RTX 5000 Series Upgrade Incompatability

tag_man · ‎06-20-2025

I have a modified Omen 40L that I've previously upgraded/swapped out parts leaving only the motherboard, cpu, ram as default. I recently tried to upgrade the GPU in the machine from an RTX 3070 to a new RTX 5070. The card worked fine for roughly 3 minutes after being installed but then suddenly stops displaying output and the system seems to freeze. Restarting from this stage results in the monitor not detecting any output at all until a different GPU is installed. This occurs using either the default Microsoft display drivers or the most recent nvidia game ready drivers.

I have verified the 5070 works and is stable on other machines by swapping out the windows boot drive and card to a different machine. Prior to the upgrade, the system worked fine with an RTX 3070 in it, never having any issues with crashing. I've done as many fixes including updating BIOS, fresh install windows 11, installing drivers with DDU, swapping PSU. Nothing can get the system stable with the 5070 in it.

I was wondering if anyone else has had this issue when using a 5000 series card in an older system.

NonSequitur777 · ‎06-20-2025

@tag_man,

Welcome to our HP Community forum!

I would expect that the Nvidia RTX 5070 (part of the next-gen RTX 50-series “Blackwell” architecture) should work with your OMEN 40L GT21-1000a, given that it's a PCIe 4.0 card and your platform supports PCIe Gen 4. However, early adopter issues like yours are not uncommon and can be tricky to troubleshoot, especially when dealing with OEM motherboards and BIOS compatibility.

Here's what we know so far:

✅ RTX 5070 tested stable on other systems — so the GPU is likely not at fault.
✅ You've already tried fresh installs, DDU, driver resets, BIOS updates, and even a PSU swap.
✅ Your system works fine with the RTX 3070, which confirms the platform is stable with Ampere GPUs.

Possible causes and suggestions:

1. BIOS-level Incompatibility or Lack of microcode:

The RTX 50-series cards are brand-new, and whilst your BIOS may be "updated," HP’s firmware often trails behind custom board partners when it comes to support for next-gen GPUs. It may not yet include:

The VBIOS handshaking compatibility required for proper PCIe initialization.
Proper UEFI GOP (Graphics Output Protocol) support with newer display engine flags.

Suggestion: Contact HP Support directly and ask if there is a beta or upcoming BIOS for the OMEN 40L GT21 series that adds support for the RTX 5000 series GPUs. Mention your specific model and the issue.

2. Resizable BAR (ReBAR) Conflicts:

ReBAR can sometimes cause instability with brand-new cards, especially during early driver releases.

Suggestion: Try disabling ReBAR in the BIOS if it's enabled. On OMEN systems, this is typically under Advanced → PCIe Settings (if available).

3. UEFI vs Legacy Boot Conflicts:

Make sure your system is in pure UEFI mode, not legacy or CSM, which can confuse newer GPUs.

Suggestion: Verify that:

Secure Boot is enabled.
Boot mode is set to UEFI only (not "Legacy + UEFI").

4. PCIe Link Negotiation Issue:

Some motherboards fail to negotiate PCIe Gen4 properly with newer cards, which can lead to blank screens or freezes.

Suggestion: Try forcing the PCIe slot to Gen 3 in BIOS (if available) instead of “Auto” or “Gen 4” to see if stability improves. This is a known workaround on certain boards.

5. Power Delivery Quirks:

Even though you swapped out the PSU, HP's OEM board could have strange tolerances or limits on GPU transient spikes (the RTX 50-series might behave differently than the 3070 in this regard).

Suggestion: Test with an ATX 3.0 compliant PSU (with native 12VHPWR cable if required by your 5070) if not already done.

Also try using separate PCIe cables from the PSU, rather than daisy-chaining.

6. Early Driver or VBIOS Bugs:

Since the 5070 is very new, it's possible that early Game Ready drivers or the VBIOS on your GPU are buggy in certain system configurations.

Suggestion: Monitor Nvidia forums or Reddit's r/nvidia for others reporting issues. Also check with your card’s AIB (e.g., ASUS, MSI, etc.) for a possible VBIOS update.

Last Resort: Test on Another Board with Same Chipset:

If you can test the RTX 5070 in a retail Z690/B660-based motherboard with your same CPU, and it runs fine, that may isolate the issue to HP's motherboard firmware.

Conclusion:

You're likely running into an early adopter incompatibility due to HP’s BIOS not fully supporting the RTX 5070 yet -not due to a fault in your hardware per se. Keep the 3070 running for now and check regularly for BIOS updates. You're not alone; it will take time before OEMs certify and optimize support for the RTX 50-series cards.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777