GPU Upgrade for HP Pavilion Elite HPE-550f

[mookfarr]

Hello,

I have an old HP Pavilion Elite HPE-550f Desktop PC that I bought in 2010. I'm trying to upgrade the GPU, as the AMD ATI HD 5770 that came with it is having overheating problems (and noisy!) that I haven't been able to resolve. I understand there's some limitations for modern GPUs with this PC's mobo and BIOS, but I'm wondering if anyone can give me my best options. So far I've tried an RX 460 4GB and R7 370 4GB  with no success. Both just boot to a black screen. (I understand this may be because of UEFI compatibility.)

To get all the common questions out of the way:

1. Yes, I fully reinstalled all the drivers using DDU.
2. Yes, my monitor is working.
3. Yes, I've tried different display inputs.
4. Yes, my PSU is sufficient for the cards I've tried.
5. No, I've haven't tried the cards on other PCs...I don't have any to try them on. But the fans do turn on...just no display output.

Thank you,

-Michael

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, Michael:

Your PC has a legacy BIOS and in order to install a newer graphics card other than those I have listed below, your PC needs to have a BIOS version of 8.1x or newer and yours only goes up to 7.15.

You cannot install any graphics adapter newer than one of the AMD Radeon HD 6xxx cards, or a Nvidia GT(X) 6xx card.

[mookfarr]

Thank you for your timely reply. I see the HD 6690 was the last in that series. So, should this card work for me? https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/radeon-hd-6990.c275

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

That seems to be a mighty powerful card...certainly more powerful than the one you have now.

It has a 375W power draw and a 750W power supply is recommended, that is compared to your present card's 108W power draw and recommended 300 W P/S.

Does your PC's power supply have to 2 x 8 pin supplemental power connectors that card requires?

BIOS-wise, the card should work but I don't know if the rest of the PC can handle it.

I'd be looking more at the HD 6770 which is more in line with what you have now.

The HD 6790 might also be decent...It requires 2 x 6 pin supplemental power connectors.

AMD Radeon HD 6790 Specs | TechPowerUp GPU Database

[mookfarr]

Ah, yes. Thank you for mentioning that. I just quickly assumed all the older models would be compatible. Indeed, the PSU for my rig is only 460w and has but one 6-pin, so I'll have to look at something a bit less beefy. I'll see if I can find a deal for the HD 6770.

Again, thank you very much for your attention and prompt responses.

-Michael

[mookfarr]

Found a good deal on a XFX RADEON HD 6770. It'll take ~2 weeks to arrive. I'll update the thread about whether I can get it working.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Anytime.

Glad to have been of assistance.

Looking forward to reading about the results how your PC's video card upgrade project went.