PCI-Express @ x8??? Please help

[MonkMachine]

I have a ECS KN1 SLI Extreme and it seem my PCI-E is running @ x8 instead of 16, any idea why??


My motherboard should be able to run @ x16

http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWeb/Product...uID=30&LanID=8

I cant figure it out?

[sackynut]

Re: PCI-Express @ x8??? Please help

well, I am asuming you only have one card in (because its supposed to run at x8 with two)

some SLi motherboards (though few) including mine play a little trick on you. they say on newegg or whatever, that they have two PCIexpress x16 slots. but that isnt quite true. in most SLi mobo's, they have a switch which you manually flip on the motherboard. one way on the flip, turns one slot into x1, and the other into x16, for use with one card. the other way on the flip makes them both x8 sharing the bandwidth, for two cards.
some mobos and manufacterers decided to be lazy, or just "innovative" and get rid of the switch. therefore, they set both slots permanently on x8. no matter how many cards you use, they will both always be on x8 bandwidth, its just how that works. but if its any comfort, theres almost no difference in performance between x16 and x8.

[MonkMachine]

Re: PCI-Express @ x8??? Please help

Thanks, been on others forums and had the same sort of response, pretty crap really.

[sackynut]

Re: PCI-Express @ x8??? Please help

yeah, I thought mine was x16, and when I had one card and it said x8 i got scared (couldnt think of another word), and finally I found out by reading the friggin newegg reviews of my mobo that it was x8. oh well.

[LoD]

Re: PCI-Express @ x8??? Please help

If you have 2 graphics cards in SLI, they both run at x8 speed unless you have an nforce 4 SLi x16 chipset, or NF 590 SLI chipset.

If you have one card and are still runing less than x16 speed, make sure your graphics card is in the top PICe slot and not the bottom one.

[sackynut]

Re: PCI-Express @ x8??? Please help

If you have 2 graphics cards in SLI, they both run at x8 speed unless you have an nforce 4 SLi x16 chipset, or NF 590 SLI chipset.

If you have one card and are still runing less than x16 speed, make sure your graphics card is in the top PICe slot and not the bottom one.

no, read my post. some mobo makes decided to bypass that switch (on non-sli x16 boards) so that both slots ALWAYS run at x8, all the time. trust me, at first I tried running in both slots to make sure it wasnt that problem also. on regular sli boards, in sli mode both are x8, and in single card mode one is x16 and one is x1. so if his board was like you think, then it would actually be running in x1. its just because the manufacters took an "innovative" step.

[LoD]

Re: PCI-Express @ x8??? Please help

no, read my post. some mobo makes decided to bypass that switch (on non-sli x16 boards) so that both slots ALWAYS run at x8, all the time. trust me, at first I tried running in both slots to make sure it wasnt that problem also. on regular sli boards, in sli mode both are x8, and in single card mode one is x16 and one is x1. so if his board was like you think, then it would actually be running in x1. its just because the manufacters took an "innovative" step.

I dont believe thats accurate. On second generation SLI boards the "physical switch" is gone, but its replaced by a software switch. Apparently either automatic, or set in the bios. I might be wrong, but I'm fairly sure that you made a mistake or did not set the right option in the bios. All SLI boards to my knowledge allow for atleast one PCIe x16 to run at full speed when using one card.

EDIT: Well I looked at the manual and for the Albatron I guess they do employ dual x8 slots in x16 physical form.

Thats lazy design, aimed at cutting costs. Instead of having sophisticated software like higher end boards, it appears they just hard wired the PCIe to be x8 all the time. Probably to save costs.

Its ashame this reviewer didnt pick up on that, lazy journalism...

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1795&page=1

It's interesting sacky, but i think its one of the rare boards that does this, probably only an issue on the low end. But then again the OP does have a budget ECS board, so i suppose it could be the same case with him.

[Brindled]

Re: PCI-Express @ x8??? Please help

I have a ECS KN1 SLI Extreme and it seem my PCI-E is running @ x8 instead of 16, any idea why??


My motherboard should be able to run @ x16

http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWeb/Product...uID=30&LanID=8

I cant figure it out?

i have an ECS pci-express board also, and mine says 16X, however it doesnt do you any good. no one has taken advantage of the 16X pipeline yet anyways. so you arent missing anything. its just sort of a technicality. as far as i know that is.

[Bucknasty]

Re: PCI-Express @ x8??? Please help

have u tried changing it in BIOS