Can I boot into Windows without an APU?

[katjaneway]

So the reason I ask this question is a little convoluted. I have a Ryzen 5 3600 and I'm currently RMA'ing my x570 motherboard possibly due to a riser card damaging both (somehow??) my PCI-Express slots, rendering any GPU I put in there unusable. So I had no screen on boot up at all and had no idea if I was even booting into Windows (I had no debug LED lights, however). I tried using the HDMI out on my motherboard and got no signal. But when I had just bought my RX 5700 last week and used DDU to uninstall the drivers, I had to reboot the system and was able to get into windows using the HDMI out on the mobo. I'm not sure if this was something DDU allowed me to do or not, and/or if the damage to my motherboard extends to the HDMI out port. Generally, even if you have a Ryzen without an APU, will it still allow you to at least get into windows and mess with settings? Not having integrated graphics was what scared me into not getting a CPU without one for this exact reason.

[Radium_Angel]

11 minutes ago, katjaneway said:

Ryzen 5 3600

That does not have integrated graphics, so you are unlikely to see anything, even if your mobo has the proper video connections.

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/cfpmlg/does_ryzen_5_3600_have_integrated_graphics_like/

 

[rares495]

APUs are weaker on the CPU side so you're better off keeping the 3600 and buying the lowest end card like a GT 710 and keeping it as a spare just for video output.

 

And stop using unnecessary things like those f**** annoying pci-e risers that everyone and their mother's dog is using nowadays. Graphics cards are meant to sit horizontally in a pci-e slot.

[katjaneway]

2 hours ago, rares495 said:

And stop using unnecessary things like those f**** annoying pci-e risers that everyone and their mother's dog is using nowadays. Graphics cards are meant to sit horizontally in a pci-e slot.

It looks so good tho :'( The sag is real. I never expected that a riser cable would damage my pci-e slots - especially BOTH of them, which is super odd. But nothing else had changed besides me switching the gpu's orientation. And it happened mid-stream off of my Plex server. hopefully MSI will be quick about getting me a replacement board. Maybe I'll spring for a 3000G just to have a backup APU :P