Question PCI-e only running at 4x

Nov 2, 2023
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Hi,

I have a ASUS ROG STRIX Z390-F GAMING with a Nvidia RTX 3080 card.
The motherboard only have PCI-e 3.0, and the RTX card support up to PCI-e 4.0, but should it not run at 16x on the PCI-e port anyway? My card is only running at 4x

I have tried taking it out cleaning it, update BIOS, check all BIOS setting, set it to Gen3. No difference. Dont have any other things connected to PCI-e. Could the PCI-e slot be defective?

Pictures are taken while under GFX load.

eyJ0IjoiMSIsImsiOiJBMWQifQ.fbQd2Hkvyewe2kYke-0M53e-7chPwpVdBovi-4bhblqYfaCZ5grDwyR8xHKoHxWGuGdzqeuQ5-NtBiIjPGIyJzBzTT-M9c9TPW3dinPNcnLg_9NzlqTehYNYCDw_cdBk.bxG3qu-wiMxCwZdOLeQmsQ


eyJ0IjoiMSIsImsiOiJBMWQifQ.rb0y4sphLf_LMz7GtHsaw7qxJmA6GfN-9bX3XfhfCS_QpeJcql4zkkTHScvaitG09sUapgk4YYUBx2SwsK6A2z_TZ2SpkFmk_blzhfKKjHrOJKA77yDto7g1O-LsHbUH.fBLWpt7sMHsNMtirCW7hmQ



Any help would be appreciated.

best regards from
Joar
 
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Go into BIOS and you should be able to find a setting that dictates the mode of the PCIe slots. Make sure that is set to x16. another thing that you could try is putting the GPU under load. A lot of the time GPU-Z will report the slot not running in x16 when the GPU is not under load.
 
Go into BIOS and you should be able to find a setting that dictates the mode of the PCIe slots. Make sure that is set to x16. another thing that you could try is putting the GPU under load. A lot of the time GPU-Z will report the slot not running in x16 when the GPU is not under load.
there is no such setting in Bios, only Gen1-3 and auto.
Like I wrote, the pictures are taken under load.
 
Did not see any damage on the card. Dont have any other system to test it on. But I tried my old GTX 1080 card, think I got 4x on that also. Or was it 8x. Not 100% sure.
 
The motherboard only have PCI-e 3.0, and the RTX card support up to PCI-e 4.0, but should it not run at 16x on the PCI-e port anyway? My card is only running at 4x

Could the PCI-e slot be defective?
Clean graphics card gold contacts with eraser.

If still working only at x4 mode in top PCIE x16 slot, then problem most likely is with graphics card.
Faulty card. Board level repairs might be necessary.

Could also be bent/ broken pins in cpu socket causing this.

Here's a video with similar problem being fixed.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_kWonOzoag
 
Last edited:
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Hi,

I have a ASUS ROG STRIX Z390-F GAMING with a Nvidia RTX 3080 card.
The motherboard only have PCI-e 3.0, and the RTX card support up to PCI-e 4.0, but should it not run at 16x on the PCI-e port anyway? My card is only running at 4x

I have tried taking it out cleaning it, update BIOS, check all BIOS setting, set it to Gen3. No difference. Dont have any other things connected to PCI-e. Could the PCI-e slot be defective?

Pictures are taken while under GFX load.

eyJ0IjoiMSIsImsiOiJBMWQifQ.fbQd2Hkvyewe2kYke-0M53e-7chPwpVdBovi-4bhblqYfaCZ5grDwyR8xHKoHxWGuGdzqeuQ5-NtBiIjPGIyJzBzTT-M9c9TPW3dinPNcnLg_9NzlqTehYNYCDw_cdBk.bxG3qu-wiMxCwZdOLeQmsQ


eyJ0IjoiMSIsImsiOiJBMWQifQ.rb0y4sphLf_LMz7GtHsaw7qxJmA6GfN-9bX3XfhfCS_QpeJcql4zkkTHScvaitG09sUapgk4YYUBx2SwsK6A2z_TZ2SpkFmk_blzhfKKjHrOJKA77yDto7g1O-LsHbUH.fBLWpt7sMHsNMtirCW7hmQ



Any help would be appreciated.

best regards from
Joar

if memory serves my correctly that chipset has limited bus width

it says

3 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x1
2 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (x16 or dual x8)
1 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (max at x4 mode)

do you have any other cards in the pci slots.

put the card back in the top slot go into bios

in the manual


go to page 72 to select bus width of that slot then save in your bios

let me know if this fixes it
 
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Thats one of the things that make be belive the MB is faulty. Because the card is not showing there, in bios. And I have no other cards connected to PCIe.