EVGA gifts 'extreme overclockers' a 450W beta BIOS for the RTX 3080 FTW3 Ultra

(Image credit: EVGA)

Out of the box, EVGA's custom GeForce RTX 3080 FTW3 Ultra Gaming (10G-P5-3897-KR) is already one of the higher powered and faster running RTX 3080 cards you can buy (well, can't buy). But if you happen to own one and fancy yourself an "extreme overclocking user," there is a beta BIOS available that will could possibly facility even higher clocks.

Your next upgrade

(Image credit: Future)

Best CPU for gaming: the top chips from Intel and AMD
Best graphics card: your perfect pixel-pusher awaits
Best SSD for gaming: get into the game ahead of the rest

The beta BIOS jacks up the maximum power target to 450W, which is a 50W increase over the card's stock 400W power limit. Nvidia's Founders Edition variant is configured at 320W, and as noted by Videocardz, most of the custom models that go higher top out at 340W.

That is not the case with all of them, however, and the increase to 450W on EVGA's FTW3 Ultra matches the Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3080 OC Edition. That card is capable of boosting to 1,935MHz in OC mode (and 1,905MHz in Gaming mode), versus 1,800MHz for EVGA's card (and 1,710MHz for the Founders Edition model).

By enabling a higher max power limit, the FTW3 Ultra could potentially close the gap with the ROG Strix, or maybe even surpass it. That said, EVGA is not guaranteeing any overclocked settings beyond how the card ships, or any performance increase whatsoever with the 450W BIOS replacement. Instead, EVGA made it available "due to many user requests" (and deserves a hat tip for doing so).

EVGA's forum post provides step-by-step instructions on how to update the BIOS on its FTW3 Ultra card. As always, proceed with caution (it's always a good idea to have your PC plugged into a battery backup when updating firmware of any kind, in case there is a power outage). EVGA also says to ensure you have "adequate cooling," and recommends at least an 850W power supply that is 80 Plus Gold certified.

TOPICS
Paul Lilly

Paul has been playing PC games and raking his knuckles on computer hardware since the Commodore 64. He does not have any tattoos, but thinks it would be cool to get one that reads LOAD"*",8,1. In his off time, he rides motorcycles and wrestles alligators (only one of those is true).

Latest in Graphics Cards
A Gigabyte RTX 5070 Ti Eagle OC Ice on a desk and installed in a gaming PC.
Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Eagle OC Ice SFF review
An MSI RTX 5080 in white installed in a gaming PC.
MSI GeForce RTX 5080 Ventus 3X OC White review
Nvidia App
Hmmm, upgrades: Nvidia App gets an optional AI assistant and custom DLSS resolution scaling
A close-up photo of an Nvidia RTX 4070, with its heatsink removed, showing the AD104 GPU die and the surrounding Micron GDDR6X VRAM chips
With Nvidia Ace taking up 1 GB of VRAM in Inzoi, Team Green will need to up its memory game if AI NPCs take off in PC gaming
A collage of Radeon RX 9000 series graphics cards, as shown in AMD's promotional video for the launch of RDNA 4 at CES 2025
AMD's CEO claims 9070 XT sales are 10x higher than all previous Radeon generations but that's just for the first week of availability
Colorful iGame RTX 5070 Ti Vulcan OC graphics card from various angles
The RTX 5060 and RTX 5060 Ti are rumoured to be mere weeks away, with board partners reportedly required to ensure at least one MSRP model at launch
Latest in News
starcraft 2 face
StarCraft fans taunted by the announcement of a new StarCraft... board game
kingdom come: deliverance 2 henry looks confused
'Medieval Batman' completes Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 pacifist playthrough with zero kills and 535 knockouts
SUQIAN, CHINA - OCTOBER 6, 2024 - Illustration Tencent's plan to buy Ubisoft, Suqian, Jiangsu province, China, October 6, 2024. (Photo credit should read CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
Ubisoft and Tencent are forming a new company that will take control of its most successful franchises: Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six
A motley crew riding out in point-and-click adventure Rosewater
Promising '90s style point-and-clicker Rosewater rides out today, featuring trail-worn cowpoke authors and weird alt-universe science
A girl cheering in Everybody's Golf Hot Shots.
My favourite, most underrated anime golf game series is actually getting a PC entry for the first time in its nearly 30-year history
A shock trap transformed into a Lego brick in Monster Hunter Wilds.
A modder keeps turning Monster Hunter traps into Lego bricks so that the monsters will know true pain, and they've just done it again