RTX 3090 graphics cards apparently dying while playing a video game isn't the New World Amazon envisioned when it opened up the beta for its upcoming game. A growing number of Reddit users are claiming that their EVGA RTX 3090 cards are dying inside the game. From the current number of reports it seems that for now only EVGA RTX 3090 cards are affected (there is not a single reference to an AMD card being affected by this), but other users are reporting mysterious 100% loads in the main menu or loading screens, with other brands and RTX 30-series models. It appears that capping the framerates may prevent this from happening, which points towards the cards simply pulling too much power for their own circuitry.
The evidence is anecdotal so far, but there are enough different users reporting the same issues all around the web. Sometimes, the cards die as soon as you enter the game; other times, the cards will crash first, forcing a hard reset of the computer. If you still have a display output after that, you're one of the lucky ones - but entering the game once more has prompted the graphics cards to die, forcing users to activate their warranties and RMA their graphics cards.
Could this be similar to the the initial launch issues with bricked RTX 3000-series graphics cards? The power delivery subsystem not being able to cope with the cards' own boost clock capabilities, which prompted Nvidia to release a driver fix that artificially capped maximum boost clocks so as to preserve the cards. Perhaps the game somehow doesn't comply with NVIDIA's own drivers - which don't officially have support for it yet - and enables the GPUs to run free, bringing back this ghost of an issue.
Whatever the cause, there are enough people reporting dead cards for this to be present in your mind should you be looking to give New World a whirl. Just don't take your EVGA RTX 3090 to its shores for now - this New World appears to be deadly to them.
