Monitor connectivity without a graphics card installed or functional

[David8kex]

Just registered into this community. Hello folks. 🙂

Worked 4+ decades here in Silicon Valley at numbers of companies hardware electronics as a high end tech though never for HP. Do own an ancient 2003 Pavillion Elite desktop. Am researching buying a mid range Omen 35L system.

Information relates the System Bd does not drive an HDMI monitor directly from its graphics as it expects to from its graphics card. Read some user review comments about how that could make debug an issue if another graphics card is not available to swap in. Also info relates a small power supply LCD display.

So first question is, if a graphics card is missing with the system boards otherwise fine, are there any indicators without anything else connected including that small LCD or say LEDs that provide system status information?

My current plan is to initially use my old 2016 Dell 4k UHD P2415Qb 24" monitor that uses an HDMI 1.4 port. That could connect to any of the Omen graphic card options as all have HDMI. But if not, my second question is. Info seems to relate I can instead simply connect via an HDMI cable to the rear Thunderbolt port, so is that true?

Thus the lack of a graphic card being installed would be a non-issue. My eventual intent is to use whatever graphic card I select to drive a future large say 65 inch pc monitor via any of the DisplayPorts in order to display static images. Since a low refresh rate is no concern any of the 1.4a or above could do so. And could of course use the graphic card 2.0 or above HDMI port to drive any large 8k TV. Though note, I would prefer not to use a TV so am waiting for those non TV panel products.

Last question three is, given loaded software capable to do so, will it be possible to simultaneously drive both the graphic card DisplayPort output monitors and the Thunderbolt outputs? Like say if their are power supply limitations using the base 500 watt supply?

[zoey7886]

@David8kex, Welcome to the HP Support Community! 

Thanks for reaching out about your query regarding HP's Omen 35L systems !

We're thrilled to have the opportunity to assist you and provide a solution. 

HP's Omen 35L systems typically rely on a dedicated graphics card for graphics output, meaning the system board itself does not have the capability to drive an HDMI monitor directly. This setup is common in gaming and high-performance PCs where the graphics card provides the necessary power and outputs for demanding display tasks.

Key Points:

• Graphics Card Requirement: The Omen 35L depends on its graphics card to handle video output tasks, which includes using HDMI outputs.
• Motherboard Limitations: The motherboard in high-performance models such as the Omen 35L generally does not have an integrated GPU to drive video outputs directly. 

Hope this helps!

Take care, and have an amazing day! 

Did we resolve the issue? If yes, Please consider marking this post as "Accepted Solution" and click "Yes" to give us a helpful vote - your feedback keeps us going! 

Regards,

[David8kex2]

This is David8kex.  I received an email from Zoey7886 but when I attempted to login on either my smartphone or laptop an error message stated the user name was unknown?   Was absolutely certain the username I entered was valid because it is the same one in this thread.  Also used my mobile phone number that was rejected also that shows neither was incorrect but rather an admin had placed my account on some non-usable status?  

Thus created this second account David8kex2 using the same information.  Had tried David8kex that it rejected because that name already exists that shows the error message was not valid and just a placeholder for some reason.

What actually happened was the next day May 12, 2025 since there were no responses, I began an HP Sales page chat session with Courtney and by the end of that session had purchased an Omen 35L system for $1509 that is tentatively  due on May 26.

Courtney Advisor message
If a graphics card is missing but the system board is otherwise functional, indicators such as motherboard LEDs, beep codes, an LCD display on the power supply, or the absence of a display output can provide system status information.

Courtney Advisor message
Yes, you can simply connect an HDMI cable to the rear Thunderbolt port for display output, making the absence of a graphics card a non-issue. Your plan to use a future 65-inch PC monitor via DisplayPort 1.4a or above for static images is viable, and you can also use an HDMI 2.0 or above port on the graphics card to drive an 8K TV. However, since you prefer non-TV panel products, waiting for dedicated large-format PC monitors is a good approach.

Courtney Advisor message
For your last question, if the system has the necessary software, it should be able to simultaneously drive both the DisplayPort monitors from the graphics card and the Thunderbolt outputs, provided there are no power supply limitations with the base 500-watt supply.

================================

Below is my system being built for $1509.  Since there are no large 8k displays yet available, I also purchased an Asus ProArt 32 inch 4k display for $630 and a Keyboard+ Mouse combo set.  Not a gaming oriented system but rather a mid range editing machine I will add my graphic software to.

OMEN 35L Gaming Desktop PC
BU RCTO OMEN B650 35L Wolant US
White chassis with metal bezel and 500 W 80 Plus Bronze certified ATX power supply
CKIT HP OMEN 24C2 WHT CTO US
No Country of Origin Restriction
24C2 Cycle AV
Commercial Customer
PC Game Pass DA 3M
MISC GFX Holder LTE 4070Ti White
AMD Radeon RX 7600 Graphics (8 GB GDDR6 dedicated)
512 GB PCIe Gen4 NVMe Performance M.2 SSD
No secondary storage
HP 1 Year Warranty
No Included Keyboard and Mouse
McAfee LiveSafe - 1 Year - Service
Kingston FURY 32GB DDR5-6000 MT/s EXPO RGB Heatsink (2 x 16 GB)
No Included Mouse
Realtek RTL8852BE Wi-Fi 6 (2x2) and Bluetooth 5.3 wireless card (supporting gigabit data rate)
Microsoft Office 365 Personal
Windows 11 Plus
OSLOC US
White chassis with metal bezel
AMD Ryzen 5 8500G (up to 5.0 GHz max boost clock, 16 MB L3 cache, 6 cores, 12 threads)

[zoey7886]

@David8kex, Welcome to the HP Support Community! 

We're here to help you tackle that Monitor connectivity! Don't worry, we've got your back! 

To get you the best assistance, we need to take this conversation to a private chat. We're inviting you to a private message to protect your privacy and ensure that any sensitive information remains confidential. 

To access your private message, just click the little blue envelope icon on the upper right corner of your HP Community profile, next to your profile name.  

We're looking forward to helping you resolve this issue! 

Stay tuned, and thanks for your patience! 

Regards,