HP Z800 PCI-e graphics card compatibility

[EZGGWP]

 Hello, I got my hands on an old HP Z800 motherboard and built my server around it. Works like a charm, however there's one part that bothers me. The first graphics card that I used in my build was GeForce 8500GT, but with it plugged in I was getting 6 beeps on startup, which indicated pre-graphics card error. I managed to work around it by using an old PCI graphics card by Cirrus from 1990s. I thought that maybe PCI-e cards weren't working because "PCI-e computing" was turned on in BIOS, however it wasn't. And now I'm stuck with a graphics card that barely carries out dragging windows on desktop. That 8500GT is 100% working as I tested it earlier. So my question is this: is this card just too old for Z800? There's almost a 6 year difference between 8500GT's and Z800's release dates and I heard that there are many incompatible cards for Z800. I thought that I should just buy a newer graphics card, but I still don't know for sure if problem is in the card or in the motherboard, so I don't want to spend money on a thing that might not work. If someone knows which cards are compatible with Z800, your reply will be much apprectiated. Thanks.

[DGroves]

either the video card or the pci-e slot is non functional or you are trying to use a UEFI based video card

the z800 is a non UEFI based system loosely based on the intel x58 chipset design, so most newer video cards are not going to work correctly

[EZGGWP]

Thanks for your reply, as I said in the original post, 8500GT is 100% working. Speaking about that UEFI thing, do you mean that some cards are UEFI-compatible? I searched for a bit and didn't find anything on 'UEFI-based graphics cards'. Also what I found is that only GTX 600 and 700 series were UEFI-compatible, while mine is an older 8000 series. Maybe you know, which GPUs are compatible with Z800? I found an old configurator for Z800 and it had cards from Quadro K2000 up to GTX Pascal. And that kind of goes concurrent to the fact that 600 and 700 series GCs are UEFI-compatible. In any case, thank you once again.

[DGroves · Accepted solution]

UEFI based systems are a dividing line between legacy (non uefi) and current (UEFI enabled video card bios)

the z800 being a legacy system will not work with most newer uefi enabled video cards due to most legacy computer bios's being unable to allow the newer video card's vbios to auto switch from UEFI to legacy mode

you need a nvidia 750TI or older video card thes older cards are legacy only no uefi video code in the cards vbios

"Also what I found is that only GTX 600 and 700 series were UEFI-compatible"

WRONG,.....THESE CARDS ARE LEGACY ONLY NO UEFI VBIOS SUPPORT

THE NVIDIA 8500GT IS ALSO A LEGACY VIDEO CARD

[EZGGWP]

Okay, I think I got it. Thank you very much.

[SDH]

Another way to approach this is to get a late version of the Z800 QuickSpecs (which also covers the version 2 motherboards with the later Boot Block Date) and see what HP certified as graphics cards at that time.  See pages 9 and top of 10 in the PDF attached for you below.  Note that HP has some advice based on the size of your power supply because the higher end cards at that time needed quite a bit of power.

DGroves has worked with a lot of Z800s.  I can speak to the Z600s which we are still using in some areas after we have souped them up.  Video cards over time have simultaneously gotten faster and run cooler using less power.  A later nVidia Quadro card we are using that works great in our Z600 workstations is the Quadro K2000, and one even nicer that works great is the Quadro K2200.  A good price used off eBay would be about 45.00 and 65.00 USD, respectively.  HP, Dell, PNY all sold these.

[EZGGWP]

Wow, these QuickSpecs were super useful, thank you so much. I think I'm going to be getting a Quadro 600 since it's available for $20 used in my city. Hope it will work.

[EZGGWP]

In conclusion, I got myself a Quadro K600 and it worked like a charm. Really have no idea, why 8500GT didn't work, probably it was too old and was somehow incompatible. Once again, thanks to DGrooves and SDH for helping.