No, you don't need the motherboard battery installed unless your specific computer requires it for proper operation.
No, you don't need the motherboard battery installed unless your specific computer requires it for proper operation.
i don't have any unusual off-brand components, and i haven't experienced a dead cmos battery in my setup. remember, for something to be important, it doesn't need to be drawing any special power. actually, the most common rtc chip for arduino won't function properly without battery voltage, even though it uses i2c and gets 5 volts from the chip. if the code doesn't account for the i2c chip failing to respond, it could cause the program to crash. even with the small 1225 cells typically used, they still last a long time while active, but once the battery fails, performance drops significantly—until then it just stops working completely.
The only board I'm familiar with that offers this feature is the EVGA SR-3 Dark. It's not a typical brand, yet it's definitely not rare. Other EVGA models usually require the CMOS battery to function properly, especially if you want to run the GPU independently. This board will not start if you remove the CMOS battery and can't get it to work by clearing it, unlike other boards where such steps are usually possible.
Thank you for your responses. I’ll keep this in mind. My anxiety about the new computer is real, and it’s normal to worry about it working properly. I sometimes feel something unusual even when it’s off, but I’m trying to understand what’s happening. Your explanations about CMOS helped a lot!