Question GPU reads as x8 instead of x16, wrong reading or motherboard dying?

[Xemrael]

So, after I got my new Sapphire NITRO+ RX 590 after two ASUS RX 570 that were a complete nightmare, apparently I can say all is good to go, but, I've noticed something while checking the AMD drivers and in the information the card was as running as PCI Express 2.0 x8 Instead of PCI Express 2.0 x16.

My motherboard only supports PCIe 2.0 just to clarify.

Now, this is bugging me. Has this happened before and I just didn't noticed it? I don't really think I wouldn't notice...

Now, Is this possibly just a wrong read? or something is up?

I tested with 3dmark and apparently, performance is equal, even though everything says this is running at x8...


GPU-Z

@ x8 in 3dmark

and @ x16

And even more, when I reboot the system, the reading gets to x16 again..

What the hell? Any ideas?


PS: I already cleaned my computer and disassembled almost everything to clean, only the motherboard, power supply and drives I did not remove

 

[Darkbreeze]

It will always show as x8 until it NEEDS to increase to x16. Look at the GPU-Z window WITH something demanding running like Furmark or Heaven benchmark. It will change to x16. If it does not, then it is likely a software issue in GPU-Z for that particular version, not your graphics card. They do not run at x16 speeds at all times.

 

[Xemrael]

The strange part is that GPU-Z, Radeon Settings, CPU-Z, HWInfo all read the same.

It normally goes from x16 1.1 to x16 2.0 when load is applied, and I did not watched GPU-Z while running 3dmark, and I can't force the x8 speed to happen, as I said, a reboot "fixes" the reading to x16....

One thing noted, this card starts oscillating normally between x16 1.1 to x16 2.0 as load is applied, but tends to stay at x16 2.0, even if I close everything in Windows.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I appologize. I think I said that wrong earlier. I believe it is x16 1.1 to 2.0 or 2.0 to 3.0 where the change happens under load. One of the two anyhow. Regardless, it could be something else. Have you tried disconnecting all other drives except the OS drive to see if it's a lane issue? I'm assuming your graphics card IS installed in the primary x16 slot, closest to the CPU socket?

I would do ALL of the following, FIRST, to see if there is any change. Also, knowing your full hardware specs including the EXACT power supply model would be helpful. Insufficient power delivery could be at play as well. I've seen a poor quality power supply cause lane fluctuations before. Not often, and not consistently, but I've seen it.

Here are the first steps to take when trying to solve these kinds of hardware problems. If you have already tried these steps, all of them, exactly as outlined, we can move along to more advanced solutions.

If there are any you have NOT done, it would be advisable to do so if for no other reason than to be able to say you've already done it and eliminate that possibility.


First, make sure your motherboard has the MOST recent BIOS version installed. If it does not, then update. This solves a high number of issues even in cases where the release that is newer than yours makes no mention of improving graphics card or other hardware compatibility. They do not list every change they have made when they post a new BIOS release.

Second, go to the product page for your motherboard on the manufacturer website. Download and install the latest driver versions for the chipset, storage controllers, audio and network adapters. Do not skip installing a newer driver just because you think it is not relevant to the problem you are having. The drivers for one device can often affect ALL other devices and a questionable driver release can cause instability in the OS itself. They don't release new drivers just for fun. If there is a new driver release for a component, there is a good reason for it. The same goes for BIOS updates.

IF you have other hardware installed or attached to the system that are not a part of the systems covered by the motherboard drivers, then go to the support page for THAT component and check to see if there are newer drivers available for that as well. If there are, install them.

The last thing we want to look at, for now anyhow, is the graphics card drivers. Regardless of whether you "already installed the newest drivers" for your graphics card or not, it is OFTEN a good idea to do a CLEAN install of the graphics card drivers. Just installing over the old drivers OR trying to use what Nvidia and AMD consider a clean install is not good enough and does not usually give the same result as using the Display Driver Uninstaller utility. This has a very high success rate and is always worth a shot.

If you have had both Nvidia and AMD cards installed at any point on that operating system then you will want to run the DDU twice. Once for the old card drivers (ie, Nvidia or AMD) and again for the currently installed graphics card drivers (ie, AMD or Nvidia). So if you had an Nvidia card at some point in the past, run it first for Nvidia and then after that is complete, run it again for AMD if you currently have an AMD card installed.

Here are the full instructions on running the Display driver uninstaller and CLEAN installing new drivers.

Graphics card CLEAN install tutorial using the DDU


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[Xemrael]

Specs:

MB - Asrock Fatal1ty 990FX Killer
CPU - AMD FX-8350 cooled by Noctua NH-U12P SE2
RAM - 16GB G.SKILL TridentX 2400mhz DDR3
GPU - Sapphire NITRO+ RX 590
PSU - Enermax REVOLUTION87+ 850W
OS - Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Monitor - Samsung Syncmaster 2494HS
Mouse - Roccat Kova (2016)
Keyboard - Rocccat Isku

GPU is on the first slot, I have 4 SATA drives, one ODD, two HDD and one SSD as my main drive

If I remember correctly I did install the last and most recent chipset drivers from AMD.
BIOS is updated
and pretty much I have all of the most updated drivers on my system, I can be inclined to either the chipset drivers, if for some reason anything got messed up, or just DDU the GPU drivers and clean install them.

I can try removing some of the SATA drives, but the issue is not 100% reproduce-able, at least I didn't try to reboot enough times for it to happen
I do have one PCIe x1 WiFi card

But if did actually dropped to x8, would that affect the score enough in 3dmark?

Thanks for the reply's, hope I didn't forget anything in the way!


EDIT:

for example, now is all correct...

 

[Amdlova]

don't affect maybe 1%
Iam still using pcix 2.0 at 8x I will upgrade when we have pci 5.0 and ddr5

 

[Xemrael]

And has I said earlier I find so strange it not dropping from x16 2.0 to x16 1.1 when there is no load... I have now only Windows with GPU-Z opened and still on 2.0

 

[Xemrael]

@Darkbreeze

It appears to do this of showing as "x8" instead of "x16" after the computer being turned off long enough, but I'm still not sure....

Nevertheless, what I did today:

Removed PCIe x1 Wifi card - Same behavior

Removed PCIe x1 Wifi card and changed the GPU to the second slot - Same behavior

Inserted the PCIe x1 Wifi card with the GPU on the second slot - Same behavior

Removed USB 2.0 and 3.0 headers - Same behavior

Placed everything where it belonged, and funny enough got the reading x16 at "first boot"

Removed all SATA connections except of my main drive, and, well, x8

So I placed everything were it was, I checked everything thoroughly as I possibly could and didn't find anything strange on my board

I did not removed the CPU because I already did that some days ago

So next I uninstalled the AMD drivers, used DDU, and reinstalled GPU drivers and Chipset drivers to my 990FX chipset (I'm already thinking if by any mistake I installed any chipset driver wrong before, which I don't think I have done, but after all this I'm going slightly mad and my OCD doesn't help)
I even reinstalled the USB 3.0 Etron drivers, which are a complete pain... Just google it if interested 🙃

I have photos, maybe someone can see something I can not -

https://imgur.com/a/j6ILRc9

View: https://imgur.com/a/j6ILRc9


Should I just quit on trying to find the answer for this?

Thanks for the replies!

 

[Darkbreeze]

Is is running at x16 speeds when you are gaming? If so, screw it. That's all that matters. That is the ONLY time it matters is if it is using the full lane structure when gaming or when running GPU intensive tasks for things like 3D rendering applications etc. So long as it is running at full speeds when it NEEDS to be, the rest is immaterial.

 

[Xemrael]

Only if I reboot and it shows x16 then it will stay reading as x16, gaming, 3d rendering, nothing changes the reading, so if I start the computer and it reads as x8 it will stay as x8...
Mind that I can't choose anything or see the actual link speed properly on the UEFI, but the ASRock "System Browser" shows x16. Now if it is just because it detects a card there or is showing the speed I don't know.
I'm gonna reset my bios and if stays the same, I'm just gonna do a clean install of Windows.
If after all it shows the same, I quit, at least I tried.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Can you try the card in another system to see if it does the same thing or if it works normally, because if it works normally, then I'd say it is likely something with your OS installation or there is a problem with the motherboard or CPU. Have you at any point pulled the CPU to check for bent pins on the CPU? (Yes, that can work fine otherwise, or work fine for a while and then start acting funky.) Always good to check the CPU when anything pertaining to the PCI lanes starts showing signs of weirdness, especially if it happens right after assembly but at any time really.

Given the age of the hardware, I'd be more inclined to think OS or motherboard, but you never know AND it's ALWAYS best to eliminate any potential causes rather than assume they are not to blame.

 

[Xemrael]

I have no other system to try this.

CPU already checked and seems fine...

Tomorrow I'll do the bios reset and clean install of Windows to see what happens, I'm even going to reconnect all of the power cables

 

[Darkbreeze]

Yeah, that's about all that's left to do really.

 

[Xemrael]

Don't really want to be necroing a thread, but the issue continues.

• I have removed and reinstalled all the hardware on the motherboard
• did a new and clean install of now Windows 10
• reflashed my motherboard bios
• used default BIOS settings
• tested the dual bios this card has but still reads x8

and it continues... I believed it could just be wrong readings (after reflashing my motherboard it even read x4, that was a new one) , but today after seemingly being working fine reading x16, I turned on the computer and saw x8 again, so i tested with the new PCI-e bandwidth bench that 3dmark has to see if was a wrong reading and it did dropped to 3GB/s at x8, restarted the computer and now reading has x16 running the test again got me to 6GB/s, so it really is for some reason messing the lanes up

Basically what I would like to know is, why the hell is this working "fine" and at x16 only when it "wants" to?...

It appears that turning off the computer, and turning on again has a chance of 50% of not be running at x16, but restarting the computer/OS, does not seem to affect it and stays at x16.

Sorry if I was confusing or if the writing is confusing, I'm tired of troubleshooting this
I believe i'm just gonna start to check if my graphics card is running at x16 when i start the computer, if not, reboot to "solve" and forget about this, i dont have another gpu or mobo to test this
If anyone experienced something similar, please say something, I feel alone with this stupid issue, I see alot of threads about running at the wrong speed but not one says that rebooting "solves" the problem....