Will the GTX 750 ti work with Acer Q35T-AM motherboard?

[redlog]

Specifically I'm wondering about the EVGA 02G-P4-3755-RX here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487127 as it's the most affordable. (Well, currently, there's also the Zotac for also $100 but I think EVGA is the better choice)

The Q35T-AM motherboard seems to be the one that the Acer Veriton M661/S661/T661 series use. It's a pretty obscure board but I managed to find a BIOS update "R01-C0" that successfully flashed and updated my board. This was the latest BIOS update I could find and it is from 2009...

I'm concerned that the 750 ti won't work with such an old BIOS. I read that the MSI version has a legacy BIOS switch, would that work?

EDIT: This page has basic specs about this motherboard:
http://www.ascendtech.us/acer-q35t-am-lga775-ddr2-motherboard_i_mbaceq35tamsata.aspx
I also found the manual here: http://www.manualslib.com/manual/232871/Acer-Aspire-M5620.html?page=6#manual

The webpage says Acer Aspire for whatever reason but that's incorrect. The manual frustratingly doesn't specify the motherboard precisely but piecing together what I've read throughout the web, it deals with that motherboard. For whatever reason, they also didn't feel the need to specify PCIe 1.0 or 2.0, but since the manual says it supports Yorkfield architectures and DDR2 RAM I don't see how it could be 1.0. Hope this info is useful.

 

[imrazor]

I can't give you a definitive answer but may be able to provide some assistance. Firstly, I know Dell had to release BIOS updates for several Maxwell cards (mostly 9x0 series, but the 750ti is also Maxwell.) A 2009 BIOS may not cut it. Secondly, the Veriton M661 used the G33 Express chipset, which only supports PCIe 1.1. See here:

http://ark.intel.com/products/31914/Intel-82G33-Graphics-and-Memory-Controller

This seems right, because my old Kentsfield Q6600 mobo only supported PCIe 1.1.

In summary, I can't give you a clearcut answer, but I think your best bet would be the MSI GPU with the legacy BIOS.

 

[redlog]

Oh wow, you're right. Hm...so 1.1 would slow it down then. I just looked this up, and it seems that 750 ti on PCIe 1.1 would slow down, but the performance hit would not be too bad, but that's assuming it'll work. I did some more digging, and I happened to notice that one of the pictures in the above-linked manual mentions "G33T-AM." I googled it and found out that G33T-M and Q35T-M are both boards made by ECS (I guess the "A" is some sort of contract with Acer). Newegg actually used to sell a G33T-M2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135050 which is probably a second revision of some sort.

I read that people on older HP systems had issues, sometimes even with the legacy BIOS mode, and mine is even older than those (it can still run with a Q8400 and 8 GB of RAM, which is why I'm even considering staying with this old of a board). Since I only have that one mobo (effectively), I'm hesitant to buy the 750 ti, only to have it not work. If I returned it under those circumstances, would I still have to pay shipping and a 15% fee? In that scenario, it wouldn't be like I changed my mind, or bought a video card that obviously wasn't going to work with it (I read in many places people asking this same question and getting responses like, "As long the motherboard has a PCIe 16x slot, it'll work, don't worry," and only just now found out about the potential BIOS issue.)

 

[imrazor]

Since I've never owned that board and tried to install a 750 ti, I can't give you an ironclad guarantee that even the MSI card would work. Your best bet is to buy from a vendor with a liberal return policy that covers incompatibilities, even if you have to pay a bit more up front. I'd start with major sellers like Newegg or Amazon and see if they'll accept a return w/o restocking charges.

Maybe someone can chime in with some good experiences...