Booting/Driver Installation without iGPU?

Gessler555 · September 2, 2022

I'm torn between the i5-12400 and 12400F and am not entirely sure how the lack of integrated graphics effects quality of life with the system.

Are you required to have a GPU installed to get ANY kind of display output? Even the BIOS & Desktop? How do you install the drivers for the GPU if you want to do a clean install if the display won't show anything? Every system I've ever owned came with iGPUs on which I fall back on when using DDU to get rid of driver issues, so I've no idea how it works without it.

Is it worth it to save the little bit of money by going for the F variant?

BondiBlue · September 2, 2022

If you get the 12400F you must have a dGPU installed to get any output on screen, including for the BIOS. You can boot into Windows without having drivers installed for your dedicated GPU. These days Windows automatically installs the proper driver, but even if it doesn't the generic Basic Display Adapter driver that is built into Windows will give you an output before you install the driver.

thekingofmonks · September 2, 2022

16 minutes ago, Gessler555 said:

Are you required to have a GPU installed to get ANY kind of display output? Even the BIOS & Desktop?

Just one. With modern boards, it's only either the iGPU (integrated) or the dGPU (discrete). Even for the BIOS and the desktop.

16 minutes ago, Gessler555 said:

How do you install the drivers for the GPU if you want to do a clean install if the display won't show anything?

The GPU will display 2D no matter what. If you're worried that there are no drivers, Windows installs basic drivers that are compatible with pretty much any GPU just so it's more stable in the desktop for the time being. Then you can go on and find the drivers online.

There really isn't much to worry about. Only problem you might run into is that the dGPU dies and you can't use the computer at all.

To avoid this, I personally would recommend picking the standard non-F version so that whenever you run into an issue, you can disconnect the dGPU and make use of the iGPU to troubleshoot (after a cmos reset if you're unable to access the bios). When you're using the PC normally, you can have the iGPU disabled in the bios (although I think it might disable/enable automatically with a modern BIOS, you'll have to figure this out yourself).