Sabertooth Z77 won't use PCIE #1 as primary

[mmret]

Have a new build that I just put together and have a rather annoying problem going on.

Sabertooth Z77 (latest BIOS)
Asus GTX 660 Ti
i5 3570K



If I put the GTX660 in the main 16x PCIE slot, I can't get any video to come out of it. Card has power and the monitor stays out of standy, but ... nothing.

If I put the GTX660 in the second (8x) PCIE slot, everything works fine. Also, if I put an old Radeon 4870 in the main slot, everything works fine.

It seems like I just can't get the GTX660 to work in the primary slot. Right now I'm installing windows through the onboard HD4000 graphics (using my TV...grr) and [strike]the BIOS seems to detect the presence of the GTX660 in the main slot, but no video comes out of it at all.[/strike]

Update: nope. BIOS says PCIE #1 is "not present". Nothing shows up in Windows. either. In fact I tried rebooting after installing some chipset drivers and the system would not post until I put the card in PCIE #2.

Any ideas?

Perhaps the 16x electrical bits on the card are just bad?

 

[inzone]

I think that there is a setting in the bios that gives you the option to use a different pci-e slot as the main slot , I saw it in passing once ut can't remember where in the bios it's located. I'll try to go through the bios and see if I can see something that jolts the mem.

 

[mmret]

Thanks inzone.

Scruple just came up, original post edited.

 

[inzone]

I don't think it's the card , I think it's the motherboard. I would try updating the bios.

 

[mmret]

I don't think it's the card , I think it's the motherboard. I would try updating the bios.

I got the 4870 working fine in slot 1 though, which is 16x (though only PCIE 2.0).

Would 8x bottleneck a 660 Ti? Either way I'll prob take the system back and let NCIX deal with it...

 

[inzone]

Currently there are no video cards that will bottleneck a Pci-e 2.0 slot at either x16 or x8.

 

[inzone]

This could be your problem , the 4870 is Pci-e 2.0 and the 660Ti is Pci-e 3.0 and the first slot is Pci-e 2.0 and the second slot is Pci-e 3.0 so the motherboard wants the 660Ti to be in the 3.0 slot as the main slot and any other 2.0 card will work in the 2.0 slot which is the first slot. So if you went out and got 6 cards that are Pci-e 2.0 and 6 cards that are Pci-e 3.0 all the cards that are Pci-e 2.0 would work in the first slot and all the cards that are Pci-e 3.0 would be working in the second slot.

 

[mmret]

This could be your problem , the 4870 is Pci-e 2.0 and the 660Ti is Pci-e 3.0 and the first slot is Pci-e 2.0 and the second slot is Pci-e 3.0 so the motherboard wants the 660Ti to be in the 3.0 slot as the main slot and any other 2.0 card will work in the 2.0 slot which is the first slot. So if you went out and got 6 cards that are Pci-e 2.0 and 6 cards that are Pci-e 3.0 all the cards that are Pci-e 2.0 would work in the first slot and all the cards that are Pci-e 3.0 would be working in the second slot.

Sorry should have been more clear.
The 4870 is 16x but only PCIE 2.0

The Z77 board and the GTX660 should be 16x and PCIE 3.0.

Good to know I won't be bottlenecked but still not liking the fact that my (fairly pricey) new hardware is fickle. :|

 

[Toddmsn99]

I have the same exact thing going on right now except with a 7970. What did you end up doing? And did you find the cause of the problem?

 

[mmret]

I have the same exact thing going on right now except with a 7970. What did you end up doing? And did you find the cause of the problem?

Took it back to the shop, they diagnosed it as the card itself. So it was switched with a 7950.

They also replaced the Intel SSD and the RAM, amazingly they said all three items were flaky.