Need Graphics Card that Works with Legacy bios, not UEFI

I purchased a refurbished Dell T3500 win10 computer that uses MBR, not UEFI
Maximum resolution of the installed graphics card is 1280 x 1024, but I need 1920 x 1080. Low performance cards are ok, because I’m not a gamer.

All new graphics cards that I have checked require UEFI. I have not checked many cards, as it is almost impossible to get this info. Support always covers topics they provide, and the BIOS topic is not covered.

Refurbished cards never seem to include the installation CD, and the card vendor usually does not have drivers available for older cards.

Another possibility is to find someone that sells old drivers, but no luck there. I came close with Treexy.com, who says they have a driver I can use, but it is not available when I check their pay site. I’ve decided they provide a large number of drivers you really don’t need. It looks impressive, but nothing is accomplished.

Any suggestions?

This is the spec sheet for the Precision T3500: https://i.dell.com/sites/csdocuments...Spec-Sheet.pdf

It appears that the PC must have a discrete graphics card. Is that correct?

Your resolution limit may be due to using the Microsoft Basic display adapter software. The drivers that nVidia offers for a low-end card are: NVIDIA DRIVERS Quadro Desktop/Notebook Driver Branch 340 U14 WHQL

The drivers for a Quadro 5000 (highest end card listed) are: NVIDIA DRIVERS Quadro Desktop/Quadro Notebook Driver Release 375 WHQL

You may not need to buy a new card at all.

If you do after all, you may find this worth looking at: GPUs with Legacy BIOS support? How do you know? | AnandTech Forums: Technology, Hardware, Software, and Deals

Post 2 in that thread claims to show a T3500 running an nVidia GTX 1060. I'm not suggesting one of those, because it's expensive, and might require a power supply upgrade. Maybe a GT 1030, which can be had for about $100 at newegg.com. I presume that anything older would also serve. The nice thing about the 1030 is that it's still supported by nVidia's latest drivers.

Macboatmaster:
I don’t think I have power supply issue, as I have purchased a number of very similar T3500 refurbished workstations from the same vendor, and all came with graphics cards and worked fine. I just purchased a Dell Precision T3500 Xeon 3.06GHz X5675 12GB 128GB SSD +1TB HD6450 WIF – zjwcomputer (zjwusa.com).

I wanted to have a backup computer, to minimize interruptions should I have a failure. My original computer had a Nvida quadro 600 card, which provided the 1920 x 1280 resolution for the monitor used with that computer. I bought a refurbished Nvida quadro 600, but it only provided 1280 x 1024. It didn’t include an Installation CD and Nvida no longer supports this card. I searched and purchased a new Nvida GT 710. Unfortunately, the 710 is set up for UEFI. It works with legacy bios, but only on 760 x ..... and 1280 x 1024. I attempted download drivers, but apparently the site could tell I didn’t have a UEFI computer.

Bobkin: I’ll check your suggestions in a few minutes. Thanks for your suggestions

Jim

Jim8080 said:

Macboatmaster:
I don’t think I have power supply issue, as I have purchased a number of very similar T3500 refurbished workstations from the same vendor, and all came with graphics cards and worked fine. I just purchased a Dell Precision T3500 Xeon 3.06GHz X5675 12GB 128GB SSD +1TB HD6450 WIF – zjwcomputer (zjwusa.com).

I wanted to have a backup computer, to minimize interruptions should I have a failure. My original computer had a Nvida quadro 600 card, which provided the 1920 x 1280 resolution for the monitor used with that computer. I bought a refurbished Nvida quadro 600, but it only provided 1280 x 1024. It didn’t include an Installation CD and Nvida no longer supports this card. I searched and purchased a new Nvida GT 710. Unfortunately, the 710 is set up for UEFI. It works with legacy bios, but only on 760 x ..... and 1280 x 1024. I attempted download drivers, but apparently the site could tell I didn’t have a UEFI computer.

Bobkin: I’ll check your suggestions in a few minutes. Thanks for your suggestions

Jim

It came with an AMD HD6450 graphics card?

Legacy drivers: https://www.amd.com/en/support/graph...radeon-hd-6450

It is supposed to have a dual link DVI output, which supports 2560X1600. With the proper drivers, 1920 X 1080 should be no problem. The 6450 is an old card (2011, according to Wikipedia), and low-end, but it may meet your needs.

Bobkin:
I tried: NVIDIA DRIVERS Quadro Desktop/Notebook Driver Branch 340 U14 WHQL I ended up with a driver update app that does not include my existing Nvida Quadro 600 card (that works fine in my other T3500). The actual app is similar to Treexy.com, but this site is preferable. I must be very careful about purchasing other display cards because it must support MBR. Current cards usually do not support mbr.

The AnadTech Forums thread was interesting – I’m not the only person with this problem, and there is no obvious solution.

Another thought:
I’ll make an image file of my C: drive, then convert it to UEFI using MiniTool Partition Manager or how to update dell t3500 legacy bios - Bing video
If problems occur, I think both can convert back to MBR. Otherwise, I’ll return to the earlier image.

Jim

Jim8080 said:

Bobkin:
I tried: NVIDIA DRIVERS Quadro Desktop/Notebook Driver Branch 340 U14 WHQL I ended up with a driver update app that does not include my existing Nvida Quadro 600 card (that works fine in my other T3500). The actual app is similar to Treexy.com, but this site is preferable. I must be very careful about purchasing other display cards because it must support MBR. Current cards usually do not support mbr.

The AnadTech Forums thread was interesting – I’m not the only person with this problem, and there is no obvious solution.

Another thought:
I’ll make an image file of my C: drive, then convert it to UEFI using MiniTool Partition Manager or how to update dell t3500 legacy bios - Bing video
If problems occur, I think both can convert back to MBR. Otherwise, I’ll return to the earlier image.

Jim

Your graphics card is actually a Quadro 600? What we've got here is failure to communicate.

The latest drivers nVidia offers for the Quadro 600 are these: NVIDIA DRIVERS Quadro Desktop/Quadro Notebook Driver Release 375 WHQL The version number is 377.83.

I doubt that converting C: to GPT will help.