Two graphics cards, one computer. non sli/physx... realistic?

[opexx]

I use two monitors, but up until 5 minutes ago when I put my 2nd one in, I didn't realize it increases speed... I mean I know it increased clock speeds a LITTLE.. but enough to increase the temperature 10ºC while IDLE??!?!? Sorry but that's just not gonna fly. So, because of the fact that with a single 25" monitor I idle around 35-36 and with 2 monitors i idle around 47-48, obviously I wanna use a 2nd card... But I don't wanna run sli and it's not a physx card. Point being, is it possible to run 2 cards for different monitors? I have an EVGA GTS450 as my main, and I wanna run an Asus 9600GSO in my 2nd 16x slot. I don't wanna try and screw something up hardcore, so I thought I'd ask real fast first. Possible or just plain stupid to ask?

Thanks for any help in advance.

 

[Tamz_msc]

I do not think its possible.When you're not having SLI, you computer recognizes only one card as the primary video device.

 

[Crashman]

I use two monitors, but up until 5 minutes ago when I put my 2nd one in, I didn't realize it increases speed... I mean I know it increased clock speeds a LITTLE.. but enough to increase the temperature 10ºC while IDLE??!?!? Sorry but that's just not gonna fly. So, because of the fact that with a single 25" monitor I idle around 35-36 and with 2 monitors i idle around 47-48, obviously I wanna use a 2nd card... But I don't wanna run sli and it's not a physx card. Point being, is it possible to run 2 cards for different monitors? I have an EVGA GTS450 as my main, and I wanna run an Asus 9600GSO in my 2nd 16x slot. I don't wanna try and screw something up hardcore, so I thought I'd ask real fast first. Possible or just plain stupid to ask?

Thanks for any help in advance.

Yes, you can have two cards installed and still set your desktop up for multiple monitors using the separate cards to drive them.

 

[Tamz_msc]

^ Yup, I was not totally sure about it. Now that you have the opinion of Crashman, I don't think that there is any need to worry about it.

 

[Crashman]

^ Yup, I was not totally sure about it. Now that you have the opinion of Crashman, I don't think that there is any need to worry about it.

I remember when you couldn't, but that was an OS problem...what OS was that...

 

[Tamz_msc]

I remember when you couldn't, but that was an OS problem...what OS was that...

XP?

 

[bystander]

I also run two monitors, and have done this, although I did use the 2nd card for physX, but it did work before I set it up for physX.

However, I question your motives. 10C higher idle temps is not a big deal.

 

[bystander]

XP?

No, Vista.

 

[Crashman]

No, Vista.

As I recall, Vista had trouble running different graphics DRIVERS. You could usually get away with two ATI or two Nvidia cards as I recall, but the drivers often didn't work together.

I found a workaround...but it wasn't consistent.

 

[Eversmann06]

I'm mostly doing this for gaming. Will there be an increase in FPS if I were to use a GTX 670 and a 560?

 

[bystander]

No, except in a GPU accelerated PhysX game, which is rare.