PCI x16 2.0 cards in 1.0 slots

[jvincent08]

Now I know 2.0 is *technically* supposed to be backward compatible with 1.0 on paper, but has anyone actually tried this successfully? I'm asking because I just bought an HD 5770 and the card appears to be DOA, but before I submit for an RMA, I was wondering if the fact that my board only supports x16 v1.0 could possibly have anything to do with it. I've been needing to upgrade my mobo for a while now, anyway, so I think this might be a good opportunity to do so. Has anyone had any problems like this in the past?

My board is the ASRock Wolfdale1333-D667 which uses the 945GC chipset. I was planning on upgrading to a P45 board, maybe the ECS BLACK SERIES P45T-A.

Update: This thread died without a definitive answer. I went ahead and bought the ECS board linked above, and the new card worked fine. The old ASRock board actually did have PCIe 2.0 slots, but for whatever reason, they didn't play nice with the 5770. I think it may have been due to the board already having an on-board video chipset. So if anyone else is having similar problems with several cards appearing to be DOA, try a new board. Worked for me, but as always YMMV.

 

[EXT64]

Yes, in most cases you should be OK. I have heard of some incompatibilities, but I think that was on older chipsets than the 945. For quite a while I used a 4850 (PCI-E 2.0) in an A8N-SLI Deluxe (I think 1.0, but possibly 1.1, though since it isn't advertised, probably 1.0) so it does work in at least some cases. If you are sure the system works otherwise, I think it would be reasonable to try an RMA of the GPU.

 

[paperfox]

No, the pcie 1.0 and 2.0 should not be at fault. Ive put an HD 4850 and 4870 into a 1.0 slot with my P4, no problems that I could tell.

 

[EXT64]

The only issue I have heard of was really a Chipset issue, and that was with a 8xx chipset (just to add on to what I said above).

 

[wa1]

Yup, my 4850(pci-e 2.0) runs great on my GA 965P-DS3(pci-e 1.0)
try your card on another computer and see if the problem still exist...
U must have a decent PSu to run that card, make sure u have it...

 

[hell_storm2004]

Your card will run on the PCIE 1.0 slot with a significantly reduced bandwidth and would finally effect the performance of the game! But when just working is the question, then i can say that the card will work.

 

[PaCanc]

1. The PCIe 2.0 should work in 1.0 slot. (mine does)
2. The performence won't be affected by the older slot for this card, don't worry about that.

 

[EXT64]

Yes, the BW is significantly reduced, but a 5770 is nowhere close to saturating 1.0 16x. A 5970 though might be more of an issue.

 

[jvincent08]

Thanks for the responses, guys. I guess I just got really unlucky; this is the second DOA card for me in a row (though the first one was a 5750 of a different manufacturer). *sigh* Here goes another RMA.

Edit: As far as the PSU goes, I'm pretty sure that's not the problem. It's 550W and I've tried unplugging all my drives and other powered devices except the cpu and graphics card and still no go.

 

[EXT64]

You don't have any other PCs you can try it in or any other PCI-E cards, do you? Or a shop nearby that can test it?

 

[capt_taco]

Not to sound condescending, but what are you doing to install these cards? It doesn't sound like anything is physically wrong with your setup, but if you're leaving out a step when you install the card, that can give you a black screen and unresponsive system just as sure as a DOA card.

 

[jvincent08]

You don't have any other PCs you can try it in or any other PCI-E cards, do you? Or a shop nearby that can test it?

Nope.

Not to sound condescending, but what are you doing to install these cards? It doesn't sound like anything is physically wrong with your setup, but if you're leaving out a step when you install the card, that can give you a black screen and unresponsive system just as sure as a DOA card.

Setting PCI-E as the primary display in my BIOS, removing old card (a 4650, which I just realized is a PCIe 2.0 card, rendering this entire thread pointless), inserting new one, plugging in the 6-pin power connector (my power supply has two; I tried both), plug in the DVI cable for my monitor (tried both dvi ports). That's it. The system doesn't seem to detect the card at all and defaults back to the on-board video. I've also tried cleaning the pci contacts with a clean eraser.

Edit: Formatting.

 

[capt_taco]

Hmm, did you uninstall the old drivers and install the new ones? If not, you should try it and see if that fixes the problem.

Also, you may consider doing a CMOS clear with the card out to reset the BIOS .. sometimes the board needs a "kick" to search for and recognize a new card, especially if it's one of those that uses an "auto" setting to determine onboard/PCIe graphics. I've seen that trick do it sometimes. Wouldn't hurt to replace the CMOS battery while you're at it, since your machine's probably at least a couple years old.

But anyway ... it sounds like you might be having trouble with your machine being stubborn about installing a new card, not that the card itself is defective. I've found that on machines with onboard graphics, it's often a little tricker to replace an existing PCIe card with a new one than it is to simply add a PCIe card for the first time.

 

[jvincent08]

I tried uninstalling the old drivers like you suggested and it didn't make a difference (why would it affect POST?). I then removed the card and the CMOS battery and waited a few minutes to clear, put them in again, and still no changes.

Personally, I think it's the board too, that's why I was leaning towards getting a new one (without on-board video) and see what happens, especially since I need an upgrade anyway for a couple other things I'd like to get. Do you think this is a good idea? I can always still do the RMA if it doesn't solve the problem.