two cards running without SLI with a monitor each?

MrHeolsen

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Oct 18, 2014
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I got a new graphics card (GTX 970) to replace my old which wasn't really a gamer one (GT 650) So i want to know if it's possible to have both in the computer running a monitor each without any problems occurring.
 
Solution
Windows 7 or later has no problem at all running two different graphics adapters.

For two monitors, is is simpler to just connect the second side monitor to the GTX970.
While gaming on the primary monitor there is no impact on gaming performance.

I once tried that as an experiment and so no impact.

Probably the only value of a second card might be if you needed to connect more than 4 monitors for something like a stock trading system.

I would just set the GT650 aside to use as a diagnostic part in case of a graphics card failure.

nubbsauce

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NVidia no longer supports that function after the GTX 250s. They did however support it with the 8xxx series.
 
He doesn't need sli nor physx. You can run any different nvidia cards independently and this has never changed. Amd does the same. Actually one issue, the driver needs to be the same. Trying to install 2 different driver versions since the old cards on amd are a different driver is a no go.

But why not just put both on the 970? There should be no performance difference and the 650 is just taking extra power.
 

nubbsauce

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Nvidia as of late has been messing up their drivers, so he may see some instability with display drivers failing and restarting. The most stable 970 driver is the GTA V so he could try with that.
 
Windows 7 or later has no problem at all running two different graphics adapters.

For two monitors, is is simpler to just connect the second side monitor to the GTX970.
While gaming on the primary monitor there is no impact on gaming performance.

I once tried that as an experiment and so no impact.

Probably the only value of a second card might be if you needed to connect more than 4 monitors for something like a stock trading system.

I would just set the GT650 aside to use as a diagnostic part in case of a graphics card failure.
 
Solution

MrHeolsen

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because the 970 wont be as good in games as it normally is if i have two monitors on so i would probably turn it off when gaming. so i was wondering if that meant i could have it on doing gaming without the loss of fps

 
1. Windows has no problem with multiple drivers. That restriction was in XP.
2. The 970 will be just as good in games with or without the second monitor attached to either the GTX970 or to a separate graphics card.
I know, I tested that exact scenario.

There is a lot of value in keeping things simple.
 

MrHeolsen

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but last time i had two monitors on while gaming it dropped my fps like 10 lower than usual could that just have been cause my old cart wasn't as capable of two monitors or are you suggesting turning it off when gaming?
 

MrHeolsen

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thanks the only reason i asked was because i was wondering if there could somehow be a benefit to doing this as i though two monitors on the same card would weaken the fps if i had both on while gaming
 

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