Desktops & All-In-Ones

[Vengaence]

   I have worked with an acer predator AG3620 as well with the GT630 video card, and tried installing 3 different video cards, an 8800gt, a 6570, and a gtx650ti and none of them worked (black screen, no video signal, computer appears to boot to windows as recognized by hard drive activity but no video signal).  All of these video cards work in another machine and worked in other machines after this test.

   Clearly acer has done something specific with their motherboard to lock out changing the video card, and it defaults back to the integrated video.  

   This is not a video card manufacturer issue, this is an acer issue.   I'd like acer to provide a suitable response here and not ignore the issue at hand.  A large set of video hardware has been tested in your system that is proven to work in other systems, meets the PCI-e spec of your system and the power supply requirements, but does not work.

[dhart2123]

Im having the same problems....Can anyone help plz?

[Acer-Tommy]

Predator G3620 supports:

1 * PCIE x16 (PCIE V3.0)

3 * PCIE x1 (PCIE V2.0)

The PSU is a 500W power supply.

You are stating that you have attempted to install the following cards in the system:

GTX650Ti - requires 400 watt or greater power supply

GT630 - Minimum of a 350 Watt power supply

8800GT - Required Power Supply: 400 Watt/450 Watt

6570 - 400 Watt Power Supply is required

-- EVGA cards (nVidia) / Sapphire Radeon HD 6570 for reference

Do the cards you installed require extra power connectors?

Please understand that we do not offer support for third party hardware or software.

[Vengaence]

   the 6570 does not have PCI-e 6 or 8 pin power connectors.  The 650ti has one, as does the 8800gt.  Yes they were plugged in as appropriate.  The 500W power supply included with the G3620 predator has 1 PCI-e connector available. 

    I realize that acer does not provide support for different video cards, but acer does advertise that the system is compatible with other video cards, and the predator system is sold in with similar configurations up to the gtx660 video card using the same motherboard as far as I know.  With a known good card that works in other systems I have, which is compatible spec wise with the acer computer in question, there's no valid reason this shouldn't work.

   The issue I suspect is with windows 8 and UEFI.  Secure boot is most likely enabled and is locking down the hardware, and refuses to recognize the "foreign" video card.  Since secure boot is very new, it doesn't surprise me that this isnt the first answer that comes out of the mill.  

   If I can get back into bios with the GT630, I'm going to try disabling secure boot and run legacy mode and see if that helps.

[davidadino]

Hi,

Recently i got a G3620 at Sep 2012, it comes with GT630.

I thought of changing a graphic card as GT630 does not meets the standard of gaming PC.

Was looking for a upgrade precaution and i found this, i wonder if there is any suitable graphic card that is compatible to the G3620? As most search i found is regarding the Watt issue. I will want to hear acer reply to "Vengence" too

[StevieEdge]

I'm having the same issue after trying to install the gtx 660. I'm getting a black screen and no signal.

Please tell me if you find a solution. I don't want to have to return my computer and graphics card. :l

[Vengaence]

   I've decided to give up on this issue and moved everything to a new motherboard.  The new motherboard posted instantly with the GTX-650ti as you'd expect.  What I didn't expect, the machine managed to boot off of the old acer windows 8 UEFI GPT partition from the 2TB hard drive without modification.  It switched to debug/generic drivers for hardware automatically on first boot.  I was able to manually update the drivers for the new motherboard and all is well.  I think your success rate will vary depending on how close the motherboard is to the stock B75 chipset (this board is actually based on the Z77 ethusiast chipset MSI  Z77MA-G45).   

   This clearly isnt the best option for everyone, but hassling with a pre-built motherboard from acer that's locked down with no technical support isn't my idea of fun, or productivity.

   The machine is back up and gaming with higher frame rates and having fun again.

   Good luck guys.

[davidadino]

... then arnt alot cheated by the so called "Gaming PC" of Acer.

Hate to admit, a wrong choice was made, i should have get the Asus the last round.

[Vengaence]

   Building your own PC is actually quite fun and not terribly difficult.  If you can make a friend or two online or locally that is a technical and can help you if you get in a pinch, you are all set.  Pre-built machines from all brands cut some corners (usually on power supply and motherboard) as well as other areas to stay competitive.  If you build your own, you can make the absolute most of your budget and put your money where it belongs.  Gamers should always put most of their money on their video card.  This particular machine, with a 3770 i7 but a moderate/weak video card is better suited for office use than gaming.  

[Ranier]

Hi there, It seems like the only solution is disabling the Secure Boot that comes with Windows 8, which doesn't allows to upgrade a graphic card that the system doesn't recognize.

Here are the instruccions

http://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3156/~/when-installing-an-after-market-graphics-c...

Here's a review from someone who purchased the AG3620-UR318 "Overall it is an outstanding computer. However, when attempting to upgrade from the GT 630 video card to an hd 7950. It wouldn't display video thru the 7950 because there were no signed drivers on the computer yet. Once I disabled Secure boot in the bios, everything worked fine."

So it should work on this one as well. I'm really interested in buying this computer, but if it doesn't allow a GPU upgrade then I don't think I'll buy it. Please, tell me if you try it and if it worked, thank you!