Question Test motherboard without hard drive?

[Sinxph]

I’ll be buying the new generation ryzen 5 3600 along with a motherboard, ram, power supply and monitor. I have a rtx 2060 waiting for these components. Can I test to see if the motherboard and hard drive will work without a hard drive? I know it’s a stupid question but I don’t know

 

[COLGeek]

Yes, you can test without a HDD, but not without a CPU, memory, a GPU, power supply, or monitor. If you have everything, but the HDD, you could boot a Live Linux distro from a USB drive.

 

[clutchc]

+1^
That is what I first do on all my builds. "breadboard" the system outside the case to be sure it all works before assembling everything. I start with just the CPU/cooler, RAM, monitor (iGPU if present), PSU and momentarily short the two pins that the power switch would connect to. If all is good and I get a display, I add in components one by one starting w/keyboard and mouse.