Will my aging Lenovo i5-2400 tower not support GTX 1050?

[Newbie404]

First post here

Recently I grabbed a cheap Lenovo ThinkCentre M91p 4524 (i5-2400, 4 GB, 320 GB) tower in the second-hand market with the intention of modifying it for some gaming.

I inquired a few people about graphics card for this tower, and have my mind set on the GTX 1050, but a few people told me that this PC is too old for newer cards like that one (something to do with the motherboard). I am not an expert, so it is a bit strange for me as I thought the PCI express slot and the PSU (which i plan on upgrading, too) were the only aspects that really mattered in terms of GPUs.

I hope anyone helps me out here. If indeed the GTX 1050 isn't compatible, I would appreciate knowing about budget cards that support this PC.

TIA. 😉

 

[Herc08]

Well PSU and motherboard do play a role, but the CPU does too. However, being that you are using a low-end GPU, it should draw power from the motherboard (about 75w). As far as gaming though, you may run into issues with that RAM. Upgrading to least 8GB should get you the performance you are seeking.

Do note, that with older games, 4GB should be enough. Not sure what you are trying to accomplish.

 

[kaptainkuftic]

I can't find information about your motherboard, but you need a PCIe x16 slot for a 1050 to work,[strike] and then a[strike] PSU with the right power connections[/strike] for the GPU[/strike]. If you have that, it'll work. Also, wouldn't hurt to get 8 total GB of RAM, 4 is a little low

 

[Newbie404]

Well PSU and motherboard do play a role, but the CPU does too. However, being that you are using a low-end GPU, it should draw power from the motherboard (about 75w). As far as gaming though, you may run into issues with that RAM. Upgrading to least 8GB should get you the performance you are seeking.

Do note, that with older games, 4GB should be enough. Not sure what you are trying to accomplish.

Thanks for your reply. I plan on upgrading the RAM, HDD, and the PSU so that's not the issue. I do admit that I liked the low energy demands of this GPU, though, I didn't think much of the power draw from the motherboard.

Do you see that as being the issue?

 

[Newbie404]

I can't find information about your motherboard, but you need a PCIe x16 slot for a 1050 to work,[strike] and then a[strike] PSU with the right power connections[/strike] for the GPU[/strike]. If you have that, it'll work. Also, wouldn't hurt to get 8 total GB of RAM, 4 is a little low

Checked on Speccy, and it does mention a x16 and a x1 data lane. I plan on upgrading the RAM, HDD and PSU so that shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Herc08]

Well PSU and motherboard do play a role, but the CPU does too. However, being that you are using a low-end GPU, it should draw power from the motherboard (about 75w). As far as gaming though, you may run into issues with that RAM. Upgrading to least 8GB should get you the performance you are seeking.

Do note, that with older games, 4GB should be enough. Not sure what you are trying to accomplish.

Thanks for your reply. I plan on upgrading the RAM, HDD, and the PSU so that's not the issue. I do admit that I liked the low energy demands of this GPU, though, I didn't think much of the power draw from the motherboard.

Do you see that as being the issue?

No I don't. A solid 350-400w PSU should be good enough for this.

 

[dontlistentome]

The potential compatibility issue is the bios. The newer Nvidia cards can require you have s UEFI bios in order to install the card properly. An i5 2400 is right on that line where UEFI was becoming a thing. Your bios may be the older 'legacy' bios. If that's the case, you should contact whoever makes the card you're thinking of buying, Asus/MSI/etc, and ask if their card requires a UEFI bios.

 

[Newbie404]

The potential compatibility issue is the bios. The newer Nvidia cards can require you have s UEFI bios in order to install the card properly. An i5 2400 is right on that line where UEFI was becoming a thing. Your bios may be the older 'legacy' bios. If that's the case, you should contact whoever makes the card you're thinking of buying, Asus/MSI/etc, and ask if their card requires a UEFI bios.

Good point. I think my bios is based on UEFI, since I can control it via both keyboard and mouse. Should this still be a problem?