# RTX 3080 Running at 2X instead of 16X



## minitt (Nov 15, 2020)

My RTX 3080 Running at 2X instead of 16X . Have only one GPU in the system and a M.2 NVME Drive

Motherboard Asus Z170S Sabertooth with 6700K delided and running at 4.5ghz

So I initially thought deliding might have damaged the PCIE controller on the CPU but when I plug in the GPU in 2nd PCIE, it runs at 8X. The 2nd Slot is limited to 8X I believe.

So my theory is the onboard PCIE controller on the CPU is at least capable of running at 8X and the motherboard is the culprit.

Would appreciate your input before I send the motherboard for RMA.


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## blobster21 (Nov 15, 2020)

GPU-Z screenshot please ?


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## minitt (Nov 15, 2020)

Just attached a screenshot straight from bios


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## Toothless (Nov 15, 2020)

Okay but we need to see the card under load in GPUz. It'll use less lanes on idle.

Also how you gonna send a 3+ year old board for RMA? Does ASUS have that long of a coverage?


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## minitt (Nov 15, 2020)

At idle it shows PCIE X2 at 1.1 and then with load PCIE X2 at 3.0

will upload the gpuz screen shortly


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## Vya Domus (Nov 15, 2020)

minitt said:


> At idle it shows PCIE X2 at 1.1 and then with load PCIE X2 at 3.0



All cards do that, it's normal.


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## Toothless (Nov 15, 2020)

Vya Domus said:


> All cards do that, it's normal.


But he says 2x, not 8 or 16.


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## natr0n (Nov 15, 2020)

Looking for problems that don't exist...nothing is wrong.


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## Tatty_One (Nov 15, 2020)

Where do you have the NVME drive plugged in?


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## evernessince (Nov 15, 2020)

What's your performance like in games?  If you are really running at 2X is should be terrible.


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## newtekie1 (Nov 15, 2020)

Take the card out and reseat it, make sure it is latching completely in the slot.



natr0n said:


> Looking for problems that don't exist...nothing is wrong.



The card is running at x2, how is there no problem?



Toothless said:


> It'll use less lanes on idle.



This is never true.  The PCI-E version lowers when idle, the number of lanes never changes.


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## Arrakis9 (Nov 15, 2020)

Take the CPU out and remount it. Might also hit the socket with some compressed air to make sure there is no dust in the socket itself. Missing pcie lanes is a sign that your cpu may not be making full contact with the socket. Try there first. You should also definitely consider using a second video card to help trouble shoot any issues with missing lanes, possible it might be the card itself but seems unlikely.


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## Kingtompa (Nov 16, 2020)

Have the same "problem" with my Radeon VII, In bios it run´s in x4, and  have a Threadripper 2950x and a ASUS ROG X399 motherboard, so plenty of PCI lanes, but  it botherd the living hell out of me......diden´t matter that it totaly smashed cards that cost $6000-$10000 in a few benchmarks, it was that a GTX 1050 was faster Direct 2D........it was only then i bought a RTX 2060 and that showed x16 in BIOS but it was then i started to do some work with it CAD, IFC export and imports  to Revit and BIM modeling I noticed how incredible slow  thought it was, hade to turn down texture quality so the BIM model looed like it was built in Lego, so I went back to my Radeon VII even if it showed x4 in BIOS but I can work with DWG files that are around 4-500 MB and it don´t even lag, and now it´s AutoCAD the 1core champion and they still realeases a new version every year, had to check the system recommendations, AutoCAD 2021 had support for muliple processors did they had to add that becouse of all of the weird chipsets with dual Xeon´s and DDR 3 and M2, becouse i´m pretty sure that a Pentium 4 will do just fine for the 64 bit and Pentum 3 for 32 bit ;-)

 But be aware regarding the graphics cards I think they have had 1 consumer card that has been "certifed" to run AutoCAD and it was a Geforce MX150, but not for 2021......there you can choose any thing ATI/AMD and Nvidia has released as "Pro" card so it´s from old  ATI fireGL´s that the lower speced ones you probebly would find in a electroncs recycle basket to RTX 8000 whitch cost the same as a decent house in Tanzania or what you get for around $8000 and I saw in the same shop sold Quadro P5000 to the bargin price of $2500 but some shop´s still sell Quadro M card´s .but they diden´t sell any GTX 1070.....weird...

Yeah after that detour i think i have to circle back to that BIOS showed the wrong PCI x4 then should have been x16....so i think you can drop it even if seems to have the same OCD I tried everything even scrubbing the PCIE slot with a tooth brush and ethanol, bought a riser cable  and eventually a new card, Iknow that Radeon VII don´t use all 16 lanes at all time and probebly most others card to.

How it can happen....who knows ,maybe so easy that the x4 value got stuck in some part of the memory after maybe a crash or a Hard power off......my started at x8 and see and feel the differens between x8 and x16 isn´t that easy.........so then i dropped down too x4 it felt good.....couse then we are down to PCIE 1 x16 and thoose cards can´t do 100 fps in 4K

/Kingtompa


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## minitt (Nov 16, 2020)

Asus Z170S Sabretooth originally had a 5 year warranty. So yeah i still have warranty till 2021 December.
I have the same understanding as @*newtekie1 *The PCIE Lanes is fixed and wont change regardless of load. The Speed will change such as 1.1, 2.0 , 3.0 depending load.

So PCIE Lane (2x,4X,8X,16X) and Speed (1.1,2.0,3.0) are two separate factors

I am leaning towards 3 possibilities
1- Motherboard pins bent or misaligned. If someone can send me the PCIE pin location in the cpu socket  that would be great.
2- I somehow managed to damage the CPU built-in PCIE controller (This is less likely since my 3080 runs at 8X when I use the middle PCIE slot but runs at 2x at top PCIE slot)
3- Motherboard top PCIE slot is faulty and not making proper connection to CPU socket (I need to determine this is the case before I send my MB for RMA)
I have very low expectation from Asus warranty support.  Their warranty support is just pure garbage. Otherwise i would've sent in my MB without opening this thread.


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## newtekie1 (Nov 16, 2020)

minitt said:


> Motherboard top PCIE slot is faulty and not making proper connection to CPU socket (I need to determine this is the case before I send my MB for RMA)



I think the problem is the connection between the GPU and the slot.  The two slots use the same PCI-E connections to the CPU. If there was an issue with the CPU/Socket, the second slot wouldn't be getting lanes.

My guess is either the PCI-E slot itself is damaged or the card isn't making a proper connection in the slot.  Take a really good look at the pin in the slot and make sure none are damaged. The slot also might need to be cleaned. And like I said, make sure the card is seated in the slot completely.  I've seen a lot of cards, especially big ones, that don't sit nicely in the slot.  GPU sag can cause issues like this too with big heavy cards.


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## minitt (Nov 16, 2020)

good idea. I will take the motherboard out of the case and give it a go. Will report back.


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## Arrakis9 (Nov 16, 2020)

Just curious have you tried updating the bios on your board? Or rolling back one revision if it's the latest build?


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## minitt (Nov 16, 2020)

Arrakis9 said:


> Just curious have you tried updating the bios on your board? Or rolling back one revision if it's the latest build?



I didn’t roll back but I reapplied the last bios.
Do you think it’s worth it?


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## Arrakis9 (Nov 16, 2020)

Its always advised to try every option when troubleshooting. I would try going to one previous version.


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## minitt (Nov 17, 2020)

here is my gpuz screenshot.
Tried roll back to previous bios-same top slot still running at 2X
Took motherboard out of case-same top slot still running at 2X
now using the middle PCIE slot at 8X

I wonder how much performance am i loosing from running the 3080 in X8 3.0 speed ?


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## Ekcelent (May 2, 2021)

minitt said:


> here is my gpuz screenshot.
> Tried roll back to previous bios-same top slot still running at 2X
> Took motherboard out of case-same top slot still running at 2X
> now using the middle PCIE slot at 8X
> ...


Hi minitt. Did you resolve your issue? I have the exact same problem and god knows I tried almost all of the solutions out there. From cleaning the PCIE slots to flashing BIOS to removing battery to put the GPU under load in GPU-Z, connecting extra power cable to the motherboard CPU slot (8pin + extra 4pin which was disconnected). Tried a vast array of BIOS settings, nothing worked. I am still stuck at PCI-E x2 Gen 3.0 on my MSI RTX 3080 SUPRIM X which is totally unacceptable.

My motherboard is Asus Prime Z490-P. CPU is 10700K. RAMs Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (4x8GB) @3000MHz. Only thing I haven't tried is unscrewing the cooler and/or reseating the CPU into the CPU socket... 
I am honestly out of ideas. I have never come across anything like this and I have like 6 GPUs currently and owned 10s of them in the past. I understand lanes and their speeds, but I just don't understand how this can be stuck at PCIE x2. It makes absolutely no sense. My PSU is Corsair 850W RM. Simply put the PC is brand new, so is the GPU. 

Someone please help, I am desperate! The performance in Warzone is despicable for what the RTX 3080 should provide! Please see the attached screenshot of the active Render Test. And yes the GPU is of course placed in the PCIEX16_1 slot which should have a direct link to the CPUs 16 lanes. I have absolutely nothing else connected in other PCIE slots. One last thing, I did try the other x16 slot (which runs x4 speeds only on this motherboard unfortunately) and that was performing as expected - x4 Gen 3.0 speed - still unacceptable. I refuse to just let it go. Something is super wrong here.


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## minitt (May 2, 2021)

Take the cpu out and check for bend pins on the mb cpu socket. I  delidded cpu so that could be the reason why mine running at 8x instead of 16x. I am buying new setup anyway so not worth it for me to spend more time. Hope this works for you though.


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## Caring1 (May 2, 2021)

Set the PCI-e speed in the Bios to Gen 3.


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## itsakjt (May 2, 2021)

The PCIE controller is on the CPU. I had a similar problem like the OPs with my old i5 7600K which I damaged while delidding. The top slot would operate at x4 3.0 but the second slot was full x8, the max it was capable of. In my case, I knew it was the CPU since I scratched the substrate on my CPU. I got another used 7600K for a steal price and everything has been fine again. 
But speaking from common sense, the issue can also happen due to broken/bent pins on the CPU socket or bad contact between the CPU and socket. 

I suggest to re-seat the card first and make sure it is seated properly and if it doesn't work, take out the CPU from the socket and check for bent pins, clean the bottom of the CPU where the pads are and if delidded, check for scratches on the substrate/check if liquid metal is shorting any contacts (if LM is applied).


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## Zyll Goliat (May 2, 2021)

minitt said:


> I wonder how much performance am i loosing from running the 3080 in X8 3.0 speed ?


Just do 3D Mark Fire Strike & Time Spy benchmark and compare your result with the thousands of other results and you will see how much your score is lower.....


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## mx62 (May 2, 2021)

normally its a electrical problem 
first to do:
test gpu in another pcie slot
second test the gpu in another pc
third re-seat cpu 
fourth test cpu in another board
if none above tell where the issue is 
rma board if you can of course


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## Ekcelent (May 2, 2021)

Thank you guys for your replies. I will try to reseat the CPU today. I will let you know of the results. I did try the RTX 3080 in my older, 4 year old PC (Asus RoG Maximus Hero IX motherboard with Core i7 7700K processor) and it works perfectly, immediately shows as x16, only the Gen speed changes on the go depending on the active/inactive render test, which is how it should work. Someone here mentioned that x2 PCI lanes are a power saving feature, I highly doubt that. In my opinion lanes are either open or closed, so x2 in a x16 is a major problem. Thank you again I will get to work.


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## basco (May 2, 2021)

from my point of view the driver 457.30 does not support the rtx3080 -- just use the newest one








						GeForce Game Ready Driver | 457.30 | Windows 10 64-bit | NVIDIA
					

Download the English (US) GeForce Game Ready Driver for  Windows 10 64-bit systems. Released 2020.11.9



					www.nvidia.com


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## Ekcelent (May 2, 2021)

basco said:


> from my point of view the driver 457.30 does not support the rtx3080 -- just use the newest one
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I do not know about the OP but I can say Negative, I am running 466.27. Same issue. Stuck at x2.

Okay, so the CPU re-seating only took me few minutes. removed the cooler, opened the lid, blew the dust (if there was any) off of the CPU and the socket, re-seated the CPU, applied a bit more Thermal Grizzly thermal paste as I thought it was not really enough, reinstalled the liquid cooling. No change. Still running PCIE x2. Out of ideas. It must be the motherboard is garbage. Asus Prime Z490-P. I only own this PC with this motherboard for about 2 months. Behaving beautifully to it, never been dropped or bumped or anything like that, in a clean environment. I am pretty sure Asus Maximus would not have this issue.


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## basco (May 2, 2021)

i too do not think this will help too much but if you dont know your drivers there is problems ahead.
if the bios says x2 i think the problem is cpu which op´s is delidded or motherboard =old bios or not supported?-manufacturers fault.

best thing to try the gpu in other motherboard or pc from a friend. only then ya know for sure if the gpu is faulty

you on the other hand got much newer parts where everything should work from the getgo.
did ya try pci-e 3.0 in bios?
and i would open your own thread because answers get mixed up


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## Ekcelent (May 2, 2021)

basco said:


> i too do not think this will help too much but if you dont know your drivers there is problems ahead.
> if the bios says x2 i think the problems is cpu which op´s is delidded or motherboard =old bios or not supported?
> 
> you on the other hand got much newer parts where everything should work from the getgo.
> did ya try pci-e 3.0 in bios?


Gotcha. Yes this was the ESL Tournament PC from Currys/PC World UK. It came with the Gigabyte RTX 3070. Bought another PC from Gladiator PC UK with the RTX 3080 and I just swapped the cards. I put the MSI RTX 3080 Suprim X in the ESL Tournament PC (Motherboard: Asus Prime Z490-P) and it happened immediately. Ever since then, both of my cards running at x2. I can't change the lanes in BIOS, it's greyed out I think that is just a reporting tool. It reports the number of PCIE lanes the PCIEX16_1 is using. And yes I did try to change every possible option I found in BIOS to Gen3 (PCIE Speed,etc.) I have never seen this problem ever


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## basco (May 2, 2021)

did ya flash for rbar support or changed the option to on or off?


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## Ekcelent (May 2, 2021)

basco said:


> did ya flash for rbar support or changed the option to on or off?


I did Flash the BIOS with the newest version from the Asus Support website. I just restarted the PC, went to BIOS, turned the Resizable Bar Off. No change. Still at x2. Amazing right? Riddle me this!


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## basco (May 2, 2021)

you know it already if the gpu works in another pc then motherboard or as last option cpu.
you said you have 2 pc´s = are the cpus or motherboards interchangeable-yeah i could have asked same socket ?

i just say this because i think ya tried everything else already

quote:  Ever since then, both of my cards running at x2--are ya telling me even after putting the newer card back you have the prob now on both?


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## Ekcelent (May 2, 2021)

basco said:


> you know it already if the gpu works in another pc then motherboard or as last option cpu.
> you said you have 2 pc´s = are the cpus or motherboards interchangeable-yeah i could have asked same socket ?
> 
> i just say this because i think ya tried everything else already
> ...


Correct, both GPUs report X2 lanes only. It's almost as if it was restricted somehow by the motherboard. But both GPUs report X16 lanes in the older PC - Asus Maximus Hero IX. They are sadly not interchangeable. Asus Prime Z490-P (NEW PC) has LGA1200 CPU socket and the Asus RoG Maximus Hero IX (OLD PC) has LGA1151 CPU socket. Therefore I can't verify the CPU.


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## Vendor (May 2, 2021)

had my 750 ti running at 4x instead of 16x about 4 years ago when i stupidly bent cpu socket pins on my h61 board trying to clean it not realizing it doesn't get dust because it's well covered by cpu and you don't need to ever, though it did look like that and it also caused my 2nd ram slot to fail and would just get 3 beeps with both sticks plugged in


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## Caring1 (May 3, 2021)

Ekcelent said:


> Correct, both GPUs report X2 lanes only. It's almost as if it was restricted somehow by the motherboard. But both GPUs report X16 lanes in the older PC - Asus Maximus Hero IX. They are sadly not interchangeable. Asus Prime Z490-P (NEW PC) has LGA1200 CPU socket


And needs 11th Gen CPU to use PCI-e gen 4.0


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## SoppingClam (Aug 26, 2022)

Hey, old Thread but never concluded. I have a similar issue and just wondering what was the fix? CPU or motherboard?


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## Assimilator (Aug 26, 2022)

SoppingClam said:


> Hey, old Thread but never concluded. I have a similar issue and just wondering what was the fix? CPU or motherboard?


The fix is to start your own thread instead of hijacking an existing one.


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## SoppingClam (Sep 9, 2022)

Assimilator said:


> The fix is to start your own thread instead of hijacking an existing one.


Well it was never concluded. So, if stumbling upon such a thread with similar query, it is good to know how to resolve


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## bobalazs (Oct 5, 2022)

SoppingClam said:


> Well it was never concluded. So, if stumbling upon such a thread with similar query, it is good to know how to resolve


Bunch of inconclusive guesses, which none of them were right.
Not one of them thought of the NVMe ssd being the culprit, as the other motherboard tested didn't have NVMe, so it showed x16.
A motherboard as old as Z170 has NVMe drive taking away CPU pcie lanes from pcie gpu, that is why it's showing x2.
It's perfectly normal, my z370 does the same.
I compared to similar hardware fire strike benchmark, i didn't have much less score.
A more powerful gpu like 2080 ti, i would be more worried.


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## Toothless (Oct 5, 2022)

bobalazs said:


> Bunch of inconclusive guesses, which none of them were right.
> Not one of them thought of the NVMe ssd being the culprit, as the other motherboard tested didn't have NVMe, so it showed x16.
> A motherboard as old as Z170 has NVMe drive taking away CPU pcie lanes from pcie gpu, that is why it's showing x2.
> It's perfectly normal, my z370 does the same.
> ...


NVMe takes four lanes..


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