Single GPU in second PCI-e slot?

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[H]ard|Gawd
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Dec 14, 2003
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I just got the uber long 8800GTS and it runs smack into the SATA connectors on the motherboard (the case is big enough that it doesn't actually interfere with the hard drives).

On my board, there are 4 SATA slots. I had been using them all for DVD, OS drive and 2 mirrored DATA drives. But I'm willing to drop to using 3, maybe even 2 if I absolutely must, as I plan on moving the data to a centralized server anyway.

I'm asking about this because I've tried tons of things but my system still isn't stable. The actual card/SATA interference is such that the card completely blocks one of the SATA connectors from being used, so I dropped down from RAID to just a single data drive... but then a capacitor from the video card still presses up against the other data drive connector.

I don't know for sure if this is causing the instability... I've gotten so many different OS crashes, program crashes, blue screens, etc that I haven't narrowed it down yet.

Some troubleshooting I've done:
  • Running with one data drive removed but put 7800GT back in to see if it's the video card or a power deficiency.
  • Running with both data drives removed (seems the most stable but still not back to 100%)
  • Running with RAID enabled with that one drive.
  • Breaking down the RAID array manually, disabling RAID on all ports.

I've also tried to do a Windows repair to fix drivers, but that failed and I formatted the OS drive. It's still terribly unstable!

So anyway, the main question remains... could I run the video card in the other PCI Express slot?

The board is a Gigabyte K8N-Pro SLI.

Other pertinent specs:
Corsair HX-620

The rest of the details are in my signature.
 
Pics for visuals? And have you considered using 90-degree angle SATA cables, or would that not work (again a pic or two may help)?

I, and many others have/had this same problem on NF4 boards (I run the EVGA NF41 [Jetway] w/ the 3 PCIe x16 slots, middle being for solo usage). Also had issues when I installed an aftermarket NB cooler (Jing Ting Forcetake), but luckily it's pretty versatile in it's mounting angles.

Anyway, way back when I tried running the card in one of the SLI slots, due to clearance issues when trying to first put the board together, it wouldn't work..No matter the slot configuration, driver status or versions and so on. A couple weeks back I got an Accelero S1 to replace the stock on my 7900gt, and yet again the problem cropped up - not so much w/ the SATA, since I could just move ports (I only have 1 populated, all other drives IDE)..But with the NB cooler - the card just wouldn't seat fully in the slot due to the extreme length of the cooler (vs stock) and the position of the NB. I decided not to remount the sink, instead moved the card up to the top SLI slot on the board, cleared up my clearance issues (barely!), and it WORKED this time, no fuss no muss, even though I'm not running SLI. I'm obviously only running in an x8 slot, but with a 7900 that won't matter in the least.

I guess after all that rambling my only real suggestions would be to: a) try the 'other' slot (have you tried already and it didn't work or no?), b) make sure BIOS is up to date, c) update drivers (uninstall, and [in safe mode] driver cleaner first just in case), d) cross your fingers, that may help ;). If I hadn't have had success w/ the top SLI slot on my board, it would have forced me to do a full breakdown of my system to remount the NB cooler and so on.
 
I was gonna recoomend using the 90 degree SATA cables as well...

But... do you have the latest BIOS for your motherboard?

IT could be that the power supply is faulty also.... that can cause a ton of problems.
 
Oh wow I didn't even think of the 90 degree cables. I might even have one lying around. If not I'll order one after some more trouble shooting. If nothing else, it should let me keep the one data drive connected.

I'll have to take photos - that should help explain the situation.

In my system, the top slot is the primary slot, and yes, if I switch to the other slot, it will be 8X. I don't know if that will be a sufficient bottleneck in my case or not - does anyone have links that demonstrate the bandwidth saturation at different resolutions? I know... that's a lot to ask :) I haven't tried it yet - I went to bed late enough last night as it was!

I could update the BIOS, though that kind of thing isn't explained by the instability after putting the 7800GT back in - since that card ran great for about two years! That's what has me thinking it's hard drive related. But as you said, cyclone3d, perhaps the power supply, which was fine with the 7800GT was pushed over the edge by the 8800GTS and is now limping along. It's supposed to be a great power supply according to HardOCP.com, but it could still be a bad egg.

Thanks for providing me with more ideas!
 
One other thing I didn't think about before.. you might want to try resetting the bios.

I've seen issues appear because somehow some setting(s) in BIOS got corrupted.

But yeah.. definitely check for a newer BIOS version.
 
I should've seen this coming. Because of the video card being new, and the changes in hard drive configuration plus the video card running into the hard drive connector area... I was trying to fix everything BUT memory... but in the end, one of my memory sticks up and died when I put the new video card in. When I cut down to one of my two chips - BSOD within seconds of entering Windows setup. Then I put the other chip in alone, and everything has been absolutely rock solid - even with the video card kind of pressed up against the hard drive connector, though it seems to just barely touch now. As a precaution though, I pulled out one of the older SATA cables and put a newer one in. Anyway, again thanks for your suggestions!

Also - video seems to work just fine in the second PCI slot but I'm running it in primary. After I get my replacement memory stick, I might (but probably not :D) run some benchmarks in either slot to see if it makes a difference losing that interface bandwidth.
 
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