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New graphics card causes PCIe 2.0 bandwidth to be HALVED

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I just installed a gtx 580 onto my Intel DX58SO motherboard. I ran a few benchmarks after installing the NVIDIA drivers and getting rid of the old ATI drivers from my previous card. Everything seemed fine. It ran as fast as it was supposed to. But I booted in this morning and windows hung on the "starting windows" screen for so long that I had to hold the power button and boot into safe mode just to get to the operating system. I did a system restore and was able to get back into windows (regular mode), but my graphics card was performing a lot slower. (Passmark score went WAY down). Now I check in BIOS and see that my PCIe 2.0 x16 slot is only running at 2.5 GT/s when it should be running at 5.0, correct?

Also, my 1 TB hard drive temporarily was missing in windows. It's back now, but yeah.

I have no idea what's going on. Is it my board? Did it just happen to die when I got a new card :| ?

Also, after the motherboard splash screen, the screen flickers blue and red so quickly that it's flashing purple. Then the white dash appears in the upper left.


I'm sorry if this isn't clear, but all of this just happened at once and I'm tired and frustrated. If anyone can think of what might be causing all of this, I'd really appreciate some help.

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Yup. I'm using it right now. I just swapped the gtx 580 for the old 4870X2 and all those problems are eliminated. Windows startup time is back to normal, the PCIe 2.0 slot is running at 5 GT/s.

One thing I forgot to mention in my first post is that right after the BIOS splash screen, the display flickers red and blue really fast so that it looks like it's flashing purple. That lasts for about 4 seconds and then it goes away.

Does it sound like my gtx 580 is just a bad card?
Motherboard Authority
Graphics card Authority

Yep, especially the artifacts point to a bad card. The GTX 580 has a lousy price/performance ratio, you should have bought (or buy) a HD 6970 instead. Or even a a GTX 570.
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I guess I'll call EVGA tomorrow, then. What a pain. Right now I'm doing a system restore to before I uninstalled the ATI drivers. I have the ATI card in the slot now. Then I'm going to boot into safe mode, clean out the ATI drivers, shut down, install the new card and start afresh. If that doesn't work, then I guess I just need to see about returning the card.

Thanks for the help.

Started the RMA process with EVGA. Have you ever RMA'd a card? Would you suggest that I send it straight to EVGA or just return it to newegg? I'm now thinking EVGA might try to send me some recertified or refurbished card.
Motherboard Expert
Graphics card Authority

Recertified/refurb should be fine so long as it carries an identical warranty, performance, and accessories as new.

I can't recommend a 6970 when the 6950 2GB can get the same performance. I'd say GTX 560 Ti factory OC'd for single card, 6950 2GB for SLI/Crossfire, or GTX 580 for overkill.
Motherboard Expert
Graphics card Expert

You might not have enough power for the GTX 580. Do you have a good brand power supply like Antec, Corsair, or Seasonic? Should be at least 650watts in those brands, higher in other brands.

What Brand & model of supply are you using? If your thinking of dual cards, you'll need more like 750watts.........

Yeah, I'm going for overkill a bit. I want to keep the card for a while and I'm not too keen on crossfire/sli. Also, my dad gave me $300 to replace my radeon, so I only had to cough up $200 for the fastest single GPU card available.

EDIT: Power supply is Corsair HX1000
Motherboard Expert
Graphics card Expert

IF you do have plenty of power, and end up needing to return....

I'd RMA thru NewEgg, much faster. And, most of the time they pick up all the shipping fees.

lol, yeah. Okay, so I guess I'll just try and replace the card through newegg. I talked to EVGA tech support a little earlier and they concluded that the card was faulty too.

So...I did return the card to newegg. Got a brand new replacement and now am having the EXACT same problems PLUS random blue screens with STOP 124 code, which is a hardware fault.

I really have no idea what's going on.

Updated BIOS, used driver sweeper to make sure all ati drivers were gone, etc. This is a real headache.

I feel like the odds are low that i got two brand new defective cards in a row. What's my next step? I talked to EVGA tech support and the guy said it was definitely a bad card, but I don't know. There must be something wrong with my setup.

Should I - RMA to EVGA this time and get a new card
- Buy an Asus Sabertooth x58 from microcenter and see if that solves it
- Roll back the BIOS to an earlier version

I'm thinking I'll roll back the BIOS version tonight and see how that goes. Then if that doesn't work out, I'll try and RMA the card through EVGA. If this replacement doesn't work, I'll get a sabertooth and test with that. If the new motherboard works, I'll just sell the dx58so with a description of the problem and a really cheap price.

Talked to Intel over support chat. Guy didn't know what the problem was, basically said "sometimes these weird things just happen". Thanks.

Best solution

Motherboard Expert
Graphics card Expert

Is this the motherboard you have:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Just a couple quick checks :
- Install the GTX 580 in the PCI-E Slot closest to the CPU (it's labeled "Primary PCIE x16" on the MB)
(sorry, to ask, just checking...)

- Odd this board has four RAM slots, again just to check your three sticks of RAM are All in the Blue slots


Other than that, I would suspect the MB voltage regulators are not able to supply enough or stable power when the GTX 580 is installed. I would replace it with a good ASUS board. I use the PX

This looks like a good option at MicroCenter

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml...

Be sure to ask 'em to match NewEggs price: $195 (they'll do it no hassle, ya just have to ask em)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...


I use the Premium model of this MB:
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml...

This one is supposed to be a bit better OC'er than the standard model
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Motherboard Authority
Graphics card Authority

Better get a HD 6970, it's only a bit slower than the 580. The Gigabyte GV-R697OC or MSI Lightning trade blows with it.

jb6684 said:
Is this the motherboard you have:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Just a couple quick checks :
- Install the GTX 580 in the PCI-E Slot closest to the CPU (it's labeled "Primary PCIE x16" on the MB)
(sorry, to ask, just checking...)

- Odd this board has four RAM slots, again just to check your three sticks of RAM are All in the Blue slots


Other than that, I would suspect the MB voltage regulators are not able to supply enough or stable power when the GTX 580 is installed. I would replace it with a good ASUS board. I use the PX

This looks like a good option at MicroCenter

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml...

Be sure to ask 'em to match NewEggs price: $195 (they'll do it no hassle, ya just have to ask em)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...


I use the Premium model of this MB:
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml...

This one is supposed to be a bit better OC'er than the standard model
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...


I think I'll do this at some point today. I was looking at that Sabertooth earlier, but wanted something with SATA III, so I guess I'll go with that P6X58D-E that you linked or maybe the Gigabyte UD3R? I'll have to do this quick so I don't run out of time to return the card and get a new one as a replacement. But I really do think it's the motherboard.

I have my RAM in the three blue slots for triple channel.

The GTX 580 is in the primary PCIe x16 slot

But I think your theory makes sense. Because sometimes it does fail to power all the way up. Like it's on, then off, then on, then off. And I have to turn off the main power and wait a bit, then turn it back on to get it to boot. And sometimes random USB ports don't work. Most recently two of my hard drives failed to show up in Windows "my computer". So I guess the motherboard just can't handle the power requirements well?
Motherboard Expert
Graphics card Expert

Just in case, check the BIOS and see if there is a setting to "limit power to PCI slots to 75 watts." Just a thought I've seen this in the BIOS on some boards. See if one setting works better than the other if you have this setting available....

Yeah, all those other issues would seem to point to something going on with the MB.......

I had a Dell Computer I tried to run a high end graphics card in once. Very similar issues, just was Not stable. All kinds of odd hangs & crashes. But it would run any mid-level card flawlessly.....

I installed everything on my new Sabertooth. Everything works perfectly now. No flickering on startup. Gonna check PCIe link speed here in a second. Not really familiar with ASUS BIOS.
Motherboard Expert
Graphics card Expert

Awesome!!

Download and install GPU-Z, you can quickly check "Bus Interface" field. It will show PCI-E x16 @x16....

BTW, did you reload Win7 from scratch on the new board? It's highly recommended to assure you have all the right pieces for your new motherboard. (for example; your 6Gb SATA & USB 3.0 might not work properly without a Win 7 reload) I wouldn't reload for a week or so just to be sure your new motherboard works fine with GTX580...

I actually just started right into windows and used the motherboard CD to install all of the sabertooth drivers. It installed the USB3, sata 6, audio, and everything else. Seems to be working fine. And yeah, GPU-z shows that the card is operating at PCIe v2.0 x16. :D 
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