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GPU showing as x8 instead of x16

Aa83

Aa83

Aa83

Associate
Joined
19 Dec 2013
Posts
298
Location
Newbury, UK
I was wondering if anyone can help me with what seems like a common issue without a common resolution path.

My MSI R9 290 is only showing as working at x8 in both GPU-Z and Radeon settings, despite it being in the x16 slot on my motherboard. Specifically, the card shows at x8 1.1 at idle, and x8 3.0 when under load. I'm only runnig a single GPU, and all other PCIE slots are empty.

I've checked my motherboard BIOS (Gigabyte Z77x-D3H) and it's version F18i, which appears to be the latest version. I'm also up to date with my AMD drivers (currently rocking Crimson Edition 16.10.1).

I know the real life performance difference between x8 and x16 is negligible, but I'd still like this to work as intended. Does anyone know of anything I might also be missing that could be the cause of this?
 
Try clicking on the little question mark on the right hand side of GPU-Z by Bus interface and running the test for a few seconds - sometimes the PCI-e link state is reduced to conserve power.

EDIT: Oh I see it stays in x8 3.0 under load :S have you tried reseating the GPU just incase its not in the socket properly?
 
One slot is a 16x and another is 8x and 4x have you double checked the GPU is installed into the correct 16x slot?


1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16)
* For optimum performance, if only one PCI Express graphics card is to be installed, be sure to install it in the PCIEX16 slot.

1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8)
* The PCIEX8 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIEX16 slot. When the PCIEX8 slot is populated, the PCIEX16 slot will operate at up to x8 mode.

1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4)
* The PCIEX4 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIEX1_1/2/3 slots. The PCIEX1_1/2/3 slots slots will become unavailable when a PCIe x4 expansion card is installed.

3 x PCI Express x1 slots
(PCIEX4 and PCIEX1 slots conform to PCI Express 2.0 standard.)

1 x PCI slots
 
Easy way to tell. Pop out the GFX and look at the slot.

Does it have metal pins all along the length of the PCIE slot? If so then it's a physical 16 slot. Or look at the over slots that aren't used and determine if the slot you've chosen is correct.
 
Thanks for the responses chaps! Nothing else in any of the other PCIE slots, just the GPU in the x16 slot. I'll take your advice and will re-seat the GPU and make sure it's an x16 slot.

EDIT: re-seated the GPU and the slot it was in was indeed the x16 slot, didn't seem to make any difference as it's still showing as x8. Is there an option in the motherboard BIOS that could be affecting it?
 
Last edited:
Aa83 said:
Thanks for the responses chaps! Nothing else in any of the other PCIE slots, just the GPU in the x16 slot. I'll take your advice and will re-seat the GPU and make sure it's an x16 slot.

EDIT: re-seated the GPU and the slot it was in was indeed the x16 slot, didn't seem to make any difference as it's still showing as x8. Is there an option in the motherboard BIOS that could be affecting it?
Click to expand...

If it's definitely the 16x slot then the only other thing would be a bios setting.
 
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