Graphics card PCIe x8 running at x1

[BlueStreak]

As the title (sort of) states, I have a problem whereby my nVidia graphics card is being forced to run at a PCIe speed of x1 even though it's a x8 card.

It's a Dell Optiplex 755 Mini Tower (specs should be here somewhere). The PCIe slot on my PC should be a PCIe 2.0 slot from what I could find out on the internet.

I've run various pieces of software, including CPU-Z, GPU-Z, Speccy and AIDA64. They all report the PCI Express slot as a 1.1 slot. However, nVidia Inspector reports the slot as a 2.0 slot. Not sure why.

On top of that, the software (not nVidia Inspector) all report the card to be running at x1, though the card is a x8.

I'll attach a screenie of GPU-Z, and you can see what it says about the PCIe status.

The PCI Express slot should be 2.0 as far as I can tell, and according to nVidia Inspector. But I have no clue as to why all other software seem to say it's only 1.1. I assume this is why it's running at x1 and not x8 as it should be, and the slot is x16.

The BIOS revision on the PC is up to date as well, and there are no BIOS options to alter the way the PCI Express works.

Um... any ideas anyone?

 

[RoasterMen]

Why not use the PCI-E x16 slot?

 

[AddRAM]

Did you run the fullscreen render test ?

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
There should be 2 slots
1- pci
1-pcie
So I'd guess you were in the wrong slot.
I'd also guess the pcie slot was on the bottom of the board ?

I guess I was lucky on my old dog it only had one to choose

 

[AddRAM]

Please post a picture of the motherboard and card installed.

As long as you have the card in the PCI-Express x 16 slot closest to the cpu you should be in the right slot.


You can not go by programs telling you if a particular slot is 1.1, 2.0. 3.0 etc...... we need the specs from the Dell motherboard period. That is the only thing that will tell you what each slot is.

Please post the Dell Link to the PC with your particular board installed, all Dell`s are different and the same exact model can have 2 different motherboards installed, trust me I have worked on hundreds of Dell`s and seen the same exact Model come with an Intel cpu while another will come with an AMD

Yes your board use an Intel cpu, but we need the exact motherboard model, open the case and the model will written right on the board,, or even use system information from windows to find out what the motherboard model is, but even that is not a reliable way to determine the info we need.

 

[BlueStreak]

@RoasterMan - I am using the x16 slot. It's the only PCIe slot on the board, other than the PCIe x1 slot.

@AddRAM - I didn't run it fullscreen, no. I assume you mean the render test in GPU-Z? I only ran it in the small window it starts in.

@ThrashZone - I only have the one full size PCIe slot on this motherboard, two normal PCI slots and a small PCIe x1 slot. The slot is also at the top of the top of board, as these Dells have their motherboards upside down and back to front. In other words, it's in the only slot it will fit in

@AddRAM - I can't take a photo at this moment, but I can at least link you to the exact motherboard my Optiplex has: Dell Optiplex 755 "GM819"

Apparently it's a GM819. That's all I can locate on the board, and that it's manufactured by Foxconn. It's definitely inserted into the x16 slot as it's the only slot there. I've been unable to find any solid information from Dell regarding the actual speed of these PCIe slots.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Yep bottom is the top on a mini case
Very weird could be a defective pcie slot :/

 

[pbcopter]

Try reseating the card. I have seen cards not running properly (x8 vs x16, etc.) be corrected by reseating. Might be dirty contact or slight misalignment.

 

[AddRAM]

it has to be run in full screen to maximize the cards efforts, you should have gotten a popup telling you that.

Dell GM819 - Best Compatible Dell GM819 Mobo

dell gm819 motherboard specs

 

[BlueStreak]

Well I did get a pop up mentioning a full screen render test, but it said it was used for such things as SLi / multi GPU setups.

 

[RoasterMen]

Did you try to run the test on fullscreen though? I was able to do it with my GeForce 210

 

[AddRAM]

I`ll ask again, did you run it in full screen render mode ?

Just Ignore the message it gives you about SLI, don`t worry about it.

It will only maximize your cards efforts if you run it in full screen mode.

You will then see it run at 2.0 speed x8, please do as we ask. :banghead:

And I pulled this tidbit out of 1 of the links I posted for you to read.

There are 1 PCIe x16 slots on this motherboard. This means it is perfectly capable of accommodating the latest graphics cards, although it is important to try and use a graphics card with the same graphics card interface of PCIe v2.x, as anything below will not reach the motherboard's potential, and anything above will have its performance slashed to the bandwidth maximum of the Dell GM819's PCIe v2.x.

And please post a manufacturers link to your exact video card. There are soo many versions of a gt 730

 

[BlueStreak]

Ah sorry.. yes, I did run the test on full-screen but it made no difference to the PCIe speed. It remained at x1 1.1 for the length I ran the test for. I left it going for a few minutes but it didn't change anything.

Here's the link to the exact model of graphics card I have. It's a PCIe 2.0 card at x8 (see Details tab) and was released in 2014, so it's kind of one of the "latest" graphics cards available.

Linky: EVGA - Products - EVGA GeForce GT 730 2GB (Low Profile) - 02G-P3-3733-KR

 

[AddRAM]

OK so the card is good, now let`s get back to the motherboard, are you absolutely positive you have the card installed in the PCI-Express x16 slot (the long black slot) you said it only has one, and the specs say it has 1 PCI-Express x 16 slot.

In this example of my board it`s a creme colored slot.

The only other suggestion I can make is to go into the bios and make sure the PCI-Express speed setting is correct.

 

[AddRAM]

Even my 2nd GTX 980 Ti powers down to 1.1 after a few seconds because it`s not using it`s full power state during the render test, it just doesn`t have to

 

[BlueStreak]

I am absolutely positive it's in the correct PICe slot. There is only one full size x16 slot on the board, plus two PCI slots and a x1 PCIe small size slot, so definitely in the correct one.

And unfortunately, these Dell BIOSes.. BIOS's... the Dell PCs don't have much in toe way of settings in the BIOS. I've looked and looked but there no options for PCIe speed, only the ability to turn them on or off.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Yep you either have a defective card or a defective slot.

 

[AddRAM]

Yes, I can`t come up with any more thoughts on what`s going on, it`s certainly not the E8400, I ran a E8200 and a E8600 and both worked great.

I am out of ideas, and tending to agree with Mike