GA-Z97X-UD3H - PCIe x16 slot running at x4 with HD5770

[chris_s]

I have a GA-Z97X-UD3H (rev. 1.0) with a GV-R577UD-1GD HD5770 graphics card running Windows 7 and the PCI-e x16 slot the card is plugged into is showing in GPU-z as running at x4 even during stress tests and gaming.

My old board - GA-EP45-UD3LR - runs the card at x16, and another card I have obtained for testing - GV-N210SL-1GI - runs at x16 in both boards.

I have cleared CMOS, tried a fresh windows 7 and 10 install, updated graphics drivers, updated to the latest BIOS and checked all settings but I can not get my graphics card to run at x16 in the Z97 board.

Any ideas?

[shadowsports]

I assume you have changed BIOS, Peripherals > PCH from Auto to x4, saved, restarted, boot to OS, then restart again and change back to Auto, save and restart?  I know  , CMOS reset should take care of this.

If you don't have something installed in the other PCIe slots that might effect something like this I can't think of any reason why a single x16 card would only run at x4 in the x16 slot.

What are the specs of your CPU and Memory?  If its working elsewhere, it sounds like some type of compatibility issue.  Maybe someone else has some ideas?

[chris_s]

CPU-Z report here:

http://pastebin.com/6nZKsFas

GPU-Z:



I don't have any other cards plugged in at all, and I even tried the graphics card in the x8 slot and it still came up as x4.

[shadowsports]

I'd open a support case with Gigabyte. 

[chris_s]

I've identified the problem, it's a mechanical issue - the motherboard doesn't like it when it's laid flat, it prefers to be vertical with the graphics card plugged in horizontally.

Now it runs at x16 and everything works fine.