The last PCI-E slot (PCIE_X8_4) - Question

[Starman]

After long long wait (~6 years), I upgrade from RAMPAGE II to V. My newly-built machine is a 3-way SLI system and thus leaving only the last PCI-E slot (PCIE-X8_4) available for other PCI-E card. I bought an eSATA adaptor (PCI-E X1) for connection to my external storage device. However, it seems that the eSATA adaptor cannot be recognized. Neither did it show up in the OS's Device Manager (not even any exclamation mark for un-recognized device), the light for the last PCI-E slot next to the PCIe x16 lane switch on board did not light up (not sure if the light is for indicating x16 device only). However, the board reported that the link speed is x1 under NB PCI-E Configuration page of the System Agent Configuration. To eliminate the possibly of a faulty card, I inserted the ROG Xonar Phoebus (a PCI-E x1 card). The result was the same. 😞

Anyone gets some ideas about the cause of the problem? Many thanks!

Configuration:
i7 5960X (Corsair H100i)
8 x 4GB G.Skill DDR4-3000
3 x 256GB Samsung 850 Pro (RAID 0)
3 x MSI GTX 980 (3-way SLI)
Plextor M5P 256GB
WD Raptor 300GB
Seagate 3TB
Hitachi 500GB
2 x Blue Ray Combo
Corsair AX1500i

[SpoonerUK]

That's odd. I have 3x GTX780s installed, and a Xonar Phoebus in the bottom slot PCI_X8_4. All working just fine in Windows 8.1.

I also only have the 3 x16 lights switched on, with the 4th off. Although my gfx cards are running x16/x8/x8 according to the BIOS, with the 4th slot running at x1

Have you updated your BIOS to 0801 ?

[Starman]

Thanks for the swift reply. Will try and get back.

[SpoonerUK]

0801 BIOS file is http://www.mediafire.com/download/8fe1jocxgl7j1a3/RAMPAGE-V-EXTREME-ASUS-0801.rar (thanks to Chino 🙂 )

[khassanove]

Hi,

The 8x4GB memory you are having, is it a 2 kit or 1 kit? Can you test your setup with one kit (4 dimms)?

[Starman]

2 kit, tried with one kit before. No good news. 😞

[SpoonerUK]

I'm also running 2 kits of 4x4GB. No problems here with my bottom slot (yet.) - Although they are identical kits of Corsair Dominator CMD16GX4M4A2800C16

[Chino]

Check the PCIe switch on the motherboard to verify if it's on the ON position.

[Starman]

Resolved by upgrading to 0801. Thanks everyone especially SpoonerUK for the assistance.

PS: Still some issues with the 0801(e.g. code bd in reboot) but memory overclocking is much stable than the 0706. Hoping further improvement in upcoming releases.

[Chino]

Starman wrote:
Resolved by upgrading to 0801. Thanks everyone especially SpoonerUK for the assistance.

PS: Still some issues with the 0801(e.g. code bd in reboot) but memory overclocking is much stable than the 0706. Hoping further improvement in upcoming releases.

Running 32GB of 3000MHz will require manual tuning of the VCCSA in some cases. Take your default VCCSA and increase it a little.