Nvidia Quadro FX 1700 graphics card rejected by latest WoW update - suggestions please?

Blizzard is aware that some older DirectX 11 cards without Shader Model 5 support are no longer compatible after the updates. They are working on a fix that will allow players to continue to play on older cards, but it will take a couple weeks for them to implement this.

https://eu.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/issues-with-older-gpus/193865

For the last few expansions, World of Warcraft minimum specs have required a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) that is shader-model-5 compatible (DirectX 11.0 or higher). With the newer graphical features included in the Shadowlands Pre-patch, the game has ceased supporting all GPUs that are not compatible with shader-model-5.

We’ve discovered that a very small number of players are attempting to run World of Warcraft on older hardware that cannot play the game after patching.

At this time, we’re working on a solution that could allow the game to operate on some older hardware, at the lowest graphical settings, with some graphic features unavailable. We expect this solution to take at least a couple of weeks to develop and test.

We will let you know when this workaround is available. Thank you.

However, according to https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10467072/can-i-put-a-pci-e-3-0-x16-gpu-in-a-pci-e-1-0-x16-slot, PCIE 3.0 is backwards compatible with 1.0, so you should be able to put a modern PCIE 3.0 card in your older motherboard. Whether that's a good idea, considering your CPU would most likely be heavily bottlenecked by your CPU and the lower bandwidth of PCI-E 1.0, is up for debate, but it is an option.

I went to a shop looking to buy a newer card, but they told me that most likely my old computer's motherboard would not support the current generation of graphics cards.

That's a half-truth and possibly an attempt to upsell you.

FIRST OF ALL: figure out what motherboard you have. PCIe 2.0 was introduced in 2007 so there is a very high chance that you have at least 2.0. Running WoW should be plenty possible on PCIe 2.0 in regards to bandwidth. PCIe 3.0 even came out late in 2010 so if you're really lucky then you'll have that version.

Secondly, all PCIe versions are backward and forward compatible.

Thirdly, you seem to be using Windows 7 so if you are buying a new graphics card then just make sure it's the latest one supported on your operating system. I don't know for sure but a RTX 3080 might not work on Windows 7 so find something a little older. Note, if anyone seriously puts a 3080 inside a 10 year old computer then they should serve jail time. If you're a YouTuber that wants to show off bottle-necking, fine but that's the only exception.

Lastly, check how powerful your power supply is and buy a GPU sufficient for the power limits or upgrade the PSU and GPU together. If the PSU is 10 years old then it's probably worth it to just upgrade it anyways.