What will the display show if I start a computer barebone (without hard drive)?

[jaffa]

Just curious.

I have heard these components will suffice to get a picture on the display (barebone I guess, and without a hard drive installed):

Case/psu
mobo
cpu
ram
video adapter
display

What will be shown on the display if I power up a system with the components mentioned above (provided that neither of them is defect)?
Will I get a "no system disk" etc. message like when the OS is missing on the hard drive or will it maybe just show a white blinking cursor in the upper left corner of the screen?

 

[SGtheArtist]

You should see the BIOS screen come up and if you dont enter the BIOS then it will inform you that there is no boot disk.

Just my 3 cents. (inflation )

 

[montag451]

Don't worry - you won't break your machine by trying it.

Go, see for yourself.

 

[casper114]

I do it all the time just to make sure i have video before i put everything else on.