pcie x16 slot @ x1???

[choppy]

well i just received my 8800gs alpha dog edition card today, that i bought off another tpu member (thanks nick!) ..installed it and ran 3dm06 to only score 4000pts. okay so i thought maybe its bottlenecked by the e2140 (which was stock) so i oc;d it up to 2.8ghz n my score dropped to below 4000!

decided to try gaming next and crysis played at 1280x1024 on medium, but alot like how my 7600gs was playing it..terribly! trying to figure out what the hell was wrong got gpu-z and noticed the (pic) pcie x16 only at x1?

so googled around, to find that a few mobo's have this issue with 88xx cards..and mine was on the list. updated bios to latest f8, that didnt work. went back to everything stock too, no avail. tried different pcie frequencies, voltages, NB voltages..nothing! then i emailed gigabyte tech support abt it, they replied in 2 mins asking if i had loaded optimized defaults, which i did, and they havent replied since.

but then whilst i was still browsing, my screen started to freeze up momentarily, then work for 5mins then freeze up again, back n forth like that. to which i thought it must be a psu issue. my psu supplies 26A on the 12v, isnt that enough for an 8800gs? even at stock with just a normal system?

swopped the 8800 out for my 7600 agaiun, see what gigabyte have to say. but am wondering what you guys think the prob maybe? cud a lack of power cause the pcie slot to run at x1?

 

[Linus]

hi,
i ran a 4850Cf+E2140@3.2ghz combo on 30A, so im pretty sure your psu does the trick.

maybe try a new bios? but i think it's the card.

 

[choppy]

you ran all that on 30A?! darn..i dont understand, how can it be the card? isnt the bios in charge of the width of x16 slot?

 

[choppy]

okay so gigabyte replied to me:

"We don't produce NV 8800GS Series; but we have tried GV-NX88T256H (8800 GT) OK. Please refer to attached file 8800GT.JPG.

M/B：GA-P35-DS3L (Rev. 1.0)
BIOS：F8
CPU：Intel E6400
Memory：Corsair DDR2-800 1GB*2pcs
Display card：GV-NX88T256H
Power：350W
Software：GPU-Z 0.2.7 version.
Result：Tested OK!

As we are do not manufacture this card possible incompatibility issue."


they used a 350w psu to power all that, so my 450w should be just fine. That doesnt explain the slowdown and stuttering i experienced tho..damn it could be the graphics card then..

 

[DOM]

set everything to stock save reboot then OC it back or try one up on the NB volts

 

[Linus]

hello,
it could very much be the card itself.

however i did have a similiar issue with one of my 4850's

it just booted up with random pcie speeds all the time. Mostly 4x, but somtimes 2x, rarely 16x.

I got advised, to:

- find a new bios for the mobo
- up the nb voltage
- set pci-e frequency to 101 or 99
- try a different power cable for the card
- make sure the slot is clean and that the card is properly seated

for me cleaning the slot helped, which might sound odd, but i guess dust can be tricky.

if none of this helps, you should just RMA the card.

 

[Tatty_Two]

okay so gigabyte replied to me:

"We don't produce NV 8800GS Series; but we have tried GV-NX88T256H (8800 GT) OK. Please refer to attached file 8800GT.JPG.

M/B：GA-P35-DS3L (Rev. 1.0)
BIOS：F8
CPU：Intel E6400
Memory：Corsair DDR2-800 1GB*2pcs
Display card：GV-NX88T256H
Power：350W
Software：GPU-Z 0.2.7 version.
Result：Tested OK!

As we are do not manufacture this card possible incompatibility issue."


they used a 350w psu to power all that, so my 450w should be just fine. That doesnt explain the slowdown and stuttering i experienced tho..damn it could be the graphics card then..

Lol are they saying there that their mobo's might only work with gfx cards that the manufacture? and is your BIOS option "INIT DISPLAY FIRST" set to PEG & not PCI?

 

[Deleted member 24505]

The p5b-dlx had the x1 pci-e problem,i think it was something to do with the nb voltage.

 

[DOM]

The p5b-dlx had the x1 pci-e problem,i think it was something to do with the nb voltage.

yeah that or setting it to default in bios then rebooting then ocing it back

pisses me off when it doest that when benching lol

 

[choppy]

DOM: that was the first thing i did, i went from stock, to OC, back to stock. ive tried different NB / PCIE voltages (you can only go +0.1..+0.2 , tried them all).

LINUS:
-i updated mobo bios to latest one.
-tried different NB voltages
-tried different pcie frequencies from 90 through to 105, then i just got annoyed and gave up!
- I have NOT tried different power cable as i dont have one, should i try out the 6pin->molex connector?
-i did take the card out, blow in the pcie slot and re-seat it and double checked connections. right now im using a 7600gs, running normal, so im assuming the slot is fine.


TATTY: well i guess theyr ruling the mobo out, but hm it is odd them implying only gigabyte cards work with GB mobo's. yeh, in advanced options (or whatver it is in bios), "init display" i always set to PEG.


for now ive set up a support ticket with XFX and see what they have to say. i just noticed on the box it reads..WARRANTY 01/08..

 

[choppy]

The p5b-dlx had the x1 pci-e problem,i think it was something to do with the nb voltage.

yeah ive read around this problem was common with p5b's...and you either increase NB / pcie voltage or set a different pcie frequency, none of which work for me! i cant find this problem documented anywhere with a p35-ds3l, though techarp have an article on this problem which says this mobo causes this issue, ive tried all their solutions too.

 

[Tatty_Two]

Flash, flash and re-flash the BIOS, eventually it will work, sometimes actually try an older BIOS (so dont flash thru windows) presuming you have the most upto date BIOS.....and isnt it SB volts for PCI-E?

 

[choppy]

update, XFX support STILL havent got back to me...

anyways, i decided to risk trying the 8800gs in my old dell dimension 5150, the psu states 22A on the 12v, so i updated the dell bios and chipset drivers. Installed the card, and the same thing, running at x1. the fact the card ran on 22A shows theres no psu issue, and trying it in a different mobo has to prove that the card is faulty or something?

 

[choppy]

okay guys, mystery solved!!

today i received my new hd3850, installed it and its working fine @ x16..so it was definitely the card that was faulty all along!!

 

[KainXS]

did you get a refund

if you still have the card look at the pins on it

 

[choppy]

did you get a refund

if you still have the card look at the pins on it

no refund, i aint heard from nick yet. what do you mean look at the pins? what am i looking for?

 

[newtekie1]

Look at the PCI-E pins on the card, there might be something that is screwed up with them, causing the card to run at x1 speeds. Make sure all the tiny resistors are there, and none of the gold contacts are damaged.

My eVGA 9600GSO did the same thing in my P5N-E SLI, except it ran at x8 instead. Raising the PCI-E frequency from 100MHz to 110MHz fixed the issue. Oddly, my eVGA 8800GS(which is essentially an identical card) did not have this issue at all and work fine at 100MHz.

 

[choppy]

okay im chargin my cam, see if i can get some decent close ups to post and tell me what u think

 

[Joe Public]

A while back I flashed the BIOS on my mobo (Asus P5B-E), which has a 8800GTS 640MB running on it. Up until then, I had no problems. I flashed, everything was fine, loaded BIOS defaults and set stuff to the way it was before the flash. I rebooted in to Windows, fired up a game. Everything ran dawg slow. So I scratched my head and figgered something had gotten borked in the BIOS flash, even though everything checked out a-ok during and at the end of the flash. Fired up GPU-Z, and there was the PCIe x16 @ x1 thing. Tried back and forth ways to get it to run at full x16 speed no luck. So I stuck my 9600GT in, and lo and behold, it was running at x16. I put the 8800GTS back in, and suddenly it was also running at x16 and been fine ever since.

Not exactly OPs exact situation, but just thought I'd share.

 

[Pinchy]

When I get this prob I up both the NB AND SB voltage. That generally does it for me =]

 

[choppy]

well i cudnt get good focus, my camera's crap..but the pins seem fine. it doesnt matter anyway, whatevers wrong with the card..my 3850 has solved the issue

 

[KainXS]

hmmm, how about you give it to your good ol pal kain then huh



what clocks are you running that 3850 at

 

[choppy]

hmmm, how about you give it to your good ol pal kain then huh

the 8800? well you cud talk to nick259 if you really wanted it..
the 3850 im running at 750/950 for now, im gonna stick an accelero s1 on it, then it shud be good for 800/1000 (ive taken it there already and it did the fuzzy cube on stitool with no probs..cept nearly 90degrees )

 

[KainXS]

yeah I remember on my 3850 the stock cooler gave me about those temps, do you get 90C with the fur bench

 

[choppy]

no havent tested furbench, i thought crysis was enough of a test!