PCI-E, how to get to x16 from x4

Albagubrath

Reputable
May 15, 2014
5
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4,510
Hi all,

I hope you can help. I have been trawling the internet to see why when i play guild wars 2 the fps is so very bad, like 7-10fps. I've read that it may be to do with my PCI-E, this is how it currently looks 'PCI-E 2.0 x 16 @ 4.20'. Now i am by no means tech savvy so how do i get this up to x16 from x4? My graphics card is a Radeon HD6900. Need any more info to help please let me know.

Thanks in advance.
 
Solution
When you fit the 6900 to the motherboard, if it has more than one Pci-e slot on the board the card must be placed in the primary Pci-e slot.

The slot is always the closest one to the cpu socket.

Now if you have for example two or three Pci-e slots any extra Pci-e based card has to be placed in the right slot.

Your options depending on this will set the speed the slots work at.

So for example if you put a 6900 card into slot one on its own x16 speed should be enabled.

If you put another card into the second slot, then both should switch to X8 speed.

Based on your motherboard and it`s model number, the manual should tell you how to place a primary card and any other Pci-e based cards.
To obtain the correct Pci express lane speeds...

Hello man

Honorable


X16 is the FASTEST the slot will go. X4 is the SLOWEST. Why would you want to go slower? 4.2 looks to be the open GL version, but is probably the actual speed in Ghz. It should always run at x16, unless two cards are plugged in to the PCI X16 slots.
 
When you fit the 6900 to the motherboard, if it has more than one Pci-e slot on the board the card must be placed in the primary Pci-e slot.

The slot is always the closest one to the cpu socket.

Now if you have for example two or three Pci-e slots any extra Pci-e based card has to be placed in the right slot.

Your options depending on this will set the speed the slots work at.

So for example if you put a 6900 card into slot one on its own x16 speed should be enabled.

If you put another card into the second slot, then both should switch to X8 speed.

Based on your motherboard and it`s model number, the manual should tell you how to place a primary card and any other Pci-e based cards.
To obtain the correct Pci express lane speeds.

This is down to the chip set used for each board.
You are best off listing the name of the board used and it`s model number.
As a small note a 6900 is a Pci-e 3.0 based card, so if your board supports or has a 3.0 capable Pci-e slot, then you should have an option in the bios of the board to enable 3.0 Pci-e mode, if the motherboard is less than a year old.
 
Solution