GeForce RTX 5000's bold leap into PCI‑Express 5.0 raises concerns
The GeForce RTX 5000 is the first consumer graphics card to offer the potential of the PCI-Express 5.0 bus. The new connector provides higher bandwidth but is anticipated to cause hardware operation issues.
The GeForce RTX 5000 graphics cards from NVIDIA's Blackwell generation introduce several intriguing innovations. One key change is support for the PCI-Express 5.0 bus, which is gradually becoming common in computers.
The new PCI-Express 5.0 bus offers double the bandwidth of PCI-Express 4.0, but it demands a more advanced design of graphics cards. These specific requirements could pose problems for computer users, making stable system operation challenging.
Issues with the GeForce RTX 5080 cards
Roman Hartung, a German expert in overclocking computer hardware, also known as "der8auer," published material from tests of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Founders Edition graphics card.
According to the German overclocker, issues with the card's operation emerged right at the start of the tests. He was able to get it functioning only after repeatedly disconnecting and reconnecting the hardware, but difficulties persisted. The card would switch to the slower PCI-Express 1.0 mode or wouldn't be detected by the computer at all.
Hartung also attempted to force the card to operate in PCIe x16 Gen 5.0 mode through the motherboard's BIOS settings. However, these attempts led to unstable operation or system crashes during gameplay.
PCI-Express 5.0 may cause problems
According to Tom’s Hardware, these difficulties may have several sources, from driver and BIOS configuration errors to faulty components in the test platform. Ultimately, changing the PCI-Express bus settings to 4.0 mode proved to be an effective solution to all problems. Such issues did not occur with other cards that also used PCI-Express 4.0.
It can be assumed that the root of the problems lies with the new PCI-Express 5.0 bus, which, although notably faster than 4.0, requires a specially adapted card structure. In the Founders Edition model, complications might arise from the use of three separate printed circuit boards. Typical symptoms resulting from signal integrity problems include failed GPU initialisation, unexpected crashes, and system freezing.
