my point right? So We took 1 of the 2 3090's out of the system leaving only 1 3090 in the PCIe-1 position, and tried the system with only one card. We were also pressed for time at this point due to the time it takes to drain the loop then refill it, along with calls I had been receiving for the day, and other distractions, time just slipped passed us and was getting late. So we decided that if the first card showed signs of life we would then do the other card to see what happens. However the card performed the same as one card, as it did with both cards, so we wasn't to excited, to re-drain the loop once again and swap to the other card and then refill the loop to see if that card performed any better. The wind was knocked out of our sails. when the first card we tested on its own performed no better than when it held both cards in its slots. I haven't given up yet, but I am kicking rocks as I see my customer out the door. I told him hey we're getting closer to the answer, just one more visit and I think we'll have this thing licked. I just wasn't sure if I was convincing myself, much less my customer. And that just aggravated me.


So that is where we are at this point without trying the second card to see how it behaves. Now I will be the first to accept the results of this second card if it proves to be bad also, but I have to go thru with this because otherwise I'll never be sure that both of these cards have failed together at the same time. I have more to say, but I feel this is a good stopping point cause I have shit to do today. and one of those things is work. So off to work I go although I'm not really going anywhere as I work from home, so off to work I stay but just flip the closed sign around to open I suppose. Meanwhile you guru's out there should make some bets on how this second card is going to behave. I really have a hard time accepting they are both bad, but not so much that I'd put any real money on it. I 'm not that stubborn.
 
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Mussels

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You're gunna want paragraphs in there man, i've got ADHD and cant even make a few lines in a row like this, this is hell to read.
3090s do not need a fan reading to work. Zero RPM is not an issue at all. (Mines on custom water, reference design)

If the cards dont work in another machine, he's killed the cards (or cross-flashed an incompatible BIOS?) That switch is a dual BIOS toggle.

3090s have quite a few temp sensors, should be easy to check them at the windows desktop and see if ones running hot, if so he screwed up the waterblock installation

These are mine at *load* mining on a custom water cooled 3090
1634707400047.png



I cant see at all what model 3090 they are in that wall of text, but yeah some have proven to just outright die these days, like the EVGA and gigabyte cards - manufacturing issues.
Also, its stupidly easy for someone to just kill the cards when installing the waterblocks, or make them unstable by screwing up thermal pad installation.
 
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Some photos of the cards serial numbers might be handy there could be an issue with v-bios if it's v3 on those cards but we have many members alot more knowledgeable than myself when it comes to gpu's but they will probably ask for photos of the back side of the card so I would go grab them and post here.

You're gunna want paragraphs in there man, i've got ADHD and cant even make a few lines in, but i want to help.
He's tried everything except playing with the v-bios versions and is wondering if there's a safety feature on the Rog strix 3090 that will prevent them from running without a fan fitted.
 
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The cards will run fine without the fans connected. Good job of troubleshooting.Something has obviously been installed incorrectly.

Learn how to drain the loop. That's step one.
Go online, or go to the block manufacturers site and find the installation directions(plan on buying new thermal pads for both cards from the block manufacturer).
Read or watch the installation videos several times. He has done something wrong and you have to figure out what it is. Take pictures from start to finish(or make a short vid), we can help try to id the problem with them.
He doesn't know what he's doing, you at least have experience on your side. Your on the right track in assuming he may have overtightened some of the screws or from his comments to you, has installed the thermal pads wrong/ on the wrong components etc. If he hasn't put the thermal pads in the right positions the cards may be permanently damaged. Look for white or black scorch marks, like you see on shorted mb components.
If he's lucky they may still work if you install everything correctly but don't let him try to reuse crushed thermal pads. Once they've been compressed they are only good for that specific position.
 
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You're gunna want paragraphs in there man, i've got ADHD and cant even make a few lines in a row like this, this is hell to read.
3090s do not need a fan reading to work. Zero RPM is not an issue at all. (Mines on custom water, reference design)

If the cards dont work in another machine, he's killed the cards (or cross-flashed an incompatible BIOS?) That switch is a dual BIOS toggle.

3090s have quite a few temp sensors, should be easy to check them at the windows desktop and see if ones running hot, if so he screwed up the waterblock installation

These are mine at *load* mining on a custom water cooled 3090
View attachment 221563


I cant see at all what model 3090 they are in that wall of text, but yeah some have proven to just outright die these days, like the EVGA and gigabyte cards - manufacturing issues.
Also, its stupidly easy for someone to just kill the cards when installing the waterblocks, or make them unstable by screwing up thermal pad installation.
Yeah sorry for the long wall of text, was trying to get it all in, with not much time to do so. The cards are Asus ROG Strix gaming cards, both of them. And the temps I can not read, because in order to read them, you have to have the proper drivers installed, I tried to read them with just the Microsoft basic drivers loaded, but get no reading, however the CPU, Motherboard and VRMs onboard are are all well within specs, since this machine has 3-3fan radiators and 1-1fan radiator on the rear, so there's plenty of cooling, just can't read the damned video card temps, but you answer to the fan question, although not a joy to read and know, was well worth the time it took me to write that text. That type of info isn't mentioned allot, as I tried to discover that info in forums where it was already asked. Was trying to avoid asking it myself. It isn't cross-flashing as both cards had old BIOS, that he's never flashed either one. , I did however, but it didn't help. And I agree with your statement about the 3090's failing as I was looking for answers to my issue I ran across a bunch of unlucky gamers who bricked their 3090's mostly playing HALO. Most of those bricked cards however blue screened on them, so not quite the same issue as our problem.

Well, your answer wasn't what I was hopping to get, but the truth is the truth, so I can now scratch that off the list. Seems the only hope we have left I suppose is his water blocks somehow, other than that, he just toasted close to $6000 in video cards and sure would hate to have to tell him that. Thank you for quick reply my friend. And I'll try to fond me a temp reader that can read those temps without the Nvida drivers loaded.
Rick

Some photos of the cards serial numbers might be handy there could be an issue with v-bios if it's v3 on those cards but we have many members alot more knowledgeable than myself when it comes to gpu's but they will probably ask for photos of the back side of the card so I would go grab them and post here.


He's tried everything except playing with the v-bios versions and is wondering if there's a safety feature on the Rog strix 3090 that will prevent them from running without a fan fitted.
thanks Thaitaffy, for your quick response, I didn't have to wait long at all to get some info that I wanted to know. you guys are great not keeping someone waiting. I can't at the moment get those numbers (well I'm thinking I can't) due to the water blocks covering those numbers, but it is clear plexi, so maybe I can with a magnifier, I'll give it a shot. But I went straight to v4 on the v-BIOS skipping V3, should I have gone to v3 first? I did try going to v3 after I flashed to v4, but it wont allow that.

The cards will run fine without the fans connected. Good job of troubleshooting.Something has obviously been installed incorrectly.

Learn how to drain the loop. That's step one.
Go online, or go to the block manufacturers site and find the installation directions(plan on buying new thermal pads for both cards from the block manufacturer).
Read or watch the installation videos several times. He has done something wrong and you have to figure out what it is. Take pictures from start to finish(or make a short vid), we can help try to id the problem with them.
He doesn't know what he's doing, you at least have experience on your side. Your on the right track in assuming he may have overtightened some of the screws or from his comments to you, has installed the thermal pads wrong/ on the wrong components etc. If he hasn't put the thermal pads in the right positions the cards may be permanently damaged. Look for white or black scorch marks, like you see on shorted mb components.
If he's lucky they may still work if you install everything correctly but don't let him try to reuse crushed thermal pads. Once they've been compressed they are only good for that specific position.
Thanks for you quick response also Maxify, and crush thermal pads are exactly what he was trying to explain to me the problem that he had when he put this water cooler together. I didn't quite understand that, though, because the thermal pads I've worked with in the past, don't seem to have that sort of problem. Perhaps they do, but I've never seen it? But never have I worked on building a custom water cooling solution, so perhaps these pads you are referring to may be of some other type of texture than pads I have worked with? Just your typical pads you sometimes see under laptop heatsinks, and a few pads that sit on top of SSD M.2's. those pads do not appear to "crush" that I know of??? Perhpas I just haven't seen it yet? I've been in the computer repair business for almost 30 years, and here I am thinking I hold a shit-ton of knowledge, just goes to show. those who don't know, don't know, what they don't know.

If this is, what it is, then there's nothing I could have done, to remedy it for him, unless as you say, there's a small chance we can still save it. I watched him drain the loop 3 times already, so I have that figured out. It's going to be interesting to see what I see, once we disassemble the water blocks though. And I've seen quite a many burnt chips in my line of work over the years, I used to troubleshoot, video game and Poker gamming boards back in the late 80's and early 90's before surface mount technology became the norm, so I'll be able to spot that fairly quick. But never did I smell that typical "burnt-hair" smell that you typically get with burnt chips. Perhaps the water blocks could be suppressing that smell? idk? But I will do as you suggest and go the Manufacture of the water blocks web site. EK, is the manufacture, It's already on my list of things to do, but I do not regret stop by here first. You guys really hit the ball out of the park for me tonight. My only regret is that I didn't ask you folks sooner. And I have to say I'm a bit surprised that the video cards don't have any type of fail-safe, with their fans. Although I do not doubt you guys one bit, if you say they don't, then that is that. thanks again for you info, and everyone else who also helped me out. you guys are a great source of information. I'll be sure to frequent here more often when the need arises.
Rick
 
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Yeah sorry for the long wall of text, was trying to get it all in, with not much time to do so. The cards are Asus ROG Strix gaming cards, both of them. And the temps I can not read, because in order to read them, you have to have the proper drivers installed, I tried to read them with just the Microsoft basic drivers loaded, but get no reading, however the CPU, Motherboard and VRMs onboard are are all well within specs, since this machine has 3-3fan radiators and 1-1fan radiator on the rear, so there's plenty of cooling, just can't read the damned video card temps, but you answer to the fan question, although not a joy to read and know, was well worth the time it took me to write that text. That type of info isn't mentioned allot, as I tried to discover that info in forums where it was already asked. Was trying to avoid asking it myself. It isn't cross-flashing as both cards had old BIOS, that he's never flashed either one. , I did however, but it didn't help. And I agree with your statement about the 3090's failing as I was looking for answers to my issue I ran across a bunch of unlucky gamers who bricked their 3090's mostly playing HALO. Most of those bricked cards however blue screened on them, so not quite the same issue as our problem.

Well, your answer wasn't what I was hopping to get, but the truth is the truth, so I can now scratch that off the list. Seems the only hope we have left I suppose is his water blocks somehow, other than that, he just toasted close to $6000 in video cards and sure would hate to have to tell him that. Thank you for quick reply my friend. And I'll try to fond me a temp reader that can read those temps without the Nvida drivers loaded.
Rick


thanks Thaitaffy, for your quick response, I didn't have to wait long at all to get some info that I wanted to know. you guys are great not keeping someone waiting. I can't at the moment get those numbers (well I'm thinking I can't) due to the water blocks covering those numbers, but it is clear plexi, so maybe I can with a magnifier, I'll give it a shot. But I went straight to v4 on the v-BIOS skipping V3, should I have gone to v3 first? I did try going to v3 after I flashed to v4, but it wont allow that.


Thanks for you quick response also Maxify, and crush thermal pads are exactly what he was trying to explain to me the problem that he had when he put this water cooler together. I didn't quite understand that, though, because the thermal pads I've worked with in the past, don't seem to have that sort of problem. Perhaps they do, but I've never seen it? But never have I worked on building a custom water cooling solution, so perhaps these pads you are referring to may be of some other type of texture than pads I have worked with? Just your typical pads you sometimes see under laptop heatsinks, and a few pads that sit on top of SSD M.2's. those pads do not appear to "crush" that I know of??? Perhpas I just haven't seen it yet? I've been in the computer repair business for almost 30 years, and here I am thinking I hold a shit-ton of knowledge, just goes to show. those who don't know, don't know, what they don't know.

If this is, what it is, then there's nothing I could have done, to remedy it for him, unless as you say, there's a small chance we can still save it. I watched him drain the loop 3 times already, so I have that figured out. It's going to be interesting to see what I see, once we disassemble the water blocks though. And I've seen quite a many burnt chips in my line of work over the years, I used to troubleshoot, video game and Poker gamming boards back in the late 80's and early 90's before surface mount technology became the norm, so I'll be able to spot that fairly quick. But never did I smell that typical "burnt-hair" smell that you typically get with burnt chips. Perhaps the water blocks could be suppressing that smell? idk? But I will do as you suggest and go the Manufacture of the water blocks web site. EK, is the manufacture, It's already on my list of things to do, but I do not regret stop by here first. You guys really hit the ball out of the park for me tonight. My only regret is that I didn't ask you folks sooner. And I have to say I'm a bit surprised that the video cards don't have any type of fail-safe, with their fans. Although I do not doubt you guys one bit, if you say they don't, then that is that. thanks again for you info, and everyone else who also helped me out. you guys are a great source of information. I'll be sure to frequent here more often when the need arises.
Rick
Your welcome.
As far as failsafes on gpu's its done by thermal sensors rather than fan speed sensors.
We're not done yet though it's early morning in europe now so others will be coming online maybe someone has had the exact same issue and can enlighten you further
 

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You cant read temps without the drivers
If they wont boot in multiple PC's, then he may have flashed incompatible overclocking BIOS onto them, and not told you
Or, he did something like played new world on them and toasted them (mix of game design flaw and hardware design flaw)



The BIOS switch is here above the G on the stock backplate, are you sure you cant reach it to flip it?
1634714697591.png


A picture is worth a thousand words... literally in this case


1. Flip the switch
2. disassemble and look for fault
2a. if no fault found, go back to stock cooler
3. RMA. These cards have known faults that can just kill them.
 
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Mussels

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Oh crap i put a pic of an EVGA, not a ROG strix.
That's my mistake, and a really good argument for editing that first post and tidying it up.

Rog Strix, from the TPU review has it located here:
1634722362329.png

1634722362148.png
 

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You cant read temps without the drivers
If they wont boot in multiple PC's, then he may have flashed incompatible overclocking BIOS onto them, and not told you
Or, he did something like played new world on them and toasted them (mix of game design flaw and hardware design flaw)



The BIOS switch is here above the G on the stock backplate, are you sure you cant reach it to flip it?
View attachment 221571

A picture is worth a thousand words... literally in this case


1. Flip the switch
2. disassemble and look for fault
2a. if no fault found, go back to stock cooler
3. RMA. These cards have known faults that can just kill them.
No I am not sure, I took my cue from my customer, I assumed if it was reachable he would have told me so, the water blocks are quite large and seems to cover the complete card, but there is one of them out of the unit right now, so I'll look to see if I can manipulate that switch. And here goes that old saying about assuming things. I should have known better than to assume. I loose my compass at times I suppose, and it takes something like this to help me find my way back. Either that, or I'm just getting too old for this shit! Naw, I'm not ready to be saying that just yet. I've got another good decade in me still I hope.

Can not RMA them as he had purchased both cards second hand, from two different people, which is also another element added to this mystery. But I am giving my customer the benefit of doubt, before I say anything like he may have purchased these cards already with these issues. and throw my hands up. I don't want to give him the impression I have given up before truly exhausting all possibilities. I mean these cards are top-of-line cards, and this sailor has been enlisted for only 14 months, so it has taken a good chunk of his salary to acquire these two cards, not to mention the rest of his machine, all top dollar parts. The least I can do for thanking him for his service, is be absolutely sure they can not be corrected before I hand him back his computer. And I would hate for him to take it elsewhere and they discover something I may have overlooked, or didn't think of. I'll have none of that!

I say they are $3000.00 cards, but I'm sure he probably got them for less, I use that figure because a few are selling on eBay right now at that price. I have already hinted on the fact they could have been sold to him not working, a few times in the past, not quite saying it, but saying "a-ho" when he mentioned they were second hand purchases, then quickly changed subject so he doesn't think I have given up with the fix, or copping out at my earliest convenance, although that is another possibility that must be factored in once we eliminate all other possibilities. And I get the feeling he is aware of this as we creep to end of troubleshooting this issue. I also feel he doesn't want it to end with an answer like that, but it is what it is. The best I can do for him, is the detective work, in showing him just what took place to end the life of these cards, if that is what the evidence leads us to.

I suppose I'm going the extra yard for him, because I too served in the Navy, So I see him as a brother, and honor him for serving. I would hope that if it was me, that someone would do the same, so that is how I operate. On top of all that, I am merely starting out with my own business, although I've been in the computer repair industry since 1997, I've always worked for other people, so I am trying to make a name for myself now, and vow to go above and beyond any other service dept. in my area, so I am doing just that with him, as he has seen my devotion to his problem, he's going to know when we are finally at the end of this, that there was nothing more we could have done. We will know once the water blocks are removed whether they were bought this way or if it happened under his watch, since he claimed he was very careful making sure no caps were broken off the cards while he struggled with the thermal pads. So if we do find any burned out chips or other components, I would expect him to say either thats how it looked then, or no it didn't look that.

I tried to get a manual for the cards on Asus web site, to find out about this dip switch he flipped and the fan rpm's issue, like how motherboards come with manuals I thought for sure so did their video cards, but I could not find one on their site, the only manual they had for this card was for their GPU tweaking software. I had my customer with me at the time, and he was speaking to me as I searched, so it is possible I got distracted in my search, Coming here was my work-around to that issue, in seeking you all for this type of info. I feel I have made a good choice in doing that, you all give me the feeling I'm speaking with pro's who know their shit over here. I frequent this site allot to keep informed with the hierarchy of video cards as Techpowerup has an excellent chart to show which cards are better than others, and through the years I have noticed the amount of knowledge that I sometimes read in the forums. Never have I used that knowledge for myself until now, but was highly impressed with the speed at which my question was answered, and you all acknowledged my expertise right away, so that saved us all allot of time not having to repeat steps that has already been performed. When you speak to a tech support dept, even though you tell them you have already done this and that, they act as though they didn't hear a word you said, and start you out at the very beginning of their troubleshooting flow chart, and if not for the flow chart, they become lost, and have to elevate the call to a second tier technician...blah blah blah. we cut straight to the chase tonight with my issue and it is me who's writing more than I should, but I just wanted to praise you all, and this site for it's ability to out perform tech support of any given manufacture that I have ever delt with. So you guys deserve cudo's for that. whether you are affiliated with Techpowerup, or just one with much knowledge to share with others you have my allegiance from here on out!

Your welcome.
As far as failsafes on gpu's its done by thermal sensors rather than fan speed sensors.
We're not done yet though it's early morning in europe now so others will be coming online maybe someone has had the exact same issue and can enlighten you further
oh ok, well then, that answers that question then, and it isn't that they don't have a fail safe, it's just the responsibility is on the temp sensors, not the fan's RPM's. Ok got it now, and will never forget that important piece of information. thank you.

Oh crap i put a pic of an EVGA, not a ROG strix.
That's my mistake, and a really good argument for editing that first post and tidying it up.

Rog Strix, from the TPU review has it located here:
View attachment 221585
View attachment 221586
ok ok, I hear you. That's twice now I have been hammered for my sloppy write up, so I will fix it. That's the least I can do for you all helping me out. If I'm going to be rubbing shoulders with you guys I best have my shit together...so about this switch , in which position should it be in, and what exactly does p mode and q mode represent? If it not to much to ask?

No I am not sure, I took my cue from my customer, I assumed if it was reachable he would have told me so, the water blocks are quite large and seems to cover the complete card, but there is one of them out of the unit right now, so I'll look to see if I can manipulate that switch. And here goes that old saying about assuming things. I should have known better than to assume. I loose my compass at times I suppose, and it takes something like this to help me find my way back. Either that, or I'm just getting too old for this shit! Naw, I'm not ready to be saying that just yet. I've got another good decade in me still I hope.

Can not RMA them as he had purchased both cards second hand, from two different people, which is also another element added to this mystery. But I am giving my customer the benefit of doubt, before I say anything like he may have purchased these cards already with these issues. and throw my hands up. I don't want to give him the impression I have given up before truly exhausting all possibilities. I mean these cards are top-of-line cards, and this sailor has been enlisted for only 14 months, so it has taken a good chunk of his salary to acquire these two cards, not to mention the rest of his machine, all top dollar parts. The least I can do for thanking him for his service, is be absolutely sure they can not be corrected before I hand him back his computer. And I would hate for him to take it elsewhere and they discover something I may have overlooked, or didn't think of. I'll have none of that!

I say they are $3000.00 cards, but I'm sure he probably got them for less, I use that figure because a few are selling on eBay right now at that price. I have already hinted on the fact they could have been sold to him not working, a few times in the past, not quite saying it, but saying "a-ho" when he mentioned they were second hand purchases, then quickly changed subject so he doesn't think I have given up with the fix, or copping out at my earliest convenance, although that is another possibility that must be factored in once we eliminate all other possibilities. And I get the feeling he is aware of this as we creep to end of troubleshooting this issue. I also feel he doesn't want it to end with an answer like that, but it is what it is. The best I can do for him, is the detective work, in showing him just what took place to end the life of these cards, if that is what the evidence leads us to.

I suppose I'm going the extra yard for him, because I too served in the Navy, So I see him as a brother, and honor him for serving. I would hope that if it was me, that someone would do the same, so that is how I operate. On top of all that, I am merely starting out with my own business, although I've been in the computer repair industry since 1997, I've always worked for other people, so I am trying to make a name for myself now, and vow to go above and beyond any other service dept. in my area, so I am doing just that with him, as he has seen my devotion to his problem, he's going to know when we are finally at the end of this, that there was nothing more we could have done. We will know once the water blocks are removed whether they were bought this way or if it happened under his watch, since he claimed he was very careful making sure no caps were broken off the cards while he struggled with the thermal pads. So if we do find any burned out chips or other components, I would expect him to say either thats how it looked then, or no it didn't look that.

I tried to get a manual for the cards on Asus web site, to find out about this dip switch he flipped and the fan rpm's issue, like how motherboards come with manuals I thought for sure so did their video cards, but I could not find one on their site, the only manual they had for this card was for their GPU tweaking software. I had my customer with me at the time, and he was speaking to me as I searched, so it is possible I got distracted in my search, Coming here was my work-around to that issue, in seeking you all for this type of info. I feel I have made a good choice in doing that, you all give me the feeling I'm speaking with pro's who know their shit over here. I frequent this site allot to keep informed with the hierarchy of video cards as Techpowerup has an excellent chart to show which cards are better than others, and through the years I have noticed the amount of knowledge that I sometimes read in the forums. Never have I used that knowledge for myself until now, but was highly impressed with the speed at which my question was answered, and you all acknowledged my expertise right away, so that saved us all allot of time not having to repeat steps that has already been performed. When you speak to a tech support dept, even though you tell them you have already done this and that, they act as though they didn't hear a word you said, and start you out at the very beginning of their troubleshooting flow chart, and if not for the flow chart, they become lost, and have to elevate the call to a second tier technician...blah blah blah. we cut straight to the chase tonight with my issue and it is me who's writing more than I should, but I just wanted to praise you all, and this site for it's ability to out perform tech support of any given manufacture that I have ever delt with. So you guys deserve cudo's for that. whether you are affiliated with Techpowerup, or just one with much knowledge to share with others you have my allegiance from here on out!


oh ok, well then, that answers that question then, and it isn't that they don't have a fail safe, it's just the responsibility is on the temp sensors, not the fan's RPM's. Ok got it now, and will never forget that important piece of information. thank you.


ok ok, I hear you. That's twice now I have been hammered for my sloppy write up, so I will fix it. That's the least I can do for you all helping me out. If I'm going to be rubbing shoulders with you guys I best have my shit together...so about this switch , in which position should it be in, and what exactly does p mode and q mode represent? If it not to much to ask?
Sorry, I'll first check out those links and see what I learn first, It's been a long night for me, and even though you wrote down the links I didn't seem to notice them at first, from all the info i was receiving from you helpful people. So I'll first tidy up my first post, then move on to those links to find out what they reveal before I bother you guys, with silly questions. But I assure you I'll be back if they don't provide the answer. again thank you all for being so helpful. I've had a pleasant experience with you all. Now on to correct ling my sloppy write up...
Rick
 
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so about this switch , in which position should it be in, and what exactly does p mode and q mode represent? If it not to much to ask?
Performance and Quiet I'm not sure what position it's in ATM but just switch it to the other theoretically just switches to a bios based on those factors as a guideline when setting options.
 

Mussels

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Cooling Alphacool Apex UV - Alphacool Eisblock XPX Aurora + EK Quantum ARGB 3090 w/ active backplate
Memory 2x32GB DDR4 3600 Corsair Vengeance RGB @3866 C18-22-22-22-42 TRFC704 (1.4V Hynix MJR - SoC 1.15V)
Video Card(s) Galax RTX 3090 SG 24GB: Underclocked to 1700Mhz 0.750v (375W down to 250W))
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Software Windows 11 pro x64 (Yes, it's genuinely a good OS) OpenRGB - ditch the branded bloatware!
Benchmark Scores Nyooom.
It's got the same BIOS, but with different fan settings loaded into it
The idea is that if he flashed the BIOS and didn't tell you, it only flashed the one the switch is currently on - so changing to the other one could recover the card

GPU manufs really do suck for manuals. Really badly, i had to find the info on those switches from reviews and reddit.
If the cards go back to stock condition and cooling, they can still likely be warrantied as 3090's are simply too new.

If you're continuing troubleshooting, it's time to take more detailed troubleshooting.


1. Get a card out, find a way to cool it for idle conditions.
It doesnt need a loop, it needs the waterblock preferably with some fluid, and some carefully placed fans pointed right at it. (if you simply use G1/4 caps and seal it, make sure to leave some air, since water expands and air can compress) ((This is not good for long periods of time or for 3D load, JUST enough to see if the drivers can instal!))

2.Put it in a sytem with onboard graphics and a big enough PSU, dont use pigtails - one cable from the PSU, per socket on the GPU. Have the BIOS settings default to the IGP as the primary monitor.

3.Run two monitors, one for the IGP and one for the Nvidia card.

4.Install drivers for the Nvidia card, see what happens in device manager.

5.Try all the outputs on the 3090 with it's monitor, every single HDMI and DP port. (some BIOS mods break certain outputs. This is obviously a vanity, bragging build... of course he's tried it)

6. If it's still playing up, with the sytem powered off find a method to move that dip switch for the dual BIOS. Kebab skewer, whatever works. Repeat all the above.

7. Do it all again with GPU 2


Have fuuuuun.
 
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