Running nvidia and ati in the same computer

[eclipse45337]

I have a question. I like to run dual monitors: a Acer 22" Widescreen LCD and a Rosewill 19" LCD. Usually one for gaming and the other for whatever; aim, firefox, etc. I am currently running a single 7800 GTX. I want to upgrade that to a x1950xtx. My question is if it is possible for me to put both cards in my system and use the 1950 for my primary monitor and my 7800 for my secondary. I figured this would put less stress on the 1950 instead of running both monitors off of that. I know it won't be SLI or Crossfire. I just want to know if doing that will cause any problems. I don't know that I've ever seen a system with two non-identical graphics cards in the PCI-E slots.

 

[eclipse45337]

So will they not work at all or what? I wanted to upgrade with an Ati because the HDR+AA support. I really like what they've done with the 1950. GDDR4 heck yeah. I was considering a 7950G2 but I didn't want to spend the extra hundred bucks difference between the two. The 7950 may provide more frames per second but the 1950 will have higher quality frames because of the added AA support. But back to my topic. Do you know exactly what will happen if you put the two in one system? Is there anyone that has tried this with similar cards?

 

[cafuddled]

Are you sure they wont work together though, have you or anyone else you know tryed this?

 

[GigabyteRules]

ill takes hes word for it. it wont work

 

[atp777]

You could always try it and return the card if it doesn't work, but I'm sure it won't.

 

[BustedSony]

Are you sure they wont work together though, have you or anyone else you know tryed this?

I have an ATI 1900XT for primary and secondary monitors and an Nvidia 6600GT for overlay graphics/third monitor and editor NTSC output and they work fine together on an Asus P5W DH, no problems whatsoever under either XP or Vista.

 

[eclipse45337]

Are you sure they wont work together though, have you or anyone else you know tryed this?

I have an ATI 1900XT for primary and secondary monitors and an Nvidia 6600GT for overlay graphics/third monitor and editor NTSC output and they work fine together on an Asus P5W DH, no problems whatsoever under either XP or Vista.

So are both cards working off of the appropriate drivers? Is either of them using generic microsoft driver? My mb is an Asus A8n32SLI - Delux. Maybe it'll work with mine too.

 

[dameon51]

Back in the days of PCI\AGP you could mix and match cards no problem. At one point I had a geforce2mx, voodoo 3 2000, and some misc. matrox card all in one computer running 4 displays (the gf2 was hooked up to a TV as well). I was able to run all the diplays without a hitch and when I went to start games windows automatically shutoff the other displays.

I don't see why this would make a difference with PCI-E, especially since PCI-E cards each have their own dedicated bus.

 

[eclipse45337]

Back in the days of PCI\AGP you could mix and match cards no problem. At one point I had a geforce2mx, voodoo 3 2000, and some misc. matrox card all in one computer running 4 displays (the gf2 was hooked up to a TV as well). I was able to run all the diplays without a hitch and when I went to start games windows automatically shutoff the other displays.

I don't see why this would make a difference with PCI-E, especially since PCI-E cards each have their own dedicated bus.

That is true. Without SLI or Crossfire enabled through the MB, doesn't each card have it's own individual resources?

 

[Doughbuy]

Hmmm... he has an SLI mobo, now I would be concerned. I wouldn't put it paste NVidia to have something in their chipset to prevent ATI cards from working properly, if at all...

But like people said, try it out. Go to Fry's or compusa, get a ATI card, try it out. If it doesn't work, just return it. Can't hurt.

 

[eclipse45337]

I have run ATi cards on nVidia based chipsets before. I had a X850XT PE on a nForce 4 mb with no problems. I just wonder if they'll work together without any hardware or software problems. I live out in the sticks so I usually order my parts from tiger or newegg. It's usually cheaper but it'd be a pain to return it through that method.

 

[yourmothersanastronaut]

You don't know what you're talking about. I'm running an X1900XT on an nForce570 motherboard. Half the people here are running an ATI card on an nVidia chipset.

Go ahead and give it a shot. If Radeon + GeForce work ok together, then keep it. If not, return one and get something else.

And really, you won't notice that much of a difference if you play at your native resolution.

 

[eclipse45337]

You don't know what you're talking about. I'm running an X1900XT on an nForce570 motherboard. Half the people here are running an ATI card on an nVidia chipset.

Go ahead and give it a shot. If Radeon + GeForce work ok together, then keep it. If not, return one and get something else.

And really, you won't notice that much of a difference if you play at your native resolution.

Well the whole reason I want to do this is so that I can run my primary (gaming) monitor on my x1950xtx and my secondary monitor on my 7800gtx. This would put less stress on my 1950, giving me better gaming performance.

 

[eclipse45337]

Well the x1950xtx will be running at higher resolutions so if i can take any additional stress off of the card.... I might as well.

 

[BustedSony]

Are you sure they wont work together though, have you or anyone else you know tryed this?

I have an ATI 1900XT for primary and secondary monitors and an Nvidia 6600GT for overlay graphics/third monitor and editor NTSC output and they work fine together on an Asus P5W DH, no problems whatsoever under either XP or Vista.

So are both cards working off of the appropriate drivers? Is either of them using generic microsoft driver? My mb is an Asus A8n32SLI - Delux. Maybe it'll work with mine too.

They're working from the OEM drivers, both Beta in the case of Vista. Really, I gave it not a second thought and just popped in the 6600 and ran through the install process. It's a bit difficult to get the overlay assignment working the way I want without turning off the second monitor on the ATI. By default one gets four individual monitors, two on each card. They're dragged around in the desktop properties window (in XP). During gaming just the primary output on the ATI is used, the others show the desktop. In Clone mode all four span the game but performance is just weird. And of COURSE Nvidia will run on an Intel chipset and ATI on an Nvidia, the manufacturers would be shooting themselves in the foot to actually prevent other video cards than their own from working on a motherboard. Crossfire/SLI is a different matter, and that's just a matter of software.

 

[eclipse45337]

Ok, well thank you everyone for your help. I think I'm going to get the x1950xtx and see if I can make it work. If not I'll just keep the 7800gtx around as a back-up.