SOLVED Discrete Graphics Card for HDMI terminal output?

[objecttothis]

I am on my second FreeNAS build, but this time to replace my BuffaloNAS at home. Here is the situation. I would like to use a less expensive socket 1150 server board, but I need an HDMI (DP or DVI would also work). The reason for this simply is that my KVM is an HDMI KVM, not VGA. The problem is that the server boards mostly just have VGA output. I only need HDMI for a terminal, not for rendering or anything else.

- Yes, I will be using IPMI when I am offsite and VPN into my network, but I want a hard-connected display as well.
- I don't really want to use a VGA-to-HDMI adapter. While they are cheap, they seem to have a high failure rate.

Could I pick up a cheap AMD or nVidia card with an HDMI output and expect it to work just simply for display output of the FreeNAS terminal?

I would prefer to get an ASRock Rack E3C224D2I If I could pick up a cheap PCIe graphics card for displaying to the terminal with an HDMI connection. If not I was looking at a newer and more expensive Supermicro X11SSZ-F which has IPMI and DP, DVI, etc.

 

[objecttothis]

I did find this FreeBSD AMD graphics card matrix: https://wiki.freebsd.org/Graphics/AMD-GPU-Matrix but it's interesting I didn't find a similar matrix for nVidia and the matrix only tells me that there is FreeBSD support, but doesn't tell me if I'm going to have trouble getting the terminal to display to the HDMI, which would be nice if it were plug-and-play.

 

[objecttothis]

This might be answering my own question, but this thread (https://forums.tomshardware.com/thr...eenas-installed-are-drivers-required.2931691/) seems to indicate that I can pick up a cheap nVidia GPU and it will work without needing to install drivers. Can anyone confirm that?

 

[joeschmuck]

Out of curiosity, are you stating a failure here that an HDMI output does not work or are you just guessing? As far as I know FreeNAS should run just fine on a motherboard with HDMI output.

 

[objecttothis]

Out of curiosity, are you stating a failure here that an HDMI output does not work or are you just guessing? As far as I know FreeNAS should run just fine on a motherboard with HDMI output.

No, I'm saying that I want to use a cheaper 1150 board that does not have onboard HDMI output (just VGA), but I need HDMI output for my KVM switch, so I want to know if I can still buy that board, put in a cheap nVidia or AMD Discrete card that has HDMI and have it output the terminal to the HDMI without needing to install drivers or jump through a bunch of hoops besides maybe disabling the onboard graphics in the BIOS.

I'm not guessing, I'm asking before I purchase hardware so I don't waste money.

 

[irondude]

No, I'm saying that I want to use a cheaper 1150 board that does not have onboard HDMI output (just VGA), but I need HDMI output for my KVM switch, so I want to know if I can still buy that board, put in a cheap nVidia or AMD Discrete card that has HDMI and have it output the terminal to the HDMI without needing to install drivers or jump through a bunch of hoops besides maybe disabling the onboard graphics in the BIOS.

I'm not guessing, I'm asking before I purchase hardware so I don't waste money.

I tried this some yeas ago with a Supermicro X7?? or X8?? board with ipmi 2.0. i disabled the onboard vga and installed a nvidia gpu.
The ipmi was almost useless like this, no video output thru the ipmi. You could look at stats, power on/off but no video. I then tried this with the on board video enabled and set to secondary screen(windows server), I could see what was there for the second screen, still useless, everything is on the first one. I don't think FN will like this either. That was some older boards though.

 

[Redcoat]

Yes, I will be using IPMI when I am offsite and VPN into my network, but I want a hard-connected display as well.

Why not use IPMI locally? Why do you feel you need a terminal if you have IPMI?

 

[Ericloewe]

If you absolutely must, use a converter. EBay is bound to have tons of them.

 

[joeschmuck]

No, I'm saying that I want to use a cheaper 1150 board that does not have onboard HDMI output (just VGA), but I need HDMI output for my KVM switch, so I want to know if I can still buy that board, put in a cheap nVidia or AMD Discrete card that has HDMI and have it output the terminal to the HDMI without needing to install drivers or jump through a bunch of hoops besides maybe disabling the onboard graphics in the BIOS.

I'm not guessing, I'm asking before I purchase hardware so I don't waste money.

Sorry, I didn't understand what you were asking.

If you absolutely must, use a converter. EBay is bound to have tons of them.

Agreed.

Here is just one example: https://www.amazon.com/Adapter-Computer-Desktop-Monitor-Projector/dp/B07BKYBKGP
@objectothis I think you will have to gamble on which VGA to HDMI converter will work, just ensure it work From VGA Source to HDMI Destination. There are many that work backwards from HDMI to VGA and you do not want that type.

Will it all work with IPMI? I don't see way not BUT you already have one cautionary tale posted above. This is a risk I think you will need to figure out if you want to take it. Would it just be cheaper to buy the proper motherboard up front or could you get away with the video adapter? Post your results if you take that leap.

-Joe

 

[Redcoat]

Your preferred motherboard - Asrock E3C224D2l - has an IPMI implementation described in the manual http://asrock.pc.cdn.bitgravity.com/Manual/IPMI/E3C224D2I.pdf

My FreeNAS Mini's motherboard has the same IPMI implementation. Here's the FreeNAS console screen in the Java remote control applet:

My need for a direct attached KVM has been rare - only for motherboard and memory testing actually. I agree with the previous suggestions to use a convertor for that duty. They are cheap enough to be considered consumable.

 

[objecttothis]

I already have one build with that board. Generally speaking the board is good, but I have had problems with the IPMI hanging occasionally and pretty consistently experienced JAVA problems since the manf does not keep the software updated to prevent JAVA complaining about signing problems. There are workarounds but all are a PITA. Over and above that there is considerably higher lag (even locally) with the IPMI interface over a KVM switch.

Thanks for the input on whether or not I could output the terminal interface to a dedicated graphics card. The consensus is that this won't work so if I want to use the HDMI KVM switch I need to adapt VGA to HDMI.