Supermicro X8DTE-F force onboard video when PCI-e video is installed?

[chinesestunna]

Hi all!

Been doing some consolidating and updating of hardware in my ESXi box and trying to run a HTPC VM through it by adding a PCI-e video card and passing through to a PlexVM.
Current Config (abridged):
Supermicro X8DTE-F + 2x L5630 CPU
48GB RAM
Lots of drives
ESXi 5.5 with VMs
Running headless, managed completely via IPMI/BMC over LAN

Idea:
Add a Asus 6450 PCI-e video card, setup direct PCIe passthrough to a VM running Plex. HDMI to receiver etc. This would eliminate my HTPC as my server is now in a location close to TV and receiver and is running 24x7 anyways.

Issue:
After installing the PCI-e video card, the board defaults video output to PCI-e immediately and the onboard vga is essentially disabled. This is a problem as doing remote management KVM no longer get a video signal. Hooking up a monitor works but I would love not having to move a monitor every time I need to do something. Googling "Force onboard video" yields this result:
Changing from Onboard Video to Graphics card on Supermicro board
It seems there's a setting in PCI/PnP section of the BIOS but I can't find that entry in my BIOS.

My guess this may be something that is only available post X9 generation hardware? Anyone with X8 gen care to chime in?

Thanks in Advance!

 

[Blinky 42]

I don't have a x8 board handy with a video card in it as well to test but some variation of the bios option should be in there. You may also look for something like PCIe Add On ROM's or EPROM or similar and try to disable the video card's int 10h hook to be responsible for video.

 

[nthu9280]

I've a X10SRA-F and gave up on having IPMI go to iKVM and PCIe graphics for OS (Ubuntu). If I change the BIOS setting both IPMI and OS Video to one or the other. When I set the priority to PCI Graphics card, Browser iKVM does not work. This is a workstation so not a big issue for me but would love to find out on how to configure to have both working independently.

 

[chinesestunna]

Thanks guys for the insights, I think it may not work and I'll need to stick with my HTPC in addition to the server.

@nthu9280 your issue seems interesting - I would imagine if you default to onboard, you'll get iKVM at BIOS/post stages so you can do management. After system boots into Ubuntu the OS should see both video devices and handle them separately (driving different displays). Although of course you'll never be able to see what the PCIe device is outputting over KVM