PC GTX680 Slot 1 - PCIx Lane 8x

[kunia]

I got my GTX yesterday, and all looks good. Planning to flush it today with mac rom.
But there are two things that raised an alarm:
1. When I check the system profile, the card is in SLOT 1 and the PCIe Lane Width shows at 8x. My GT120 is in SLOT 2 and that shows the lane at 16x
2. I can't get any PCI info - it says that the system is unable to get PCI info.

Is this because I'm using a PC version of the card? Or is there an issue with the card/logic board?

thanks.

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BTW, it's a mac pro 5,1 3.33 hex with 24gb ram
Slot 1 - GTX 680
Slot 2 - GT120
Slot 4 - usb/fireware expansion card

 

[TheEasterBunny]

I got my GTX yesterday, and all looks good. Planning to flush it today with mac rom.
But there are two things that raised an alarm:
1. When I check the system profile, the card is in SLOT 1 and the PCIe Lane Width shows at 8x. My GT120 is in SLOT 2 and that shows the lane at 16x
2. I can't get any PCI info - it says that the system is unable to get PCI info.

Is this because I'm using a PC version of the card? Or is there an issue with the card/logic board?

thanks.

----------

BTW, it's a mac pro 5,1 3.33 hex with 24gb ram

Try removing the card to see if you can get the info.

 

[kunia]

Try removing the card to see if you can get the info.

I'll try that once I get home from work

 

[cal6n]

The PCI info issue is what you get with an unflashed PC card. Once it's flashed, the info will be available.

I can't comment regarding the 8x lane speed.

 

[kunia]

The PCI info issue is what you get with an unflashed PC card. Once it's flashed, the info will be available.

I can't comment regarding the 8x lane speed.

Yea...I was 80% sure that the card wasn't giving me the info, but the 8x lane is just a bit confusing

 

[TheEasterBunny]

Yea...I was 80% sure that the card wasn't giving me the info, but the 8x lane is just a bit confusing

The lane speed thing can be changed. under "core services" I think?

 

[kunia]

The lane speed thing can be changed. under "core services" I think?

but why would it run at x8?

 

[texem]

Flash the card and all is well..

 

[kunia]

Flash the card and all is well..

Will do...also thinking that zapping pram and nvram + reseeding the cards would do the trick.

 

[TheEasterBunny]

but why would it run at x8?

When you open the app that controls PCIe lane speed configs, it will make more sense to you

 

[kunia]

When you open the app that controls PCIe lane speed configs, it will make more sense to you

"Mac Pro (Early 2009)

The Mac Pro (Early 2009) computers implement PCI Express revision 2.0 for all four slots. Slots 1 and 2 are x16 slots, and slots 3 and 4 are x4 slots. As with the Mac Pro (Early 2008), placing a revision 1 card in a revision 2.0 slot works and results in a revision 1 link.

The Expansion Slot Utility is not required for this configuration, since the number of lanes for each slot are permanently set"

and apparently you can't even run in on MP 5,1

 

[TheEasterBunny]

Ok, I learned something new then.

 

[kunia]

Ok, I learned something new then.

I guess pram/nvram reset might help. If not, taking out the other cards + ram reset. And if that wont help, it might be a hardware issue.

 

[Odd]

Seems to be working at 16x for me. Mid-2010 8-core, GTX680 (not flashed). Just dropped it in and it worked straight away in 10.8.3.
The "PCI Cards" tab throws an error though.

 

[kunia]

Seems to be working at 16x for me. Mid-2010 8-core, GTX680 (not flashed). Just dropped it in and it worked straight away in 10.8.3.
The "PCI Cards" tab throws an error though.

Got any any PCI cards in other slots?

 

[kunia]

just took out all other PCI cards, rest the smc and pram and it still shows x8 pci lenght

update: took out the gtx 680 and put in the gt120...and that runs on x16

so...is the card defective or what?

update2: i've now install the card in slot two, and it still runs at x8

 

[kunia]

the question is this...is it defective and exchange it?
should i just flush it and see if it goes to x16? (save rom backup just in case)

 

[xcodeSyn]

the question is this...is it defective and exchange it?
should i just flush it and see if it goes to x16? (save rom backup just in case)

It's better to check the link speed before flashing your card. Download the NVIDIA latest CUDA driver from here, and cuda-z here. Install both and run cuda-z, click the performance tab, and it should tell you the link speed of your video card. BTW, are you running OS X 10.8.3?

Edit: A 16X PCIe 2.0 link speed should be close to this one.

 

[kunia]

It's better to check the link speed before flashing your card. Download the NVIDIA latest CUDA driver from here, and cuda-z here. Install both and run cuda-z, click the performance tab, and it should tell you the link speed of your video card. BTW, are you running OS X 10.8.3?

Edit: A 16X PCIe 2.0 link speed should be close to this one.

got both and cant even start cuda-z application...it says that my os x is not the right version....and im running 10.8.3...hmm

heres the error:
Process: CUDA-Z [507]
Path: /Users/USER/Desktop/CUDA-Z.app/Contents/MacOS/CUDA-Z
Identifier: net.sourceforge.CUDA-Z
Version: 0.7.181 (0.7.181)
Code Type: X86 (Native)
Parent Process: launchd [182]
User ID: 501

Date/Time: 2013-05-03 17:40:56.304 -0400
OS Version: Mac OS X 10.8.3 (12D78)
Report Version: 10

Interval Since Last Report: 59260 sec
Crashes Since Last Report: 21994
Per-App Crashes Since Last Report: 10
Anonymous UUID: 2B0124E2-E6E1-CE49-0EA5-5D08AE6DE5D3

Crashed Thread: 0

Exception Type: EXC_BREAKPOINT (SIGTRAP)
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000002, 0x0000000000000000

Application Specific Information:
dyld: launch, loading dependent libraries

Dyld Error Message:
Library not loaded: @rpath/libtlshook.dylib
Referenced from: /Users/USER/Desktop/CUDA-Z.app/Contents/MacOS/libcudart.dylib
Reason: image not found

 

[kunia]

heres opencl oceanwave

 

[kunia]

After the fps test... definitely running at haf the speed...wtf

 

[xcodeSyn]

got both and cant even start cuda-z application...it says that my os x is not the right version....and im running 10.8.3...hmm

You are right, the new version 0.7.181 doesn't work and I've no idea why they replaced the working version with a bad one.

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After the fps test... definitely running at haf the speed...wtf

Yes, you probably got a defective one with one half speed and should exchange it.

 

[kunia]

ok, got the cuda-z to work...had to use 0.6.163 version
and yes its running at half the speed

 

[MacVidCards]

A frequent cause of this is something I have seen at least 20 times while selling cards.

There is a row of tiny capacitors that is just above the gold connector on back side of card.

These frequently get broken off if you miss the slot and push the card too close to connector.

Knocking even one of them off will frequently cut the lanes in half or even more. Look at them closely, they are small but cause this.

Also make sure all of the little gold fingers are clean.

This can also be the result of running a card that draws too much power, it will burn out one trace and cut speed in half.

 

[kunia]

just got a replacement card...and now its running at x16
520 fps, nice bandwidth...

to be honest, i'm kinda scared to flush it now

Thanks for all the help guys, I really appreciate it