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2 Graphics card issue

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Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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Hi
I have got a core i7 920 with an MSI X58 pro E. The motherboard has two pci express X 16 at full speed. Presently i have got an ATI Radeon 4890. However this card is not enogh for my purpose as i also do freelance 3 d work. There are lot of you who think that the difference is only a driver difference but let me tell you that it is not. The main problem is that even a softmodded gaming card cannot compete with a workstation card as it cannot supprt as much polys in the veiwport. (i tried softmodding with an nvidia card i had before.) plus when you turn on reltime render preview the gaming cards show lots of artifacts on the screen. So because of these two problems please do not ask me to softmod my current card.( i honesly do not know if it is possible to even softmod a 4890).
So now that i have mentioned my reasons for absolutly wanting a workstation card heres my issue.
If i plonk the quadro into my second pCI ex16 slot and connect the display to it,
a) will there be any problems such as card blowuing up or freezing up as i will not be using the 4890
b) Is this even possible and if so will the 4890 consume exra power as even though it is not used it is still connected to the board and psu.

I was thinking of putting this arrangements so that i can just reconnect the display cable to the gaming card whenever i want to play and connect it to the workstation card when i work. I will not have to open up the case.

Thanks in advance for all your help
Andrew Cutter..

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Graphics card Authority

Well first off if your not using windows 7 I dont think you can have two video drivers running at the same time.

Second is that if you connect a monitor to one card then switch it to the other after a shutdown I think you should not run into any problems aslong as the other card is set to mirror mode/duplicate which is the default.

And if you place your workstation card and use it as the primary and have the 4890 still pluged in it will still draw power form your psu so youll have to make sure your psu can handle the extra load.

hi thaanks for the quick reply
I do have windows 7 but i did not know that only 7 supported 2 drivers at the same time. As far as the psu goes i have a corsir tx 750 which comes with 4 power connecters. so i am assuming that it will run 2 cards...
I just hope that my electricity bill does not blow a hole in my pocket.

One more thing i wanted to ask is if i do decide to swap the cards and not leave both inside if electricity becomes too much will this cause a problem to the cards....
Graphics card Authority

im not sure about running the two cards at the same time, but if the drivers will allow for it then a TX750 IS sufficent to run two GPUs.

as far as i was aware, you could only have one or more of the same GPU in a system, and not different kinds (at least, not to switch between using them as primary GPU). but i don't know enough about that to say for sure.

but what i do know, is that a tx750 will power two GPUs fine.
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