[SOLVED] What PCIe interface is used in my laptop?

[arif1752002m4a1]

I recently got a very budget gaming laptop for my college use..
This is Lenovo Ideapad Gaming 3 15IHU6-D1;
i5 11320H
16GB DDR4 (Upgraded from 8GB)
GTX 1650 GDDR6
1080P 60Hz LCD.

now the question is...
How do I know if GPU is connected via CPU PCIe Lanes of Via PCH PCIe Lanes..
GPU z Shows interface as PCIe x16 4.0 @ PCIE x4 3.0
which can be CPU lanes... and they can also be PCH Pcie Lanes.. because 11320H does support PCIe 4.0 and have 20 LANES.. (4 for PCH and 16 for Other devices...)

I love to learn about tech and stuff.. but this one is little confusing.. so just for sake of knowledge.. what kind of interface my laptop is using for GPU...

 

[DavidM012]

Click the ? next to Bus Interface and start the render test it idles low. thot the 1650 was pci-e 3.0 rather than 4.0 though.


Your upgrade options are no

Here's a demonstration teardown of your similar laptop on youtube

The gpu is physically hardwired to the mobo in laptops not modular so if or perhaps when it ever develops a fault, it has to go back to the manufacturer or an electronics shop for reconditioning if that is even possible or they have spares available for it.

This be not user serviceable besides memory, drives and the battery is modular so could be renewed by the user should it become necessary, while the CPU may also be hard soldered to the mobo rather than in a socket and not user serviceable.

The gpu and cpu are under the heatsinks which you'd need to detach to determine what's socketed or not but probably aren't modular but hardwired so there's no real need to do that and you couldn't do anything even if you did remove the heatsink besides renew the thermal paste and then you'd only have to reassemble it correctly.

So that 4.0 interface may be there more for the benefit of the manufacturer since they can use different varieties of gpu on the same mobo for different models in the range.

 

[SkyNetRising]

How do I know if GPU is connected via CPU PCIe Lanes of Via PCH PCIe Lanes..
I love to learn about tech and stuff.. but this one is little confusing.. so just for sake of knowledge.. what kind of interface my laptop is using for GPU...

Doesn't really matter, because you can't do anything about it.
GPU is soldered onto motherboard.

But it should be connected cpu pcie lanes. That's just common sense.

 

[arif1752002m4a1]

Doesn't really matter, because you can't do anything about it.
GPU is soldered onto motherboard.

But it should be connected cpu pcie lanes. That's just common sense.

I know Laptop GPUs aren't removable.. they are soldered on Main Board.. with their own VRMs, Seperate Bios, and other complimentary components...

But I wanted to know the type of Interface it's using for GPU... Most Modern Laptops Uses CPU PCIe Lanes for GPU.... And for GPUs like 1650 or 3050 (Entry level GPUs) they uses x8 lanes only.. while GPUs like 3060 or 3070.. they uses x16 Lanes... It's a common sense....

Now the point is...

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile is actually PCIe 4.0 x16 ready..
Doesn't matters its bus width.. (as it's using x4 mode)
It should be in PCIe 4.0 mode right??

And Sources says.. I5 11320H Supports 20PCIE 4.0 lanes (out of which 4 operates in 3.0 mode for PCH as DMI 3.0)
So 16 PCIe 4.0 lanes are still available...

And if GPU and CPU supports PCIe Gen 4.. (and GPU supports too..
And let's say Lenovo only wired 4 lanes.. so it should be operating In PCIe x4 Gen4 mode right.. which is not...
Meas Either it's using X4 Lanes from PCH bridge.. which in tern means GPU is saturation PCH's DMI bus...

And for sake of curiosity am asking.. How can I exactly know if GPU is connected to PCH or CPU PCIe Lanes..

And Yes I already opened my laptop to Inspect VRM quality.... And PCIe Lanes aren't on Upper layer.. so Can't follow the PCIe Tracks...

So any idea how can I get this info??

 

[Eximo]

GTX 1650 is not PCIe 4.0 compliant, not sure where you are getting that information.

While the GPU is capable of x16 lanes at PCIe 3.0, there is no real reason for any laptop manufacturer to implement that. GPU really isn't fast enough to need it. If they opted for a 4x link, then they are probably doing so to save board space and/or power.

 

[arif1752002m4a1]

GTX 1650 is not PCIe 4.0 compliant, not sure where you are getting that information.

While the GPU is capable of x16 lanes at PCIe 3.0, there is no real reason for any laptop manufacturer to implement that. GPU really isn't fast enough to need it. If they opted for a 4x link, then they are probably doing so to save board space and/or power.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-1650-Laptop-GPU.416044.0.html
Here it says 4.0
And also on GPU-Z it says . PCIe x16 4.0 @ x4 3.0
But that's actually not the point . The point is.. is that Chip is using PCH Lanes or CPU lanes for PCIe.. any way to know the Location on Pcie host?

 

[Eximo]

Well, there are some TU117 chip revisions that do have PCIe 4.0, but they are MX450 and MX550 chips, and only 4x or 8x lanes. I suppose if they had enough perfect TU117 chips they could have made a series of GTX 1650 with PCIe 4.0, but they would also likely share the 4x/8x lanes, which could be the case here. I would not put it past Nvidia to push these onto vendors. Or for Lenovo to take a motherboard with only 4x lanes and put varying levels of GPUs in it. Is your model available with an MX450 or MX550 in it?

If they didn't get the signal quality high enough, they may have configured it to run at 3.0 speeds to prevent data transmission errors.

Can't expect them not to cut corners in cheap laptops.

All the GTX 1650 in the techpowerup database are PCIe 3.0.

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/nvidia-tu117.g881

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/?architecture=Turing&sort=generation


Can you post the GPU-Z from your card? If the TMUs and ROPs match the MX550 more than then the mobile GTX 1650 then that will pretty much confirm it. And then you could submit your card to the techpowerup database. And there would need to be some entries on the Wikipedia page for Nvidia GPUs.

 

[arif1752002m4a1]

Well, there are some TU117 chip revisions that do have PCIe 4.0, but they are MX450 and MX550 chips, and only 4x or 8x lanes. I suppose if they had enough perfect TU117 chips they could have made a series of GTX 1650 with PCIe 4.0, but they would also likely share the 4x/8x lanes, which could be the case here. I would not put it past Nvidia to push these onto vendors. Or for Lenovo to take a motherboard with only 4x lanes and put varying levels of GPUs in it. Is your model available with an MX450 or MX550 in it?

If they didn't get the signal quality high enough, they may have configured it to run at 3.0 speeds to prevent data transmission errors.

Can't expect them not to cut corners in cheap laptops.

All the GTX 1650 in the techpowerup database are PCIe 3.0.

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/nvidia-tu117.g881

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/?architecture=Turing&sort=generation


Can you post the GPU-Z from your card? If the TMUs and ROPs match the MX550 more than then the mobile GTX 1650 then that will pretty much confirm it. And then you could submit your card to the techpowerup database. And there would need to be some entries on the Wikipedia page for Nvidia GPUs.

Helpful Info..
But my 1650 Mobile is just A Common 1650 Mobile with GDDR6 memory, And Am looking for information purposes..
Performance, Which is better is not my goal here.. Just want to know..

""Is my GPU is connected to CPU via CPU PCIe Lanes or Via PCH PCIe Lanes?""

And How can i Know which lanes are in Used for what device??
And Yes what is the source of those PCIe Lanes

That is the main question here..

 

[Eximo]

To answer that I need to know which EXACT GPU you have so we know its capabilities. There are multiple 'common' TU117 chips that are GTX1650. Nvidia is kind of bad about this kind of thing.

I can't really tell you what is in the motherboard and its BIOS, but if as suggested before, if it doesn't change under load, then that is the speed they have provided. Testing at the lower end rarely happens to that level, so I can't say whether there is any particularly heavy penalty to only running 4x 3.0 lanes, but given it is such a small GPU, it probably doesn't matter all that much.

Just because the CPU is capable, and the GPU is capable, doesn't mean the motherboard is. You can see examples of that with B350 motherboards, Ryzen 3000 or 5000 series chips, and a 30 series GPU. CPU and GPU can do 4.0, but the motherboard is stuck at 3.0.

 

[SkyNetRising]

""Is my GPU is connected to CPU via CPU PCIe Lanes or Via PCH PCIe Lanes?""
And How can i Know which lanes are in Used for what device??
And Yes what is the source of those PCIe Lanes
That is the main question here..

Again - none of that matters, because you can't change anything.

But to satisfy your curiosity,

open up Device Manager,​

switch View to Devices by Connection and​

find, where in device tree your graphics card is located.​

​

If it is under Intel *** Core PCIE Controller, then it is connected to CPU.
If it is under Intel *** Series Chipset Family PCIE Root port, then it is connected to chipset.