Question Certain GPUs don't work on old office computer

[a1337cookie]

So I got some used GPUs from friends who have been upgrading. I decided to try throwing them into some old office computers, so that they didn't have to use integrated graphics. However, one of the machines is really picky about which GPU it wants to work with.

Specs:
i3 3220
2x4GB DDR3
Some Intel Mobo
SATA 240GB SSD
EVGA 430W PSU
Windows 10

It gets no signal at all with an RX 570 8GB, just a black screen. It reaches the "press F2 to enter Bios" screen with a GTX 1660 Ti, but then freezes and shows some strange artifacts. I tried clear CMOS, reseating GPU, different video ports, but the same result every time.

However, I also had an RX 6700XT, and that worked no problem. Somehow, the newer more powerful card was fine, while the older cards failed to boot. I'm just curious how this could be the case, this isn't an urgent issue.

 

[Lutfij]

Some Intel Mobo
Please be specific on the motherboard's make and model. BIOS version for said motherboard? You should be able to get display out off the iGPU and see what BIOS version you're on.

EVGA 430W PSU
EVGA is the brand while 430W is the advertised wattage of the unit. What is the model of the unit and how old is the unit?

It reaches the "press F2 to enter Bios" screen with a GTX 1660 Ti, but then freezes and shows some strange artifacts.
Use DDU to remove all GPU drivers prior to dropping in another brand's GPU into the build. See if this GPU works on another system and/or if you see artifacting as well. If you're able to get into the OS GUI see if you get an error code 43 in Device Manager, assuming you're working with Windows OS.

 

[a1337cookie]

The only label I saw on the Mobo was 21 b6 e1. I couldn't find a spec page for it online, so I wasn't sure if that was the model number or not. I'll see if I can get the Bios version tonight.

The PSU is the EVGA 430 W1, it's just 80+ rated. Not sure how old it is, at least 6-7 years if I had to guess. I don't think it's a PSU issue, since it handled a much more power hungry card fine.

I'll try DDU with the 1660 Ti when I get the chance. I just got it from a friend yesterday, straight from his AM4 rig, so it should be working fine.

I traded the 6700XT for it actually, and when installing it for him, I used DDU after swapping GPUs, and it seemed fine. So I was just going to do the same on this office PC (it had just been using the 6700XT), but I guess I should have been more careful.

 

[Eximo]

A major consideration will be if the BIOS is UEFI based or traditional. Many newer cards require a UEFI BIOS.

OEM 3rd gen systems were about half and half I would say.

 

[a1337cookie]

A major consideration will be if the BIOS is UEFI based or traditional. Many newer cards require a UEFI BIOS.

I read some other forum posts about UEFI and legacy BIOS support on GPUs, and I think it's likely that this is the issue. The symptoms seem the same, and it was often on this platform as well.

So maybe the Mobo doesn't support UEFI, and needs the GPU to support legacy BIOS. Then the MSI Armor RX 570 8GB and the Gigabyte OC GTX 1660 Ti don't have legacy support, while the Asrock Challenger RX 6700XT does. That would explain this behaviour.

Perhaps a BIOS update could resolve the issue, but finding one might be a challenge. I'll see if that's correct when I work on it later.

 

[a1337cookie]

I got it working now. Using msinfo32, I found that it was an Intel DB75EN board on Bios version 0026. Luckily, it wasn't too difficult to find Bios updates, it was available from the Wayback Machine. Flashing the latest version 0046 to the board allowed the GTX 1660 Ti to work. I've yet to try other cards, but I suspect that they'll be fine.

Interestingly, before I updated the Bios, I did find an option for UEFI boot, disabled by default. Just enabling it though did not allow the GPU to function, it froze the same way as before. Without the GPU in, it just falls back to legacy to boot Windows, which is on MBR.

After the update, UEFI boot was enabled by default, and legacy boot was added as an option. With both enabled, everything worked fine, I did not have to convert the Windows install to GPT.

So not too sure if the problem was with UEFI support or not, but it works now, so I'm happy. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.