# Primary display setting in BIOS to auto or PCIE



## P4-630 (Aug 24, 2016)

Everytime when I start my PC I see a message on my display that it is waiting for a signal, this takes about 8 seconds or so, I have my main monitor connected with DVI-D.

Currently the primary display setting is on "Auto" in the BIOS.
Now what if I set this to PCIE, would my monitor get the signal immidiately when I startup my PC and getting a faster boot?

Now what if my videocard would be dead for some reason, can I still see the BIOS when I startup the PC by having the display connected to the motherboard for CPU igp when the primary display setting is PCIE?

If my card would be dead sometime for some reason, I probably have to take out the battery from the motherboard a few seconds to reset the BIOS?


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## GreiverBlade (Aug 24, 2016)

P4-630 said:


> Everytime when I start my PC I see a message on my display that it is waiting for a signal, this takes about 8 seconds or so, I have my main monitor connected with DVI-D.
> 
> Currently the primary display setting is on "Auto" in the BIOS.
> Now what if I set this to PCIE, would my monitor get the signal immidiately when I startup my PC and getting a faster boot?
> ...


why would you set it on auto instead of PCIeX if you don't use the IGP? (i do not use Auto) 

altho i only put my rig on deep sleep (which is a bad idea because of nvidia and how idiotic the issue on the 10xx serie is: after a while it's either i am stuck on 3d clock or stuck on idle clock until i reboot, come on nvidia gather your marble and do a correct driver/job ... that's a utter failure in my book ) but aside that issue my rig is up in a matter of well ... instant (altho on booting it's rather quick enough to not be bothered by a random reboot or full power down and then power up later )


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## rtwjunkie (Aug 24, 2016)

If you don't use the integrated, set it on PCIe as primary.


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## P4-630 (Aug 24, 2016)

GreiverBlade said:


> why would you set it on auto instead of PCIeX if you don't use the IGP? (i do not use Auto)
> 
> altho i only put my rig on deep sleep (which is a bad idea because of nvidia and how idiotic the issue on the 10xx serie is: after a while it's either i am stuck on 3d clock or stuck on idle clock until i reboot, come on nvidia gather your marble and do a correct driver/job ... that's a utter failure in my book ) but aside that issue my rig is up in a matter of well ... instant (altho on booting it's rather quick enough to not be bothered by a random reboot or full power down and then power up later )



Ok I will try it on PCIE later.
Would be nice if the display detects a signal right away, which would make the boot faster then.


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## GreiverBlade (Aug 24, 2016)

P4-630 said:


> Ok I will try it on PCIE later.
> Would be nice if the display detects a signal right away, which would make the boot faster then.


well i use DVI-D and my monitor take 1-3s to pick up signal, so i guess it's standard to have a waiting time, but i never had 8s no matter the card i had (except in reaaaaaaaaal old hardware... but i don't remember tho  )

P.S.: nope that would not make it boot faster ... the boot process is unrelated to the signal to monitor delay  if your PC boot in 10s after monitor signal is up ... it will still boot in 10s 

altho instead of 8s searching and 10s booting: 18s you will have 1-3s searching (or instant) 10s booting... although it's even possible that the PC start the booting sequence while the monitor signal i on delay ... i had once a searching signal and then when signal was up it was already on window loading screen 

i know ... nitpicking ....


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## newtekie1 (Aug 24, 2016)

P4-630 said:


> Ok I will try it on PCIE later.
> Would be nice if the display detects a signal right away, which would make the boot faster then.



It's not going to make the boot process any faster, in fact it isn't even really going to change anything.

During POST it still has to initialize all the devices in the system, it has to determine if there is a PCI-E Graphics card in the system, if it detects a PEG it then has to decide if it should enable the iGPU or not(this is determined by a separate option in the BIOS usually called something like iGPU Multi-Monitor).  If there is a PEG and iGPU Multi-Monitor is not enabled, then it goes right to initializing the PEG regardless of what you have the primary GPU set to.  Even if it is set to Auto, it might put the iGPU ahead of the PEG, but since it determined you have a PEG and it isn't using the iGPU, the PEG still gets initialized at almost exactly the same time. And it does all of this in probably less than a second.  So even if you use iGPU Multi-Monitor, and the iGPU is being initialized before the PEG, that isn't going to make your monitor turn on any perceivable time sooner.  It is going to be a fraction of a second sooner.


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## P4-630 (Aug 24, 2016)

newtekie1 said:


> It's not going to make the boot process any faster, in fact it isn't even really going to change anything.



 Ok then I can leave it on "auto" in case something would happen to my videocard, and I would be able to use igp right away.


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## rtwjunkie (Aug 24, 2016)

P4-630 said:


> Ok then I can leave it on "auto" in case something would happen to my videocard, and I would be able to use igp right away.



Actually, why? You'd still need to reboot and attach the monitor cable to the motherboard, right?


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## GreiverBlade (Aug 24, 2016)

P4-630 said:


> Ok then I can leave it on "auto" in case something would happen to my videocard, and I would be able to use igp right away.


no need... if something happen to your card ... just do a bios reset and the adapter will be on Auto ... (for me having the IGP active if not needed, is a waste of ressources, plus the HD530 is still a P.O.S by my standards  )


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## P4-630 (Aug 24, 2016)

rtwjunkie said:


> Actually, why? You'd still need to reboot and attach the monitor cable to the motherboard, right?



Yeah I forgot to add that 

Thanks guys!


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## AsRock (Aug 24, 2016)

newtekie1 said:


> It's not going to make the boot process any faster, in fact it isn't even really going to change anything.
> 
> During POST it still has to initialize all the devices in the system, it has to determine if there is a PCI-E Graphics card in the system, if it detects a PEG it then has to decide if it should enable the iGPU or not(this is determined by a separate option in the BIOS usually called something like iGPU Multi-Monitor).  If there is a PEG and iGPU Multi-Monitor is not enabled, then it goes right to initializing the PEG regardless of what you have the primary GPU set to.  Even if it is set to Auto, it might put the iGPU ahead of the PEG, but since it determined you have a PEG and it isn't using the iGPU, the PEG still gets initialized at almost exactly the same time. And it does all of this in probably less than a second.  So even if you use iGPU Multi-Monitor, and the iGPU is being initialized before the PEG, that isn't going to make your monitor turn on any perceivable time sooner.  It is going to be a fraction of a second sooner.




This is what i have noticed too, i leave mine on auto as windows has pretty much in sync, windows has just about loaded up by time the screen comes on which is fine by me.

All so as you said boot times are no different.

Only time it would bother me if i had to wait for screen to come one while windows had loaded but for me at least it's pretty much on par.  Not seen the loading on windows on my main system for some time now lol.



P4-630 said:


> Ok then I can leave it on "auto" in case something would happen to my videocard, and I would be able to use igp right away.



It's what i do as mines is awkward to get too, and will save you from the possible chance of needing to reset the bios.


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## newtekie1 (Aug 24, 2016)

P4-630 said:


> Ok then I can leave it on "auto" in case something would happen to my videocard, and I would be able to use igp right away.



That also doesn't really matter.  Think of that setting like a Boot Order type of setting.  Setting the Primary to the PEG would still allow you to use the iGPU if no PEG was installed.  Just like having the first boot device set to DVD-ROM still lets you boot using a hard drive if now DVD is in the system.


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## GreiverBlade (Aug 24, 2016)

AsRock said:


> t's what i do as mines is awkward to get too, and will save you from the possible chance of needing to reset the bios.


well that's true ... but un-optimized, Auto is always the last option i seek (only if it can avoid an issue and not create one ) if i need to.

auto means the system has to select an option instead of having a fixed option to start with ... dunno ... just feel wrong to keep something on auto-selection



newtekie1 said:


> That also doesn't really matter.  Think of that setting like a Boot Order type of setting.  Setting the Primary to the PEG would still allow you to use the iGPU if no PEG was installed.  Just like having the first boot device set to DVD-ROM still lets you boot using a hard drive if now DVD is in the system.


annnd confirmed ... auto is not an option and even having the setting fixed can avoid you to reset the CMOS ...


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## Bill_Bright (Aug 24, 2016)

newtekie1 said:


> It's not going to make the boot process any faster, in fact it isn't even really going to change anything.
> 
> During POST it still has to initialize all the devices in the system, it has to determine if there is a PCI-E Graphics card in the system, if it detects a PEG it then has to decide if it should enable the iGPU or not(this is determined by a separate option in the BIOS usually called something like iGPU Multi-Monitor). If there is a PEG and iGPU Multi-Monitor is not enabled, then it goes right to initializing the PEG regardless of what you have the primary GPU set to. Even if it is set to Auto, it might put the iGPU ahead of the PEG, but since it determined you have a PEG and it isn't using the iGPU, the PEG still gets initialized at almost exactly the same time. And it does all of this in probably less than a second. So even if you use iGPU Multi-Monitor, and the iGPU is being initialized before the PEG, that isn't going to make your monitor turn on any perceivable time sooner. It is going to be a fraction of a second sooner.


Also during this entire "handshaking" process, delays incur as the monitor(s) try to decide if it is receiving a digital or analog signal (or both - depending on monitor and sources) and on which input port, then switch to the appropriate mode. Note too, during POST, the boot drive has not yet been touched. No OS or specific graphics drivers, or "complete" EDID information has been loaded. The monitor does not know if connected to a Windows PC, Linux, Mac, game console or whatever. And the graphics solution has no clue the type of connection/interface, size monitor or resolution the monitor wants.

So everything is working with standardized resolutions because no OS and GPU specific graphics drivers have been loaded yet. This is a necessary step otherwise we could not access the BIOS Setup Menu or even see what we were doing to install an OS on a brand new system. Only after the boot drive is touched, the graphics card drivers are installed and final configuration data is exchanged between the monitor and graphics solution (final handshaking) can the monitor settle down with the correct image parameters. And that all takes time - it is almost a wonder it only takes a few seconds.

Oh, and BTW, if connecting via HDMI (a poorly implemented interfaced forced  on the computer industry by the home theater - mostly big screen TV - industry), a couple more seconds may be needed to finally sync up correctly.

Today's computer hardware and BIOS's are pretty smart. It really is pretty rare you need to manually change any of the default settings in the BIOS.


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