Explanation help needed!

[Boogle]

I hope there's some techies and knowledgeable guys on here (I know there is!) that can finally explain this one to me because I can't seem to get an answer from anyone and I can't think of a "true" test to determine the answer myself:

 

S this is the problem, I have two graphics card and 4 monitors. 1 card going to 1 monitor (my gaming monitor), and 1 card going to the other 3 monitors. No SLI config, just two discrete cards. I think that the horsepower from each should only be getting used to draw what its connected monitors ask for, however becuase of the way Windows works, i.e. drawing/dragging between the different monitors, how does it actually work and am I getting the benefit I want, which is I want my 1 card and its 1 gaming monitor to be completely dedicated to each other, and the other 3 monitors to never be requiring help from that 1 card.

 

For context, but I don't think it matters, the card for gaming is a 2080ti from EVGA, and the other is a 1060 3GB. DxDiag shot below. (btw, DxDiag shows it how I think it works).

 

I'm basically looking for knowledge about how this works and whether or not I'm doing the right thing.

 

 

Thanks a lot,

Boogle

 

[TheGlenlivet]

I don't think you don't need the 1060.  The 2080ti can power all your displays and games.  

Running a display with a desktop and some broswer/spreadsheet/discord takes basically no effort for a modern GPU.  

If you pulled the 1060 from your system and ran all your monitors form the 2080ti, I'd be surprised if you saw a change in performance.

[SavageNeo]

The rtx2080ti will handle them, all, but iif you like 1fps more on 4k then you could use the 1060 3gb. I agree with @TheGlenlivet with his statement. Using browser, discord, steam, msi afterburner take under 10% of your 1060 3gb and it would take like 1% of your 2080ti or even under 1%

[.Apex.]

13 minutes ago, Boogle said:

I'm basically looking for knowledge about how this works and whether or not I'm doing the right thing.

You're doing the right thing, your main display is completely dedicated to your 2080 Ti but as said even if you power all the monitors with the 2080 Ti the difference would be negligible, though the 1060 can still be helpful if you want to for example render a video on that GPU while you game on the other, streaming and other applications etc..

[Tristerin]

Running a 2D desktop environment for a 2080ti is like it breathing.  Its going to breath when you power the system on anyhow.  No 2D task is going to make that card move.

 

Basically, its less than 1% usage for 2D for those 4 monitors.  Can I prove it?  Yes, bring up MSI afterburner and watch usage as you do things with 4 monitors attached.  It wont do anything until a 3D object needs rendered.

 

EDIT - and even then, it would only chew up more resources if you used more 3D pixels - I.E. you have it gaming on 2 monitors as a single screen - well that means more pixels for the GPU to put out, so you would have less performance then (stretching the displays or whatever its called) in FPS, but that's because you are working the GPU 3D output more.