PCI Express Running At x2 Instead of x16 :: Hardware and Operating Systems

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555 Mar 8, 2015 @ 2:16pm

PCI Express Running At x2 Instead of x16

My specs:

Gigabyte Z97X Gaming 3
Corsair RM750
Sapphire Vapor-X r9 290 @ stock
i5 4690k @ stock
16GB ram
Win 8.1

Starting towards the middle of February, I noticed my games preforming a tad worse and stuttering happening in a lot of games. My 3DMark Firestrike graphics score actually went down 2,500 points since January.

I checked my GPU-Z and tried HWiNFO32 as well, and under load, both read at only 2x on my PCIe slot. Would this case the performance issues stated above?

I reinstalled Windows 8.1, reseating the GPU, cleaned the PCIe slot, reset CMOS, reset battery, updated BIOS, did a memtest86 with no error, CPU is running fine as well.

I also tried another GPU that I had and that one runs at x16 under load... so I'm hoping this isn't a faulty GPU type of issue.

However, I'm curious as to why my PCIe is only running at 2x instead of 16x. The GPU is in the right slot, of course.

In HWiNFO it says PCIe v3.0 x16 (8.0 Gb/s) @ x2 (8.0 Gb/s).

Any idea how to fix this and if this is contributing to 3DMark score lowering and other gaming performance issues?

I appreciate any responses I get, I just wanna figure out what's happening.

Also here are my GPU scores before Feb: http://www.3dmark.com/fs/3871572
After Feb: http://www.3dmark.com/fs/4258700

Went from 13582 to around the 11431 area and hasn't had a score like the first one since February.

Last edited by 555; Mar 8, 2015 @ 2:18pm

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Showing 1-15 of 15 comments

_I_ Mar 8, 2015 @ 5:38pm

what slot is the gpu in?
and are there any other cards in other slots?

many boards share bandwidth from the pci-e slots

555 Mar 8, 2015 @ 5:39pm

Originally posted by _I_:
what slot is the gpu in?
and are there any other cards in other slots?

many boards share bandwidth from the pci-e slots

First slot. And no my GPU is the PCI-E card in the computer. It was running at x16 a month ago, but not anymore.

Last edited by 555; Mar 8, 2015 @ 5:39pm

_I_ Mar 8, 2015 @ 5:40pm

its most likely a bad gpu then
is it under warranty?

100% Recycled Awesome Mar 8, 2015 @ 5:41pm

Originally posted by TranzTeKk:
Originally posted by _I_:
what slot is the gpu in?
and are there any other cards in other slots?

many boards share bandwidth from the pci-e slots

First slot. And no my GPU is the PCI-E card in the computer. It was running at x16 a month ago, but not anymore.

No, he's asking if there are other PCI-E cards in the system as they may be reducing the bandwidth.

Regarding your bios, is there an option that for whatever reason may have capped it to 2x?

555 Mar 8, 2015 @ 5:52pm

Originally posted by 100% Recycled Awesome:
Originally posted by TranzTeKk:

First slot. And no my GPU is the PCI-E card in the computer. It was running at x16 a month ago, but not anymore.

No, he's asking if there are other PCI-E cards in the system as they may be reducing the bandwidth.

Regarding your bios, is there an option that for whatever reason may have capped it to 2x?

Yeah, I know. I don't have anything else taking up a PCI-E slot.

And my BIOS has no such option, unfortunately. However, I got my GPU running at x8 now, which is better than x2. But now my drivers crash constantly or don't load at all (it says there's no AMD card installed or drivers are corrupt) and I reinstalled them, same problem.

I have no idea what's going on, I haven't seen anything like this before after 5 years of building computers and using them. It's odd.

100% Recycled Awesome Mar 8, 2015 @ 5:53pm

Originally posted by TranzTeKk:

And my BIOS has no such option, unfortunately. However, I got my GPU running at x8 now, which is better than x2. But now my drivers crash constantly or don't load at all (it says there's no AMD card installed or drivers are corrupt) and I reinstalled them, same problem.

I have no idea what's going on, I haven't seen anything like this before after 5 years of building computers and using them. It's odd.

Did you patch to new AMD drivers automatically? Could do a roll back to see if it fixes the instability.

555 Mar 8, 2015 @ 5:56pm

Originally posted by 100% Recycled Awesome:
Originally posted by TranzTeKk:

And my BIOS has no such option, unfortunately. However, I got my GPU running at x8 now, which is better than x2. But now my drivers crash constantly or don't load at all (it says there's no AMD card installed or drivers are corrupt) and I reinstalled them, same problem.

I have no idea what's going on, I haven't seen anything like this before after 5 years of building computers and using them. It's odd.

Did you patch to new AMD drivers automatically? Could do a roll back to see if it fixes the instability.

I used DDU to uninstall and wipe the drivers from my PC, then reinstalled them. I'll try rolling back again, but the AMD 14.12 drivers haven't been giving me a problem until now.

Before I fixed the x2, I rolled back and it didn't change anything.

Last edited by 555; Mar 8, 2015 @ 5:56pm

100% Recycled Awesome Mar 8, 2015 @ 5:58pm

Originally posted by TranzTeKk:
Originally posted by 100% Recycled Awesome:

Did you patch to new AMD drivers automatically? Could do a roll back to see if it fixes the instability.

I used DDU to uninstall and wipe the drivers from my PC, then reinstalled them. I'll try rolling back again, but the AMD 14.12 drivers haven't been giving me a problem until now.

Before I fixed the x2, I rolled back and it didn't change anything.

That's bizarre. I'm with _I_. Your GPU sounds defective. Parts go, it happens.

555 Mar 8, 2015 @ 6:03pm

Originally posted by 100% Recycled Awesome:
Originally posted by TranzTeKk:

I used DDU to uninstall and wipe the drivers from my PC, then reinstalled them. I'll try rolling back again, but the AMD 14.12 drivers haven't been giving me a problem until now.

Before I fixed the x2, I rolled back and it didn't change anything.

That's bizarre. I'm with _I_. Your GPU sounds defective. Parts go, it happens.

Ah I hope not, but you may be right. I only had this card for 4 months. That was a quick life cycle I'd say, if this is the case.

_I_ Mar 8, 2015 @ 6:08pm

if other gpus are running at x16 3.0 then its most likely the gpu

try it in another pc to make sure

#10

Cliffro Mar 9, 2015 @ 6:41am

I know it's not the same GPU, but I had an EVGA GTX 260 that came from Newegg running @ PCI-E 1x, spent quite a while on the phone with their Tech and after getting it RMA'd the replacement worked like it should have @ 16x.

Another vote for defective GPU.

#11

mika Mar 9, 2015 @ 7:59am

This is the 1st time ive heard of a problem like this as well. I would vote for Defective Gpu as well!

#12

555 Mar 9, 2015 @ 12:07pm

It wasn't the GPU, I figured out the problem and fixed it.

Turns out, since my GPU is rather large, it sits right on top of the SATA hub. The SATA cables I have plugged into it were pushing against the GPU and I think it was causing an unstable connection to the PCIe slot. I rearranged the cables and now it's working at x16 and none of my games are lagging or stuttering anymore.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

Last edited by 555; Mar 9, 2015 @ 12:08pm

#13