BIOS support on modern GPUs

Hardware GPU
1

Somebody recently gave me an old Dell workstation with an old Xeon E5450. This thing has basically the same specs as a Core 2 Quad Q9650. I thought I’d take it on as a side project and try a few experiments and perhaps flip it as an eSports gaming rig.

After fiddling with some RAM problems (and discovering it supports up to 64GB of RAM and a second E5450), I decided to drop in an RX 580 I had lying around. It booted, but I could not access the BIOS setup, and when Windows tried to load the AMD driver it generated the infamous Code 43. I realized at this point that my RX 580 probably only supported UEFI booting.

I did manage to get a GTX 670 to install and operate properly, which is not unexpected given the 670’s age. Are there any modern GPUs that will work in this machine?

2

UPDATE: I tried with a budget brand 1050 Ti - and it worked just fine. BIOS splash screen comes up, driver loads without a problem. The irony is that RX 580 was actually pulled from a modern Dell. The 1050 Ti is better than the 670, especially in terms of power and heat, but I wish there was some way to get that RX 580 to work.

3

I believe the newer AMD gpu’s are UEFI only, for security purposes. Take this with a grain of salt though.

4

I can confirm that my old reference RX480 doesn’t work in a Core2 Q6600 based intel system either.

Same symptoms. I’d say your assumption about UEFI is correct.

5

I put a rx460 in gigabyte board with a Q6600 and it works fine, including bios. Maybe it’s up to the vendor to include legacy support or not? I know the RVII was missing uefi support that was fixed later.