[SOLVED] What would be the best graphics card I could upgrade to that would be able to handle 4k ultra gaming and videos?

[james.j.mulay]

What would be the best graphics card I could upgrade to that would be able to handle 4k ultra gaming and videos?
My Current PCU build is : https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03189539

Was looking for a card currently available possibly preowned that would be able to do 4k gaming or videos. Also my PC has a legacy BIOS so the newer UEFI enabled graphics cards are not going to work. Thanks in advance!

 

[clutchc]

Yes, UEFI gfx cards will work on machines with a legacy BIOS.
But with your Ivy Bridge quad core (?) and PCIe 2.0, the best 4K card will not be able to be utilized at its max for gaming. The best would be something like the $1300 RTX 2080 Ti. I presume you don't want to go there and waste your money.

Exactly which CPU do you have? It will help determine which card is tops and not be bottlenecked.

 

[The prime mediocre]

Here is an analysis of PCIe bandwidth limitations using a a 2080 Ti, that actually specifically mentions your Sandy Bridge-E platform. Apparently, there is a very small performance loss going from PCIe 3.0x16 to 3.0x8 (the latter being equivalent to PCIe 2.0x16) on the 2080 Ti. Your HEDT platform should have enough lanes to run at full x16. Considering that plenty of people run 2080 Ti cards on mainstream platforms with only 16 lanes total, four almost invariably being occupied by an NVMe SSD, there's no real reason not to install one.

If you're looking for a used or refurbished card, you can get any of the 10 series Nvidia cards without any technical compromises. You probably want to look at the GTX 1080 or 1080 Ti.

 

[james.j.mulay]

Tried installing an amd hd 7950 and ran into this problem : http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-3874497/gpu-working.html Which leaves me wondering why I can't get the upgraded card to work?

 

[clutchc]

Tried installing an amd hd 7950 and ran into this problem : http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-3874497/gpu-working.html Which leaves me wondering why I can't get the upgraded card to work?

Older HP PCs have indeed been problematic with some cards not on the machine's support list. Unsure if that is a proprietary BIOS issue or something else. I should have paid closer attention to the fact you had a HP. If it doesn't work, it won't be a legacy vs UEFI issue, it will be an HP issue I believe. UEFI cards will default to legacy BIOS compatibility automatically. I have put UEFI cards in a couple HP machines recently and had no problem. I suggest you try before you buy though.

 

[james.j.mulay]

do you know where I could find a compatibility list for my machine?

 

[clutchc]

do you know where I could find a compatibility list for my machine?

I don't think HP ever put out a compatibility list for components like gfx cards. But you could log onto the HP Forum and ask around. One of the HP reps may have an answer.