HP H8-1020: Compatible GPU's???

[Spoong]

Looking to add a halfway decent graphics card to this dinosaur of a pc so it can be better suited to lighter gaming and other tasks since I got tired of my laptops habit of pushing so much air that I feel it will eventually fly off my desk.

So far I have figured out that I should look at

GTX 6xx series

A 500w power supply

I should also note that the original 1tb HDD has been removed and replaced with a 500gb ssd

Looking for some more info before I go ahead with purchasing parts and throwing them at this. I'm aware it likely isn't logical to do this but curiosity has gotten the best of me.

[BeemerBiker]

According to this spec you have a 300 watt supply and the graphics card is an HD6570.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c02839589

While the power supply is not too bad (some HP are only 180 watts) I suspect the graphics cards that  can run on your system are limited to non UEFI bios.  Cards like the GTX=1050Ti are in your systems "power range" and could be "fitted" in the motherboard but probably will not work.  Your system was released in 2011 uses legacy bios. 

You can look for "uefi" in your bios and possible it may work. It did not work  for gtx-750  at Tom's hardware.

You might want to scroll down the bottom and read this post

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-Video-Display-and-Touch/video-card-upgrade/m-p/8307991#M121254

Supposedly the following were reported as running 

https://www.userbenchmark.com/System/HP-h8-1020/11537

[edit] I found a bios upgrade 7.16 A dated 06 Feb 2012

https://us.driverscollection.com/_44767637937ca05ffffe0ab0111/Download-HP-Pavilion-HPE-h8-1020-BIOS-...

possibly it supports  UEFI.

I used the same (??version??) 7.16 Rev A for my cupertino2 motherboard "HP Pro 3400" and it only worked with UEFI bios (GTX-1060) after a patch  was added. I do not recommend any patches and I came close to bricking my motherboard when I got the patch wrong.

[Prométhée]

Hi @Spoong  @BeemerBiker 

In theory only old graphics cards
AMD Radeon HD 6xxx cards, or a Nvidia GT (X) 6xx card
can be used
on condition of having the required power supply for the chosen model

Sorry but no uefi with this type of bios

the bios must generally be in version 8.xx

[Spoong]

So I looker into the bios currently on the machine and it says it is CAR_716 . ROM v7.16 as well as offering UEFI boot sources in the boot order, does this mean I already have the updated bios or is the update still required?

[BeemerBiker]

You have the newest bios.  It appears that bios is also used with several similar systems (but not my Pro-3400)

It will not work as detailed here

https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/ipisb-cu-carmel-2-motherboard-bios-issue.2758606/ 

I found the bios "sp56122.exe" downloaded the bios and looked at it

10/05/2011 06:52 PM 4,194,304 CAR_716_Signed.ROM

My cupertino2 bios 7.16 Rev A is 6 months newer and designed for the Pro3300 / Pro3400 systems

03/27/2012 02:14 PM 4,194,304 CUP_716.ROM

I checked and yours is same size but way different from my cupertino2.   My bios also mentioned UEFI in the boot.  When I selected "UEFI" i got a message it could not find the UEFI application.  Possibly your bios could be patched to work but based on my experience, no one is going to help you.  Also, I would not trust any bios downloaded from 3rd party site which was where I found and carefully downloaded the sp56122.exe

The GTX-1050Ti goes for $200 USD used on eBay. The last time I bought one it was fake. The board reported it was a 1050ti but TechPowerUp software showed it was fake and I was lucky to get my money back. That board will not run in your Carmel2 motherboard with the 7.16 A bios even though it "fits" and has about the same power requirements as your HD6570.

You currently have an HD-6570  made by AMD. 

All of the compatible NVidia boards listed here require 450watt or higher power supply which you will have to upgrade to.

Miners have driven the cost of add-in video boards up to where they are out of the price range of many users wanting to upgrade.   You may find that used HP laptops / notebook are faster, better and cheaper than any workable upgrade to your h8-1020 

Sorry

[Spoong]

That's fair thanks for the help though, I appreciate it.

[Prométhée]

sorry, look no further, and don't try anything with the bios, if you still want to be able to use the computer
the mentioned update, which is obviously already in place, is neither more nor less than what is available here:

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-pavilion-hpe-h8-1100-desktop-pc-series/5146418

IPISB-CU Motherboard BIOS Update

7.16 Rev. A

2.9 MB

Feb 6, 2012

sp56122.exe

Normally some graphics card can't work
but it seems that a trick is possible
just for information

note that you have the motherboard

Carmel motherboard specifications

and that the bios indicated, and the video  is given for the model

Motherboard Specifications, IPISB-CU (Carmel2)

but obviously you would have the same update, the motherboards are relatively close

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT9bb_0Fwbo

I'm not telling you to try, but if necessary, it can be good to explore