HP Z420 installing msi radeon rx vega 64 air boost 8gb

[JamesAG]

Hi,

We brought an MSI RX VEGA 64 AIR BOOST 8G OC Computer Graphics Cards (https://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-RX-VEGA-AIR-BOOST/dp/B07DH7S1X1/ref=olp_product_details?_encoding=UTF8&...) from Amazon.

When it arrived we put the CD in and installed the drivers, then turned the PC off, took the old graphics card (Nvidia NVS 310) out, and then installed the new MSI VEGA. Upon turning the PC back on we received 6 long beeps and with this 6 red flashes by the power button and an LED inside the PC. There is no posting, the PC boots up, fans wherl away like normal on initial startup, and then the continuous 6 beeps.

The specs of the PC are the following:

Processor: Intel Xeon CPU-E5-1650 v2 (6 cores)

RAM: 16GB

OS: Windows 10 Pro (x64-bit)

Power Supply: 600W

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what is going on? For now I have took the new MSI card out and put the old one back in and everything seems to be working fine, I only receive the issue when the new card is in. I am yet to test having both the Nvidia card and the MSI card in at the same time, I plan on doing this later today to see if there is any difference.

[JamesAG]

If I keep the old graphics card in, the PC loads fine without any beeping, but there is no post.

[JamesAG]

[Brian1965 · Accepted solution]

Hi JamesAG,

The RX Vega 64 card is drawing too much power from the Z420 PSU.

Here's the RX Vega 64 specification;

And your HP Z420 motherboard;

You need to use a lower powered graphics card.

EDIT: Posted this message just prior to seeing the previous post/image. JamesAG, I noticed you only have one PCI auxilliary power connector plugged into the Vega card - this card requires power from 2 PCI auxilliary power connectors to work. You could try using a Y-splitter cable adapter to supply power to both connectors but I suspect that even if the system booted to Windows, it would be very unstable (shutdown) if the GPU was under load.

[JamesAG]

Thank you for your answer, would getting a new PSU be a better option? One that has a higher output for graphics.

if it was you, what would you recommend? A new PSU or returning the GPU and getting a lower power one, if that, what would you recommend as I’m not knowledgable in GPUs, someone else found this one and said it would be great... the usage is for a graphical designer (photoshop, after affects, the whole adobe suite)

[Brian1965]

Unfortunately, changing the PSU in your HP Z420 is not straight forward as HP uses bespoke PSU supplies made specifically for these workstations. The HP power supplies are classed as multi-rail, whereas off-the-shelf PSU's are single-rail.

Personally I would look for an alternative lower powered graphics card.

1. In general, Nvidia cards require less power compared with AMD cards for the same performance level.

2. For professional use, I would opt for a Nvidia Quadro card, e.g. a Quadro P2000 would be more than adequate for photoshop, etc. Quadro cards support 10-bit colour depth.

3. For non-professional use, you could consider a Nvidia GTX card, e.g. GTX 1660 Super, etc. GTX cards are limited to 8-bit colour depth.

[JamesAG]

Do you have any suggestions for something with a little lower price tag? It was a struggle getting this £300 approved for the graphical designer, let alone a £400 card.

[Brian1965]

I've had a look on Amazon and found you a couple of options to consider;

GTX 1660 Ti £258

6GB GDDR6, 288GB/s bandwidth, 120W

GTX 1070 G1 £290

8GB GDDR5, 256GB/s bandwidth, 150W

GTX 1660 Super £211

6GB GDDR6, 336GB/s bandwidth, 125W

Quadro K5000 £250

4GB GDDR5, 173GB/s bandwidth, 122W

If you really need a professional 10-bit colour card then the Quadro K5000 card is the only option. If performance is of more importance then I would opt for the GTX 1660 Super card due to it's high memory bandwidth. Cards with GDDR6 ram are more recent.