Bench Test

Hopefully, the RAM will arrive tomorrow, so that I can bench test the components for my new build. Since I'm not certain that I have a good video card in the closet to test with, and this motherboard does have onboard graphics, I thought that I would use that instead, but since I have never used onboard graphics previously, I just wanted to know that it should display the BIOS screen, without any video driver installed (which would not be possible until the OS is installed)?

EDIT: A side question is what the quality of the onboard graphics for an Asus M4A89GTD motherboard is? I will use my EVGA GTX460 SC for normal use, but I'm curious as to how well onboard graphics (ATI Radeon HD 4290) would compare, for use as a backup?

On-board 4290 compared to the GTX460 is like comparing a single speed bicycle to a new Harley Davidson you cant compare them. Go with the 460 and never look back.

I thought that would be the answer in terms of performance comparisons, but I was thinking about once when a computer salesman told me that onboard graphics were nothing like they used to be, and did excellently. Of course, the only thing that I really believed that he wanted a sale.

No SSD, but the benching that I was speaking of had nothing to do with any kind of drive or OS, just insuring that the components that I received are okay, before commencing the actual build.

Since I received no response to my last post, I have assumed that there was no accurate answer possible. Therefore, on the basis that the video signal failed on the on-board GPU, that was sufficient to determine that the motherboard is faulty, and requested an RMA for an exchange.

It is not conclusive since the box was never sealed, but the facts that the front closure flap on the box was partially pulled out on arrival, and that one of the pins on a chassis fan connector was bent at a 45 degree angle, that it indicated that I was sent a previously returned motherboard, rather than a truly new one. Being the weekend, I suspect that I won't get a response til Monday, and the exchange time will probably take a couple of weeks, I hope that I'm right, and that the problem is not the CPU or RAM, however from past experience, I consider that to be a less likely probability. Eventually, I will get the new build up and running.

Yes, that is the way that I tried it first, with no video card installed. I only tried using a video card to double check the problem.