Question RTX 3070 only running PCIe x4 3.0

[Crabcakes4]

I recently got a new Gigabyte Gaming GeFroce RTX 3070 8GB rev 2, as well as an ASUS Prime Z690 intel board and I could not get the graphics card to work in the top PCIe slot. I thought it was an issue with the mobo so I sent it back and got an MSI B660 Tomahawk wifi DDR4 instead, and the same issue with this board, GPU will not work in the PCIe_01 slot. I can get it to work in the bottom slot, but GPU-Z shows it's running at PCIe x4 3.0. I've tried setting the mobo bios PCIe slot 01 from auto to gen 4, and gen 3, but neither made a difference. When I boot up with on board graphics on one monitor, and my gpu on the other the monitor attached to the GPU locks up right at boot, and device manager shows an error 43 generally for the 3070, and I get a message about force reinstalling the driver. I've tried everything I can think of the get it working in the top PCIe slot, and I'm starting to wonder if I just need to return the GPU for a different one. Any other ideas out there?

Mobo: MSI MAG B660 TOMAHAWK WIFI DDR4 LGA 1700 Intel
GPU: GIGABYTE Gaming OC GeForce RTX 3070 8GB GDDR6 PCI Express 4.0
CPU: Intel Core i5-12600K - Core i5 12th Gen Alder Lake 10-Core (6P+4E) 3.7 GHz LGA 1700
RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance RGB Pro SL 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR4 3200
PSU: CORSAIR RM850 CP-9020235-NA 850 W ATX 80 PLUS GOLD Certified

 

[rgd1101]

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MAG-B660-TOMAHAWK-WIFI-DDR4/Specification
only the first one run at x16

brand and model of the psu?
latest motherboard bios?

 

[DRagor]

Bottom slots are usually limited to x4 so no surprise here, it is as it should be.
Does the card actually works fine in bottom slot (I mean did you stress tested it there)? It may be the problem with card itself.

 

[Crabcakes4]

Sorry maybe I should have titled this thread differently, it works fine in the bottom slot, but I can't get it to work in the top PCIe slot at all. If I can only get it working at x4 3.0 in the bottom slot I'm losing a lot of performance. I do have the latest motherboard bios, I flashed it yesterday.

My PSU is: CORSAIR RM850 CP-9020235-NA 850 W ATX 80 PLUS GOLD Certified

 

[DRagor]

If I can only get it working at x4 3.0 in the bottom slot I'm losing a lot of performance.

True

it works fine in the bottom slot, but I can't get it to work in the top PCIe slot at all

Ok, I see three things that can happen: faulty CPU (as top slot is fed directly form CPU); both mobos have faulty top slot (unlikely but can't say impossible); or faulty GPU (although the fact that it works in bottom slot would mean the failure would have to be very strange one).

 

[Phaaze88]

Is a riser device in use?


The gpu doesn't work in the primary x16 slot in 2 different motherboards... the primary slot is connected to the cpu, and the bottom should be through the chipset...
Take the cpu out and check the underside for damaged contacts - check the motherboard socket itself while you're at it for bent/broken pins.
If those 2 turn up nothing, then the cpu mounting pressure may need to be called into question. Alder Lake seems to be a little wonky with that.

 

[Crabcakes4]

I will check the CPU, but I'd be surprised if both mobos had messed up pins, since with intel they are on the mobo side. I just heard back from MSI and it's one thing they suggested too, along with resetting the CMOS. No riser is in use, straight into mobo when trying both slots.

 

[Crabcakes4]

I will check the CPU, but I'd be surprised if both mobos had messed up pins, since with intel they are on the mobo side. I just heard back from MSI and it's one thing they suggested too, along with resetting the CMOS. No riser is in use, straight into mobo when trying both slots.

I took out the CPU and inspected both the contacts and the pins on the motherboard with a magnifying glass and I didn't see anything that looked off. I should also mention that if I put an M.2 drive in the first slot which runs off of my CPU it does work, so I know that some of the CPU PCI lanes are working. I'm on the computer now with the GPU in slot 2, so other than the GPU not working in the first PCIe slot, everything seems to be operating normally otherwise. I'm starting to lean towards it being some sort of issue with the GPU or some kind of compatibility issue.

 

[SkyNetRising]

I took out the CPU and inspected both the contacts and the pins on the motherboard with a magnifying glass and I didn't see anything that looked off.

Show photos.
(upload to imgur.com and post link)

Might be bent cpu socket pins or
dirty contacts on cpu itself (may require some cleaning).

 

[Crabcakes4]

So I uninstalled the device & driver via display manager, and after a reboot I can see the card in GPU-Z, running on the Microsoft display adapter @ x16 2.0. I'm not sure what that means as far as what the issue could be, but I'm going to run the DDU app in safe mode to get rid of everything and try re-install the nvidia drivers, but I'm 99% that will just cause the issue to come back.
Edit: Also the gpu works fine in safe mode when in PCIe slot 01.

 

[rgd1101]

it is a upgrade system with windows 10 or 11?

 

[Crabcakes4]

it is a upgrade system with windows 10 or 11?

Clean install of windows 10, wiped the drive a couple of days ago and installed from scratch.

 

[Crabcakes4]

True

Ok, I see three things that can happen: faulty CPU (as top slot is fed directly form CPU); both mobos have faulty top slot (unlikely but can't say impossible); or faulty GPU (although the fact that it works in bottom slot would mean the failure would have to be very strange one).

After spending all day, and a while last night, troubleshooting this I think you may be right. My next step might be to just send this CPU and motherboard back and get a whole different set. Every indication I have shows nothing wrong with the GPU itself, unless it's somehow got a compatibility issue with x16 4.0 slots.

 

[DRagor]

After spending all day, and a while last night, troubleshooting this I think you may be right. My next step might be to just send this CPU and motherboard back and get a whole different set. Every indication I have shows nothing wrong with the GPU itself, unless it's somehow got a compatibility issue with x16 4.0 slots.

Can you test GPU in some other PC? I'm not convinced everything is ok with it. Like I said it would have to be very weird failure but it is possible.

 

[Crabcakes4]

Can you test GPU in some other PC? I'm not convinced everything is ok with it. Like I said it would have to be very weird failure but it is possible.

So I took apart an old machine and put the 1070 Ti from it into my new PC in the PCIe_01 slot and it works fine, I'm using it right now and GPU-Z reports it running @ x16 3.0, which is what I would expect with this card.

I tried to put the new 3070 into my old machine in the top PCIe slot, which was working fine with the 1070 Ti, and I was able to boot and sign in. But once I was in windows it started getting very choppy after 5-10 seconds, I could barley move the mouse around, and eventually the screen locked up completely. So I guess maybe it is the graphics card after all, can you think of anything else I should test before I RMA it?

 

[DRagor]

So I took apart an old machine and put the 1070 Ti from it into my new PC in the PCIe_01 slot and it works fine, I'm using it right now and GPU-Z reports it running @ x16 3.0, which is what I would expect with this card.

So both CPU and motherboard seem to work fine.

I tried to put the new 3070 into my old machine in the top PCIe slot, which was working fine with the 1070 Ti, and I was able to boot and sign in. But once I was in windows it started getting very choppy after 5-10 seconds, I could barley move the mouse around, and eventually the screen locked up completely. So I guess maybe it is the graphics card after all, can you think of anything else I should test before I RMA it?

Assuming the other machine has PSU beefy enough to run 3070 I would say that's good enough proof for me that it's faulty.