Decane

Hi all,

I have recently bought some parts for a new computer and today I fitted it all together. Everything seems to be working fine apart from the Graphics card; which is a Gainward Bliss 9600GT 'Golden Sample'. When I insert the card into the PCI-E x16 slot, and boot the computer, all the fans whirr up and everything works, apart from the display, where I just get a flashing LED and a blank screen. I tried my Dad's ATI card and the display worked fine. I tried installing the drivers for the Gainward card while running on the ATI card (well, actually the onboard graphics on the motherboard), but it needs the card to be plugged in for it to install them. I inserted the Gainward card in the other PCI-E x16 slot, with the ATI card and it booted up okay and I was able to install the drivers that came with the Gainward card. However, later on, I tried this again to install the latest Forceware drivers, and it would not boot properly... I would see the Windows XP loading screen... and then nothing.
Here's a quick description of my current spec:

Motherboard: XFX nForce 680i LT.
RAM: 2GB OCZ SLi Ready 800MHz
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz
PSU: OCZ ModXStream 780W Sli Ready
Graphics Card: Gainward Bliss 9600GT 'Golden Sample'
OS: Windows XP Media Center

Just a quick note: I also tried my friend's XFX GeForce 8800GTX, and that worked fine... I was able to install all the latest Forceware drivers... tried the Gainward card again, and nothing still.

Thanks in advance, (:

David.

emosun

Well the 9600 is a pci-e 2.0 card. Your 680i pci-e x16 board probably doesn't support it.

lazareth1

PCI-e 2.0 is backwards compatible with older version. TBH I think its a dud card and you should return it to the retailer for a replacement.

dai

pcie2 is not always backward compatible with nvidia cards it depends on the revision of the m/b

lazareth1

Yes it is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCIe

Plus I had a 8800GT Gainward bliss that had PCI-e 2.0 and was working on the ASUS A8N ALI nforce 4 mobo.

Decane

Thanks for the help guys.

It says here on the Gainward site that the card it backwards compatible:
http://www.gainward.com/product/prod...roducts_id=153

I too think it's a dud card, and I'm going to send it back and get a replacement.

Thanks very much,

David.

dai

let us know how you go with it

Decane

The duff card is on it's way back for a refund, and I've ordered a new Graphics card:

Gainward Bliss 8800 GT 'Golden Sample' 512 MB.

I really hope this works...

Just another observation, on this review of the Gainward 9600 GT, their testbed uses a very similar motherboard to me:

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?op...1&limitstart=1

Just an EGVA 680i, rather than an XFX 680i, so that kinda rules out a compatibility problem. Anyway, we'll see how this new card gets on when it arrives tomorrow.

Thanks again for the support. (:

David.

emosun

If its the old 680i with pci-e 1.0 and not the 1.1 revision then 2.0 cards will not work. If your next card doesn't work then your stuck with 1.0 cards.

lazareth1

No, PCI-e is backward compatible all the way back to 1.0.

WIKI:

PCI-SIG announced the availability of the PCI Express Base 2.0 specification on 15 January 2007.[8] PCIe 2.0 doubles the bus standard's bandwidth from 0.25 Gbyte/s to 0.5 Gbyte/s, meaning a x32 connector can transfer data at up to 16 Gbyte/s in each direction.

PCIe 2.0 is backward and forward compatible with PCIe v1.x. Graphic cards and motherboards designed for v2.0 will be able to work with v1.1 and v1.0, and vice versa. In some rare cases it is possible that a PCI-E 2.0 card will not work correctly on a PCI-E 1.0a slot. This is only limited to certain video cards.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCIe

emosun

Actually lazareth1 , the information on wiki isn't totally corret. The 1.0 and 1,0a slots usually do not except 2.0 cards unless there is a bios fix for it. However the1.1 slot does work with all 2.0 cards. Usually they don't release a bios fix because they want people to upgrade the motherboard. This is common on via chipsets. But also happens on nvidia and ati boards aswell. The fact that the two other cards he tried were 1.0 cards is what leads me to think that he might not be able to get 2.0 cards working.

lazareth1

Well I had the same 8800GT Decane is getting right now and had it running on on my asus a8n sli with v1.0 just fine. The fact that its prevalent on the VIA chipset sayz that its a problem with the chipset not the specification itself. Plus it does say on the wiki paraphrase that it is a rare issues that it isn't backwards compatible. (looks like it means VIA chipsets )

So is pci-e 2.0 backwards compatible? YES and NO.

emosun

Yes somtimes with 1.0 and 1.0a with updates. And yes with 1.1 . He may just need a bios update.

lazareth1

Damn them corps!! We have organisations that standardises these things to help us, but these corps just frack it all up by not 'giving' an update so we have to fork out. Typical.

Decane

It's a bit hit or miss really still... I've heard a lot about compatibility problems amongst various PCI-E versions, but yet in that link I posted in my last reply, their testbed uses an nForce 680i chipset (Although it is an EVGA 680i, rather than an XFX 680i; I don't know whether that makes a difference?).

I've had a big snoop around the web, and found quite a few examples of people running PCI-E 2.0 cards with the XFX 680i LT.

The 8800GT is arriving today, so only time will tell.

Thanks very much for the help,

David.

lazareth1

There's no difference in the chipsets between manufacturers. So the chipsets on the above post above are the same.

Decane

The 8800 GT arrived today... works perfectly. (:

It was definitely a faulty card. Oh well.

Thanks very much for all the support here, you've all been very helpful.

David.

dai

glad you have it sorted

lazareth1

"roger" "roger"