4k video card

[jnick1947]

I need to buy a new monitor and will use it mostly for photography.  I would like to go to 4K.

What cards are available that will work in the 6520? How about the Radeon R7 240SFF 2GB PCIe 3.0?

Is the bios set up to disconnect the on board video processor the same - or similar - to that given for the older Windows versions? 

[DavidSMP]

Hi @jnick1947,

Thanks for stopping by the HP community. A very good day to you. 🙂 I reviewed the post regarding graphic card upgrades for your computer.I will be delighted to assist you here. 🙂

Superb description and stupendous diagnosis of the issue before posting. Kudos to you for that. 🙂 You are a valued HP customer and it is paramount to assist you with it.

To assist you better, I would require more information regarding this.

• Did you check with a local technician if the graphics card in question can be upgraded or not?
   
• You need to remember these points during an upgrade.
• The power supply of the PC.
• The form factor of the graphics card
• The bios involved and the operating system that is being used.
• The power supply connector should match the power connector of the card. (Check if it is 5 pin or 6 pin.)

Please check the product specs link of the computer: https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/hp-pavilion-p6500-desktop-pc-series/4162263/model/4216276/docum... it displays only 250 Watt Power supply. You will require more than that because a 1gb Radeon R7 requires 400 Watts.

Product specs of the motherboard: https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/hp-pavilion-p6500-desktop-pc-series/4162263/model/4216276/docum...

• The card should be compatible as the motherboard has PCIE expansion slots.
• The size of the card should match the size of the slot on the motherboard.

The motherboard has the following Expansion slots

• One PCI Express x16 (Gen 2.0)
• Three PCI-Express x1 (Gen 2.0)
• One PCI Express x1 minicard socket (Gen 2.0

Product specs of the Radeon R7 card: http://products.amd.com/en-us/search/Desktop-Graphics/AMD-Radeon%E2%84%A2-R7-Series/AMD-Radeon%E2%84...

This website: http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2256141/watts-psu-amd-radeon-240-1gb-ddr5-graphic-card.html  reports for a 1 GB card you require at least a 400 Watt power supply.

You will need to change the Power supply of the computer also.

Please note that the last link is a 3rd party link and please do not click on any add, link, image, download or anywhere else on the website. It is only to be viewed.

Please note that HP does not recommend upgrading either the operating system or the computer’s hardware as the components that were initially installed with the unit are certified by HP for optimal performance. However, as you are very technically inclined, I would still request you to consult a local technician like Best Buy or Staples before proceeding to upgrade the unit.

So please contact a local Best Buy or Staples technician and perform the upgrade so that there are no compatibility issues with the graphics card for your computer and everything works smoothly

Hope this helps. Let me know how this goes. I genuinely hope the issue gets resolved without hassles and the unit works great.

To simply say thanks, please click the "Thumbs Up" button to give me a Kudos to appreciate my efforts to help. If this helps, please mark this as “Accepted Solution” as it will help several others with the same issue to get it resolved without hassles.

Take care now and have a terrific week ahead. 🙂

[Grzwacz]

Hi jnick1947

Your PC was introduced by HP in 2010. You don't have a UEFI Bios.

So you cannot run newer AMD or Nvidia graphics cards that need a UEFI BIOS. The newer cards support 4K.

Sapphire and MSI sell limited selections of models that can run on a Legacy BIOS or a UEFI BIOS  that are included in the latest generation AMD cards, MSI also sells one Nvidia graphics card in this segment.. They have a switch which allows using the card on a non UEFI motherboard. It seems they mostly support 4K. You would have to verify this for any model you are looking to purchase.

Checked the specs on the Radeon R7 240SFF 2GB PCIe 3.0 and did not see Legacy BIOS support. You would have to check with the manufacturer.

You are using an aging platform. It may be wise to consider upgrading to a different PC if you need 4K graphics.

Generally, when you install a discrete graphics card, the new card will be detected by the BIOS and auto disable the onboard graphics.

Make sure you uninstall the current Windows graphics driver before installing the new graphics card.

Grzy

[jnick1947]

Hi Dave,

Thanks, I have ordered a Dell 4K monitor - my computer tech likes them and says it will work OK for now.

I will need to take some time loooking into how to best aquire a new machine as I have a 1 TB SSD and two LG drives that will write M Discs that I wish to keep. He says to go with Windows 10 and that the extra DDR3 memory I put in will not transfer to a new machine.

BTW, I do a lot of photography with typically 60 MB files and the bottle neck is that they take at least several minutes (and sometimes 5 - 7 minutes) each to process when "editing" them. Would I be better served by a "gaming" type computer for maximum number crunching?

And this is with the quad core and 12 GB RAM.