Graphics card install in Legacy or UEFI mode?

[babisarangi]

Hi
I have a HP 280 G2 MT having Win 7 Pro installed(legacy).The other specs are-Core i3 6100,8GB RAM. Now my query is,can I install a graphics card in legacy mode ? or do I change to the UEFI mode for that? For that do I have to consider the graphic card having a UEFI BIOS?( my motherboard has both UEFI and Legacy mode and it came preinstalled with Win 7 in legacy mode with an upgrade disk for Win 10 pro).Please share your valuable opinions 

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

I have a Nvidia GT 730 card installed in my HP 8200 Elite CMT with UEFI disabled.

The situation with your PC is that you have to leave secure boot disabled when running W7 or installing a non-HP video card.

The PC will not accept a non-HP graphics card ( not one listed in the parts list for your PC) if secure boot is enabled.

[babisarangi]

Thanks for your reply.Can I install any graphics card in this manner? Is secure boot disabled by default in my HP PC preinstalled with Win 7 pro?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

You should be able to as long as the card works within the constraints of the power supply your PC has.

Secure boot is disabled by default with W7 installed.

I have a 350 G1 business notebook that came with W7 Pro, downgraded from W8.1 Pro and then I installed W10.

I left secure boot and legacy mode disabled.

Since I have no intention of ever installing a hard drive greater than 2 TB as the boot drive, I see no big deal regarding having UEFI disabled.

You need UEFI enabled in order to format a drive greater than 2 TB in GPT, to be used as a boot drive.

[babisarangi]

Thank you so much for your quality guidance.One small query,if I upgrade to Win 10 pro in the future,using the HP disc,will that be okay? Will a graphics card like the gtx 1050 work with the operating system?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Anytime.

I see a problem with the power supply, if the specs are correct.

It shows only a 180W power supply except in China where it is 300W.

http://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/GetPDF.aspx/c04958603.pdf

With a 180W power supply, your options would be limited to the ones listed in the above spec document (page 6).

The GTX 1080 requires a 300 W P/S.

[babisarangi]

Can I install a 450 watts power supply like Antec VS450P in that case in the PC?

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Unfortunately, I would not be able to answer that question.

On any HP business PC, I have ever owned, the power supplies are proprietary and cannot be replaced with a conventional power supply you can buy anywhere.  You can only install the ones listed for the PC.

They have a different # of pins that connect to the motherboard on that main connector.

So, I have no idea if the power supply in the model series you have is like that, or different.