Video Card Upgrade for Pavilion HPE h8-1380t

[DPD859]

Hi All,

I recently purchased a GTX1060 GPU card from nVidia on-line in an attempt to upgrade the capabilties of my 4 year old machine (from an MSI GeForce GT640) so that I'd be able to play Fallout 4 and Witcher 3 (both of which bring my poor old GT640 to its knees -- even on the lowest resolution settings).  It fits in the case and powers up (yes, I did plug in the 6-pin connector from the PSU), and the 600W PSU is adequate for the task, but I'm starting to think that I probably have a Motherboard compatibility issue.

When I install the card and turn on the PC, it hangs at the setup splash screen (a common problem from what I've already read on these forums) and goes no further (keyboard and mouse are unresponsive at that point).  I've contacted nVidia support, and they've suggested a couple of BIOS changes (Disable Secure Boot, Enable Legacy/CSM Mode, and toggling BIOS Selection Mode between UEFI and Legacy modes), but when I access the HP Setup Utility (F10 upon boot-up with GT640 card installed), these options are not available to me.

Is there any way for me to access the BIOS settings that nVidia has indicated I should be adjusting?

Is this GPU card simply not at all compatible with my Motherboard?

System Specs:

HP Model Number: B4J28AV#ABA (Pavilion HPE h8-1380t)

Motherboard: Pegatron 2ACE(Socket 0); 1.08; Intel Sandy Bridge-E Rev. 07; Intel Southbridge X79 Rev. 05

BIOS: AMI 7.15

CPU: Intel Core i7 3930K (3.2 GHz)

OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit, SP1

Current GPU: MSI GeForce GT640; Driver 10.18.13.6881

If the GTX1060 isn't compatible, what is the highest performance nVidia GPU card that can be used with this Motherboard (given the 600W PSU limitation)?

Is there an alternate Motherboard available for this machine that would be compatible with both my existing CPU and the GTX1060?

Thanks for all your help...

[Jay_101]

Hi,

I have the same system. We have a non-EFI legacy BIOS. The 1060 is never going to initialize because it requires a UEFI BIOS. We cannot update our systems to a UEFI BIOS.

You cannot run a UEFI graphics card such as an Nvidia 700, 900, or 1000 series products in your PC.

The Nvidia 600 series cards are the last legacy cards made by Nvidia.

You could consider a switchable BIOS AMD graphics's card. Unfortunately, comparable AMD cards are longer and require more power. For example, a Radeon 8 GB R9 390x is 12.1 inches long (which will probably not fit in your chassis) and the card alone requires 375 watts!

Please see all available AMD options at Sapphiretech.com.

You may as well build a new system if you are going to change the motherboard.

Jay

[wb2001]

The harsh reality  is that your computer has a I7-3930K 2nd generation CPU.  It would take a GeForce GTX 980 Zotac AMP! 4GB Edition ( which is a UEFI card, that you can not install) to run the recommended settings for "The Witcher III" according to game - debate. See here.  You can plug in all the parameters of your system, and the problems will be apparent.

[FattysGoneWild]

---

@DPD859 wrote:

Hi All,

I recently purchased a GTX1060 GPU card from nVidia on-line in an attempt to upgrade the capabilties of my 4 year old machine (from an MSI GeForce GT640) so that I'd be able to play Fallout 4 and Witcher 3 (both of which bring my poor old GT640 to its knees -- even on the lowest resolution settings).  It fits in the case and powers up (yes, I did plug in the 6-pin connector from the PSU), and the 600W PSU is adequate for the task, but I'm starting to think that I probably have a Motherboard compatibility issue.

When I install the card and turn on the PC, it hangs at the setup splash screen (a common problem from what I've already read on these forums) and goes no further (keyboard and mouse are unresponsive at that point).  I've contacted nVidia support, and they've suggested a couple of BIOS changes (Disable Secure Boot, Enable Legacy/CSM Mode, and toggling BIOS Selection Mode between UEFI and Legacy modes), but when I access the HP Setup Utility (F10 upon boot-up with GT640 card installed), these options are not available to me.

Is there any way for me to access the BIOS settings that nVidia has indicated I should be adjusting?

Is this GPU card simply not at all compatible with my Motherboard?

System Specs:

HP Model Number: B4J28AV#ABA (Pavilion HPE h8-1380t)

Motherboard: Pegatron 2ACE(Socket 0); 1.08; Intel Sandy Bridge-E Rev. 07; Intel Southbridge X79 Rev. 05

BIOS: AMI 7.15

CPU: Intel Core i7 3930K (3.2 GHz)

OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit, SP1

Current GPU: MSI GeForce GT640; Driver 10.18.13.6881

If the GTX1060 isn't compatible, what is the highest performance nVidia GPU card that can be used with this Motherboard (given the 600W PSU limitation)?

Is there an alternate Motherboard available for this machine that would be compatible with both my existing CPU and the GTX1060?

Thanks for all your help...

---

The system itself is more then capable. The problem is the mobo bios need updating. That completely falls on HP and HP is known to have poor bios support. Since its a older system from 2012 and EOL. You will never see a new bios update that would allow you to run the 10X0 series of cards. You can either buy a new mobo and OS since it will not carry over to the new mobo. Or buy a whole new system. 

[DPD859]

Thanks for the info everyone, really sappreciate it.  Unfortunately, it confirms what I'd already suspected.

Any recommendations for a moththerboard replacement?  I'd rather not ditch the whole rig for a new system, primarily because I'd like to stay in Windows 7 if possible, and all the new machines look like they come pre-loaded with Windows 10.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks

[Jay_101 · Accepted solution]

Hi,

The h8 1380t has a Pegatron, "Pittsburgh" motherboard.

You could try to find a later revision of this system board. I also have an Envy 810-150se with a "Pittsburgh2" system board that has UEFI. I am running an Nvidia GTX 970 FTW EVGA card with great results.

You would have to verify that the revision board would fit in your chassis.

Other options are:

1. New Envy shipping with Win 7 Pro, or

2. Falcon Northwest.

Swapping in a main stream system board from Asus, or Gigabyte, or Asrock is difficult at best. Your gonna have to change other components such as the processor, heat sink, fan and memory. You will probably have to purchase an OEM version of Win 7 Pro. 

It gets pretty expensive when you do the math on all of the changes you will have to make. There is no guarantee you can find a main stream system board having the correct standoffs matching your h8-1380t chassis.

Avoid a Skylake processor if you can unless you don't mind jumping through a few additional hoops to install Win 7.

Please see this article and go here for the workaround to solve the win 7 installation problem.

Jay

[moochiek]

In case someone comes across this thread, many of AMD cards will work fine with the motherboard with a very easy edit of their BIOS. I have done it a few times for various 3rd generation based computers, Acer, Gateway, Intel motherboard, Dell.

It involves backing up the bios into a ROM with ATIFlash, changing two entries and flashing it back to the card. 

It basically forces the card to use Legacy boot so the system won't get 'stuck' at UEFI.

https://www.win-raid.com/t4262f16-How-to-disable-UEFI-for-legacy-only-boot-on-recent-AMD-Radeon-GPUs...

I edited various of the RX series, RX 470, RX 480, RX 570, RX 580.