Question 4070 (Gigabyte Windforce OC) performance - possible lane problem?

[brdyz]

Wondering if anyone can help - recently I've been having frame-rate problems on the games I play (Helldivers 2, GTA V, Monster Hunter World) on a very recent self build (Dec. 2023). A month ago I was getting 120-130fps on HD2 ultra 1080p - now I'm lucky to hit 80-90.

Temps all look normal under load and idling. I'm no expert though, so I'm worried I'm missing something. I've installed new bios, made sure ram is working with correct EXPO profiles, made sure drivers are up to date etc. I'm concerned its the gfx card - does everything in the screenshots I've linked to below look normal? Shouldn't the card be using more lanes? HwInfo and Nvidia control panel show PCI Express x1 Gen 4.

Maybe I'm barking down the wrong tree here though?

https://imgur.com/a/vb2hCwx

View: https://imgur.com/a/vb2hCwx


if I restart the machine without turning it off, I get this and my framerate problems disappear:

https://imgur.com/jZJncy0

View: https://i.imgur.com/jZJncy0.png


the GPU running at x1 or sometimes x2 only happens if I 'cold' start the machine or awake it from sleep. very strange.

Specs:

MOBO: B650 GAMING X (rev. 1.3)
CPU: Ryzen 5 7600x
GPU: RTX 4070 (Gigabyte Windforce OC)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 DRAM 6000MT/S CL30 AMD EXPO
PSU: Corsair RM850e
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120
NVME: Samsung 980 PRO M.2 (1TB)
HDD: Seagate st1000lm014-1ej164 (1TGB)
Thermal paste: THERMALRIGHT TF-7
OS: Windows 11 Pro

https://imgur.com/sCumB1A

View: https://i.imgur.com/sCumB1A.jpeg

https://imgur.com/E9Q0qdv

View: https://i.imgur.com/E9Q0qdv.jpeg

https://imgur.com/0je6Mi3

View: https://i.imgur.com/0je6Mi3.jpeg

https://imgur.com/I3lRc8v

View: https://i.imgur.com/I3lRc8v.jpeg

 

[bobalazs]

HwInfo and Nvidia control panel show PCI Express x1 Gen 4.

Hwinfo Picture shows 210 Mhz gpu clock, like no game or heavy load was used to test.

 

[brdyz]

HwInfo and Nvidia control panel show PCI Express x1 Gen 4.

Hwinfo Picture shows 210 Mhz gpu clock, like no game or heavy load was used to test.

Sorry, I think I may have confused things with how I added the images and explained the problem.

Basically, with a cold start from power off, for some reason, my GPU only uses 1, sometimes 2 PCIe lanes. This is when I get the performance problems in game. At idle:

https://imgur.com/b3NpYhM

View: https://i.imgur.com/b3NpYhM.png


However, if I restart my machine, it uses all 16 lanes and performance is normal. This was taken after a restart:

https://imgur.com/jZJncy0

View: https://i.imgur.com/jZJncy0.png


If my computer goes into sleep mode, or I turn it off completely, it goes back to using 1 (sometimes 2) PCIe lanes. The issue is fixed every single time if I restart the computer without turning it off completely. I'm trying to figure out why this is happening.

 

[bobalazs]

Though i can't say for sure, I'm guessing it must be some power saving feature in firmware that gets stuck.
Maybe a hardware or software engineer could answer the problem, or someone that experiences this.

 

[Crosslhs82x2]

It would help everyone out to list your system specs.

Have you looked in bios at the pcie section to see if there is a auto or manual setting ?

 

[Satan-IR]

Please list full system specs.

It can be a bad pin contact issue on card (gold pins) to the PCIE slot. It can also be a slot pin issue.

You can take good quality photos of card (both sides) and the slot and upload to imgur.com and post link here.

Shut down, turn PSU off, unplug any PCIE auxialiary power cable from card, carefully take out card and examine the gold pins and also check the slot for any debris or other object. Clean the slot if necessary with compressed air/a blower.

If you see anything like dirt on the pins you can clean them gently with lint free cloth or foam swabs (used to apply make up and so on). Be carefull not to scratc the pins.

When you put the card back in the slot be gentle and also make sure the card goes all the way in.

You can take photos and upload to imgur.com and post link here.

 

[brdyz]

Problem 'resolved' by downgrading bios to FC version. Problem happened on versions FA1 and newer. GPU now uses all 16 lanes on cold start, and no performance issues.

Judging by feedback on an older Reddit post, there appears to be some issue starting with with AMD AGESA 1.1.0.1 and newer versions.

I'll update OP with my specs, but here they are anyway, along with some photos of the GPU and the PCIe slot:

MOBO: B650 GAMING X (rev. 1.3)
CPU: Ryzen 5 7600x
GPU: RTX 4070 (Gigabyte Windforce OC)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 DRAM 6000MT/S CL30 AMD EXPO
PSU: Corsair RM850e
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120
NVME: Samsung 980 PRO M.2 (1TB)
HDD: Seagate st1000lm014-1ej164 (1TGB)
Thermal paste: THERMALRIGHT TF-7
OS: Windows 11 Pro

https://imgur.com/sCumB1A

View: https://i.imgur.com/sCumB1A.jpeg

https://imgur.com/E9Q0qdv

View: https://i.imgur.com/E9Q0qdv.jpeg

https://imgur.com/0je6Mi3

View: https://i.imgur.com/0je6Mi3.jpeg

https://imgur.com/I3lRc8v

View: https://i.imgur.com/I3lRc8v.jpeg