HP Compaq 8200 Elite MT compatibility with 3rd Party Graphics Card?

[anltcomputers]

Hi. So I kind of run my own little PC flipping "business" and I believe I found a pretty solid deal on eBay for a desktop that I can upgrade and sell off for a decent profit, but the problem is the fact that this is a HP Desktop (Compaq 8200 Elite MT w/ i5-2400, 8GB DDR3, 500GB 7200RPM HDD). In the past, I've had various issues with my dad's old HP Pavilion with similar specs that I tried to flip, as the system would not boot when I installed a 3rd party graphics card (I tried a GTX 950 and GTX 660 to no avail). I kind of always tried to stay away from HP desktops ever since that experience and mostly tried to go for older Dell desktops, as they have no issues with upgrades, and use fairly standard components. But I don't know much about this product line of HP computers. Has anyone had working experiences when upgrading the graphics card, and which card worked? (I know PSU upgrade would likely not work with the proprietary PSU, so low-power GPUs are the ideal choice)

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

Most HP desktops made before 2013 won't accept any nVidia graphics card newer than the GT(X) 6XX series.

That is because they have legacy (non-UEFI) BIOS'.

I happen to have two HP 8200 Elite CMT's with the i7-2600, and 32 GB of memory.

Although they were made in 2011, they do have UEFI BIOS,' and I have a Nvidia GT 730 in one and a Nvidia GT 1030 in the other.

Both on BIOS v2.28.

The graphics cards were plug and play.

You can't easily upgrade the power supply as it is proprietary, as you indicated.

You have to buy adapters and whatnot, and I wouldn't be able to help you with that.  

[anltcomputers]

How smooth was the BIOS update process? Was it relatively easy. Not so sure about HP Firmware.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Very easy.

Just use the F10 setup BIOS flash option.

[anltcomputers]

So it will just instruct me once I enter the BIOS Flash Setup? Sorry, I never tried updating a BIOS before 😅

[Paul_Tikkanen]

After you download and run the file, an info page will open with a set of instructions for the various way to update the BIOS.

Follow the instructions for the F10 setup BIOS flash method.

If the PC has W10 installed don't update the BIOS beyond 2.28, or it will take over 2 minutes for the PC to restart from a warm boot, unless you install W10 in EFI mode.