Headless AMD - mATX without GPU?

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vingo

Member
Jun 26, 2022
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Looking into AMD based mATX board that have two PCI slots to fill with networking cards, so I have NO slot for a gpu.

Motherboards in mATX format with at least two long PCI slots:
1. Asrock B450M pro 4
2. MSI B450M Mortar Max
3. Gigabyte B450M DS3H
4. Open to other options please suggest

Will above board with an AMD 6/8 core Ryzen:
3700x, 2700x, 1700x, 3600x 2600x...

Question:
Any idea if the above or any other two long slot mATX boards can post/run without a gpu installed?

PS: I am dying to know! Thx.
 
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jdnz

Member
Apr 29, 2021
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why not use a 5xxG series cpu and the onboard graphics - solves the problem anb the 5700g is also faster than a 3700x
 

vingo

Member
Jun 26, 2022
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Yes I know single slot X1 card or an APU are solutions thanks for pointing that out and it may be the way I ultimately go.

Running headless without GPU is really what I wanted to know. The CPU-only ryzens have great performance-to-price ratios. Especially something like a 1700X, which can be had for very little money.

For the cost of the 5xxxxG, I could locally purchase a second hand 3900X with a lot more cores.

Good suggestions for workaround, I appreciate it. But does anyone know or has anyone tried to run headless without a GPU on the board I listed or on any other mATX boards ?
 

bitbckt

will google compiler errors for scotch
Feb 22, 2022
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I run a headless B550D4U-2T with a 5600x with no problems. If necessary, it will run Wayland/X just fine over the IPMI interface (AST2500).

It doesn’t have two x16 PCI slots, but I don’t see why another board which does would be an issue. If you don’t choose a board with IPMI though, you may find that inconvenient.
 
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bitbckt

will google compiler errors for scotch
Feb 22, 2022
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not headless, the AST2500 include a VGA card.
The issue can be if the BIOS strictly want's a console output device.
Well, if we’re going to be pedantic like that… I replaced an Asus B550-I with the ASRock Rack. It also ran just fine without any GPU, though I did use a cheap GPU to initially configure it.
 

RolloZ170

Well-Known Member
Apr 24, 2016
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Question:
Any idea if the above or any other two long slot mATX boards can post/run without a gpu installed?
Gigabyte: not that model(ga-a320m-s2h) but Gigabyte BIOS don't need GPU installed to run.
MSI: not that model(msi-b450-pro-m2-max) but MSI BIOS need GPU installed.
 
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glow

New Member
Mar 22, 2022
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I know it's not on your list, but my ASRock Fatal1ty B350 ITX runs without a GPU. I used it for my server/router with a 3600 for quite some time. Only used a GPU to setup, swapped it out for a dual SFP+ card after setup was finished. Now it runs a 5600G, which makes the GPU question for me a bit moot, though AMD's non-Pro APUs don't support EEC, so I have some more work to do.

I remember reading that ASRock AM4 boards usually didn't care if a GPU was present or not.
 

Nikuuuuu

New Member
Dec 17, 2021
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I've been running a 3700x on an Asrock B450M pro 4 without a GPU for years. It work great. You just need a graphics card for setting up any BIOS settings and your set up for whatever OS you are using. Then you take the GPU out and swap your network card in and set it up your new NIC over SSH and you are good to go.