What does it mean when my video card is running in X1 mode?

[mfh6375]

I just installed an 8800gt 512mb superclocked and I get the following message at start up: Alert! PCI-e card is running in x1 mode. Press F1 to continue, or F2 to enter set up utility.

Pressing F1 lets windows continue booting and ends up at the desktop like normal. I have not tried F2, yet. I wasn't sure if I should.

The pc that I installed this card in has a P4 3.6ghz HT and 925x motherboard. I am very aware that this is bottlenecking the card, but I plan on building a new pc in the next month or two.

I called evga. The guy wasn't exactly sure what the problem was. He suggested the maybe my older mobo did not support PCI-e 2.0. He said to press F1 to continue. He said to go to their website and update the bios for the card. I did. But, I still get the same message at startup. Card runs just fine, although it is obviously being held back by my cpu.

I plan on calling evga back, but thought maybe I'd get a better answer here. Any advice? Thanks.

 

[JPB]

Isnt that the speed of the slot ?

EDIT: Links

 

[Extelleron]

Download GPU-Z and look at what it says under "Bus interface."

It sounds like your PCI-e slot is running @ x1 bandwidth, which would be killing performance. If it is, GPU-Z should say "PCI-E x16 @ x1".

 

[thilanliyan]

Download CPUz, open it up and go to the "mainboard" tab and check the "graphic interface" section so you can see what speed the slot is running at. Also, did you check all power connections to the card are correct? It's possible the card is running in x1 mode...what motherboard is it?

EDIT: Extelleron beat me to it.

 

[mfh6375]

Well, I ran GPU-Z. It did say "PCI-E x16 @ x1".

I ran CPU-Z. It says my PCI-e link width is x1, but max supported is 16x. Is there a setting I can change? Motherboard has a 925x chipset. Not sure exactly what model, though. It's a Dell.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Pressing F2 will just take you to the bios. Dell likes to strip away lots of the options that you would otherwise find there, but you may find something about PCI express bandwidth allocations. I'd take a look and see if there's an option.

 

[mfh6375]

Well, I didn't see anything in the bios. The card is definitely in a x16 slot. It wouldn't fit in a x1. It is in the same slot that my 7900 gtx was in for two years. I never had this problem with that card. Does anybody have any ideas?

 

[Big Lar]

I'd contact Dell and see if there is a new bios for the board, and/or talk to tech support and see if they have a work around. I'd bet tech support will not help tho.

Larry

 

[Lorne]

Its normal, The Card can use a PCIe v2 by 16x but its letting you know that its running in a PCIe v1 by 16x slot, You wont notice any bottlenecking as the v1 16x is still about 2x faster then what the GFX card can handle.
An 8600gt used to do the same when it was put into 8x slot when it was a 16x card.
Might want to set the bios to not halt on errors if possible.

 

[brandonb]

Originally posted by: mfh6375
Well, I ran GPU-Z. It did say "PCI-E x16 @ x1".

I ran CPU-Z. It says my PCI-e link width is x1, but max supported is 16x. Is there a setting I can change? Motherboard has a 925x chipset. Not sure exactly what model, though. It's a Dell.

In my BIOS at home (maybe not in Dell's) there is an option to "Force PEX x1", that might be on.

 

[mfh6375]

Originally posted by: brandonb
In my BIOS at home (maybe not in Dell's) there is an option to "Force PEX x1", that might be on.

I do not have that option in my bios. Although I don't have a ton of experience with bios, mine seems limited. This motherboard is an Asus(not sure what model), but it shows up on CPU-z as a Dell. Dell probably limits the options. One of the reasons that this is my last Dell, or pre-built for that matter. I'm building my own in a month or so.

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: Lorne
An 8600gt used to do the same when it was put into 8x slot when it was a 16x card.
Might want to set the bios to not halt on errors if possible.

Then CPU-Z or GPU-Z reported your card's configuration as "PCI-E x16 @ x8".

The "@ x(n)" part is the active link width, not the PCI Express compliance level.

Motherboard has a 925x chipset. Not sure exactly what model, though. It's a Dell.

And so how is anyone supposed to look up model-specific information that might provide more insight into what the problem may be or whether there is a solution?

 

[ViRGE]

925X is a first-generation Intel PCIe board, it's probably PCIe 1.0. That could be the problem.

 

[Piuc2020]

Originally posted by: Lorne
Its normal, The Card can use a PCIe v2 by 16x but its letting you know that its running in a PCIe v1 by 16x slot, You wont notice any bottlenecking as the v1 16x is still about 2x faster then what the GFX card can handle.
An 8600gt used to do the same when it was put into 8x slot when it was a 16x card.
Might want to set the bios to not halt on errors if possible.

Don't you love it when people post elaborate answers without even reading the problem properly?

 

[mfh6375]

Originally posted by: tcsenter
And so how is anyone supposed to look up model-specific information that might provide more insight into what the problem may be or whether there is a solution?

Here is some more info.

Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
Model: 0U7084
Chipset:Intel i925x

The motherboard bios is A07. That is the newest on Dell's site.

Let me know if there is any other info you need. Thanks.

 

[mav451]

1x will definitely hinder performance. I know b/c I trying to use the lower slot (for thermal reasons) and it was IMMEDIATELY obvious both in gaming (TF2) and synthetic (3dmark) that performance was massively reduced.
*Lower slot obviously listed at 1x, while top (main) slot listed it at 16x.

In terms of PCIe 2.0, I don't think that's a problem. I had the 8800GT in my Ultra-D (nF4) mobo for quite a while.

 

[Quiksilver]

I'm afraid your SOL with this problem, the board it probably PCI-Express 1.0a compliant and their have been reported issues with that. I would believe the only real solution would be to replace the motherboard (which could be whole computer; I don't know how proprietary Dell is now) or return the card and pick-up a non PCI-Express 2.0 card.