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Possible to do hybrid CrossfireX/SLI (combining ATI and NVIDIA cards)

Forum Graphics & Displays : Graphics Cards Possible to do hybrid CrossfireX/SLI (combining ATI and NVIDIA cards)

I realize this is a pretty stupid question. I mean why would ATI and NVIDIA simply work together? Doesn't seem likely. But, the reason I'm even asking is I saw someone post a comment (again, on someone else's questions here) that "theoretically you could use an ATI card as main, and an NVIDIA card for PhysX".

Alright, so here's what I have. Right now, my PC has a Gigabyte Radeon 5770. I have this EVGA GeForce 8800 GTX sitting around. I'm quite confident it has support for PhysX. So, are there any hacks I can do to get it to work? Like to make it that dedicated PhysX card? Regardless if performance gain won't be noticeable, or this or that, I don't care. I simply want to know if it can work.

Thanks.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to tmontney

You can use the 8800GTX as a PhysX card
http://www.nvidia.com/object/physx_gpus.html
But it's not worth it IMO.

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Reply to Maziar

I don't think it would work, but might as well go for it.

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Maziar wrote :

You can use the 8800GTX as a PhysX card
http://www.nvidia.com/object/physx_gpus.html
But it's not worth it IMO.

Do you understand what I want? I would like to have both cards working together. Like I said in my OP, someone made a reply saying that you could do your main card ATI and a dedicated PhysX card working together. So, how would I do that?

Deemo13 wrote :

I don't think it would work, but might as well go for it.

That's not helpful at all. "might as well go for it"? Like what does that mean? I can't just assume I "plug them in and go". You gotta be more detailed than that. I've actually never done a CrossFire/SLI setup before. Not that I couldn't figure out how to do a standard one, but I'm not too familiar with it.

Message edited by tmontney on 10-30-2011 at 09:49:45 PM

Reply to tmontney

Lucid Hydra. Allows for both GPU's to work together, but from what I've read a while ago the performance wasn't so great. They did a review here on TH about it but you might want to google around and check it out.

I know the old MSI big bang fuzion supported it. Not sure about their newer models. Drivers were "iffy" back in the day. I suppose they could have improved.

Message edited by greeneman510 on 10-30-2011 at 10:03:30 PM

Reply to greeneman510

I got intrigue by this question, so I made a simple search and guess what I found!

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1362038

On this forum there is an interesting setup with 2 Radeon cards and an Nvidia card
for physics.

so go to the link, read (view the picture for proof) and good luck!

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Reply to drwho1

you can try and use the 8800 as a phys x card, but you would have to find old or hacked drivers as Nvidia has stopped allowing the use of their cards in physx setups with Ati cards as the main gpu. As for using them together in any other fashion, not gonna happen, the only thing you could possibly use it for is physx and like most people will probably tell you, it would be a colossal waste of time and effort.

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Reply to holdingholder

now with that being said.....
as you know.
8800GT will not produce MUCH better fps, it's too weak.
your better off selling it and taking the money for something better or other..

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Message edited by malmental on 10-30-2011 at 10:15:02 PM

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Reply to malmental

drwho1 wrote :

I got intrigue by this question, so I made a simple search and guess what I found!

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1362038

On this forum there is an interesting setup with 2 Radeon cards and an Nvidia card
for physics.

so go to the link, read (view the picture for proof) and good luck!

that's one link, I believe Tom's has one too...

Message edited by malmental on 10-30-2011 at 10:16:00 PM

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Reply to malmental

holdingholder wrote :

+1^
Nvidia has stopped allowing to use a Nvidia card as a PhysX card along with an ATI card as the primary one.(Unless you use hacked drivers)
On the other hand,if you want to use both in multiGPU config,it's not possible and requires a motherboard that supports Lucid

Hope that's what you wanted to know

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------------------------------ The end is near...
Reply to Maziar

tmontney wrote :

I realize this is a pretty stupid question. I mean why would ATI and NVIDIA simply work together?

Because they compete against each other for market share.

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Maziar wrote :

+2
and I forgot about the Lucid's...

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Reply to malmental

malmental wrote :

you CAN use the 8800 as a dedicated physX card with the 5770.
you'll need to use 'certified' hacked drivers to do so...
there is an article with step by step instructions on how to do so..
also look for a forum member ' elmoisevil'
he has CF-X configuration with a GTS 450 physX card.
so yes, it's possible, tricky but possible.

now with that being said.....
as you know.
8800GT will not produce MUCH better fps, it's too weak.
your better off selling it and taking the money for something better or other..

I went to the link, it's cool. But it doesn't show me "how" to do it. So where is this step by step instruction? Trust me, it's not like haven't googled this. It's just hard to know how to word the search.

jaguarskx wrote :

Because they compete against each other for market share.

Uhm, no kidding? You literally stated the obvious. I was explaining I understand why NVIDIA (or ATI) wouldn't explicitly allow their cards to be compatible with their competitor. I wanted to show I understood so my question looked not as unintelligent.

Message edited by tmontney on 10-30-2011 at 10:31:03 PM

Reply to tmontney

send a PM to ' ElmoIsEvil' here in the forum.
I will also look for you.

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Reply to malmental

http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] ,2764.html
http://www.gamephys.com/game-physi [...] ati-cards/
http://www.gamephys.com/game-physi [...] hysx-card/

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by malmental on 10-30-2011 at 10:35:50 PM

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Reply to malmental

malmental wrote :

http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] ,2764.html
http://www.gamephys.com/game-physi [...] ati-cards/
http://www.gamephys.com/game-physi [...] hysx-card/

Thank you good sir. I appreciate it much.

Also, one more thought passed through my mind. I have a 550w PSU. Do you think it'll be enough to power both the 8800 GTX and the 5770? The other hardware in my PC is Phenom II X6 1055T, 5 GB DDR3 Memory (x2 2 GB and x1 1 GB), No optical drive, 1 TB SATA III 7,200 RPM HDD, 40 GB SATA (no clue on the RPM and if I or II) HDD.

Reply to tmontney

NO.
you'll need in my experiences with SLi and PhysX is about a 650-watt.
you can try and if it doesn't work you'll get a 'blue screen'.
once you get the 'blue screen' then take out the 8800 and just run the 5770.
up to you to go for it.

that's what happened to me when I tried a GTX 460 with a GTS 240 with a 550-watt HEC power supply.
trial and error sometimes my friend.
I 'artifacted' the GTS 240 in the process..

Message edited by malmental on 10-30-2011 at 10:47:35 PM

------------------------------ A+, Net+, MCDST, DSCE (Dell)
Reply to malmental

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