Aurora R11, two weeks, RTX 3080 already needs replacement

Question

So a little back story to what's going on first. I have been trying to get my hands on an elusive RTX 3080 GPU for the past few months. After spending many wasted hours fruitlessly attempting to purchase one before bots got them instantly was frustrating and I ultimately just decided to swallow the costs and purchase an entire new pc with an RTX 3080 installed. My purchase was on 2/27/21 from a microcenter. The issue started on 3/14/21 so I just barely missed my return window. Opened a support ticket, and after running diagnostics, it turns out exact brand new component I bought the entire PC for, was already failing and needed to be replaced! WOW awesome! Ok so they tell me a support tech will be out to replace the card on 3/17/21. Well on the day of the repair I got an email stating: "The parts required for servicing your unit have not been received by the technician as they are currently out of stock. The estimated availability of the service part will be [ 3/24/21]. You will receive a call from the technician once they receive the parts to schedule the service."

So now I'm back to having no RTX 3080.. and about $3000 poorer. I have an 'estimated' availability of the part on 3/24/21.. but there are no RTX in existence. I'll keep this post updated.

Vanadiel · Answer

The reason why they don't truly do something about this is sales. They instantly sell out, at higher than MSRP prices.

To retailers a sale is a sale. At higher than MSRP prices, it's a bonus.

All stocks sells instantly, at higher profit margins than expected. No business is going to do something about that.

ZenicaPA · Answer

I feel your pain brother. I'm in a similar boat though my R11 with the RTX3080 seems ok. The boats are similar because I have been trying like heck to get an XBOX series X and a PS5 to no avail. The same bots.

I wonder, why don't these retailers do something to the bots. Like start a wait list and offer to that list first, people can add an address once and people can add themselves to it at any time, stock is never sold openly, only to the waitlist. That would the bots and more importantly, the but-O behind them.

Hopefully DELL get's stock sooner than later....so your up and running.

Tesla1856 · Answer

You don't mention why you think it's broken.

Try using two separate modular PCIe cables. Be sure both PCIe power-cables run back to power-supply individually.

Try to connect modular cables to the two most powerful 12v rails ... two separate ones.

IIRC, @Cass-Ole made a post about the power-supply and suggested wiring.

bigc84 · Answer

UPDATE: my brand new Alienware is still broken. Service date has arrived, and with it a new email saying my GPU is.. of course.. out of stock and I ha e a new 'estimate' of April 6th. At this point I feel robbed. I just spent almost $3000 on a broken computer. This is terrible. I want my money back

bigc84 · Answer

It has been fixed as of 3/29.. so far so good.

Vanadiel · Answer

Wow, that's odd. Sounds like you blew up 2 RTX 3080's if this is deemed a GPUI failure again. You must have really bad luck.

bigc84 · Answer

Back to square one as of 10 minutes ago. Any vr game I play crashes the pc within minutes. Going to have to email support and reopen the ticket. Unfortunate .

bigc84 · Answer

UPDATE: Last night I got hit with a blue screen error that would not allow me to start windows any longer. After doing diagnostics, a fresh install was required. After the fresh install the GPU has been able to pass all stress tests. Crossing my fingers that this is resolved.

As far as having bad luck. Yea I've been known for that. But I've also had some really good luck too, so who knows.

Vanadiel · Answer

Well, if you happen to have a good stroke of luck with the lottery, keep your good pal Vanadiel in mind.

bigc84 · Answer

Been too busy to take care of this until a couple of days ago. Called support and we did some diagnostics.. ended up ordering another motherboard for it as that is the most likely issue at this point. Tech support was supposed to be here tomorrow. It's been delayed.

Vanadiel · Answer

It seems that Dell just changes parts, and if that does not work change another part.

Troubleshooting does not seem to be their forte.

I do hope you get it fixed soon, because that's a nice machine and I am sure you want it working properly.

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Aurora R11, two weeks, RTX 3080 already needs replacement

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