PCIe x16 running at x8?

[jgf]

mobo is foxconn MCP61SM2MA FAB1.0; vid card is GeForce 8500GT; both supposedly capable of PCIe x16

GPU-Z reports "Bus Interface PCI-E x16 @ x8"

Does this mean my vid card is running at half capacity? If so, how do I correct this? (There is nothing in BIOS regarding this, nor does nHance or RivaTuner offer anything.)

I was on the verge of replacing the vid card (either a 9600GT or HD4850 ...I'm on a very tight budget) when I noticed this.

[gandy]

it could be running in power save mode as you have no 3d app running when you run gpu-z.

[noell]

I don't think it has anything to with any power saving mode.
I'm pretty sure it means that the Foxconn MCP61SM2MA series motherboard have a X16 compatible slot that only runs at X8.
If you look at the Foxcon specs for this iMCP61SM2MA model it says "1 x PCIe x16 (signals at x8)".

In the meantime, the difference in graphics performance between X16 and X8 when running real world games/apps (as opposed to synthetic benchmarks) is negligible.

[loki]

In the meantime, the difference in graphics performance between X16 and X8 when running real world games/apps (as opposed to synthetic benchmarks) is negligible.

This is especially true for lower end cards like the 8500GT or 9600GT.

[jgf]

Thanks. I saw that spec in the manual but wasn't sure what it meant.

Since you imply I'm not suffering a great performance penalty from this, would there be a noticeable improvement from replacing the 8500GT with one of the cards mentioned? I've always had graphics problems with this card (desktop and system tray icons flickering in games; some overlays, such as dashboard LCD displays in a racing sim, not displaying, etc.), which numerous forums, including nVidia, have been unable to solve. (The workaround has been to "hide desktop icons" and autohide the taskbar before starting the affected games.) Vista "upgraded" to SP2 earlier this year, which meant DX11, and since then DVD playback has not been as sharp, and now running FS9 on both cores gives worse frame rates than on a single core.

[noell]

FS9 is a single core app and as such will not show performance gains when run on a dual/multi-core system.
As for your video card, the 8500GT is on the weak side of things for FSX.
However, there is no point installing a higher end video card if the rest of your system is low end.
You need to give us the specs on your system (especially important would be CPU type and sped, motherboard model, and power supply rating) in order to make video card recommendations.

[jgf]

mobo model listed in first post; Athlon 2.2+ dual core; 450W PS; Vista Home 32 SP2; not running FSX

while FS9 isn't specifically coded for multicore cpus, I've found it, and several other games, do run more smoothly if both cores are allocated. There was no fps boost when using both cores, but there was less of a frame rate hit in congested areas, and less stutters. Overall performance of the 8500GT has been adequate, it's not going to run any of my games at the full res of my monitor ...but I can't afford a PC that would. Frame rate in FS9 is locked to 24fps and it's only around places like Heathrow that it drops noticeably from there; GTR2 and Morrowind are the other resource hogs (expanded cities and hi-res graphics in the latter can cause single digit rates). I mainly want to get the LCD displays back in some of the GTR2 mods and eliminate the icons flashing in many games; if I get a performance boost in the process, that's icing on the cake. (I can get better fps with newer vid drivers, but nHancer won't work with them so I lose FSAA in FS9.)