One card for boot up - One for playtime - does this work?

[macdommy74]

Hi all,

My EVGA GeForce 8600GT pci-e card does not allow my self-made system to boot up from cold (my mobo does not have onboard video). It will generally boot up on reset - I have gone through all components and this is the guilty party. Once I get the system booted up, the video card works great, just as good as I thought.

Instead of shelling out $150 on a high price card, can I buy a cheap AGP card (my mobo only has 1 pci-e slot) and use that to boot up and then automatically change to my better card either (a) when I play a game or (b) once I boot up to desktop.

Many thanks, I hope I have expressed myself clearly enough. I'm using XP Home version.

macdommy74

 

[macdommy74]

anyone??

 

[royalcrown]

As far as I know you can't do that. Plus multiple cards usually wont even boot in older boards.

 

[thelvyn]

If you have an agp slot then yes that should work.
We have been able to put more then one video card in since PCI slots came into existence. Every system I have supports that in one way or another. Bios option to specify the boot card and your in business.

Just dont try to mix and match ati and nvidia the drivers dont play nicely together.

Now this does not guarantee the 8600gt wont still prevent booting. Just that using two video cards does work.

 

[macdommy74]

thanks a million thelvyn and royalcrown, I really appreciate the replies