Link width only x8

[drew24]

My motherboard is MSI K9A2 CF which is capable of PCI Express 2.0 x16. I placed my video card on the x16 slot. when i ran cpuz it shows that the link width is only x8, Max supported x16.

what could be the problem?

Im running vista 32bit ultimate.
Radeon 4850.
AMD 64 x2 4800+

 

[JC316]

Have you checked the bios to make sure that it's set at 16X? What tool are you using to check it?

 

[drew24]

i have checked the bios. i did not find any option to adjust the link width. I used Everest and Cpuz. it both showed that my link width is x8

 

[farlex85]

Your board is only capable of 8x-8x.

 

[drew24]

i dont have a 2nd video card installed. when 2 cards are installed then it would be x8 x8

 

[farlex85]

i dont have a 2nd video card installed. when 2 cards are installed then it would be x8 x8

Ah I c, well, that is odd........

 

[drew24]

it is very odd.....

 

[Guru Janitor]

I remember with agp, you could select the link width in catalyst. Can you do that with pci-e?

 

[drew24]

i cant seem to find it in the Catalyst control center

 

[drew24]

it is indicated in my Catalyst control center that my Maximum bus setting is: PCI Express 2.0 x8

 

[Guru Janitor]

Your board is only capable of 8x-8x.

Then he was right

 

[Urbklr]

Then he was right

Nope, there is a way.

"1 mazarine PCI Express x16 slot with x16 operation (PCI Express Bus SPEC V2.0 compliant)
• 1 light-blue PCI Express x16 slot with x8 operation (PCI Express Bus SPEC V2.0 compliant)
• When 2 PCI Express x16 slots are all installed, the PCIE x 16 lanes will auto arrange form x16/ x0 to x8/ x8. Do not use the light-blue slot when only one PCI Express x16 card is installed."

 

[drew24]

i initially installed it in the mazarine slot

 

[JC316]

i initially installed it in the mazarine slot

Is that where it's still installed? Did you check the BIOS to make sure that the link width is set?

 

[Urbklr]

i initially installed it in the mazarine slot

The mazarine slot is the only slot that supports x16...and this:

"Do not use the light-blue slot when only one PCI Express x16 card is installed"

 

[drew24]

i cant see an option in the BIOS where i could change the link width

 

[drew24]

i just did something. I placed a 8600gts vc. The link width is still x8 based on nvidia control panel and everest.

So i guess its the motherboard.

 

[dustyshiv]

Guys,

I have a Gigabyte MA790GP-DS4H mobo and its PCI-e slots are certified to operate at 16x speed.
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/BIOS_Model.aspx?ProductID=2887

But my video card link width is displayed as 8X.

I checked the bios. Theres no way to adjust the link width?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[drew24]

hello,

what i did was just returned my motherboard and replaced it with a new one. The motherboard was the problem because when i used the new one, cpuz indicated x16 Link width.

 

[craigo]

Thats very interesting.....
is the replacement board the same revision?...is the bios version the same?..
you should tag this thread..if i had that issue id want a replacement quik.

 

[Chicken Patty]

Hi there,

First off, I would try to upgrade to the latest BIOS for the board, and then I would also run Driver Cleaner Pro to get rid of all the display drivers. once you have done that, get the newest display drivers and install them. Why don't you guys go ahead and do that and report back? Hopefully that'll take care off the problem.

Another thing you can try doing is save your BIOS settings to a profile in case you are overclocked or something so you don't loose them, and go ahead and load the default settings in the BIOS, once you do that go back in windows and see if it is still at 8x. Some BIOS for example the one on the ASUS AM2+ boards let you choose the slot for the default graphics card, maybe you guys might have changed this erroneously.

 

[dustyshiv]

Guys,

I fixed it finally!! I had my D-Link PCI-e NIC in the secondary PCI-e slot and thats the reason the bandwidth on the primary PCI-e slot was limited. I took out the NIC and put it onto a PCI-e 1x slot, booted up and Whoa....GPUZ and CPUZ showed this

CP,

Thanks for your prompt reply...appreciate it. Even before I switched the NIC onto the PCI-e 1x slot, I tried removing the drivers using driver sweeper. When I rebooted and checked cpuz, the link width still showed up as 8x. GPUz crashed cos I hadnt installed the drivers yet. I think this link width issue is not driver dependent. Correct me if Im wrong.

 

[Chicken Patty]

Guys,

I fixed it finally!! I had my D-Link PCI-e NIC in the secondary PCI-e slot and thats the reason the bandwidth on the primary PCI-e slot was limited. I took out the NIC and put it onto a PCI-e 1x slot, booted up and Whoa....GPUZ and CPUZ showed this

CP,

Thanks for your prompt reply...appreciate it. Even before I switched the NIC onto the PCI-e 1x slot, I tried removing the drivers using driver sweeper. When I rebooted and checked cpuz, the link width still showed up as 8x. GPUz crashed cos I hadnt installed the drivers yet. I think this link width issue is not driver dependent. Correct me if Im wrong.

well you already know what fixed it so I guess it was not driver related. Well I tried to help, glad you got it resolved !

 

[dustyshiv]

Hey CP,

Thanks mate!! I appreciate your help!! Keep up the good work!!

 

[Chicken Patty]

Hey CP,

Thanks mate!! I appreciate your help!! Keep up the good work!!

anytime buddy, thats what we are here for, you know how to find me