EVGA GTX 950 not recognized

[mrwolf33]

Hi there,

I have a motherboard B85M-ITX, CPU I3-4340 and just plugged in an EVGA 950 GTX. It is not recognized. Only the I3's integrated GPU works. PSU is a be quiet SFX POWER 2 300W (I know for this card it's suggested 350W, but I checked TDP of CPU+GPU and seemed okay).

Things I have done/tried:

• 
  ■ set primary GPU to PCI express in BIOS
  ■ set PCIe mode to 3 instead of auto in BIOS
  ■ on Windows, see if any driver is found (never)
  ■ tried only HDMI output so far (don't think can be that anyway in any case)
  ■ booted only with the GTX connected (BIOS always falls back to the other one, another hint that card is not recognized)
  ■ booted with only 1 hard drive connected and no USB3 header
  ■ PCIe is correctly seated and locked
  ■ the PCIe power (6+2) has always been correctly attached (it would have fried the card otherwise)
  ■ no smell or even heating on the card

I am out of ideas now. My best guesses so far are DOA card or not enough power from the PSU. The PCIe goes through a bridge card since my case is Silverstone ML07. It could be that bridge too, I haven't tried direct connection. Also the case comes with a kind of adapter for PCIe, no idea what that would be for and no mention in the manual.

Is there any special plastic I need to remove from the card? I left the unused ports with the original plastic covers.

 

[Justiceinacan]

Tried NVIDIA experience?

I assume it says the i3's igpu in dxdiag?

 

[mrwolf33]

Tried NVIDIA experience?

I assume it says the i3's igpu in dxdiag?

Didn't try. There's no point, at least the BIOS post should go once via the video card and/or Windows should see it. It's not like by installing the driver it is "seen" by Windows, first needs to be recognized as new installed hardware anyway.

 

[Evoke186]

it's probably a problem with your psu. 300w is too low for this card

 

[mrwolf33]

it's probably a problem with your psu. 300w is too low for this card

That's what I thought too. I convinced myself going with the 300W because it's a good one (bronze 80+), but might be that. From their page: http://www.geforce.co.uk/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-950/specifications

**Recommendation is made based on PC configured with an Intel Core i7 3.2 GHz processor. Pre-built system may require less power depending on system configuration.

And my I3 consumes really little, 54W, which combined with the card's 90W should leave enough for the other components, one would say?

 

[mrwolf33]

Also look here: on their review when it's idle it's even less, 63W: http://techreport.com/review/29061/nvidia-geforce-gtx-950-graphics-card-reviewed/10

I need to try with a bigger PSU to rule the option out, but might be something else

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

It's really about a 260w to 270w PSU , a little light.

 

[Eximo]

I would breadboard the system with the direct connection.

Have you tried updating the BIOS?

Only option I see in the BIOS would be this:

IGPU Multi-Monitor
Select disable to disable the integrated graphics when an external graphics card is
installed. Select enable to keep the integrated graphics enabled at all times.

Doesn't look like there is a potential for a conflict of PCIe lanes on that board.

 

[mrwolf33]

I would breadboard the system with the direct connection.

Have you tried updating the BIOS?

Only option I see in the BIOS would be this:

IGPU Multi-Monitor
Select disable to disable the integrated graphics when an external graphics card is
installed. Select enable to keep the integrated graphics enabled at all times.

Doesn't look like there is a potential for a conflict of PCIe lanes on that board.

Yeah that is disabled as well. I tried in the past an RX card and it worked fine, settings were the same as when I had the that card when I first tried.

I should really try direct connection, but likely tomorrow as now I can't.
As per the BIOS update, I downloaded version 2.5, run it and it wanted to reboot. When I did, it started the BIOS automatically. Didn't see anything different there and just closed it. So yeah a message like "your BIOS has been updated" would have been nice, but you know it's 2016 - broken user interfaces are the new standard 😛

 

[mrwolf33]

It was the connection to the PCIe bridge. There was no connection because one has to use a kind-of adapter that goes between the video card and the bridge. I am a noob, but was closely following the manual for installation and there was no mention of this, so when I just slid the card in I was sure it connected (you can't see the connection point very well). But there was just air and I was basically expecting PCIe to work over air...

It works fine after I plugged in the extra PCIe "socket", so no, it was not a power supply problem.