Predator G3610 GPU upgrade

Bozz · March 2016

Hello. I need assistance please.

I have a Predator G3610 with i7 3770 processor, 16GB Ram and AMD Radeon HD7670 2GB (Win 10). I recently purchased a Nvidia GTX960 to upgrade my GPU.

However when installed the computer only displays the ACER on screen and does not move further from there. It remains frozen therafter. I have checked the GTX960 on another system and it is working. I have also upgraded my PSU to 750W.

Have I overlooked something? What could the error be? Could it be that the motherboard does not support the card, which I feel should not be so?

Any advice and help will be appreciated.

Thank you.

Cory-Acer · March 2016

I can't assure you that the 960 will work with the system as Acer didn't qualify it, but I'd be surprised if it did.

If you can get into the BIOS, can you try resetting the defaults and see if that helps at all?

Cory

Bozz · March 2016

Cory,

Thank you for the reply. Before I do what you suggested may I say the following which I looked up. My BIOS is PO3-A1 02/17/2012 while on Acer support I saw the following BIOS listed for my system PO3-A3 (with ivy and USB 3 support) 2012/5/14

Would this be a later update to my BIOS?

Thanks again

Hamb · August 2016

I have a Acer Predator G3610 that came with Windows 7, recently upgraded to windows 10.

Instead of building a new computer I want to upgrade my GPU to a GeForce GTX 960.

I read somewhere that prebuilt computers may have a locked bios or something and I am now concerned that this upgrade won't be possible.

I would appreciate it if someone could shed some light on this before I make my purchase.

Thank you.

- Hamb

Bozz · August 2016

The BIOS will probably not support it. I had bought a GTX 760 and even this was not compatible with the system.

Hamb · August 2016

Thank you for your reply, Bozz.

I guess that leaves me with no option other than building a computer with a new motherboard if I want to upgrade my gpu.

Bozz · August 2016

Yes you are right and this is what I did also. Last time I will pick up a prebuilt system that leaves no room for upgrades. Besides your self assembled system with "premium" upgardable hardware will still end up being same if not cheaper than these prebuilt systems.

JordanB · September 2016

@Bozz

The problem isn't really Acer's fault. It's just that the entire industry switched over to the new Windows 8 type UEFI. And most of the newer graphics cards only work on mainboards that were designed for Windows 8 (and newer).

You got caught in an industry wide transition period. More than likely the same thing would have happened if you would have built a computer at the time you bought G3610.

It's not really Acer's fault and it's not really your fault. You just had some bad luck because you bought during the transition period . Acer just uses whatever hardware is available at the time.

Apparently there's still some cards out there that support legacy BIOS or pre-Windows 8 UEFI.

Check the Nvidia forum or the AMD forum and ask them which decent legacy cards are available. There's a few UEFI cards that have a physical switch that you can toggle to support legacy BIOS.

Bozz · September 2016

Thank you for this, point taken. However all said and done Acer prebuilt computers, and this was not my first one, uses hardware which does not leave room for growth. Afterall why would Acer allow its customers to prolong the life of a machine when they can force you to buy a new one. From mini form MBs, to limited RAM slots, congested Pci slots, limited power PSU and so on. Just saying.....

Sunrabbit · September 2018

Maybe a usefull information:

I have a 6 year old Predator G3610 with i7 2600, 12 GB RAM, GF 560 TI, USB3. Bios P02.A2

Yesterday i was able to install a GFORCE 1080 GFX-Card successfull.

Because of this thread i was very unsure if this card would work. But it does But you need to be carefull by installing the card... my new gfx card was slightly touching the dram-slots and was a bit longer than the old. And the additional holders for the old gfx card placed in the case have to be removed.

bazangwanzi · October 2018

How's it going guys? Did anyone of you manage to upgrade your Predator G3610 to GeForce GTX 950, 960, or 1050?

Hamb · November 2018

show previous quotes

Sunrabbit said:

Maybe a usefull information:
I have a 6 year old Predator G3610 with i7 2600, 12 GB RAM, GF 560 TI, USB3. Bios P02.A2
Yesterday i was able to install a GFORCE 1080 GFX-Card successfull.
Because of this thread i was very unsure if this card would work. But it does But you need to be carefull by installing the card... my new gfx card was slightly touching the dram-slots and was a bit longer than the old. And the additional holders for the old gfx card placed in the case have to be removed.

Thank you, I've been putting together a new PC on paper but haven't yet purchased anything.
I will make sure to get the GPU first and at least try and make this upgrade happen instead of building a new machine.