My motherboard hates My New GPU :( PCIE bandwidth question

[jboydgolfer]

Hello TPU,

So my title says the majority of it. I recently acquired a Powercolor LCS 7970 (Great GPU). My PC is what I have in My specs to the left.
i5 2500k
kingston Hyperx blue 16Gb
samsung 850 evo 500gb OS
seagate 'cuda'1Tb storage
Asrock extreme 3 Gen 3 z68
Latest Bios (beta even) indeed a UEFI issue asrock refuses to take responsibility so far atleast, they say its CPU, or VGA, or other.

I installed the card in My primary PCIE slot, and couldn't get any video from it. It powered on, and spun up, but nothing but black. I installed it into another PC, and viola, it works fine. the "other PC" is a asrock H97M Pro 4 with an i3 4160 CPU. It functioned fine, so i tried it in my main rig again, still nothing. I have run a 6950 in the trouble slot in question Just fine, as well as a "newer" 7870Ghz edition, also, ran just fine. Only the 7970 wont run. Now, here is where it gets funny (atleast in my mind) I tried installing it into another PCIE slot (the bottom most since that is where i could fit it) and , it works just fine, although it maxes out @PCIE x8 v 2.0. I have contacted powercolor, and they are saying i should "try it with an ivy bridge or newer CPU", or try running a "7950, or 280, or newer" Sadly, I like many am NOT made of money, and am unable to do this (as i told them too). So im left with upgrading My motherboard, or finding a solution that has, as of yet eluded me. My questions are as follows...
1- does running in PCIEx8 V2.0 give me a large performance hit? or is it negligible?
2- if i am forced to upgrade motherboard, i feel like im gonna regret paying good money for a "sidegrade" since i cant afford to go FULL new as of now.
3- do You know a fix for this (worth a shot right? )

thanks for your time, and I apologize for the lengthy explanation. I wanted it to be thourough so the bases were covered.

regard's
j
heres a funny pic just because

Spoiler: what could it be??

 

[mstenholm]

Hello TPU,

So my title says the majority of it. I recently acquired a Powercolor LCS 7970 (Great GPU). My PC is what I have in My specs to the left.
i5 2500k
kingston Hyperx blue 16Gb
samsung 850 evo 500gb OS
seagate 'cuda'1Tb storage
Asrock extreme 3 Gen 3 z68

I installed the card in My primary PCIE slot, and couldn't get any video from it. It powered on, and spun up, but nothing but black. I installed it into another PC, and viola, it works fine. the "other PC" is a asrock H97M Pro 4 with an i3 4160 CPU. It functioned fine, so i tried it in my main rig again, still nothing. I have run a 6950 in the trouble slot in question Just fine, as well as a "newer" 7870Ghz edition, also, ran just fine. Only the 7970 wont run. Now, here is where it gets funny (atleast in my mind) I tried installing it into another PCIE slot (the bottom most since that is where i could fit it) and , it works just fine, although it maxes out @PCIE x8 v 2.0. I have contacted powercolor, and they are saying i should "try it with an ivy bridge or newer CPU", or try running a "7950, or 280, or newer" Sadly, I like many am NOT made of money, and am unable to do this (as i told them too). So im left with upgrading My motherboard, or finding a solution that has, as of yet eluded me. My questions are as follows...
1- does running in PCIEx8 V2.0 give me a large performance hit? or is it negligible?
2- if i am forced to upgrade motherboard, i feel like im gonna regret paying good money for a "sidegrade" since i cant afford to go FULL new as of now.
3- do You know a fix for this (worth a shot right? )

thanks for your time, and I apologize for the lengthy explanation. I wanted it to be thourough so the bases were covered.

regard's
j
heres a funny pic just because

Spoiler: what could it be??

2 %. Try - gaming pcie effect

 

[thebluebumblebee]

Is this an UEFI issue? Is your motherboard's BIOS up to date?

 

[Alex25]

save money and run @ 8x

www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Impact-of-PCI-E-Speed-on-Gaming-Performance-518/

 

[jboydgolfer]

@thebluebumblebee yes, sorry i edited OP, im running the Latest bios, i even went a step further, and installed the latest beta bios.

2 %. Try - gaming pcie effect

okay cool

 

[cadaveca]

Please enter into BIOS with another VGA and force PCIe 2.0 mode for the upper slot. Then try the 7970 again.

Your board supports PCIe 3.0, and so does the VGA, but your CPU does not. It is likely this mis-match that is causing you grief. This is why Powercolor suggest trying an IvyBridge CPU.

 

[jboydgolfer]

Please enter into BIOS with another VGA and force PCIe 2.0 mode for the upper slot. Then try the 7970 again.

Your board supports PCIe 3.0, and so does the VGA, but your CPU does not. It is likely this mis-match that is causing you grief. This is why Powercolor suggest trying an IvyBridge CPU.

my board has these options for gpu... iGPU, PCI , or PCIe nothing else. how do you mean "force 2.0"? also AFAIK, the board & GPU both support PCIE 3.0 With the supporting CPU that is. I can fit another GPU right on top of the liquid cooled one, since its in the Bottom most slot, I could do what you ask, but im not certain i unnderstand what it is exactly your suggesting. im sorry to be a pain.

 

[rtwjunkie]

You have a gen 3 Z68, so with an Ivy Bridge or higher, you can get PCIe 3.0. At this stage, if all you can do is upgrade one or the other, you will find older motherboards like we both have harder to find, expensive, and probably abused.

If you can only do one, I would go to an IVB cpu, as they are easier to find, relatively affordable, and probably in better shape.

Of course, if Dave's suggestion on forcing the PCIe lanes works, ignore all the above.

 

[cadaveca]

my board has these options for gpu... iGPU, PCI , or PCIe nothing else. how do you mean "force 2.0"? also AFAIK, the board & GPU both support PCIE 3.0 With the supporting CPU that is. I can fit another GPU right on top of the liquid cooled one, since its in the Bottom most slot, I could do what you ask, but im not certain i unnderstand what it is exactly your suggesting. im sorry to be a pain.

Some boards have an option to force the board to stay in PCIe 1.0 or PCIe 2.0 mode (all PCIe is backwards-compatible). If you have find an option for this in BIOS, it might allow the new GPU to work in the uppermost slot.

Are you losing much having the GPU in the lower slot @ PCIe 2.0 x8? Not much, but there is a difference for sure. So the most optimal thing, naturally would be getting that GPU working at PCIe 2.0 x16, in the top-most slot. So you could jstu leave it, too.

 

[jboydgolfer]

Are you losing much having the GPU in the lower slot @ PCIe 2.0 x8? Not much, but there is a difference for sure. So the most optimal thing, naturally would be getting that GPU working at PCIe 2.0 x16, in the top-most slot. So you could jstu leave it, too.

i agree, but sadly my bios lacks that option, ive had this board for 5 years and would've seen it, but I have updated the bios recently, let me look, but i dont know.
I just cant justify up , rather side-grading to a ivybridge. I now there are minor changes, but I am having real difficulty upgrading to even a 5th Gan CPU when my gains wont be very huge in gaming which is really my only intensive task as of late. If I had ever run this GPU in PCIex16 id be able to see what the difference would be, but i cant imagine there is THAT much lost performace as i have it now..Ill post a unigine score to show what im getting as it is in the x8 2.0 slot...

note that this is set to Extreme HD settings maxed out. i score 2300 or so @ the 4xAA settings that the "unigine valley" thread here on TPU uses.

 

[jboydgolfer]

i THINK i have found a solution, but not a fix for the problem. I have another PC that has been mostly dormant , which is an 1150 build, using a H97M Pro 4, which CAN overclock, but lack great potential for it aside from just minor or basic Overclocking. Anyway, I'm thinking of just buying a new CPU (1150) and moving the majority of MY build over to that PC, then I can take advantage of the newer board in that system....then just use MY current PC as the Mostly dormant Living room PC. I just need to figure out whether or not i want an i5 4690k, or an i7 4790k...likely the i5, and likely a new case to fit the 240mm rad that cools this 7970. maybe the r5 fractal, or S440 NZXT...

But regardless, that seems to be My best option, both financially, and in practicality.
thanks for ALL of your help, and to those who celebrate it , Have a great Thanksgiving

 

[thebluebumblebee]

i5 4690k, or an i7 4790k

Both on sale right now at Newegg...

 

[Norton]

a new case to fit the 240mm rad that cools this 7970

If it's just for the 7970 you can run it on a single 140mm rad quite easily.

 

[jboydgolfer]

If it's just for the 7970 you can run it on a single 140mm rad quite easily.

yeah, but did you see that newegg page i linked you in that conversation?? 90$ for a fractal R5?? Cmon,plus id need to Buy the 140mm, and id rather not, the xmas gift tally is pilling up

 

[rtwjunkie]

yeah, but did you see that newegg page i linked you in that conversation?? 90$ for a fractal R5?? Cmon,plus id need to Buy the 140mm, and id rather not, the xmas gift tally is pilling up

@Norton will agree, it's about the best darned case you can buy. It's a bargain at that price.