uuzi

That is interesting and would be ok for my GPU. But on the other hand, I've got a NVME SSD installed on a m.2 nvme to pcie adapter (patched bios and all) which will only fit in a x1 lane. An x1 lane for a nvme ssd is slower or as slow as a sata ssd if i remember correctly Since I don't have any proof that the pins came bent and that it wasn't me who bent the pins, there's nothing to be done i'm afraid.

no the CPU is completely fine, I tried another motherboard everything works there.

I bought an used ASUS Rampage IV Black Edition mainboard on ebay, since my old ASROCK just called it quits. Since the board wouldn't post, I removed the CPU (i7 3930k) and discovered 3 bent pins. BUMMER! tried contacting the ebay seller, but no luck, since returns from private sales here in germany are strictly on a voluntary basis. So far so bad. So I had to make it work. I bent the pins back into the right spots and now the system posts just fine. the only thing that doesn't work is two of the four RAM channels (which I could live with since I'm just using 2 sticks so dual channel would be alright) and all of the pcie x16 lanes. both of the x1 and the x8 lane work (the system posts with the GPU in the x8 lane. This is OBVIOUSLY not what i want, since i'm already bottlenecking the GPU (GTX1080) with the pcie 2.0 lanes instead of pcie 3.0 (the 3930k does not support 3.0). now to my question: my next step would be to reexamine the pins on the cpu socket if some of them don't stick up high enough or if there are some more bent pins. Is there any way to make sure these problems stem from the bent pins or if there is another underlying problem i'm not considering? What I already checked: - reseated the CPU multiple times - checked if the CPU is bad, tried it in another Motherboard, everything is working fine there - switched around the RAM modules, result: all modules are fine, but lanes A1, A2, C1 and C2 don't work and show as "abnormal" in bios when something is plugged in - tried another GPU on all x16 slots, same result, system will only post if the GPU is in the x8 slot - tried a x4 pcie m.2 nvme to pcie adapter in all slots except the x8 since the GPU has to be there, works only in the x1 slots. - obviously checked the DIP-switches for turning of pcie lanes all are set to "ON" If anyone has an idea what to check next, that would be highly apreciated.