Issue occurs during game startup on the new RTX 3090 graphics card.
Issue occurs during game startup on the new RTX 3090 graphics card.
Hi everyone, I recently switched from dual 1080 Ti units to a 3090. The system is working smoothly, but launching games is problematic. When I try to open most titles—Cyberpunk, Warzone, Black Ops Cold War, Forza Horizon 5, Elden Ring and more—I notice the cursor moves extremely slowly, I can’t click anything, and functions like Alt+Tab, Alt+F4 or Ctrl+Alt+Del don’t work. I’m stuck turning off the power and restarting.
I’ve tested several games, including World of Warcraft, and they all behave similarly, crashing or failing to launch. Only World of Warcraft starts without issues. I can still run 3Dmark benchmarks and my hardware stays within average performance with no crashes.
So far I’ve ruled out:
- MB BIOS (latest version)
- PICIE Riser (no riser cables used)
- NVIDIA drivers (updated, reinstalled, last version tried)
- Temperatures/cooling (custom water loop, pump working, temps normal)
My GPU is separate from the CPU and runs independently. The issue appears even when I first boot up, suggesting it’s not a thermal problem. The 3090 I bought is a Zotac Arcticstorm with the GPU waterblock pre-installed, so installation seems correct. I’ve overclocked and underclocked the card, tried default settings, disabled XMP and CPU overclocking—nothing helped.
I’ve also checked my power supply (Corsair HX1200i, 1200W, multiple connectors) and confirmed it’s functioning properly. No signs of power-related faults.
My only suspicion now is a faulty graphics card. It’s possible the card wasn’t installed properly or is defective, especially since my 1080 Ti worked perfectly before. I bought the 3090 new from Newegg, and it looked brand new—no signs of tampering.
I’m considering reinstalling Windows and trying again, but I’m hopeful this is just a bad card issue. Thanks for any advice!