Latest EVGA firmware update improves RTX 3080 Ti mining performance

Daniel Sims

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In a nutshell: A recent BIOS update for EVGA’s graphics cards increased the RTX 3080 Ti’s mining performance by up to 21 percent. Non-EVGA 3080 Tis can flash this BIOS, though not without serious risk. The situation could worsen an already struggling GPU market for those just interested in playing games.

During the summer, users discovered that EVGA’s factory VBIOS contained a hidden power limit that downclocked GPUs during high-memory usage (a mining trait). An EVGA firmware update removes the limit, improving mining and rendering performance. It may also positively affect gaming performance, but there has been no solid confirmation on that front.

Bravo_char1 on Reddit last month observed that removing the limit took EVGA’s 3080 Ti XC3 from roughly 66 million hashes per second (MH/s) to around 80. Users wanting the update should get it through EVGA Precision X, then deactivate the features “Fast Boot” and “CSM Support” in the motherboard’s BIOS.

One can also flash that updated BIOS to cards from other manufacturers. YouTuber Red Panda Mining used it to get 90MH/s out of an Inno3D 3080 Ti. However, Reddit user HelloAtilla warns that flashing it on non-EVGA GPUs can brick them.

This new BIOS could make 3080 Tis even more desirable for miners in a time when most GPUs are selling for at least double their MSRP. News aggregator 3DCenter’s latest price tracker for December 2021 this week shows German retail graphics card prices holding at around 200 percent above MSRP since October, without factoring in the 3080 Ti. TechSpot’s checkup from last month shows the 3080 Ti’s eBay price inflated by 60 percent -- significantly less than the over 100 percent inflation seen with all the other Amperes and most of the Radeon 6000 line.

Image credit: 3DCenter

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Hi ho hi ho -it's off to work we go.

All work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy .

unlike us it's the oldest who know how to play - like a 1060 - loves to play all day
 
Miners are the priority, gamers are the bottom feeders. Even the gamers with deep pockets.

Ironically I've noticed that the cost of prebuilts has remained consistent and mostly fair. Almost as if it's the diy crowd that the market is targeting for obsolescence.
 
Well everyone saw that coming. Firmware hash limited can be bypassed, shocker! AIBs will "leak" a method of doing so, even bigger shocker!
 
Limiting hash rates and creating dedicated cards for miners is, and always has been a terrible idea.

I hope the 4000 series has some what better availability, at the very least it would be nice to get my hands on a second hand 3080/Ti/90.
 
Ironically I've noticed that the cost of prebuilts has remained consistent and mostly fair.
I have always recommended anyone buying a prebuilt to just go with the largest companies (Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc) because the market up from boutiques (Orign, Maingear, Cyberpower) was ridiculous even before this shortage. But now seeing all these reviews of prebuilts come out has made realize how must cost cutting they do: custom cut-down motherboards, single sticks of ram with no heat spreader, OEM power supplies with no ratings, etc.

TL;DR: Mass produced prebuilts may get you a GPU at a fair price, but every other part in your system will be of inferior quality and design.
 
I have always recommended anyone buying a prebuilt to just go with the largest companies (Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc) because the market up from boutiques (Orign, Maingear, Cyberpower) was ridiculous even before this shortage. But now seeing all these reviews of prebuilts come out has made realize how must cost cutting they do: custom cut-down motherboards, single sticks of ram with no heat spreader, OEM power supplies with no ratings, etc.

TL;DR: Mass produced prebuilts may get you a GPU at a fair price, but every other part in your system will be of inferior quality and design.
The GPUs they include are dogshit: 110c memory temps, dinky heatsinks and whiny fans.

You're better off just buying a GPU from a scalper.
 
Miners are the priority, gamers are the bottom feeders. Even the gamers with deep pockets.

Ironically I've noticed that the cost of prebuilts has remained consistent and mostly fair. Almost as if it's the diy crowd that the market is targeting for obsolescence.
I have always recommended anyone buying a prebuilt to just go with the largest companies (Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc) because the market up from boutiques (Orign, Maingear, Cyberpower) was ridiculous even before this shortage. But now seeing all these reviews of prebuilts come out has made realize how must cost cutting they do: custom cut-down motherboards, single sticks of ram with no heat spreader, OEM power supplies with no ratings, etc.

TL;DR: Mass produced prebuilts may get you a GPU at a fair price, but every other part in your system will be of inferior quality and design.

While I agree with the logic both of you are using, my only comment would be that if you *have to* go with a prebuild rig, you might as well go for a laptop.

I know all of the usual objections, but like you said the best bet is the biggest companies and we know they can, will and already do cut costs a lot in things like motherboards and power supplies so the versatility and multiple possible configurations or upgrade choices the desktop PC become close to null and void with a pre-build system from a big integrator

So with laptops being within reasonable gaming performance of what few desktops you can *reasonably* buy anyway (We're talking 3060 and 3070 for most rigs) you might as well just get a laptop instead.
 
If you turn off CSM support it proberly means something in the way like SAM being enabled. Memory larger then 256MB per chunk that can be adressed.
 
Miners are the priority, gamers are the bottom feeders. Even the gamers with deep pockets.

Ironically I've noticed that the cost of prebuilts has remained consistent and mostly fair. Almost as if it's the diy crowd that the market is targeting for obsolescence.
Pre-builts fair? Where? In the US, sure.

Most of the other countries, even EU has scalper prices for pre-builts the same as individual GPUs.

We had them from start here, there was never a time since the inception of this new scalping age where pre-builts GPUs were cheaper than individual ones... doing the math gets you the same result: a big F U to the consumer, same 2x-3x prices.
 
Pre-builts fair? Where? In the US, sure.

Most of the other countries, even EU has scalper prices for pre-builts the same as individual GPUs.

We had them from start here, there was never a time since the inception of this new scalping age where pre-builts GPUs were cheaper than individual ones... doing the math gets you the same result: a big F U to the consumer, same 2x-3x prices.
I generally felt that pre-builts, particularly for gaming, offered poor value. Don‘t really enjoy building myself like I did 20 years ago, but looking at what €1,000 would get me pre-built vs DIY, I decided on the latter.

And judging by Gamers Nexus‘ videos on pre-built, DIY (if you can) seems like a much better alternative even now.
 
The GPUs they include are dogshit: 110c memory temps, dinky heatsinks and whiny fans.

You're better off just buying a GPU from a scalper.
They put stock 2005 cooling parts on their hardware. Maybe buy separate cooler/heatsink to replace OEM junk?
 
I generally felt that pre-builts, particularly for gaming, offered poor value. Don‘t really enjoy building myself like I did 20 years ago, but looking at what €1,000 would get me pre-built vs DIY, I decided on the latter.

And judging by Gamers Nexus‘ videos on pre-built, DIY (if you can) seems like a much better alternative even now.
Apparently and according to both @Kozmoz comment and what I've myself observed on our local stores this might still be the case.

However, for at least some people right now, the pre-built systems no longer are the worst option in terms of price. If you get lucky or can deal with the "lead times" or back orders most of the vendors have, it's still cheaper for a lot of folks to buy prebuilt than to try and buy a GPU a scalper prices that basically offsets all of the costs integrators add on top and then some.

And as I alluded to we've been saying "once things get back to normal" for a full year and we will continue to say the same for imo at least another full year if not 2 or even 3 full years: it all depends just on Eth crashing and well, it hasn't and probably wont: Bitcoin and cryptos are now supported by some big financial institutions that want in on the scam so it won't crash like everyone has been predicting again, imo.
 
After watching Gamers Nexus reviews, the prebuilts from over a decade ago were indeed better built and designed. And the mobos were at least a standard form factor.
 
I generally felt that pre-builts, particularly for gaming, offered poor value. Don‘t really enjoy building myself like I did 20 years ago, but looking at what €1,000 would get me pre-built vs DIY, I decided on the latter.

And judging by Gamers Nexus‘ videos on pre-built, DIY (if you can) seems like a much better alternative even now.
I completely agree. I never bought a pre-built and I don't think I'll ever will. I have built myself all my PCs since I was a teenager and every time I had a better PC for the same price of a pre-built. Not to mention the joy of doing it.

I was just talking about prices difference here. And there is no better price for pre-builts as far as I'm concerned in the shops I have access too, so event that possible advantage is not actually real.
 
As long as a lot of people defend mining (= each day coming a new one, each day melting GPUs and tons of energy, nonsense..), GPU makers and OEMs who build cards with them, they go to who pays more: miners.

The average player Joe will have no luck for the next years/ decade, as long mining is still allowed:

- even if GPUs are in bigger quantities, miners will want to buy more because it's more profitable

- players will have to buy the completely burned out second hand GPUs and won't last long

TL;DR: if you want to game, buy a console, (as at least for now, you can't mine on them). If you defend mining, you burned gaming on a PC; if you keep defending mining you may also burn gaming on consoles, if someone finds a way to do mining in consoles. If you defend mining, more electronic trash, more energy consumption, higher recycling/ energy/gpu prices.
Your choice...
 
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