Motherboard without monitor connection

Hi, I am about to embark on building my own PC, but I have a question if anyone can help me.

I have seen that a host of motherboards that have no connection for a monitor. How can this be? Does this mean that a graphics card has to be bought also. And if so, don't you need an operating system to install a graphics card, and if thats true and if im building the pc, how to you install an operating system without a montor??? This all seems rather odd.

I am a bit puzzled, and if anyone can help be out and explain I would be very greatful.

Many thanks.

it is true that a lot of motherboards nowadays dont have monitor outputs [and inherently, no integrated graphics solution]. it is also true in these cases that one must purchase a seperate video card.
while it is true that you need an os to install the drivers that make a video card function at its intended level, it is not necessary for that software [drivers] to be present while installing the os. this is because the main installation is done in dos mode and therefore requires no video drivers as the graphcs card will output a signal no matter what.
even once you get into a gui environment [windows] then you still will not need specific drivers as windows comes with a default set which is sufficient enough for installing the os up until a point where you can acquire proper drivers.

essentially, you dont have to install the os without a monitor, because as soon as there is a graphics card in the system, you can hook up a monitor and then there would be no problem.

uk computer parts seller

if however, you would like a motherboard with an integrated graphics solution (and everyone on this board will warn you away from it),here is one

brilliant, thank you

The only reason we would is if you are building this PC for gaming purposes where integrated video would be a bad choice for gaming.

Is this your first build?

Yes it it.

I am working on a budget of about £800 (incl. £190 19" TFT).

Every time a find a motherboard (around £70-£80) I find good reviews, then indifferent reviews. Can anyone please suggest one, so I can finally go ahead and start building.

I am going with a P4, 3.4Ghz (Socket 775) @ £186. So PLEASE if anyone can help? I will stock up with 2G of RAM, 200Gb HD (at least SATA) and I guess i will need a graphics card, any recomendations again. I am looking at Sapphire X800GTO or the 6600 GT, but its pricey, but at the same time, don't wanna be left behind.

Any help, or what you would do with £800 would be appreciated.

Many thanks

Hi People- i need a bit of help- I have Bought a selection of parts to assemble into a pc, but i'm having issues with vga output. i have bought an Nvidia geforce 7600gs (PCI-e) with a MSI k9n Neo m/board- all parts are correctly assembled so i boot up to install windows, But there is one small problem, there is nothing on the screen! without this i cannot see the bios, or indeed install windows. Any Ideas? there is power being supplied to all the parst including the blank hdd which i will install the os on, i read the other article above about how the video should simply feed through the card with no issues maybe the parts are not compatible?

MrL!thium

in response to your question about graphics cards, I've always been a Geforce fan, a Geforce 3 or 4 will do you well, I am a bit byast but some of the newer radeons are very good as well. And in the motherboards category I've been using Gygabyte motherboards for as long as I've been building my own machines (forever) and i have never had any problems with them.

hope that helps some.

thanks - it turned out msi mobo was faulty -i got a gigabyte instead! i tried booting and everything worked fine

Glad I could help.