PCI-E 2.0 x16 running at x8

xbonez · Dec 22, 2010

I had a GTX 470 running on my computer and GPU-Z reported my PCI-E 2.0 bus running at x16.

I just switched the 470 for a 480, and now GPU-Z reports it to be running at x8

It is the same PCI-E slot.

Q1: Why is this so?
Q2: Does the PCI-E bus running at x8 make a noticeable difference in performance as opposed to x16?

newtekie1 · Dec 22, 2010

Try reseating the card.

No, it won't really affect performance.

HXL492 · Dec 22, 2010

Try downloading the newest version of GPU-Z

AlienIsGOD · Dec 22, 2010

or disable the power management for pci-e link state

xbonez · Dec 22, 2010

HXL492 said:
Try downloading the newest version of GPU-Z

Tried. Same result.

newtekie1 said:
Try reseating the card.

No, it won't really affect performance.

AlienIsGOD said:
or disable the power management for pci-e link state

Will try right away and report back.

Flashed my BIOS, and moved the card to another PCi-E slot (just in case), and it works fine now. Couldn't find any Power management option in BIOS though. Thanks guys.

xbonez · Dec 22, 2010

FYI, performance difference:

x8

x16

hat · Dec 23, 2010

I once had this issue with an 8800GTS. I took the card out, cleaned the contacts with 91% rubbing alcohol, and blew out the slot with a can of compressed air. It reported x16 after that. As others have said, check power saving settings. There's an option for PCI-E power management something or other in the advanced power settings in Windows 7.

dark2099 · Dec 23, 2010

xbonez said:
FYI, performance difference:

x8

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1276196/3dMarkvantage.png

x16

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1276196/dMark_x16.png

Not to say those don't show a difference, but hard to quantify gaming results by synthetic benchmarks.

newtekie1 · Dec 23, 2010

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GTX_480_PCI-Express_Scaling/24.html

The difference is 2% overall, nothing noticeable.

AlienIsGOD · Dec 23, 2010

FYI the power management option is located in the Power Options part of the Control Panel.

Hardware and Sound > Power Options > change plan settings > advance settings > PCI-Express > Link State Power Management.

xbonez · Dec 23, 2010

AlienIsGOD said:
FYI the power management option is located in the Power Options part of the Control Panel.

Hardware and Sound > Power Options > change plan settings > advance settings > PCI-Express > Link State Power Management.

Oh, I was looking in the BIOS

hat · Dec 23, 2010

xbonez said:
Oh, I was looking in the BIOS

Yeah, that's one place where it is, but always look in the BIOS as well as settings in Windows (drivers, power options etc)

leemerlord · Dec 23, 2010

i had this problem and i updated my bios to the lastest and it fixed it

btarunr · Dec 23, 2010

You can try disabling:

And in the system BIOS setup program.

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PCI-E 2.0 x16 running at x8

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