Poweredge T630 Display output

The problem is that Dell seems to have a steadfast view that an old embedded video function is all that anyone should want in a server. So we get old school resolutions that are ok for many but fall short for a few.

And rather than Dell upgrade the embedded video function to bring it into the new melenium, which would be a good middle ground, it simply refuses to do much of anything stating "it's a server" much like Judge Dread stating "It's the law" :emotion-6:

So we customers are left to our own means with .inf or registry hacks to make small resolution improvements ourselves (as you have read on the ot\eehr thread you posted on). It's not an ideal situation.

And if the system firmware has the ability to disable the embedded video function, your in luck. But if we then goes down the path of adding a (cheap) PCIe graphics card, we loose some remote management features. Then Dell further punish us by either ignoring "disable embedded video" setting within the BIOS (as seen in recent T110 II post) causing possible non boot issue OR allowing the system to boot with a graphics card but then forces the fans into "screaming jet" mode (because Dell doesn't want to certify a (cheap) graphics card or expose some cooling parameters within BIOS itself). Such issues are not hard for Dell to fix but again it's back to this "it's the law" mentality.

At least this was the state of play when i looked at adding a graphics card to my T610. It worked for me but i lost some remote management features (meh... for me not a biggy) and i lost some hearing (a bigger issue but the noise wasn't too bad after the loss... kidding.. maybe not...). Now i'm cautious with any BIOS update as i don't want to potentially loose "disable embedded video" feature within BIOS (thinking of that T110 II thread).

Maybe the T630 has made some moves forward as compared to the T610 and your firmware now better handles (cheap) PCIe graphics card with quieter server fans. But you wont know until you buy a cheap graphics card and plug it into a PCIe slot... If the cheap graphics card works for you, you can step up to a more powerful graphics card that will support your 4K monitor. If you can live with the loss of some remote feaqtures and the noise is acceptable, this may be your best bet. Heck if it works as i suspect it should, it's better than buying a certified FirePro W700 compute card for $thousdands and using it in a non certified (graphics) way within your server.

Just keep in mind that if you want a 300W graphics cards, the system must have been ordered with the GPU enablement kit at the time of purchase. This kit is basically a small power distribution board and some cables along with 1100W power supplies (part numbers are specified in another thread). Sadly this kit can not be ordered post sale to retrofit to your non GPU capable PE T630... To me a kit is just that so i guess Dells terminology is different to mine...

So feel like your jumping backwards through flaming hoops yet [:?]

Wow, seriously? Likening server hardware design to slavery law and philosophy?! It's just a server for crying out loud. (And it's 'dred', not 'dread'.)

RDP will give you all the resolution you need ... VERY few servers are used with a display, let alone with one requiring HD. It is NOT an important design discussion. I agree it would not take much to add support for FHD displays - and they should - but 4K support is an unrealistic request to be built into server hardware not designed for graphics output. Also, there are systems that have server-grade hardware that are designed for graphics applications, which would be a much better choice.

Thanks for the replies team.

Flash - I don't necessarily want 4k resolution (although it would be nice) or even HD, I just want higher than 1680 x 1050 - which doesn't seem unreasonable to me. I'm not doing graphics work, just using extremely intensive software that juggles millions of documents. It makes my job a heck of a lot easier and quicker when I can see more on the screen at once, rather than having to constantly scroll through small quantities.

I looked at RDP - but because of the minute detail and speed of the work I do, RDP is not really a good option either. Even a slight lag is enough to drive me up the wall...!

I think we (forensic) can't be the only industry that needs server grade hardware, but needs to run the machine as a stand alone. I imagine with most of these cases too, having a higher resolution, or at least the ability to use third party cards for display, would be helpful. I understand Dell have designed these machines to run efficiently as servers and if we add third party cards, it may compromise some of the features - but it would be good to have it as an option. I for one would take it, even if it meant losing out on some of the server features.

Skylarking - I do have the option in BIOS to disable on board graphics, and I have  GeForce GT620, but I'm hesitant to turn the on board graphics off, in case it doesn't resort to the card and I am stuck without a display at all.

I'm AOK with losing remote management features. The machine isn't even on a network, let alone being used as a server - I just needed the grunt that this machine brings...

Thanks again for your help, both of you. I'll be over the moon if I can get a better display!

There are certainly cases to be made for custom hardware configurations - there are certainly use cases for this type of hardware ... just keep in mind that more than 99% of servers will NOT be used in the manner you describe or the manner that I know sky has pursued, so it doesn't make much sense to put much R&D and hardware cost into developing features that "almost" nobody will use.

Again, I don't disagree that standard, modern resolutions should be an option on all servers ... but +90% will never be asked to output that kind of resolution or be accessed directly enough to justify it.

I would recommend Dell Precision machines - dual socket server-grade boards, server-grade CPU's, server-grade enterprise RAID controllers/drives, server-level RAM configurations (server boards). They are designed to be workstations that run client Windows versions and designed to use advanced graphics solutions.

If you disable onboard graphics and are somehow stuck with NO graphics at all, you can clear the NVRAM using the jumpers on the motherboard, which will reset all BIOS settings to defaults (onboard graphics 'on').

Fair call. The last machine I used I got custom parts and built it myself, but this time around, I went with a recommendation from the software designer...should have trusted myself more!

I don't need anything too intensive graphics-wise, it's more important that the computer can chew through massive amounts of data and tasks as quickly as possible. The display thing just makes the interface that much easier to use. However, I've got the machine now, and I'm not returning it - restock fee alone would make the accountant cry...heh.

In any case - I have a RAID configuration on the machine with several TBs of critical data on it. I'm guessing resetting the BIOS will reset all the HDDs too, right? Aside from that, I'm not too fussed on the BIOS being reset.

Thanks again for your help Flash (and skylarking).

Wow, seriously? Likening server hardware design to slavery law and philosophy?! It's just a server for crying out loud. (And it's 'dred', not 'dread'.)

Ah, no... i'm not likening hardware design to slavery law or philosophy...

On this issue of graphics cards within servers, Dell is very single minded. If the card is not certified, no support, servers don't need graphics, yada yada yada. So i was was trying to add a little levity by using the Judge Dredd reference since he is very single minded, like Dell. Maybe the smiley i chose didn't help to impart the levity, may be a tounge in cheek smiley would have been better, maybe not. But if you didn't get the humor, lighten up. No need to correct what was a typo (i know how to spell, though i'm dislexic). I have all the Judge Dredd films (yeah, it's spelt Dredd, not Dred :emotion-4: (notice the tounge in cheek)).

But seriously, if 99% have no need for improved graphics, that great, but that still leaves 1% with a need that is not met. For what would amount to a few lines of code within BIOS, 1% could be made happy... And if a few lines of code are still so difficult or too costly for Dell, then things are in a worse state that i would have imagined.

Dell could update the G200e PCI embeded graphics rather easily should it desire. Heck, today you can buy 4K @ 60Hz capable android media boxes for small change. So if Dell decided to make any change, it could just as easily go the fully sick... :emotion-5: And the added component costs would still be trivial. 

In any case - I have a RAID configuration on the machine with several TBs of critical data on it. I'm guessing resetting the BIOS will reset all the HDDs too, right? Aside from that, I'm not too fussed on the BIOS being reset.

As for your needs Liam's, i'd insert the GF GT620 into a PCIe slot and then disable embedded video function within BIOS. Then power down and move the video cable to the new graphics card. Power up and it should work (and work better after adding Nvidia W7/10 drivers to your 2012r2 OS).

If you get no video, and can't sort it out, you can reset the BIOS which should return all BIOS settings to their defaults and as such restore the embedded video function. After any BIOS reset, don't forget to move the video cable (easily forgotten in athe panic).

Your raid card and hdd arrays should not be impacted by any BIOS reset as far as i know. As such your data should be safe but please don't rely on RAID as a backup - it's purpose is for uptime/availability.

After a BIOS reset, if you had 2012r2 installed with UEFI secure boot enabled, if it's even a feature on 2012r2, possibly the system wont boot if the default BIOS setting is for MBR style boot. I'm not sure what all the default settings are for your T630, but looking through the BIOS and taking note of the settings will allow you to easily correct anything after resetting BIOS.

As mentioned, about the only issue you may have is that the fans may go near full speed and drive you nuts in the process. The fans may settle down over time but the only way to know is to try it.

I have a RAID configuration on the machine with several TBs of critical data on it. I'm guessing resetting the BIOS will reset all the HDDs too, right? Aside from that, I'm not too fussed on the BIOS being reset.

If it is a RAID configuration on a RAID card (H730, etc.), then resetting the BIOS will not affect the RAID configuration.

Hi team,

OK, I've done as suggested - put in the GT-620, installed the drivers, then disabled embedded video in BIOS, power down, move the cable and restarted. No joy, unfortunately - I tried DVI-D and VGA cables and neither bought up display.

On a lighter note - the machine kindly still boots up into BIOS before telling me the video is disabled and then losing the display - so it was a piece of cake for me to switch back to embedded video.

So....I guess I'm down to either spending a whole lot of money on a card, or trying to manipulate the .inf files.

Do either of you know enough about manipulating the .inf files to advise me? Do I need to alter reg entries as well? I've looked at some other threads, but I am not sure the numbers used on those threads would apply in this instance, as it's a different machine.

Once again - I really appreciate the advice, and if you have any other suggestions, I'm all ears!

If I may ask what PCIe Slot did you install this card into?

Thank you,

I will have a T630 in a few weeks and I did order it with the GPU Kit and 2 1100 Watts PSU.

My Plan is to install one or two NVIDIA GTX 1080 Graphics Cards to run BOINC CPU & GPU Projects and GPU Folding Tasks.