M71e SFF GPU upgrade issues

[wujstefan]

Hello,

I've got an issue with a couple of M71e's I've got for a school IT lab. The thing is, pdf spec tab says it should work with a low-profile AMD 8570 just fine, while it does not outputs anything on the display - at all. Is there any trick that should be done on this model, or does it maybe accepts only specific GPUs due to BIOS limits?

[RealBlackStuff]

Have you installed the chipset drivers for that machine?

Here's a list of supported nVidia cards: https://download.lenovo.com/consumer/de ... 41us14.txt
The (popular) GT1030 is missing there but supposedly also supported, it can even run with only a 240W power supply.

https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/prod ... /downloads

[wujstefan]

Well I didn't - I will do it in a second however. Those computers have Windows 10 installed on them.

Thingy is, the system does not boot at all if the card is installed. It has 240W PSU though, and HD8570 consumes ~50W of that. This particular graphics card was included as an option in SFF M71e, so I believe it should work anyway.

[kfzhu1229]

Does Thinkcentre M71e support PCIe 8x cards?
Many of these OEM desktops only supports native 16x in the 16x slot, and HD 8570 is a native 8x card in a 16x connector, and it may not boot on those computers. If something like a HD5450 (or more powerful ones like GTX 750/1050/Ti) works, then it is that problem.

[wujstefan]

Well this may be it. I have no other idea anyway - will check it outside in another unit.

[kfzhu1229]

Well this may be it. I have no other idea anyway - will check it outside in another unit.

Well at least that is true on my Dell units. The older Pentium 4 Dell Dimension computers I have will not boot up with the likes of GT730 or HD8450 that I tried because both have PCIe 8x lane electrically, unless I plug them into the PCIe 1x slot (and saw off the end cap on the connector), which then it will run at 1x and gets a bottleneck there. For example, in Windows 7 or 10, pressing Windows key + tab on a GT730 or HD8450 running at 1x is much laggier than a HD5450 running at 16x.
While the newer Core 2 OptiPlex 755 I have will just automatically downgrade the lane to 1x with GT730 installed (which is actually the reason why I upgraded to a GTX 1050 Ti and sold the GT 730)