Run R10/R12 as headless server without gpu

Question

There are plenty of R10's and R12's being sold on ebay without their gpus. They have reasonable enough cpu specs given that they are f sku cpu's with no mobo video out anyway.

My plan is to get and use one of these machines and run it as a home-server hosting a few services I currently run on much lower end hardware.

My main concern is the Alienware mobo giving POST issues when booting with no gpu. I'm hoping they'll pass POST and boot into the OS (win10 or linux etc.) successfully.

Has anyone else attempted to do this? Or have a machine they're willing to take the gpu out of and test to see if it can successfully POST & boot anyway?

nl252 · Accepted Answer

I can confirm that a GT710 with uefi vbios is now also working and can access the R12s latest bios v1.1.10. Thats what im currently using for the R12. I'm also using a i3 10105 as a cpu in it, so can confirm that works as well.

https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-ca/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=f1gcf&oscode=wt64a&productcode=alienware-aurora-r12-desktop

Vanadiel · Answer

There's a cheap video card you can buy that will work with the R10/R12, and you can then use it as a hosting server.

The drive bays and connectivity are a bit limited, so if you were thinking about NAS you likely should look at a few other options.

Video card

@speedstep is the expert at these things, that's what he recommended for a card that will boot and also display the bios.

This is obviously not a gaming or mining card, but for a server it's perfect for the price.

It can also serve as an emergency backup card, in case you ever have a video card failure.

speedstep · Answer

The Dell R7 250 works fine because there is a UEFI bios on the card and OEM certificate in bios for DELL on that card.

nl252 · Answer

So it sounds like the R12 wont POST without a gpu?

Looking at related threads; Secure Boot will be the main issue for non-dell gpu's.

The R7 250 will work as it has the dell certificate in vBios, and so will allow POST regardless of secure boot on or off.

To use a non-dell gpu, Secure Boot needs to be off, and the gpu needs a valid UEFI vBios?

Assuming secure boot is off, are there any other limiting factors regarding gpu choice? (apart from card length)

It sounds like once secure boot is off, the gpu can be upgraded to anything released in the last 5-7 years?

Thanks for the support guys

speedstep · Answer

Display port headless adapter will be required unless you have a monitor attached.

DisplayPort Display Emulator B08DTJ5S15

Non crazy expensive card is the R7 250

after that if you need GPU compute power next step up is Yeston RX550.

Yeston RX550 B0953673BB

http://yeston.net/product/details/234/272

They are legit but only buy directly from them or trusted source like amazon with a non DOA guarantee.

Alienware Desktops

Run R10/R12 as headless server without gpu

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