using a WiFi and bluetooth pcie card in Gigabyte B85M D3H in pcie x4

[Gxnzalo]

Hi! I wanted to know if, when installingn a wifi pcie x1 card in my B85M D3H Gigabyte motherboard, the cpu would still be able to dedicate x16 pcie lanes to the gpu since the pcie x4 slot is wired to the b85 chipset!

Thanks in advance!

 

[rocktalkrock]

Yes you are correct. The 1st x16 slot is connected directly to the CPU, while the 2nd x16 slot and the 2 PCI slots are connected to the B85 chipset.

 

[Gxnzalo]

@rocktalkrock the thing is.. that I tried yesterday using an old pcie wifi card that I had laying around and, when installed in the x4 pcie slot, gpu-z and cpu-z reported that my gpu was running at pcie x1 3.0.. what could be the cause of this? supposedly, the x4 pcie slot shouldnt affect the x16 lanes from the first slot..

what could be causing this?

 

[rocktalkrock]

@rocktalrock the thing is.. that I tried yesterday using an old pcie wifi card that I had laying around and, when installed in the x4 pcie slot, gpu-z and cpu-z reported that my gpu was running at pcie x1 3.0.. what could be the cause of this? supposedly, the x4 pcie slot shouldnt affect the x16 lanes from the first slot..

what could be causing this?

Is this what you see in GPU-Z? Click the question mark next to the Bus interface readout.

 

[Gxnzalo]

@rocktalkrock yeah, butr when I press the "Start Render Test" button, it just stays at pcie x1 3.0.. as I mentioned earlier, CPU-Z also reports that it is connected via pcie x1 under the Mainboard tab, in the section "Link Width"

 

[rocktalkrock]

@rocktalkrock yeah, butr when I press the "Start Render Test" button, it just stays at pcie x1 3.0.. as I mentioned earlier, CPU-Z also reports that it is connected via pcie x1 under the Mainboard tab, in the section "Link Width"

1. What is the video card you are using?
2. In the BIOS under "M.I.T. > Miscellaneous Settings > PEG Gen3 Slot Configuration", what is the setting?

PEG Gen3 Slot Configuration
- Allows you to set the operation mode of the PCI Express slots to Gen 1, Gen 2, or Gen 3.

 

[Gxnzalo]

@rocktalkrock Im using a GTX 960 4GB Windforce from Gigabyte, and the pcie configuration in the BIOS is set to "Auto"


The wifi adapter that I will be installing in the pcie x4 slot is this one: https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GC-WB867D-I-rev-42#ov

 

[rocktalkrock]

@rocktalkrock Im using a GTX 960 4GB Windforce from Gigabyte, and the pcie configuration in the BIOS is set to "Auto"


The wifi adapter that I will be installing in the pcie x4 slot is this one: https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GC-WB867D-I-rev-42#ov

Try changing the PEG Gen3 Slot Configuration from Auto to Gen 3 and see if that changes your readout in CPU-Z.

 

[Gxnzalo]

@rocktalkrock I already did that a couple days ago, but didnt seem to work at all, however, the nvidia control panel has always reported in the "system information" button that it was pcie x16 3.0.. how's that possible?

In theory, since the pcie lanes in the x4 slot are wired to the chipset, the cpu should still be able to dedicate x16 lanes to my gtx 960, right?

 

[rocktalkrock]

@rocktalkrock I already did that a couple days ago, but didnt seem to work at all, however, the nvidia control panel has always reported in the "system information" button that it was pcie x16 3.0.. how's that possible?

In theory, since the pcie lanes in the x4 slot are wired to the chipset, the cpu should still be able to dedicate x16 lanes to my gtx 960, right?

Yes, nothing should be taking away PCIe lanes from your graphics card.
You should run a simple GPU stress test like UserBenchMark to see if your GTX 960 is running as fast as it should. If it is running at it's full speed, you know nothing is bottle-necking your card.

 

[Gxnzalo]

@rocktalkrock I already did that a couple days ago, but didnt seem to work at all, however, the nvidia control panel has always reported in the "system information" button that it was pcie x16 3.0.. how's that possible?

In theory, since the pcie lanes in the x4 slot are wired to the chipset, the cpu should still be able to dedicate x16 lanes to my gtx 960, right?

Yes, nothing should be taking away PCIe lanes from your graphics card.
You should run a simple GPU stress test like UserBenchMark to see if your GTX 960 is running as fast as it should. If it is running at it's full speed, you know nothing is bottle-necking your card.

So there isnt other option to really make sure that my card is using its x16 pcie lanes from the first slot? Honestly, I woudl like it to take advantage of its full potential without having to sacrifice wireless and bluetooth

I also saw that this was done in toher TomsHardware forum posts a while ago, and, although it wasnt with the same motherboard, the user moved his pcie wifi adapter to a x4 slot that was wired to the chipset itself, and gpu z reported the x16 lanes in the gpu.

It really is strange

 

[rocktalkrock]

@rocktalkrock I already did that a couple days ago, but didnt seem to work at all, however, the nvidia control panel has always reported in the "system information" button that it was pcie x16 3.0.. how's that possible?

In theory, since the pcie lanes in the x4 slot are wired to the chipset, the cpu should still be able to dedicate x16 lanes to my gtx 960, right?

Yes, nothing should be taking away PCIe lanes from your graphics card.
You should run a simple GPU stress test like UserBenchMark to see if your GTX 960 is running as fast as it should. If it is running at it's full speed, you know nothing is bottle-necking your card.

So there isnt other option to really make sure that my card is using its x16 pcie lanes from the first slot? Honestly, I woudl like it to take advantage of its full potential without having to sacrifice wireless and bluetooth

I also saw that this was done in toher TomsHardware forum posts a while ago, and, although it wasnt with the same motherboard, the user moved his pcie wifi adapter to a x4 slot that was wired to the chipset itself, and gpu z reported the x16 lanes in the gpu.

It really is strange

As the block diagram of your motherboard shows, the 1st x16 slot and the 2nd x16 slot don't share any PCIe lanes, so a PCIe WiFi adapter can't steal any lanes from your graphics card. The GPU has it's own dedicated lanes to the CPU, there is nothing else to share bandwidth.

https://www.manualshelf.com/manual/gigabyte/ga-b85m-d3h/user-manual-english/page-5.html

 

[Gxnzalo]

@rocktalkrock I already did that a couple days ago, but didnt seem to work at all, however, the nvidia control panel has always reported in the "system information" button that it was pcie x16 3.0.. how's that possible?

In theory, since the pcie lanes in the x4 slot are wired to the chipset, the cpu should still be able to dedicate x16 lanes to my gtx 960, right?

Yes, nothing should be taking away PCIe lanes from your graphics card.
You should run a simple GPU stress test like UserBenchMark to see if your GTX 960 is running as fast as it should. If it is running at it's full speed, you know nothing is bottle-necking your card.

So there isnt other option to really make sure that my card is using its x16 pcie lanes from the first slot? Honestly, I woudl like it to take advantage of its full potential without having to sacrifice wireless and bluetooth

I also saw that this was done in toher TomsHardware forum posts a while ago, and, although it wasnt with the same motherboard, the user moved his pcie wifi adapter to a x4 slot that was wired to the chipset itself, and gpu z reported the x16 lanes in the gpu.

It really is strange

As the block diagram of your motherboard shows, the 1st x16 slot and the 2nd x16 slot don't share any PCIe lanes, so a PCIe WiFi adapter can't steal any lanes from your graphics card. The GPU has it's own dedicated lanes to the CPU, there is nothing else to share bandwidth.

https://www.manualshelf.com/manual/gigabyte/ga-b85m-d3h/user-manual-english/page-5.html

Okay, so it will definetly dont steal any pcie lanes from my gtx 960 then?

 

[rocktalkrock]

@rocktalkrock I already did that a couple days ago, but didnt seem to work at all, however, the nvidia control panel has always reported in the "system information" button that it was pcie x16 3.0.. how's that possible?

In theory, since the pcie lanes in the x4 slot are wired to the chipset, the cpu should still be able to dedicate x16 lanes to my gtx 960, right?

Yes, nothing should be taking away PCIe lanes from your graphics card.
You should run a simple GPU stress test like UserBenchMark to see if your GTX 960 is running as fast as it should. If it is running at it's full speed, you know nothing is bottle-necking your card.

So there isnt other option to really make sure that my card is using its x16 pcie lanes from the first slot? Honestly, I woudl like it to take advantage of its full potential without having to sacrifice wireless and bluetooth

I also saw that this was done in toher TomsHardware forum posts a while ago, and, although it wasnt with the same motherboard, the user moved his pcie wifi adapter to a x4 slot that was wired to the chipset itself, and gpu z reported the x16 lanes in the gpu.

It really is strange

As the block diagram of your motherboard shows, the 1st x16 slot and the 2nd x16 slot don't share any PCIe lanes, so a PCIe WiFi adapter can't steal any lanes from your graphics card. The GPU has it's own dedicated lanes to the CPU, there is nothing else to share bandwidth.

https://www.manualshelf.com/manual/gigabyte/ga-b85m-d3h/user-manual-english/page-5.html

Okay, so it will definetly dont steal any pcie lanes from my gtx 960 then?

Yes, definitely.

 

[Gxnzalo]

@rocktalkrock thank you so much for your time and information! really appreciated!

Now i will just wait for my wifi pcie card to arrive and install it!

Again, thanks a lot!