# GPU-z reporting 8x bus speed



## shadd (Aug 14, 2009)

my gt9800 is reporting 8x bus speed when motherboard can support 16x.  when i have my 8600gt in it reports 16x.  is this just a bug or what? starting to think it isn't because bandwidth is lower than that of my 8600gt.


----------



## 95Viper (Aug 14, 2009)

What motherboard?
You need to list some specs.

And, welcome to TPU.


----------



## KainXS (Aug 14, 2009)

PCI-E 8X shouldn't really bottleneck a 9800GT


----------



## shadd (Aug 14, 2009)

Thanks.  Can post the whole thing if you would like

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 8/13/2009, 21:48:08
       Machine name: JOHN-PC
   Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit (6.1, Build 7100) (7100.winmain_win7rc.090421-1700)
           Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO.,LTD
       System Model: MS-7392
               BIOS: Default System BIOS
          Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU     E6750  @ 2.66GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.7GHz
             Memory: 3072MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 3072MB RAM
          Page File: 804MB used, 5333MB available
        Windows Dir: C:\Windows
    DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
   User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
 System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
    DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
     DxDiag Version: 6.01.7100.0000 32bit Unicode


----------



## 95Viper (Aug 14, 2009)

Try:
1. Checking the slot for dust or trash and blow it clean.  Also, make sure the card is seated in the slot properly.
2. If you have a card (sound or other) in the 1X PCI-e slot try it without it.
3. Try resetting the cmos(bios).
4. Make sure you are using the lastest bios for your Motherboard.

Your MSI P31 Neo is a 1X16 PCI-e 1.0a compiant board, info here :http://www.msi.com/index.php?func=proddesc&maincat_no=1&cat2_no=&cat3_no=&prod_no=1286


Edit: Sorry, I can't address the GPU-z question, but the developer/author will be able to ; he pops in every so often.


----------



## KainXS (Aug 14, 2009)

what he said


----------



## largon (Aug 18, 2009)

In the past, I've managed to cripple some of the PCIe lanes on a few cards by knocking off some of those tiny surface mount capacitors located on either the front or the backside, just above the PCIe connector on the card. One single missing cap can (will) cut 8 lanes at best scenario (upto 15 lanes) leaving the card with just 8x to 1x lanes. 

So if you've physically abused your cards (like me)... 


This is probably not the case here, though. 


My current HD4890 ran at PCIe 8x a while back after getting two caps... err... pulverized off of the SOB. Nothing a little soldering wouldn't fix though.


----------



## Conflict0s (Aug 18, 2009)

I don't know if this is 100% or not but I think I read somewhere that when you are in game some cards changes to x16. But I could be completely wrong lol. Anyone else heared about this?


----------



## largon (Aug 18, 2009)

^I'm _pretty_ sure that doesn't happen. 
=)


----------



## Kursah (Aug 18, 2009)

Have you powered down, and reseated the card yet? That's fixed it for me in the past. I've noticed that cards will work even if not completely seated evenly in the slot, but at a lower speed at times. There was another time it read 1x and even though it appeared seated correctly and fully, reseating it still fixed the issue. Definately where I'd start if you haven't already.


----------



## theorw (Aug 18, 2009)

I have recently had the same problem with my cards...The one reported x8 and the 2nd x1...
It turned out to be a driver problem.Reinstall clean your forceware sometimes and see what u get!


----------



## kornev (Aug 19, 2009)

Thanks


----------



## kornev (Aug 19, 2009)

*Gpu-z*

Что дальше?


----------



## W1zzard (Aug 19, 2009)

Conflict0s said:


> I don't know if this is 100% or not but I think I read somewhere that when you are in game some cards changes to x16. But I could be completely wrong lol. Anyone else heared about this?



i've seen evidence that some power saving mechanisms may support that. have never seen it in action though


----------



## kornev (Aug 19, 2009)

shadd said:


> my gt9800 is reporting 8x bus speed when motherboard can support 16x.  when i have my 8600gt in it reports 16x.  is this just a bug or what? starting to think it isn't because bandwidth is lower than that of my 8600gt.
> 
> http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/09/08/13/f9u.png



Upgrade, please


----------



## kornev (Aug 19, 2009)

shadd said:


> my gt9800 is reporting 8x bus speed when motherboard can support 16x.  when i have my 8600gt in it reports 16x.  is this just a bug or what? starting to think it isn't because bandwidth is lower than that of my 8600gt.
> 
> http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/09/08/13/f9u.png



Upgrade


----------



## kornev (Aug 19, 2009)

Чего мне ждать, что дальше?


----------



## erocker (Aug 19, 2009)

Kornev, if you are having the same problem, try uninstalling your video drivers, then install new drivers.


----------



## Solaris17 (Aug 19, 2009)

do as i do






Start>Control Panel>Hardware and sound (click the actual title)>Choose power plan> unclick hide additional plans>select high performance>change plan settings>change advanced power settings>click PCI Express drop down>select link state power managment>choose off. reboot. what happens?


----------



## shadd (Aug 24, 2009)

Solaris17 said:


> do as i do
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/090819/kidage.jpg
> 
> Start>Control Panel>Hardware and sound (click the actual title)>Choose power plan> unclick hide additional plans>select high performance>change plan settings>change advanced power settings>click PCI Express drop down>select link state power managment>choose off. reboot. what happens?



its set to off.  gonna try the driver suggestion and reseating the vid card


----------



## entropy13 (Aug 24, 2009)

Just reseat the card, happened to me before. Went from x8 to x4 to x2 as the weeks went by. By the time it was x2 it's very hard to boot already so I opened the case and reseated the card. Then it's x16 again.


----------



## Mussels (Aug 24, 2009)

largon said:


> In the past, I've managed to cripple some of the PCIe lanes on a few cards by knocking off some of those tiny surface mount capacitors located on either the front or the backside, just above the PCIe connector on the card. One single missing cap can (will) cut 8 lanes at best scenario (upto 15 lanes) leaving the card with just 8x to 1x lanes.
> 
> So if you've physically abused your cards (like me)...
> 
> ...



i've seen that, cards that didnt POST due to damage, but would post when you put tape over the card and locked them to 1x/4x



Conflict0s said:


> I don't know if this is 100% or not but I think I read somewhere that when you are in game some cards changes to x16. But I could be completely wrong lol. Anyone else heared about this?



Vista and 7 have PCI-E link state power management as an option. no idea what it does, but it doesnt lower the bandwidth.




W1zzard said:


> i've seen evidence that some power saving mechanisms may support that. have never seen it in action though



see above  because you're you, i grant a screenshot


----------



## shadd (Aug 25, 2009)

so after a little testing, i am pretty sure the video card is defective.  it reads 8x on my fathers computer as well and it's pushed all the way down.  do you think its worth RMA'ing? how much of a performance increase would i see going from 8x to 16x?  thanks for the help thus far


----------



## Mussels (Aug 25, 2009)

no performance difference at all really. not worth RMAing it as it will still be working at full power.


----------



## W1zzard (Sep 4, 2009)

Mussels said:


> see above  because you're you, i grant a screenshot
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/090824/Capture062.jpg



that just allows such features to be used by the driver, doesnt mean it will actually change lanes


----------



## Mussels (Sep 4, 2009)

W1zzard said:


> that just allows such features to be used by the driver, doesnt mean it will actually change lanes



i know.

but at least we know the name of the thing to look into it.


----------

