# PCI-E Link Width only x8?



## RyanEJ8

I just installed a BFG GeForce 8800GTS OC 320MB into my Acer Aspire desktop. When I check my PCI-E Link in CPU-Z I get the following:

Northbridge		NVIDIA MCP61 rev. A1
Southbridge		NVIDIA MCP61 rev. A2
Graphic Interface	PCI-Express
PCI-E Link Width	x8
PCI-E Max Link Width	x16

Shouldn't the link width be set at x16 for a single card?

Thanks

Ryan


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## RyanEJ8

This board supposably has a x16 slot and CPU-Z says it has a *max* width link of x16. How do I set it to the max?


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## Geoff

Have you looked around in the BIOS?


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## The_Other_One

Be sure you're not in SLI mode or anything.  I know many older boards(mine included) ran each 16x slot at only 8x...not that it makes that much of a difference.


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## RyanEJ8

[-0MEGA-];681076 said:
			
		

> Have you looked around in the BIOS?



Couldn't find anything anywhere in the Bios unless theres some control panel hidden. I can't find any adjustments for CPU and memory overclocking in there either. I've tried CTRL F1 and F2.




			
				The_Other_One said:
			
		

> Be sure you're not in SLI mode or anything. I know many older boards(mine included) ran each 16x slot at only 8x...not that it makes that much of a difference.



I don't think my board could be in SLI mode because it only has one PCI-E x16 slot. Is there a switch I didn't see on the 8800GTS? 

A test that Tom's hardware did shows that more recent cards like the 8800GTS are affected pretty significantly by running only in x8. They did an older test that it didn't prove to be much of a hinderance, but with newer cards it appears it is.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/03/27/pci_express_scaling_analysis/index.html


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## The_Other_One

Haha...an assumption made without checking specs on your board


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## RyanEJ8

I double checked the bios again. There is nothing in there to change to the speed of the PCI-e slot to x16.

I wonder if I called Acer and complained that their "PCI-e x16 slot" isn't really x16 if I would get anywhere. Maybe they know a way to change it?


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## Geoff

RyanEJ8 said:


> I double checked the bios again. There is nothing in there to change to the speed of the PCI-e slot to x16.
> 
> I wonder if I called Acer and complained that their "PCI-e x16 slot" isn't really x16 if I would get anywhere. Maybe they know a way to change it?


The chipset determines the speed of the PCI-E bus, so it's nothing you can change on your motherboard.  Technically it's a PCI-E x16 slot, but it only runs at x8 speeds.


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## RyanEJ8

Wouldn't that make it a PCI-E x8 slot then? lol


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## Geoff

RyanEJ8 said:


> Wouldn't that make it a PCI-E x8 slot then? lol


No because a PCI-E x16 and PCI-E x8 slot look different.  If you had a PCI-E x8 slot then you couldnt use an x16 card because the card would be bigger then the slot.

When someone says PCI-E x16, they are mainly referring to the slot type, because that slot can run at 8x, or even 4x speeds.


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