Trouble with 3080 and Riser Cable - No display, no way to enable GPU

[IckenOodleOup]

Parts

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7900x

MOBO: Gigabyte B650I Aorus Ultra

GPU: EVGA RTX 3080 Hydro Copper 10 GB (With PCIE 4.0 Riser Cable.

PSU: Corsair SF750

RAM: 2x16 gb G.Skill Flare X5 DDR5

I am trying to get a new build up and running but I'm having trouble with my GPU.

Boot takes much longer than when I have only integrated graphics plugged in. I have not been able to get a display from my GPU yet. Using only integrated graphics, I see that the GPU is listed as Disabled in Device Manager (Code 43). Upon installing Nvidia drivers my pc auto rebooted to complete the installation. This took a very long time and then notified me that the drivers failed to install.

I turned off all firewalls and attempted to reboot my system to try installing the drivers again. While restarting, Windows gave me this error "DRIVER POWER STATE ERROR"." The PC then force shut down and rebooted.

EVGA said the 30 series do not work well with PCIE cables and I should try the card without it but that is not doable in the sff case I am using. Should I test the card on another mobo? Is the card faulty? Has anyone else run into this issue?

[CommanderAlex]

18 minutes ago, IckenOodleOup said:

EVGA said the 30 series do not work well with PCIE cables and I should try the card without it but that is not doable in the sff case I am using. Should I test the card on another mobo? Is the card faulty? Has anyone else run into this issue?

I would definitely try the card out in another system without the use of any PCIe riser cable to ensure the card is fully functional and the fault lies with the PCIe riser cable. 

 

Have you tried setting the PCIe link speeds to Gen 4.0 from Auto in BIOS? Perhaps try 3.0 too if it still doesn't work in the SFF PC. 

[ApolloX75]

I ran into this with a riser cable for my 3080. The 30 series will not work with Gen 3 riser cables, it must be a Gen 4 cable. You didn't say what make and model of cable you're using, but if it's a Gen 3 it won't work. I ended up using a cheap (compared to others) EZDIY Gen 4 cable off Amazon and it's working perfectly.

 

If it is a Gen 4 cable, then it's possible it's no good. I'd test the cable and the GPU in another system if possible, just to be sure in that case.

[IckenOodleOup]

Okay I will try testing both in another system. It is a Gen 4 riser cable, I have tested both but it could be possible the riser cable is faulty. I can still see riser cable in bios. 

[Blai5e]

15 hours ago, IckenOodleOup said:

EVGA said the 30 series do not work well with PCIE cables and I should try the card without it but that is not doable in the sff case I am using. Should I test the card on another mobo? Is the card faulty? Has anyone else run into this issue?

Really? I've had a number of EVGA cards (including an EK-blocked 3090 FTW3 Ultra) and never had an issue with riser cables, be-they GEN 3 or Gen 4. I'm a bit of an advocate of "you get what you paid for" and only use LINKUP riser cables and frankly; there are some GEN 4 cables out in the wild that don't cut the mustard. Flakey cables would be more to blame rather than the AIB of the GPU being EVGA (I've been a member of the EVGA forums since 2005 and have never seen an official stance by EVGA that their cards don't play nicely with riser cables).

[IkeaGnome]

Have you tried booting with integrated graphics and no 3080, forcing PCIE gen 3 on the x16 slot and reinstalling the 3080? I wonder if the riser just isn't as gen 4 capable as advertised.

[IckenOodleOup]

5 hours ago, Blai5e said:

Really? I've had a number of EVGA cards (including an EK-blocked 3090 FTW3 Ultra) and never had an issue with riser cables, be-they GEN 3 or Gen 4. I'm a bit of an advocate of "you get what you paid for" and only use LINKUP riser cables and frankly; there are some GEN 4 cables out in the wild that don't cut the mustard. Flakey cables would be more to blame rather than the AIB of the GPU being EVGA (I've been a member of the EVGA forums since 2005 and have never seen an official stance by EVGA that their cards don't play nicely with riser cables).

I have yet to use a riser cable so I think that may be the issue. The riser cable that is supposedly 4.0 came from Thorzone as part of their Mjolnir case. I tried another 3.0 riser that came with a Meshilicious case but that did not seem to work either. I have one more riser cable that is 3.0 but I do not know the manufacturer. I may try a LINKUP if the gpu does end up working in the PCIE slot on the mobo. I attached pictures of the 4.0 riser cable and of the EVGA response. 

[IckenOodleOup]

5 hours ago, IkeaGnome said:

Have you tried booting with integrated graphics and no 3080, forcing PCIE gen 3 on the x16 slot and reinstalling the 3080? I wonder if the riser just isn't as gen 4 capable as advertised.

I have not tried forcing PCIE gen 3 yet. I will try this once I verify the GPU-MOBO are working.

[sailsman63]

If you haven't already, try pulling the MB out of the case and bench-building with the GC directly in the PCIe slot, just to make sure that it is the cable, rather than the card or slot...

[IkeaGnome]

14 minutes ago, IckenOodleOup said:

I have not tried forcing PCIE gen 3 yet. I will try this once I verify the GPU-MOBO are working.

Just a heads up, some people have had issues with that riser since Alex changed suppliers for the riser. Some people can't get the 4.0 riser to work at 4.0 and have to go to 3.0... Might be easier than completely removing everything from the case to see that the GPU and motherboard are working correctly, then rebuilding the computer.

 

Edit:

Here's a link with Alex's take on it.

https://smallformfactor.net/forum/threads/mjolnir-the-minimalistic-–-but-not-boring-–-9-7l-case.3500/page-235#post-273067

And since it's a ways down in the thread, here's a quote. Spoilered because it's long. This is from only a few days ago, 27 Jan....

Spoiler

Quote

The other riser that @riba2233 mentioned was not available to us when we made the order, I didn’t know it existed as it was released later.

I've tested that riser on our own machines (for both work and gaming) and they are still running fine in Gen4 on our RTX 3080 & Strix motherboards. Moreover, I’ve seen that cable being labeled 4.0 and used in T1 and quite a lot. The supplier told me that as long as the equipment is of high quality (i.e. not PC gear from alibaba) the 4.0 signal will be achieved, which given our own tests, I believed. Also, comparing that cable to the older Gen3 cable…my PC wouldn’t even boot.

Still, seeing that some get this issue is frustrating, but as always equipment is always evolving. I’ve spoken with our riser supplier during the past days to investigate the issue and they showed me the new cable @riba2233 was talking about, it’s basically 2x the price of the previous model. Again I didn’t have this option when we started manufacturing, but with this cable the MJOLNIRs and riser upgrades would have been about $40 more expensive.

If you experience problems running PCIe 4.0 on the riser, you can switch it to 3.0 in BIOS with negligible performance loss. I’ve heard some think this is somehow worse than a Gen 3 riser, but that is categorically wrong. A Gen 3 wouldn’t even boot a 4.0 device.

Now I’m going to list all issues in the current batch, from most important to least:

1. Riser

2. Booster Cell fan header
- While this issue is easily fixed, just snap off the plastic guard, it is saddening because this supplier has manufactured our electronics without any issues for the past years. Other than the wrong header the electronics are beautiful. I don’t believe the supplier had bad intentions, the connectors are super similar and it’s not like one is cheaper than the other. Again, luckily it’s an easy fix.

3. Tear in O2 Panel mesh
- It seems that for some people, the sharp riser bag punctured the O2 mesh during shipping. We should have secured them better, some shipments seem to have very violent journeys.

4. Magnets falling off
- This is extremely irritating issue, because we doubled the number of magnets but didn’t improve our gluing skills. I should have insisted the factory show me how they glue them, because when I do it myself it’s permanent. In any case, once you glue them back with Loctite (I can’t believe this issue still persists since Kickstarter) they will never fall off again and your MJOLNIR will have a LOT tougher panels than any previous iteration. On a positive note it seems we fixed the gluing of the corner guards, not heard anyone say they have fallen off in the latest batch.

5. No manual for BORG
- We are working on the manual for BORG now. I wanted to get the BORGs shipped before Chinese new year, but that would mean once they arrive we would have not finished the manuals yet. I still stand by this decision, it’s better that you have the product first and the manual later then getting both after Chinese new year. Also, BORG is pretty easy to attach without a manual, so I though it would be better if people got them asap.

6. Wrong label on BORG package
- This is basically a non-issue, but it’s frustrating to me that it even happened (easily avoidable and a reason to never skip triple-checking your work). Once you take the product out of its package you’ll probably never see that package again.

Of course I wish none of these problems would have been in the new batch, and some of them could have been avoided (Booster Cell fan header, magnets, BORG label) if we investigated more, which we should have done. It makes me sad though that some people think I’m like some evil dude that goes around and lies to your face and tries to hide problems. There are a lot of things in the new batch that have been improved, like tighter panels gaps, better corner guards, double panel hold (if all magnets are there), etc. But everyone instead overemphasizes the issues (most of which are easily solved), I understand why this happens though…super expensive case and you expect everything to be perfect (which I would expect as well).

Last but not least, I have never stated that we make the cases in Sweden, never. We’ve looked into Swedish factories in the past but they don’t have the capabilities to produce precision extrusions at lower quantity (say below 10.000 units). Also, the anodizing was subpar and very limited vs our factory in China. I have said they are designed in Sweden and made in China. You can’t find me saying anything else, period.

 

 

[IckenOodleOup]

Ok I pulled the mobo out and inserted the gpu directly into the PCIE slot. Computer booted normally this time and I actually got a display from the gpu. Bios displayed a 4.0 pcie. How should I proceed? Do I try using a pcie 3.0 riser cable? Do I go get a case where a riser is not needed? Do I edit any settings in bios to make a riser cable work?

[IkeaGnome]

1 minute ago, IckenOodleOup said:

Ok I pulled the mobo out and inserted the gpu directly into the PCIE slot. Computer booted normally this time and I actually got a display from the gpu. Bios displayed a 4.0 pcie. How should I proceed? Do I try using a pcie 3.0 riser cable? Do I go get a case where a riser is not needed? Do I edit any settings in bios to make a riser cable work?

Since you've already got it out of the case, go into advanced mode, and you can force PCIE into gen 3 mode. Then try installing the GPU on the riser out of the case and make sure it works. I can't remember off the top of my head where in the Bios it's at so we'd have to walk through it with pictures.

[IckenOodleOup]

1 minute ago, IkeaGnome said:

Since you've already got it out of the case, go into advanced mode, and you can force PCIE into gen 3 mode. Then try installing the GPU on the riser out of the case and make sure it works. I can't remember off the top of my head where in the Bios it's at so we'd have to walk through it with pictures.

I can edit that no problem. Should I use a PCIE 3.0 or 4.0 riser?

[IkeaGnome]

1 minute ago, IckenOodleOup said:

I can edit that no problem. Should I use a PCIE 3.0 or 4.0 riser?

In general, 3.0 vs 4.0 doesn't matter.

Spoiler

 

Looking at manuals for similar motherboards, the B650I doesn't have a bios manual on it's page, but other Gigabyte B650 boards do, go to Advanced Bios, Settings tab, Miscellaneous, PCIE X16 Link Speed, change from auto to gen 3. 

[IckenOodleOup]

Was able to solve issue by setting Bios PCIE from Auto to 3.0. I used a 3.0 riser cable since I don't want to deal with any other problems from the supposedly 4.0 cable that came with the Thorzone case. Thanks all for the help. Thanks @IkeaGnome for the solution and pointing out possible issues with the specific riser cable.