Thread: nVidia PCIe x16 card running at x8

if belongs in hardware subforum, apologies.

since topic video hardware, chose subforum.

(nvidia) leadtek winfast gt 220 1024mb ddr3 pcie 2.0 x16 card running @ x8.

i've assembled faq stories of lot of people problem scattered many forums & blogs.

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-check motherboard:
--what motherboard?
biostar ta890fxe

--how many pcie x16 slots have & how many lanes run (max)?
has four: slot1 & slot3 x16, slot2 x1, , slot4 x4

--what slots cards in?
graphics card in slot1, topmost slot. nothing in slot2 or slot3. in slot4 have intel 82571eb dual 1gb nic.


-check motherboard manual:
--does motherboard support sli or crossfire?
designed crossfire , believe may support sli. however, not attempting use either feature.

--does motherboard support 2 pcie x16 slots @ x16 & x1, x8 & x8, or x16 & x16?
according manual, supports 2 pcie x16 graphics cards in slot1 & slot3 @ x16 & x16

-check bios:
--is motherboard bios up-to-date?
yes. installed latest (possibly final) update.

--is graphics card bios up-to-date?
unknown. neither nvidia nor leadtek has released official updates card.

--does motherboard bios have settings controll pcie lanes?
yes, names of pcie slots in bios not correlate names in manual; instead of "pex16_1",2,3,4 "pcie 03", 09, 04, , 11.* default set "auto".
tried manually setting slot1 & slot3 x16 & x16 slot1 x16 & slot3 x1; in either case card still reports x8.

--are there other settings affect pcie?
likely. particularly there under/overclocking setting called "gpu phase control" inactive default. there aspm settings each slot, disabled default. unfortunately, few of bios features documented , descriptions provided in bios in cryptic , poor english.

-check card:
--is seated properly?
yes. in slot , cleaned , dusted before inserting card.

--tried reseating anyway?
not yet. should anyway, don't think issue.

--tried pcie x16 slot?
not yet , not easy do.

-check drivers:
--what drivers?
proprietary nvidia drivers, 295.20; these drivers not feature settings control pcie lanes.

*from memory

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have heard performance cost running x16 card @ x8 relatively low.
have heard of 1 user fixed this, after trying else, copying bios card ran @ x16 card ran @ x8.

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