Vostro-460

XPS-8300

i7-2600, 3.40 GHz

BIOS A6

16 GB of RAM 1333MHz – DDR3 (corsair)

500GB Samsung SSD EVO 860

Windows 10

Samsung SyncMaster – using DVI port and Analog VGA port

ASUS Phoenix Nvidia Geforce GTX 1650 – 4GB DDR5

Hello:

I was able to install a Nvidia GTX 1650 graphics card on a Dell Vostro 460.  It is operating flawlessly (almost).

In the BIOS menu under “Advanced – Graphics Configuration – Intel Multiple Monitor Feature” there are 2 settings available 1) Disabled & 2) Auto.  I previously had a Nvidia Quadro 600 installed, and the BIOS was set to Disabled.  The disabled setting allows either the on-board video to display or the installed graphics card to display – only one of the two can display.  Auto allows both the on-board video and the installed graphics card to display at the same time.

In order to get the card installed, I first changed that BIOS setting to Auto.  There is an old VGA port on the back of the mini-tower that the on-board video displays to.  I plugged one end of a VGA cable into that port and the other end into the Analog port on my “old” monitor.

I installed the GTX 1650 card into the PCI x16 slot on the MB and turned on the computer.  On the first startup the on-board video displayed through the VGA cable to the Analog port on the monitor.  Windows 10 started up and after going into the Device Manager (windows-key-X).  The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 appeared under the list of Display adapters after “Intel ® HD Graphics”.  I downloaded the latest driver from the Nvidia website and installed it.

Then I shut down the PC and turned it on again.  The Dell splash screen showed (via the VGA cable) and as soon as Windows 10 started both the on-board video and the video card video broadcasted to the monitor.  The Windows 10 login page appeared on both outputs.

I shut down the PC again, and then unplugged the VGA cable from the on-board VGA port on the back of the mini-tower.  At that point the BIOS only detected the on-board video card.  The card broadcasted to the monitor, but the startup only got to the Vostro splash page and it froze.  The MB beeped every 10 seconds and after about 6 tries it stopped broadcasting through the video card.  PROBLEM!

I knew the video card was installed properly, the driver was installed properly, and in Windows 10 everything was working fine.  I suspect that the BIOS does not like the video card because there is an issue with Legacy support.  I also did not want to leave the VGA cable plugged into my monitor, because then Windows spans the 2 monitors and that would have been awkward with just a single monitor. 

So I decided to trick my old Vostro.  I plugged one end of the VGA cable into the on-board VGA port on the back of the mini tower and plugged the other end into nothing.  It just dangles behind the PC.  I turned on the power and successfully got to the Windows 10 login page broadcasting from the video card to the DVI port on the monitor.  The Vostro can detect that there is a VGA cable plugged into the port, but it can’t detect whether there’s a monitor on the other end.  I suspect that since the BIOS could “detect” a VGA cable connected to the on-board video, it was OK with proceeding past the BIOS splash page and launching windows.  It simply ignored the video card Legacy issue.

Once Windows 10 starts it detects the video card and broadcasts to DVI.  Windows 10 doesn’t even try to broadcast using the on-board VGA.

Here’s the only flaw to this configuration.  The Vostro splash page is only broadcasted to the on-board VGA so in my configuration I see nothing until the Windows login page appears.  The only time this would be an issue is if I need to change the BIOS, which is virtually never.  And if I do I’d just have to plug the VGA cable into the monitor.

So now I have an old computer that starts up in under 5 seconds and works great for everyday computing and light gaming.  I just wanted to post this article to let anyone else with a Vostro 460 know that it is possible to install an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650.  It’s not very difficult.