Ok.. I may be new to this forum. But I am not new to hardware at all..and I am stumped here.. and up front..sorry for A long post.. (Because I know it will be)

I had searched up and down all over for a solution to my problem prior to posting here..

I had just changed my heatsink/fan on my cpu yesterday.. and was using monitoring software to detect cpu temps, and ran cpu-z and gpu-z to look over my system. and noticed my 16X pci-e is really running @ 4X.

(CCC.EXE also shows only 4X pcie)

My mainboard Biostar TA880GU3+ Ver. 6.x --> http://www.biostar-usa.com/app/en-us/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=522

It does have A 16X pci-e 2.0 slot..the other slots are only standard pci. so I know I do not have the gpu in the wrong slot.

My graphics card  SAPPHIRE HD 6870 1GB GDDR5 PCIE http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?cid=1&gid=3&sgid=1037&pid=1270&psn=&lid=1&leg=0

My power options are set to maximum performance. The pci express link state power management option in windows is set to "off". So I know it isn't that.

I have tried reseating the card, I disabled the onboard graphics in my BIOS, 

And have Primary Video Controller  set to  GFX0-GPP-IGFX-PCI

 

 

 (Options: PCI-GFX0-GPP-IGFX (Default) / GFX0-GPP-IGFX-PCI /

GPP-GFX0-IGFX-PCI / IGFX-GFX0-GPP-PCI)

I have all latest Motherboard/vga/catalyst/bios/hardware drivers installed properly and updated. ccc.exe sees it as 4X pci E aswell.

Full System specs

Biostar TA880GU3+ Ver. 6.x motherboard

Phenom II X4 955BE 3.2ghz (stock settings with aftermarket cooling solution)

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL (stock specs)

SAPPHIRE 100314-3L Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16

Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W Continuous Power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

Lite-On dvd burner.

Everything is @ stock speed. no overclocking.

Any input would be appreciated.

You probably didnt set the link width page 23 of the BIOS manual and GPU-z on the blue questionmark also shows that power saving can reduce the bus speed and bandwidth.

GPUz is the only one you should pay attention to, as VECC has always had...issues with detecting the speeds. For example, it says I am only running at x8 when GPUz confirms it is x16. If it was only running at 4x you would notice a pretty good reduction in performance

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Crosshair IV Formula, Phenom II x4 965 w/ Corsair H60, 8 GiB OCZ Platinum DDR3 1600, XFX HD 7970 Ghz, 512GB Vertex 4, 256GB Vector, 240GB Agility 3, Creative X-Fi Titanium w/ Creative Gigaworks S750, SeaSonic X750, HP ZR2440w, Win 7 Ultimate x64

My link width is set for 16X, although I have tried with with "auto" just in case. still shows up as 4X. I do have the power saver setting set to "off" as well (as I posted in my original post).

Shows up as 4X in gpuz,cpuz,and VECC.

Odd because I am still getting what I guess are propper scores in 3dmark06 for my setup.. (18k 3dmarks). but if it would provide more performance in 16X mode (which it really should!) then of course I would want that.

I sent A support request to Biostar USA. 

As I stated before, I had looked all over for an answer in other forums etc (on other swebsites of course). prior to posting this, and tried everything I read there.