21
10
As I can remember, on old systems (Pentium II or III) it was not possible to boot and run the PC if the graphics card was missing (AGP cards were used in those days).
Many years from then, I'm using motherboards with integrated graphics and I have no experience related to this subject, the "graphics card" always was present.
Currently I intend to build a home/private "server" for my purposes and most of the motherboards I want to buy have no integrated graphics (AMD 870 or 970). I can take a normal graphics card from my friends for a few hours/days and use it when installing the necessary software.
Can I boot and run the PC without problems after I install everything I need and the graphics card is removed? If a general answer cannot be given, at least some examples of manufacturers/MB series/MB models will be helpful.
I think it's obvious, but for completeness, I mean cheap desktop components and not real servers.
get a apu its a CPU with graphics integrated into it to half and half – None – 2015-06-18T20:29:44.557
I had the same question. Please read my findings http://typingcat.blogspot.com/2013/12/is-it-possible-to-boot-without-gpu.html Basically, no, but possible.
– Damn Vegetables – 2013-12-24T03:27:42.1031My 486 could boot without graphic card so you're wrong. Old systems can do it. The question is "is BIOS rich enough to allow it", not the date of manufacture. Eg ASUS P2B motherboard manual, lists BIOS setting "Halt On". Set it to "No Errors" and voila. – Agent_L – 2016-06-07T08:33:48.870
Did you try it? My computer boots fine after removing the graphics card. And if you install SecureShell you don't need to shut down the server and install a graphic card to install software. – Marco – 2012-07-29T10:19:27.247
1I think he's asking this as a hypothethical question, before buying a system. I'm curious about this too, though sadly i can't seem to find anything i can use to test this. – Journeyman Geek – 2012-07-29T11:06:00.193
@Marco: no, I did not try yet; I want to buy a MB, that's why I'm asking ... if a graphics card is not mandatory, I could look at those no-IG motherboards, buy one, then borrow a GPU for a few hours and save 50-60$ at leat for the moment (I'm not from USA or another rich country, so 50$ makes the difference) – ArtM – 2012-07-29T11:10:16.817
Linux can be configured to run headless, that is, without a video console + keyboard; the console is assigned to a serial port. Windows editions for PCs may not be able to run headless like its server editions. And then you need to consider what applications you want to use. – sawdust – 2012-07-29T22:54:25.817