GA-X58A-UD9 PCIEX16_2 Speed

[kash]

I am trying to do 4way sli, with 4 580's, 1500w silverstone strider powersupply.
for some reason the PCIEX16_2 Slot is showing as only operating in PCI_E 4x mode?!? i swap'd cards and power cables... any ideas??

[Dark Mantis]

Hi and welcome to the Gigabyte UK Forum.

Apart from the 24 pin connection have you got all four of the power connections firmly fixed to the motherboard. Two molex and two ATX 8 pin 12V connectors ?

Have you got any other cards installed ?

[kash]

yes the 2 12v molex connectors are on there, as are both of the 8pin connectors

[kash]

http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/10/11/25/a49.png

is slot 2 that is stuck in 4x

http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/10/11/25/pe.png

is slot 1, 3, 4 also look like this...
keep in mind when i ref slot numbers i mean 16x slots!

[Dark Mantis]

Well the other things that could cause this problem that I can think of would be a faulty card or a faulty motherboard. If it is the motherboard it would be a bad slot or bent CPU socket pins.
 
I would advise checking the slot first as that is easiest and make sure the connector is clean on the card and reseat it.
 
Make sure all four cards have the bridge firmly attached.

If you don't get anywhere with that post back.

[kash]

i just swap'd cards one and two and then swapped power but slot 2 always is reverting to 4x!

[Dark Mantis]

One last thing to try before removing the CPU to check is to disable the USB3 in the BIOS as that shares bandwidth with the PCIE slots as does the Marvell 9128 SATA3 controller so if you are not using these it is better to disable them..

OK then we need to check the CPU socket pins and see if there are any bent ones.

Very carefully remove the heatsink and fan. Probably a slight twisting motion is best to release the two as the thermal paste can act like a glue.
Once off remove the CPU taking extreme care both pysically and electrically(static) and place somewhere safe.
Make sure that the lighting is very good and even.
Now scrutinise the socket for any pins that are out of alignment, even slightly.
If in any doubt whatsoever take a couple of macro (close up) photos of the socket and post them on here for us to check.

Also look at the bottom of the CPU at the lands (little copper circles) and make sure that there is a mark in each somewhere near the centre.

If there are any missing marks or any of the pins are obviously bent then that is your problem.

[JakeF150]

Are any of the other slots filled?  Is there anything plugged into PCIEX8_2?

Of course as you have all 4 16x slots filled there is on way you could, sorry.  But it does appear that some lanes are being used someplace?  Do you have any other devices connected?  USB3, eSATA, etc...  Try with just the 4 cards no other devices attached.

(Note 2) For optimum performance, if only one PCI Express graphics card is to be installed, be sure to install it in the PCIEX16_1 slot; if you are installing two PCI Express graphics cards, it is recommended that you install them in the PCIEX16_1 and PCIEX16_3 slots. (Note 3) Each PCIEX8 slot shares bandwidth with the corresponding PCIEX16 slot (PCIEX8_1 with PCIEX16_1, PCIEX8_2 with PCIEX16_2, and PCIEX8_3 with PCIEX16_3). When a PCIEX8 slot is populated, its corresponding PCIEX16 slot will operate at up to x8 mode.