A10-6800K REFUSES to enable dual-graphics

[Kc7vwc]

My nephew has my old Richland APU, paired with a GTX 970. He does a bit of twitch streaming and so would like a 2nd screen to monitor his broadcast.

But his 2nd panel only uses VGA and the GTX is dvi/HDMI/DP. So I tried enabling the dual graphics mode of the APU just for the sake of using the VGA port on the mother board. I did this year's ago myself, but now it won't enable. The option is greyed out in the BIOS. Removing the GTX & rebooting a couple times forces the iGPU to kick in, and I can turn on dual graphics. I save that & reboot, but soon as I insert the GTX the option disables itself. 

I think I was using a Radeon 6850 last time I tried this, so is it an issue that he's got Nvidia?

We ended up buying a VGA to dvi converter ($12 for the bloody thing locally!!) But it bugs me that this feature won't enable. 

It's an MSI A88X-E45 (I think) Mobo, latest BIOS (Dec of 2015) A10-6800K @ stock (oh, BIOS won't let us OC either - something about 65w APUs only) Hyper 212 Evo for what that's worth, and MSI GTX 970.

Any ideas? Google search only seemed about trying to enable the Xfire part of dual-graphics whereas we just want a small 2nd GPU with VGA ports. 

[hconverse02]

Yeah, I don't think the gtx 970 does dual screens then

[EPPHO]

You can't crossfire that 2 GPUs LOL

[Kc7vwc]

I'm not trying to Xfire. I just want the iGPU to act as a 2nd standalone GPU, as if there's the GTX and a Radeon both in there. I've mixed GPUs before, & across brands, for the sake of powering a 2nd low-workload panel.

Just can't figure why this time it's hard locked out, so to speak.

[Glenwing]

1 hour ago, Kc7vwc said:

I'm not trying to Xfire. I just want the iGPU to act as a 2nd standalone GPU, as if there's the GTX and a Radeon both in there. I've mixed GPUs before, & across brands, for the sake of powering a 2nd low-workload panel.

Just can't figure why this time it's hard locked out, so to speak.

"Dual Graphics" means AMD CrossFire between the integrated GPU and the dedicated GPU. That option won't be available with an NVIDIA graphics card, it will only work with some older AMD cards like the 6850.

 

Just get a DisplayPort to VGA adapter, they're only a few dollars.

[Kc7vwc]

7 minutes ago, Glenwing said:

"Dual Graphics" means AMD CrossFire between the integrated GPU and the dedicated GPU. That option won't be available with an NVIDIA graphics card, it will only work with some older AMD cards like the 6850.

 

Just get a DisplayPort to VGA adapter, they're only a few dollars.

Had hoped AMD's would be smart enough to allow this. I'm currently doing this exact same thing with my i5 iGPU + R9 390. I use mine for a 2nd panel as well as sometimes using Qucksync for quick & dirty streaming. 

And sadly my town is so small that one these adapters is over $10. Not exactly expensive, but used to get them free with mobo's & GPUs. 

[Glenwing]

2 minutes ago, Kc7vwc said:

Had hoped AMD's would be smart enough to allow this. I'm currently doing this exact same thing with my i5 iGPU + R9 390. I use mine for a 2nd panel as well as sometimes using Qucksync for quick & dirty streaming. 

And sadly my town is so small that one these adapters is over $10. Not exactly expensive, but used to get them free with mobo's & GPUs. 

You shouldn't need to enable dual graphics to use the integrated GPU and dedicated GPU at the same time. That isn't what dual graphics is for, it's for running them in CrossFire so they work together on the same image.

[Kc7vwc]

2 hours ago, Glenwing said:

You shouldn't need to enable dual graphics to use the integrated GPU and dedicated GPU at the same time. 

Yeah, that's what I'm trying to do - iGPU & dGPU working independent of each other. But the only option in the BIOS to enable the iGPU is paired with Dual-graphics.
There's a main setting in the bios for INTEGRATED GRAPHICS DEVICES CONFIG.

Inside that, there's INITIATE GRAPHICS ADAPTER. And here, where I should be able to select IGD or PEG, it's hard set to PEG (greyed out) and I cant edit or click that. Mouse doesn't do anything, keyboard & +/- keys won't do anything. 

If I remove the GTX & reboot a couple times, PEG becomes IGD & there's a second option for INITIATE GRAPHICS DEVICE. Here I could select IGD or Dual-graphics, thats it.
Choosing either of those two options, saving & putting the GTX back in, results in a 'no signal' on BOTH panels. A couple reboots later & it reverts to PEG (greyed out) and the GTX is running the show. 

So that's what has me stumped. I cannot get even the BIOS to recognize that an iGPU is present in the system when another GPU is installed.