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PCIe 2.0x16 slot will only run at x1. Help :(

A

Ain ._.

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A little background:

CPU: AMD Phenom 9600 @ 2.3ghz
RAM: 4GB Kingston? 1066 memory.
GPU: ATI HD5870
Motherboard: Asus M3A78-CM.

Previously I had the same setup with an ATI HD 4850, and I was ALWAYS disappointed with my performance when gaming. When I was playing Crysis(for example) I would be running around in a plain area with no dense foliage or extra character models on the screen the game would run flawlessly, 80+ FPS. As soon as the card had anything more to process it would instantly drop to under 10 FPS. It has done this on every game or benchmark I have thrown at it and it's killing me.

I recently purchased a new ATI HD5870 card and I am having the exact same performance as with my 4850. Same problems same FPS etc.

I recently noticed that my PCIe slot that should be running @ x16 is only running at x1, and I would assume has been since day 1.

I have tried and tried to scour forums and good old google to no avail. I can't seem to find any fix for this.

Has anyone heard of or experienced anything similar that they may know a fix for?

My 3DMark Vantage score was a low low 7500, with the old 4850 it was about 7300, if that means anything to anyone!

(I posted this in the main GFX Card forum on accident, my apologies for the double post)
 
That just means your using 1 PCIE slot.:slap:

Opps my bad ...not sure why

Try bumping the NB with a little more voltage?
 
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Yea its running @x1 speed, thats really handicapping perf.
Try flashing the board with another bios or see if theres some hidden bios options you have to mess with.
Its definately the board thats the issue.

I see that that Motherboard has onboard video, maybe try disabling that feature. I have a feeling that has something to do with it.

GL
 
Damn I was just going to post that(onboard vid disable?).:rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
Asus boards and their options are somewhat foreign to me.

I flashed the BIOS to the newest release, and that didn't do the trick.

I tried upping the PCIe from 100 to 115, to no avail.

Here's where im a little stumped, as voltage and such is sort of a blank area for me. My board only has options to change my NB Voltage, and it lists options as +50mv +100mv and +150mv. It also has a Chipset setting with the same options. I have tried them both set at +50mv, and it didn't work. Would you suggest going higher?

(just saw this, edit:)

Onboard video is disabled with priority set at PCIe x16 slot.
 
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Try taking the vid card out and take compressed air to the PCIE slot and also insure clean contacts on the vid card.As +50 should of helped if it was going to and I would guess your running at stock clocks so you really shouldnt need to give it much of a bump.ALso curious about what PSU you have?
 
DRDNA said:
Try taking the vid card out and take compressed air to the PCIE slot and also insure clean contacts on the vid card.As +50 should of helped if it was going to and I would guess your running at stock clocks so you really shouldnt need to give it much of a bump.ALso curious about what PSU you have?
Click to expand...

750W Antec PSU. I'll try airing out the slot in a second here.
 
Nice PSU and shouldn't have any part in the issue....Also be sure your mobo spacers(risers) are still nicely in place?
 
Ain ._. said:
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/3928/gpuzo.gif

A little background:

CPU: AMD Phenom 9600 @ 2.3ghz
RAM: 4GB Kingston? 1066 memory.
GPU: ATI HD5870
Motherboard: Asus M3A78-CM.

Previously I had the same setup with an ATI HD 4850, and I was ALWAYS disappointed with my performance when gaming. When I was playing Crysis(for example) I would be running around in a plain area with no dense foliage or extra character models on the screen the game would run flawlessly, 80+ FPS. As soon as the card had anything more to process it would instantly drop to under 10 FPS. It has done this on every game or benchmark I have thrown at it and it's killing me.

I recently purchased a new ATI HD5870 card and I am having the exact same performance as with my 4850. Same problems same FPS etc.

I recently noticed that my PCIe slot that should be running @ x16 is only running at x1, and I would assume has been since day 1.

I have tried and tried to scour forums and good old google to no avail. I can't seem to find any fix for this.

Has anyone heard of or experienced anything similar that they may know a fix for?

My 3DMark Vantage score was a low low 7500, with the old 4850 it was about 7300, if that means anything to anyone!

(I posted this in the main GFX Card forum on accident, my apologies for the double post)
Click to expand...

1- Your CPU bottleneck your card

2-Bios update? EDIT: just saw you did so forget about #2 lol!

3-Disable all Sleep/power mode in bios & windows

But how ever you look at it you need to change that cpu or overclock it to at least 3 ghz but i doubt the 9600 can do it?
 
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his CPU wouldn't cause his PCIE slot that should be running X16 to run x1.
 
DRDNA said:
his CPU wouldn't cause his PCIE slot that should be running X16 to run x1.
Click to expand...

Well i'm almost sure that the PCIe is at x16 it's probably the gpu-z that miss read it?

The low scores that is getting are due to the cpu that bottleneck is new card ...

Maybe he can try Sandra or CPU-z?
 
I suppose its possible with CPUZ but not probable.
 
CPU-Z and ATI Hardware Information all show the same thing.

I can almost assuredly tell you that my FPS in Crysis (1) on medium should not be exceeding 80 to 100 when nothing is going on then dropping to under 10 fps when it has to load some lush foliage or character models.

I have also seen Core 2 Duo 2ghz systems score 14k in 3d mark vantage where I'm getting half of that.

I do believe that my CPU is a bottleneck, but my CPU isn't nearly bad enough to make all games almost entirely unplayable.
 
just wondering , but did you install your mobo drivers? I wouldn't think that would have anything to do with it either tho.
EDIT: Do you have or can you get another card to test on your mobo?
Edit:2 did you reset your Cmos?
Edit 3: The power plugged in on the GPU card?
 
Ain ._. said:
CPU-Z and ATI Hardware Information all show the same thing.

I can almost assuredly tell you that my FPS in Crysis (1) on medium should not be exceeding 80 to 100 when nothing is going on then dropping to under 10 fps when it has to load some lush foliage or character models.

I have also seen Core 2 Duo 2ghz systems score 14k in 3d mark vantage where I'm getting half of that.

I do believe that my CPU is a bottleneck, but my CPU isn't nearly bad enough to make all games almost entirely unplayable.
Click to expand...

BTW: Why 2 threads of the same thing?
http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=112277

Core2duo at 2ghz probably equal an AMD dual core at 3ghz or even the old quadcore from AMD wich is what you got right now (with the TLB bug)
 
DRDNA said:
just wondering , but did you install your mobo drivers? I wouldn't think that would have anything to do with it either tho.
EDIT: Do you have or can you get another card to test on your mobo?
Edit:2 did you reset your Cmos?
Edit 3: The power plugged in on the GPU card?
Click to expand...

Tried my 4850, same issue.

I tried OEM driver disc for both cards and I tried latest driver revision.

CMOS has been reset, not really as a troubleshooting means but more of an oops i broke the bios kinda means.

Power is plugged in on the GPU, to both 6 pin plugs. I even tried changing it around so a separate lead was going into each power terminal on the card.
 
RMA the Mobo.
 
Yea thats a good idea, such a high end card with that mobo.
It was something I was going to mention, you should consider a new MOBO.
 
Goodman said:
BTW: Why 2 threads of the same thing?
http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=112277

Core2duo at 2ghz probably equal an AMD dual core at 3ghz or even the old quadcore from AMD wich is what you got right now (with the TLB bug)
Click to expand...

3dsage said:
Yea thats a good idea, such a high end card with that mobo.
It was something I was going to mention, you should consider a new MOBO.
Click to expand...

Through an accomodation at work I can get an i7 960(i think) and some random sli capable gfx card from intel for about 200$, I may just have to bite the bullet in a check or two and do that...
 
In your BIOS under the Advanced tab:
->Chipset

->RD780 Config (or something like that)

-> PCI-E Config

If you have those settings look in the PCI-E Configuration option and make sure things look good. There may or may not be a x16/x4/x1 option in there to change.
 
Ain ._. said:
Through an accomodation at work I can get an i7 960(i think) and some random sli capable gfx card from intel for about 200$, I may just have to bite the bullet in a check or two and do that...
Click to expand...

Sweet, you probably mean an 860. All that for 200$ sounds to good to pass up, sell the Nvidia cards and get yourself a nice P55 Board, like a Maximus III:rockout:
 
erocker said:
In your BIOS under the Advanced tab:
->Chipset

->RD780 Config (or something like that)

-> PCI-E Config

If you have those settings look in the PCI-E Configuration option and make sure things look good. There may or may not be a x16/x4/x1 option in there to change.
Click to expand...

No options like that in my BIOS.
 
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