Mr. Fox

Hopefully that is it. If you only had a single drive attached to your system that will make it easier to test for sure since you only have the one potential culprit. I had a 4 TB TeamGroup NVMe that failed back when I still owned the Z790 Apex. It was causing lockups and before I could figure out what the cause was it got worse and wouldn't even let the motherboard power on. It was like it was unplugged from the wall. Pressing the power button did nothing. No signs of life. As soon as I removed it everything returned to normal and I had it replaced under warranty.

I wouldn't rule out that the problem could be caused by one of the drives. If you have multiple SSDs or HDDs any one of them can cause lockups like what you are experiencing. If the one you replaced doesn't fix the problem don't stop there. You need to test all of them. Particularly the one that the games are installed on. Failing drives, even USB storage, can cause all sorts of weird problems including hard lockups. I have even seen defective internal and USB drives that prevented the PC form powering on and failed booting even at the BIOS level and hard lockups are a very common symptom.

Have you tested with only one video card in the bottom slot instead of the top slot where you would normally use a GPU? Sorry to hear this is happening but also glad that the second hand 5080 you bought wasn't defective. It's probably safe to assume that you have tested both video cards or at least the one you bought on Facebook in your son's computer and there are no issues. It is a long shot but you may want to try the GOP firmware update released by Nvidia recently. I applied that update to both my 5080 and my 5090. It is possible the old UEFI/GOP firmware on your motherboard is not playing nice and that might help. The landing page on the Nvidia website where I downloaded it gives the impression it is for the 5060 only. That is misleading because it applies to all 50 series graphics cards. When I flashed it the nvflash scanned the hardware ID to confirm that the update was applicable before proceeding. As it turns out it was applicable to both of my video cards.

For gaming very little benefit since there is no SLI hardware support and almost zero SLI support in terms of game development. You could use one for render and one for compute, and you could use Lossless Scaling for gaming. That would be a very expensive second GPU for that though. What GPU does your son have? If he has anything less than a 4090 it would be a nice upgrade for him. If you wanted to experiment with Lossless Scaling, you could use his GPU for that as a second GPU in your system. All of the above aside, having two matching 5080 Solid GPUs installed in your system would look pretty wicked. If you end up returning the new one you will have an "original owner" invoice with your name on it to register for warranty with Zotac. You could buy this one 5090 for roughly the cost of 4.5 5080s if you wanted to do something extra-stupid and frivolous with your money. https://www.overclock.net/threads/msi-rtx-5090-lightning-z-65-of-1300-custom-loop-compatible.1819519/?post_id=29587541#post-29587541

Yeah, the Zotac hate is really ignorant. They make great GPUs. Their warranty sucks, but the same can be said of other brands. A$$zeus and Gigabutt look for excuses to deny warranty for totally illegitimate reasons. A warranty that isn't honored because a company is dishonest is the same as having no warranty. Tony from Northwest Repair has mentioned in several videos that the Zotac GPUs are very well made. I think he has even said they are the best built. They have fuses to protect them and some of the more popular and more expensive brands do not.

Yay! That's great news. As much as I love my 5090 and I am glad that I have it, at current prices I would not even consider buying one again. The 5080 is a little weaker than a 4090 but out of the three options it is the only GPU that makes any sense financially. If you can even find a good used 4090 they are selling for prices that are just about as stupid as 5090 prices. I really like my 5080. I didn't feel dirty or like an idiot after buying it based on the price.

Sounds like switching the cable might do the trick if you are passing a SN stress test. Much further than you had gotten before from the way it sounds. Were you able to look at the PSU end of the 12VHPWR cable? If that adapter is working it could be the cable or the PSU, or maybe a bad connection on the PSU end of the cable (or melted at the PSU end).

This is exactly why I urged testing it in your son's computer. It is certainly possible that there might be something wrong with the 12VHPWR cable or the PSU. I would also look closely at the PCIe slot to make sure there is not some fuzz or other debris inside of the slot that is blocking contact with the contacts on the GPU. If your motherboard is PCIe 4.0 I would also try manually setting the PCIe speed for the GPU slot to whatever its maximum spec is rather than leaving it set to Auto. Are you going to try to return the new one, or give your son a nice upgrade?

@Papusan 2.0

Thank you for the update, brother. I am glad they are helping get things under control. The reason hypertension is often called "the silent kiler" is because it sneaks up on you quietly and usually has no symptoms. No, it is never any fun waiting to see if treatment worked. I know exactly how unpleasant that feels and can empathize. The cycle of test > treat > wait > retest sucks. The anticipation of the unknown is psychologically difficult and time changes from seeming to fly to a slow creep. The important thing is that they discovered the need and action is being taken. That is a blessing to you and all that know and love you.

Yes, downloaded the latest software/firmware when I installed the WireView Pro II today. It was software version 1.0.6 and the firmware is v04. I cannot say whether or not Micro$lop has a default 5090 driver that installs because I do not allow Windoze to update any drivers. I disable that functionality and install my own. Hopefully another 5090 owner can chime in since I can't provide anything useful with regard to this.

Got the WireView Pro II for the 5080 today. Order was placed on Thursday.

Test it in your son's system just to confirm and then reach out to Tony at Northwest Repair. You can go to his YouTube channel and the about page for info how to contact him. I had him repair bad memory on a 2080 Ti for me before his channel got wide notoriety. Super nice guy. It's probably something like a broken solder joint that is affected by temperature and 3D load causing it to act up. His prices are reasonable. Edit: Here is his contact info... He is in the Portland, Oregon area.

Looks like Nathan at Parts People decided to hand off the repair to Tony at Northwest Repair.

Well, that sucks. Can you test it in a different computer to see if it behaves the same? That would tell you for certain. Worst case scenario, Tony at Nortwest Repair could fix it for you. Does it still have the factory tamper sticker on the screw head or has it been taken apart by the prior owner?

Thank you for the update, brother. You will continue to be in our thoughts and prayers. We are reaching an age where things like this can really be stressful (emotionally and financially) for us and our loved ones. Our mortality becomes more evident to us and we become thankful for small things we once took for granted. Circumstances like this have the potential to strengthen our faith or produce uncertainty, fear and doubt. Keep the faith, brother. We are standing with you in spirit as you walk through this thorny pathway.

That really sucks. It's bad enough that there are so many hackers, scammers and identity thieves that are foreigners, but a fellow American doing it makes them that much more worthy of brutal and merciless retribution. Their predatory mindset is very similar in practice to serial rapists and child molesters and they deserve capital punishment. Did you sell your 5090 FE or did something happen to it?

Zotac makes some of the best 50-series GPUs. Build quality and PCB design are excellent. Glad you chose that one. The scammers of the world all deserve a bullet to their head. Did the scammer have a foreign accent or did his speech sound like he was from the area he claimed to be from?

My daughter has become addicted to gaming again like she was as a teenager (she is 39). When I gave my X870E Strix/4090 build to one of my sons as an upgrade/trade for his B650/7700X/3060 and gave that to my daughter she was hooked. The gaming rig that I gave to my grand daughters (her kids) was a B850/9600X/1080 system. I snagged a good deal on a RTX 3070 FTW3 https://www.overclock.net/posts/29586464/ (about $210 USD shipped). I am going to use that to upgrade my daughter's system and move her 3060 into her girls' system as an upgrade for them. And, then take the 1080 from their system and use it to upgrade her husband's system (which I gave them a couple of years ago) that is sporting a X79 Gene Rampage/Xeon E5-1680 V2/RX 590. So, that's going to be a sweet deal for all of them. Each system will be getting a 35-45% bump in graphics performance from where they currently are with their current GPUs.