GPUs with Legacy BIOS support? How do you know?

[Blazer7]

Driver support/performance is an issue but at least this can improve over time with new releases, OTOH legacy BIOS support is either there or it’s not.

I wish card makers would shed some light on this as this is somewhat misleading. Not all people out there understand every aspect of putting together/upgrading a system let alone without proper info.

 

[BigTimeTipper]

Old thread but this is one of the ones I stumbled one before upgrading to an RTX graphics card.

The RTX 2060 works flawlessless in my Dell Precision T3500 (legacy bios, version A17). Series issues, booted it right away.

Had to make a few slight modifications to my case in order to close the HDD tray and close the case and make sure your PSU can handle however 100% works on mine at least.

 

[Golgatha]

I like this idea. I have an old Xeon x3470 system that's (I think) older than yours with a GT 1030 in it. It's definitely not a UEFI system and it's using a modern card. Works great as a HTPC.

Saw this thread pop up on my feed. I can confirm both a 1050 ti and 1660 ti both work in my legacy BIOS having Xeon x3470 system.

Both video cards offer some nice Plex transcoding without much CPU utilization as well.

 

[Leeea]

What a crap show. I blame Dell. The company just does not care about its customers.

The budget Asrock board* I purchased in 2015 gets far superior support**. I would have never imagined budget DIY having vastly superior long term support. The whole point of OEM is the support.

*this board has seen a 380, 580, and Vega 56 without issue. It will be hopefully getting a 6800xt or 3080 soon and I would be shocked if either had any issue.
**https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H97M-ITXac/#BIOS

 

[VirtualLarry]

I would have never imagined budget DIY having vastly superior long term support. The whole point of OEM is the support.

OEM systems have traditionally been more limited, and less likely to get "extended support" than many name-brand DIY retail boards.

Usually, instead of updating boards in the field, OEMs will just spin up a new custom board rev. with the new firmware / new FRU number.

Part of the reason for this is testing and qualification. OEMs are generally stricter about that sort of thing than DIY, and may choose not to go back into their historic compnent stack to re-qualify and re-test those platforms.

 

[Retrorockit]

I go to userbenchmark.com and see what specific cards are working in which systems. By specific I mean brand and model, not just GPU type.
Dell expects their corporate customers to run the parts they sell for each system. The workstations may keep an older BIOS so those customers can keep using older accessories. Office computers with built in GPUs may have newer BIOS types sooner than the workstations. Each Dell system is different and made for a specific purpose. Some Dells have a BIOS that won't work with newer AMD cards for other reasons. Userbenchmark gives you a heads up on CPU, RAM capacity and GPU options that are proven to work.
If you see 3,000 Dell systems running there and no newer AMD GPUs that's a big clue.

 

[Leeea]

Hi guys, trying to figure this out, I've been finding out that a lot of the newer cards are UEFI only, which doesn't work for me, my Dell Precision T3500 doesn't have this. So I am stuck with Legacy BIOS as far as I can tell, and that limits me to what I can get.

So how can you tell a newer card has legacy support.

I am currently running my reference model 6900xt on legacy BIOS mode on a ASUS x570 board.

Prior to that I ran the 6900xt in legacy BIOS mode on a AsRock H97 board.

I like legacy BIOS mode and MBR, it makes moving boot drives between systems very easy.

 

[Retrorockit]

It goes by each manufacturer. Some of them claim to have a universal BIOS now.Older cards had a BIOS switch sometimes.The vendors are clueless. You can go to userbenchmark.com and see what specific video cards are running in that system. By specific I mean Mfg. and model# not just GPU family. Nvidia, and AMD don't know which manufacturers did what.

UserBenchmark: Dell Precision WorkStation T3500 Compatible Components

You will notice some overclocks there also. It's covered in this thread.

Throttlestop overclocking Desktop PCs

Myself and a few others have used Throttlestop software and unlocked CPUs to overclock OEM locked BIOS PCs. Throttlestop was designed for underclocking, and undevolting laptop computers to extend battery life. It also allows full control of Voltage and multiplier on unlocked CPUs. There is a...

www.techpowerup.com

 

[SPBHM]

it's very messy, odd
I had some R7 370 which the website claimed had a switch for legacy,
but in reality the box said it was UEFI only

running a 2011 cheap motherboard without proper support it wouldn't boot (well the video card), updating to some 2012 bios, made it kind of work, I mean the bios/boot screen was not visible (it was completely glitched, like some random characters I think) but worked fine on windows...
but that's some kind of AMI EFI running in legacy mode

 

[Retrorockit]

There are GTX1660Ti running in old Dell Optiplex 380 BTX office computers. So it can be done.

Dell OptiPlex 380 Performance Results - UserBenchmark

But do some research before you buy anything. Back in the day I used to go to the physical store to look at system requirements on the box before buying anything. Even GTX750 came both ways.