Issues installing my graphics card

So, I plug my "new" graphics card into the PC, and absolutely nothing happens. No signal, no sound, just dead silence.
Aside from the two fans spinning up and a few LEDs lighting up.

The card is an NVIDIA GTX 1650—could be brand new out of the box or a month old (I bought two identical ones), doesn't matter because they both act exactly the same.

Motherboard is an ASUS ROG Maximus.
Running an i5-2500K, three drives, and 8 GB of some Kingston RAM.

I’ve tried plugging the card into both x16 slots—tested both identical cards in both slots just to see if anything would stick.
Tried every video output too (two DVI, DP, HDMI).
The kicker? Both cards work perfectly fine in a different computer next to this one!!!

I even swapped out the power supply (Corsair CX500) just in case it was a power delivery issue. Still nothing. Zero luck.

What else is left to try?
Any idea what the actual problem could be?

I really hope you remembered to clear the CMOS using the jumper on the motherboard after you pulled the card out. If things still aren't working after a reset like that, it’s a pretty strong sign that the motherboard itself is shot or those PCI express slots are just dead. Also, I definitely hope you didn't forget to plug in the extra power cable to the card itself. What kind of card were you running before this one, and was it working okay?

shadowlynx102 said:I really hope you remembered to clear the CMOS using the jumper on the motherboard after you pulled the card out. If things still aren't working after a reset like that, it’s a pretty strong sign that the motherboard itself is shot or those PCI express slots are just dead. Also, I definitely hope you didn't forget to plug in the extra power cable to the card itself. What kind of card were you running before this one, and was it working okay?

I haven't done the CMOS reset yet.
Honestly, I’ve never had to deal with this kind of nonsense in my life, so it didn't even cross my mind.

The power cable to the card is definitely plugged in.
It was an AMD Radeon HD 6670 before this; it works perfectly fine now, unlike this new one.

Fine, I'll try the CMOS reset tomorrow (for the hundredth time) and let you know how it goes.
Thanks.

So, it looks like the motherboard is actually fine. I just realized you're working with a PCI express 2.0 board while the graphics card is running on PCI express 3.0, though honestly, that shouldn't be an issue at all since cards are supposed to be backward compatible with just about any slot you plug them into. Still, dealing with Dell hardware can sometimes feel like a bit of a gamble, you never quite know what you're going to get...

Maybe try toggling the PCI express priority setting in your BIOS first, just to see if that shakes things up.
There's also this nagging possibility that Dell might have cut some shady little deal with NVIDIA when they designed this motherboard, basically locking it down so only their specific cards play nice with it. I noticed in the compatibility reports they only listed NVIDIA under the supported hardware section http://www.msi.com/file/test_report/TR1_2341.pdf
So, if you want to be absolutely sure I'm not just spinning my wheels here, maybe grab a different ATI card and pop it in there to rule out a hardware mismatch...

shadowlynx102 said:So, it looks like the motherboard is actually fine. I just realized you're working with a PCI express 2.0 board while the graphics card is running on PCI express 3.0, though honestly, that shouldn't be an issue at all since cards are supposed to be backward compatible with just about any slot you plug them into. Still, dealing with Dell hardware can sometimes feel like a bit of a gamble, you never quite know what you're going to get...

Even after a BIOS reset, nothing.

That mismatch between PCI Express 2.0 and 3.0 might be the culprit.
Is there any way to fix this?

Lawrence Barnes64 said:Maybe try toggling the PCI express priority setting in your BIOS first, just to see if that shakes things up.
There's also this nagging possibility that Dell might have cut some shady little deal with NVIDIA when they designed this motherboard, basically locking it down so only their specific cards play nice with it. I noticed in the compatibility reports they only listed NVIDIA under the supported hardware section http://www.msi.com/file/test_report/TR1_2341.pdf
So, if you want to be absolutely sure I'm not just spinning my wheels here, maybe grab a different ATI card and pop it in there to rule out a hardware mismatch...

My AMD Radeon HD 6670 worked perfectly right out of the box.

Could you let me know which motherboard is being used in that other PC where both cards are running without any issues?

shadowlynx102 said:Could you let me know which motherboard is being used in that other PC where both cards are running without any issues?

It's a branded machine, a Dell Optiplex 7010 MT, about a year or two old.

Amanda Kelly said:Even after a BIOS reset, nothing.

That mismatch between PCI Express 2.0 and 3.0 might be the culprit.
Is there any way to fix this?

It definitely isn't a PCI express issue; those two shouldn't interfere with each other. Are you sure that power supply is up to the task? Have you actually tried testing the AMD Radeon HD 6670 in this specific PC yet?

If the answer to all of that is yes, then the only thing I can suggest is updating the BIOS to the latest version found here. I've seen a few mentions online about newer cards refusing to play nice with certain motherboards until the BIOS gets an update—it's a bit strange, 🤷