Will a GTX 1050 Ti SC card work on my machine?

[cag1970-2]

I am attempting to upgrade my Pavilion P7-1218 with an EVGA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti SC video card.  The card has 4 GB DDR5 memory, and based on its operating specifications should work on my machine.  This Pavilion is running as follows:

• Windows 7 with SP1, 64-bit
• Intel Core i5-3450 (part of the Ivy Bridge family)
• 16 GB RAM (I successfully updated the RAM some time ago)
• Stock 300W power supply

I have been benching this computer on a 15-inch Dell monitor that supports both DVI and VGA.  When I turn the computer on, it hangs on the HP splash screen and beeps at intervals probably about one minute apart.  After several minutes, it will go to the Start Windows screen, then a little while later, it will literally split the screen so that you can see a scrambled Windows login page in the top half of the screen, and the black background of the Start Windows screen, with those words, below. I have not yet tried this using an HDMI cable on a different monitor, but I figure that might be my next troubleshooting step.

I suspect that the power supply in this computer may not be adequate enough to handle the card, even though the card indicates a minimum 300W supply.  But that's just speculation at this point.  I'm going to keep tinkering with it, but I really need to know if I'm tilting at windmills here.  

[Grzwacz · Accepted solution]

Hi cag1970-2

The newer Nvidia graphics cards (700, 900, or 1000 series) will not work on your PC because your PC does not have a UEFI BIOS.

Your PC's BIOS cannot be upgraded to UEFI.

Grzy

[cag1970-2]

Thank you for the response. 

One other question - would I run into a similar problem with an equivalent Radeon card?  

[Grzwacz]

Hi cag1970-2

You are welcome.

Most newer graphics cards require a UEFI BIOS.

Sapphire makes some new AMD graphics cards with a switch on the card that allows either a UEFI BIOS or a Legacy BIOS. MSI has one Nvidia GTX 750Ti with a BIOS switch.

There may be others.

Grzy

[cag1970-2]

Thank you again, Grzy.  I really appreciate your feedback and help on this!