Good morning.   As you may already know, Dell doesn't support additional video cards for their servers. However, there is an option in the bios to disable the onboard video.   Once you have disabled this option,  move the video cable to the card and then restart the server.    Reviewing the operating systems supported by the card itself, shows it to be supported by AMD under Windows 7, XP and Vista,  so you may have to locate a driver  from one of these OS's to make it work.    The card may also draw more power than the server is designed to provide as well. Normally, these slots are limited to 25W or less, and the only 16x supported slot is slot 2.

Regards,

For many of the Power Edge "T" series servers there is a BIOS setting under the "Integrated Device Screen" which allows you to disable the on-board video controller. As such, and because the on-board video controller can be disabled, you usually find the following statement under the Integrated Devices Screen (BIOS section) of the Hardware Owners Manual:

"the embedded video controller field can be disabled only if an add-in video card is present. If this field is disabled, remote access features such as virtual KVM are not available".

However, in your case, page 64 of the T310 HOM states the BIOS setting for the "Embedded Video Controller" is set to "Enabled" as default and the description stated is "Displays the total amount of video memory available in the embedded video controller". This makes no sense and may just be sloppy documentation. Experimenting with these bios settings will quickly identify if it's just a documentation issue or something more!

Also, the T310 Technical guide book indicates on page 47 that Slot 2 is a x16 PCIe 2.0 compatible slot with only 8 lanes wired to it. Further, the HOM states on page 114 that to ensure proper cooling, only one of the expansion cards can have a power consumption greater than 15W (up to 25W maximum), not including the integrated storage controller.

The above would indicate that you most likely will be able to DISABLE the integrated video controller and thus use a PCIe graphics card  in slot 2. But your ATI Firepro V4800 consumes 70W when working hard so according to Dell, draws too much power from a cooling perspective. As such you may want to consider a lower power graphics card or monitor the server temperatures more closely to ensure you aren't causing problems for yourself.

So, i would install the x16 PCIe graphics card in slot 2, then jump into bios and change Embedded Video Controller field from ENABLED (the default) to DISABLED, save the BIOS changes and shutdown the machine. Then move the monitor cable to the new PCIe graphics card and restart the machine at which point you should see the system boot process on your monitor**. When you get into the windows OS, you can load the appropriate ATI driver for your graphics card.

Do note that "Win2008Standard" drivers may not be available for your card. You may have to try drivers from another OS, for example VISTA or Win7 drivers, and see if they work for your OS. Also, Dell does not support PCIe graphics in it's older servers so you are on your own if you have any software and/or hardware issues. Having said that, many have found it works well for them (but i suspect they aren't using such mods in a production setting).

Post back whether it worked for you, especially in relation to the BIOS statement within the Dells HOM above, it may help other T310 owners that are considering PCIe graphics card upgrade...

** Note that the graphics card may still not work or the system may not boot with the card installed. This could be due to the PCIe hot plug detect mechanism not working with your motherboard and graphics card combination. If this is the case, it can be fixed with a thin patch wire between pins A1 and B48 on PCIe slot 2. For details on this fix, see here (for PCIe pinouts) and here (for hot plug detect fix - about 1/2 way down the page - but note Marc is using PCie x1 slot while you are using x16mechanical/x8electrical slot). The only other issue that may impact you is if the option ROM size doesn't allow that  video card BIOS to load during POST but if this is indeed a problem for you i don't have any suggestion on how to solve this problem.

After scavenging the web for an answer on this issue and with no clear answers i decided to update. I know this posting is old but i am sure that i am not the only one attempting to update the graphics card to be able to dual screen (well at least i hope not). 

I have the PowerEdge T310 E09S with an onboard VGA card. I went to the local Frys since i read on varies post that  this was not possible or that you might have issues, they have an awesome policy if it doesn't work return it. I bought the "EVGA Nvidia Geforce GT 630" (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130821) which comes with dual DVI connectors which i bought adapters for to convert to HDMI and plug into a 26' Samsung TV. I installed windows 8 Pro and installed the drivers that came on a CD. One i was done with that i went to the BIOS and disabled the video controller and Viola!! works perfectly displays the POST and all. Did i mention this card only cost me about $60 bucks with a $10 mail in rebate because it was reduced. Awesome!

I'm sure you are not the only one, but you are by far in the minority.  There is probably a larger percentage of Txxx owners who don't have their server connected to ANY monitor than ones who connect to an HD monitor or dual monitors.

Not that it is a bad thing - just not common.  Thanks for sharing ... I'm sure someone will benefit.  Video is often trial/error, so now they have one more card that has been shown to "work".

I installed an NVIDIA Gforce 9500GT 512M PCIe video card I had on hand into my T310 and it is working perfectly. The stock Windows 7 drivers automatically installed themselves and it is working like a charm. Windows update was able to go fetch more up to date drivers for this card as well.

I did have to disable the onboard graphics through the startup bios configuration routine, which was no big deal.

The 9500GT isn't going to get any gamers excited these days, but if you just want to drive one or two DVI monitors for standard desktop work it does the job terrifically. I ran the Windows Experience Index utility and it gave the graphics a 5.3 rating, which is plenty good for everything short of intense gaming.

Hi!

I've just bought a T310 and i'm trying to transform it in a Desktop computer. I've upgraded the HDs, dvd recorder but the video is still trick.. 

I have a GeForce 8400GS. Plugged it and remove the onboard video at the setup. it started windows 7 but no USB working.

At BIOS I enable the onboard video again and found out that the windows did not found enought resources to enable the GeForce...  (code 12) 

Any idea?

Thanks.

There is a BIG difference between the 11th (T310/T410) versus the 12th (T320/T420) generation of PowerEdge servers with regards to the BIOS. The 12th-gen uses UEFI Bios (GUI Bios with links and mouse support) regardless of BIOS boot or UEFI boot. The 11th-gen uses the legacy Bios.

It is very easy to add a video card to the 11th-gen PE.
Just add it to PCIe2.0 x8 or x16 slot and the video card should not exceed the PCIe slot wattage.
Then disable the onboard Matrox in the Bios and reboot.

Upon reboot, the addon video card would display all the Bios boot process and you can also get into the Bios (which is not an easy thing on the 12th-gen PE due to UEFI bios).

My system: PE T410 with add-on Syba Asmedia_SATA3+Etron_USB3, Syba Marvell HyperDuo SATA3 booting Windows 2008 Server on SSD (6Gbps vs 3Gbps using Dell/Intel SATA2) with BIOS boot ( No UEFI boot here since UEFI does not allow those add-on SATA3 adapters ) and Perc H700 with 6 disks. 

Tested graphic adapters:
Dell / Nvidia Quadro 600 (borrowed from Dell T3600) and Quadro 2000 (borrowed from Dell T1650),
MSI Nvidia GT 710,
EVGA Nvidia GT 630.

Good lucks gentlemen,

@hai_p_nguyen 

i just bought Dell Poweredge T310 couple days ago and now im trying to turn into a workstation i know its not suppose to be for that purpose but it was all i could get in my local area for $100 (AUD) and i couldnt travel far. anyways im interested in buying GT710 soon but wanna make sure it works? and i seen people having problems with install GPU in the T310 this goes anyone whos trying to install one. how do you get the GT710 working? do you just install the GPU then go into bios disable Onboard graphics then change the monitor cable to the graphics card and then youll boot into windows and download the driver for the GPU and thats it?

Bonjour,

Je suis un anglophone qui utilise une application de traduction. Veuillez m'excuser pour tout problème de grammaire.

La GTX1650 n'est pas une carte prise en charge par cette plateforme, et je ne m'attends pas à ce qu'elle fonctionne. La seule carte supportée que je montre est la Quadro NVS-295. Vous pouvez essayer de faire clignoter votre BIOS et le firmware de l'iDRAC, mais je ne pense pas que cela puisse faire fonctionner la carte. Vous pouvez également voir si la désactivation du contrôleur vidéo intégré dans le BIOS aide. Faites-moi savoir si vous avez des questions.

Nvidia GeForce GT 710 fonctionne sur Dell T310. Par contre Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER : carte reconnue 1 fois sur 2 (avec GPU intégré) et une fois les pilotes installé : carte non reconnue au redémarrage...

Quelqu'un aurait-il une solution ?

IN FRENCH  : Nvidia GeForce GT 710 fonctionne sur Dell T310. Par contre Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER : carte reconnue 1 fois sur 2 (avec GPU intégré) et une fois les pilotes installé : carte non reconnue au redémarrage...

Quelqu'un aurait-il une solution ?

I tried the modifications described here http://blog.zorinaq.com/whitepixel-breaks-286-billion-passwordsec/
Unfortunately, no success. The system detects the VGA card as a new PCExpress port. Tried to change the driver with no success. I'v got 8 pcs. of T310 with Windows 10. They works with standard display card.