Upgrading the HP Envy h8-1414 GPU

I'm not sure you would have an issue upgrading your GPU with your computer has there been reported issues with the board you have blocking you out?

Some people have, other's havent. I added some links. Those who have seemed more educated on them, so I was hoping for a response from one of them. And I'm a semi-noob to this so bear with me.

Hmm and this is why I hate retail store bought computers because of the weird motherboards they place in these things. Also keep in mind that the power supply only has 300 watts of power which will severely handicap you if you were to move to a dedicated card.

Oh I definitely am upgrading my PSU when I get a new card. And I was planning on building my own, but as a kid, mom was worried about the house being burned down. I can switch to Legacy bios like other's have done, and from what I read it's a 50/50. I might have to wait for down the line when some cards come out made explicitly for us stuck with Windows 8 and its UEFI. Hopefully someone who has this computer and solved this will come across this thread and share the fix. For now though it's just hours of googleing and maybe will work/maybe not.

Yea that is rough I didn't realize windows 8 could have that effect. You wouldn't burn down the house silly mom kids smart enough to make his way to the forums haha! I'd be sneaky and change out the motherboard against my parents will shh!   That and the power supply for sure. CURSE name brand computers grr!

Haha we'll see. Hopefully there's a fix.

Are you able to turn off secure boot in your bios? Do you have an option for a legacy boot?

Well in one of the threads it outlines that you can't do secure boot with non x86 operating systems.

I'm able to get here:

So yes.

Right but that is without a new card right? Which is the issue that people are having with windows 8 and that particular model number.

Precisely. As for what I've seen, it's only this model. Are there any GPU's that are marked as UEFI compatible bios? That seems to be what I need from what I've seen.

EDIT

http://forums.tweaktown.com/audio-visual/50398-uefi-gop...

Other's have contacted EVGA and they are apparently working on a firmware update to support it. So it must come down to the manufacturers making them compatible with firmware updates. So it will probably just be a waiting game till I find out which have released GPU's with the updated firmware.

Well the newer cards they are I'm not even sure the UEFI part is stopping people. I think its more of a motherboard deal where its being fussy with what its allowing and what its not. I have a GTX670 from gigabyte and my card works just fine with my motherboard which has a UEFI bios.

So buying an EVGA and requesting an update wouldn't work?

http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?&m=1767531&mpage=6

Apparently you contact them and they send you an update to make it compatible.

Again, noob, so If Im missing a major point, please tell.

If EVGA provides a firmware update for there cards that would enable you to use the card that could be one way at going at it. In terms of customer support that is it at its finest from them.

You aren't a noob you are researching and doing what anyone else would do who didn't have the answer  

Im thinking it would work. Oh and it seems that none of these would work for me:

http://www.evga.com/Products/ProductList.aspx?type=0&fa...

Under Specs on Best Buy for my comp it says:

Available Expansion Slots: 1 PCI Express x1, 1 DIMM

And my mobo is a Gigabyte 2AC8 Version 1.2, but I can't seem to find anything telling it's details online.

That is the boot menu can you get into the bios settings I believe it is f10 at power on

Hmm that is one weird motherboard to not have a 16x expansion slot. Do you know if it already has a card in it or is it onboard video. In the end you may need to get a motherboard upgrade which may not be a bad idea another reason to hate retail store computers they try to lock you in nice and tight  

Actually there is a card in it. Im guessing it's taking up the slot?

f10 brought me here:

I'm not sure can you tell if its a full 16x pci express slot?

http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/AMD-Radeon-HD-7450-gra...

This is it ^

It says: Radeon HD 7450 - 1 GB GDDR3 - PCI Express 2.0 x16 low profile

So yes, it is taking up my x16.

ok then you should be okay the only thing in question I guess since it's using a low profile slot connection is that you would more then likely need a low profile card to fit in the slot due to your current case configuration. If you are stuck with a low profile solution the best card that I could find on newegg that was low profile was this 7750 card.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Here is an actual picture i just took. Does it look low profile? And could my mobo possibly support a regular size but HP chose this one for some weird reason? The case looks the same if not bigger than most desktop's I've seen. And I found this:

"Low profile graphics cards connect to a computer's motherboard in the same slot that standard graphics cards use. You can connect a standard profile mounting bracket to a low profile card to mount it in a case designed for standard graphics cards. Regardless of the bracket type, you cannot mount a standard graphics card in a case designed for low graphics cards due to the space limitations of the case."

So I could most likely just buy a bracket and use a regular one.

Have you tried jumping the bios reset ?

Sorry I don't know what you mean. But we're past the bios troubles and just trying to find a 600 series EVGA thats compatible with my mobo, as the 600's are compatible with UEFI.

If i am not mistaken uefi boards have a dual bios, if you reset the bios it will re-index the gpu in the pcie slot.

I don't understand what you're saying but it sounds intelligent. My problem now is finding a GPU compatible with my mobo from the EVGA 600's.

If i understand your links correctly win 8 will only recognize Secure Boot uefi changes , however your board will not boot with the 600 series. That tells me a m/b update is needed. Your other link showing how to go into the bios and disable it got me thinking of a work around. That is by resetting the bios and it will again run through the slots indexing them in the uefi bios

The reason why you will have issues with a 600 card is that you have a low profile case with a low profile graphics card . You couldn't fit a larger card in your case.

Are you sure it's a low profile case? It has the dimensions of a standard, and when you look up low profile cases they are half as thin as this.

I havent tried booting it with a 600 series, the 600 series according to EVGA is compatible with UEFI if you ask them for the drivers.

Right but the expansion slots are low profile your graphics card is low profile.

So If a get a low profile EVGA that's compatible with my motherboard (doubt there is one), it should work?

have you tried this from one of your links?:
Instructions for manually disabling secure boot:

1) Power down the system

2) Remove the NVIDIA Add-in card

3) Boot the system using integrated graphics

4) Enter CMOS settings. CMOS settings can usually be accessed during boot, typically by pressing one of F1, F2, F8, F12, or Delete (depends on the system firmware) Alternatively they can be accessed in Windows 8 as follows: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-access-the-bios-on-...

5) Set Secure Boot to disabled

6) If there is an option, set CSM (or compatibility or legacy mode) to enabled.

7) Save the new settings

8) Power down the system

9) Install the NVIDIA Add-in card

10) The system should now boot

I can disable secure boot and all that, I just am looking for a GPU now compatible with my mobo now.

pretty much any card with pci-e 16x should work evga has lifetime warranty although if its a big card might require a larger power supply to power it as well as the pci-e power connectors.

Weird case micro atx size but low profile back plate. Your best bet is a 7750

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

So all it takes to see if a GPU is compatible with a Motherboard is the slot? Does it matter what the CPU is?

Tourist that is exactly what I had recommended. Your computer can support w.e you want to throw at it graphic card wise the issue is the case. You have a problem because it is a low profile design. And then you have an issue because your motherboard probably doesn't play well with certain cards.

no sir although it is something to take into consideration since games will still run like *** with a nice gpu and a lousy cpu but you gotta six core cpu you should be good with whatever

its a crap mobo but i don't see a low profile design looks like normal parts to me check it out on the hp page

look at his card. click the link to his card it says in the description its a low profile card. Look at the picture of his card in the case he doesn't have room for anything more then a single slot card a 2 slot card would suffocate in that case.

Second person to suggest this one. My mobo is not 3.0 though. "PCI Express 3.0 x16" - product description

It doesn't matter what your pci slot is I have a z68 chipset. It support pci 3.0 however I have a sandy bridge CPU in it which does not support pci express 3.0. The point is even if you don't have a pci express 3.0 slot it will support it it will not operate at 3.0 speeds but it will operate at 2.0 speeds. The same goes for USB devices if you have a usb 3.0 device it will work on a 2.0 port however it will not operate at the 3.0 speeds.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=us&lc=en...

this page says its a full size card

your right you did. But i was thinking low profile bracket . he has 6.9 inches of width on that case

full-height bracket

Right and that may be but he doesn't have a bracket to support a 2 slot card firstly low profile cards are very low in stock anywhere you go, and in that case a 2 slot card would get blistering hot.

Correct so anything he can fit in there should work it isn't necessarily ideal to have a huge gaming gpu card in a little mini atx case but i have done it he may just need to add some fans or mod the case to cool it.