Newer GPU's in a legacy motherboard

Does anyone have any idea as to whether the newer generation of cards would work in an older board without issues? Or would I be asking for trouble?

PCIe should be backwards compatible but I'm reading about lots of issues with HP machines, POST, black screens, BIOS beeping, UEFI etc.

I'm thinking specifically of these cards:

GTX 750 Ti
GTX 960
R9 285 (or lesser models)

The latter two seem to offer more value than the 750 Ti. And there's the newer ATI 3xx series cards right around the corner.

MSI and Sapphire produce cards with legacy/UEFI switches. I haven't come across a GTX 960 with a legacy switch unfortunately.
MSI GTX 750Ti GAMING
SAPPHIRE DUAL-X R9 285 2GB

I'm not sure if the switch guarantees the card will work.


AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition
M4A785TD-V EVO (v2105 - 2010/08/12)
4GB GSKILL DDR3 1333 (F3-12800CL9D-2GBNQ)
HD 4770 512MB (DX 10.1)
Corsair HX520W Power Supply


I realize my machine is rather ancient by HardOCP standards. The (still working) HD 4770 has finally let me down with newer titles having DX 11 as a minimum requirement, lacking on the VRAM front too.

Ideally the plan is to drop a card in - get another year or more out of the machine - and then completely renew when the newer Skylake+ CPU's & features are out.

I'm hoping the IGPU on the new Intel chips will be strong enough to play titles @ 1080p; making lower end dedicated GPU's redundant. (just as with sound cards)

Alternatively I could build an equivalent Core i7-5820K machine and swap out a dedicated GPU when needed.

I'd be hesitant to waste money on updating to a AM3+ board with UEFI support.


Mostly older games from GoG nowdays. The ultimate aim is to play the odd newer title such as GTA 5 / Witcher 3 / Dark Souls 2 / etc at 1080p with normal/high settings.

My HD 4770 can just about play GTA 5 @ 720p but it isn't pretty :'(

Installed a r9 285 in a ip35-pro. Works great. Processor still holds me back in the big games but for the most part it's fine. Cod and gta are a no go but pretty much everything else is fine. If the processor can hold up I can run everything maxed out at 1080p.

You should have no issues at all with using either one of those cards in your current setup. I've got a 750 Ti in my HTPC w/ dual core Intel Pentium processor and it works fantastic. Previously I had the 750 Ti in my main rig, but after I got my 970s I transferred to it the HTPC.

Additionally, I rocked with the iGPU for a while @ 1080P. Most games played just fine, albeit not on the highest settings, but some games did struggle.

Thanks for the replies.

It's looking promising after all...

Is the GTX 960 best avoided?
http://forums.evga.com/2-beeps-from-bios-after-installing-960-m2329467.aspx
http://forums.evga.com/PC-cant-boot-after-installing-GTX-960-ssc-m2318143.aspx
https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/827848/trouble-booting-with-new-gtx-960-on-pavilion-h9-1000cs/?offset=2
https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/811548/gtx-960-hangs-bios/?offset=8
https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/708557/700-series-doesnt-work-with-hp-computers-why-/?offset=3
etc, etc


I was considering switching back over to the green team after owning a few Radeon cards; I can't really complain for the price but they do come with compromises.

I don't recall so many hotfix drivers & blatant game issues etc with my venerable Geforce 4600 Ti; particularly in OpenGL titles. Crashing in CoH 2 with my HD 4770 and with a hotfix driver which didn't work =\

Not overjoyed about the new mid-lower 3xx series being a (twice?) recycled bunch of previous cards at reset prices - if the spec rumors are true.


There's also image quality differences to consider.

But I do despise "The Way It's Meant to be Played", PhysX and other such programs - I think it's a throwback to the old 3DFX era.