Z690-E Gaming Wifi: Ideal M.2 Drive Placement

[DrSuSE]

Hi there... I just noticed that my GPU only runs at x8, not x16. From what I have researched, it sounds like it must be because of where I have my two m.2 drives installed?

Where should I install these drives so that they don't take away from the GPU bandwidth?

Thanks!

Edit: Just wanted to include that both drives are Firecuda 530s (2TB, M.2 2280-D2).

[RogScott]

One other thought...

Since the problem seems to be at the bios level, you might try the CLR_CMOS button. Power down completely, unplug the power cord and wait 30 seconds, then press the CLR_CMOS button for 5 seconds. Then plug it in and power up, enter bios, "set optimized defaults", and see if the bios recognizes the slot as x16.

[DrSuSE]

You did have a few different settings related to iGPU and PCIE Native Power Management. I mimicked your settings just to see, but it didn't help.
Tried the physical clear CMOS button too, but no change.

Running BIOS 2004. I had upgraded to 2204 at once point, but had to downgrade as the system became unstable if XMP was enabled. Not that it should be a RAM issue, really... but I have replaced the RAM since then (for unrelated reasons), so maybe 2204 is worth another try... I dunno.

In most cases, x16 should be probably no or minimal benefit over x8, I think... but... it just bothers me that it's not working the way it's supposed to.

[RogScott]

DrSuSE wrote:
In most cases, x16 should be probably no or minimal benefit over x8, I think... but... it just bothers me that it's not working the way it's supposed to.

True, even the 4090's probably can't use over x8 in most cases, but I concur -- it SHOULD work and it would drive me crazy if it didn't!

One dumb question here... You are using the TOP pcie slot for the graphics card, right? I'm sure that's the case but it hasn't been explicitly noted here. The next slot down will only run x8. Only the top slot, "PCIEX16(G5)", will do x16 (and only when M.2_1 is empty).

At this point, if both the 3090 and 4090 result in x8, it seems the GPU cards are ruled out. And you've reset bios/cmos, so settings should be ruled out. And the x8 is apparent in the bios itself, so that rules out windows/drivers.

All that's left is the motherboard and perhaps the CPU and/or socket. You could try inspecting the socket/pins and reseating the CPU, but that's a hassle remounting the cooler. A bad pin connection COULD cause this, but it's a long shot especially given that your boot drive worked fine in M.2_1.

So I'm out of ideas. Again, you might post on the "600/700 series motherboard" forum (and perhaps reference this post, so people can see what was already tried). Someone over there may have another idea.

[DrSuSE]

Yes. top slot for sure. And I will take your advice and post over there and see if anyone has any ideas.

Thanks for all of the back and forth, much appreciated.