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x1 PCI-E Link Width Problem? Possible solution.

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DeepSky

Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2004
Location
Jax, FL
If you noticed that all the sudden your games aren't running as fast as they were or your 3dmark score has been cut in half or more it may be because your mainboard isn't running the PCI-E at x16, but instead x1. I searched these forums but found no real help or solution.

In any case it only happened to me when I had my FSB up to 400 (333 and 266 it'd work fine). I've read several possible fixes including raising the PCI-E Frequency, but none of them worked for me.

I think the problem is the southbridge isn't getting enough OR too much voltage to support x16 under the CPU and FSB overclock. So if you're still having this problem and want to keep your overclock try raising the NB voltage to around 1.45(no higher i've read) and the SB to 1.6.

This has continued to work for me since the first time I made the changes. If anyone else is having this problem please let me know if this worked for you as well.
 
Last edited:
OnDborder said:
Hey, you're a fast learner. :thup:

Was that sarcasm? I only posted this thread because no easy search brought up a result that had an actual possible solution..
 
Also, I just kept my nb and sb volts alone and just raised the pci to 110 mhz and my card is back at 16x again.
 
well I've tried all the mentioned solutions for getting back to 16x and none seemed to work for me, then I cleared cmos and started fresh, noticed a peg link mode, changed from normal to fast, works every time, if I move it back to normal, my pci-e drops, back to fast and it's up
 
Hm so fast mode must force 16x. I wonder why it really drops to 1x in the first place :confused: Maybe 'normal' is overly conservative and if there are errors it drops the speed, whereas 'fast' is less strict and maintains 16x?
 
well I was about at my ends with the board, and couldn't get my 8800 to perform, was about to sell it and buy something else, just stumbled on it really, but glad I did, and from what I've read it only happens over 400fsb, hopefully it helps
 
well I've tried all the mentioned solutions for getting back to 16x and none seemed to work for me, then I cleared cmos and started fresh, noticed a peg link mode, changed from normal to fast, works every time, if I move it back to normal, my pci-e drops, back to fast and it's up

solved my problem, great thread

thx guys.
 
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