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Dual video cards setup for dual screens

DiegoTavares

Hello tech guys!聽So, i know that SLI and Crossfire dual video cards are common and easy to setup. But what about two different chipsets family聽or even brands? Not to work together, but to work individually, each on one output.


I have a 970A-DS3P motherboard with a FX6300, so no integrated video, but lots of PCIe slots to spare. The PCIe x16 are being used by a HD7950 that don't work on HDMI, but my screens are DVI/VGA only, so no problem. But i want to have my secondary screen working again (mainly to play GTA Online聽watching YouTube 馃槃).

Remains unused one PCIe 4x (on a full slot) and three PCIe 1x (standard 1x slot). The HD7950 will handle the games, the secondary card would be for watching YouTube or searching for聽walkthrough and light tasks.

What i want to ask is:

  1. Could i mix the team red card that is already installed with a team green card? Or i need another AMD card for driver compatibility?
  2. Could i mix the HD7950 with a RX560? Or i would need another almost exactly family?
  3. IF i could find another HD7950 exactly equal and run them on crossfire. Could i use the I/Os from both sharing the processing power, or i would need to make them work independent?

Why i got to this approach instead of getting a new pc or GPU? Well, in my country, building a decent聽mid-range AM4 platform can be really expensive, and it's a rig from some years ago, i will not waste money聽on a new gpu. This rig handles pretty well the games that i like, and even as a workstation it handles AutoCAD and every thing i need.

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3 minutes ago, DiegoTavares said:

Hello tech guys!聽So, i know that SLI and Crossfire dual video cards are common and easy to setup. But what about two different chipsets family聽or even brands? Not to work together, but to work individually, each on one output.


I have a 970A-DS3P motherboard with a FX6300, so no integrated video, but lots of PCIe slots to spare. The PCIe x16 are being used by a HD7950 that don't work on HDMI, but my screens are DVI/VGA only, so no problem. But i want to have my secondary screen working again (mainly to play GTA Online聽watching YouTube 馃槃).

Remains unused one PCIe 4x (on a full slot) and three PCIe 1x (standard 1x slot). The HD7950 will handle the games, the secondary card would be for watching YouTube or searching for聽walkthrough and light tasks.

What i want to ask is:

  1. Could i mix the team red card that is already installed with a team green card? Or i need another AMD card for driver compatibility?
  2. Could i mix the HD7950 with a RX560? Or i would need another almost exactly family?
  3. IF i could find another HD7950 exactly equal and run them on crossfire. Could i use the I/Os from both sharing the processing power, or i would need to make them work independent?

Why i got to this approach instead of getting a new pc or GPU? Well, in my country, building a decent聽mid-range AM4 platform can be really expensive, and it's a rig from some years ago, i will not waste money聽on a new gpu. This rig handles pretty well the games that i like, and even as a workstation it handles AutoCAD and every thing i need.

Any GPU can handle 2 monitors

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Plug you second monitor into your 7950, no need for a second video card. If there isn鈥檛聽the correct output, you can get HDMI to DVI adapters.聽

Rig: i7 13700k - - Asus Z790-P Wifi - - RTX 4080 - - 4x16GB 6000MHz - - Samsung 990 Pro 2TB NVMe聽Boot + Main Programs聽- -聽Assorted SATA SSD's for Photo Work - - Corsair RM850x聽- -聽Sound BlasterX EA-5聽- - Corsair XC8 JTC Edition - - Corsair GPU Full Cover GPU Block聽- -聽XT45 X-Flow 420 + UT60 280 rads - - EK XRES RGB PWM - - Fractal Define S2聽- - Acer Predator X34 --聽Logitech G502聽- - Logitech G710+ - - Logitech Z5500聽- - LTT Deskpad

Headphones/amp/dac: Schiit Lyr 3 - -聽Fostex TR-X00 - - Sennheiser HD 6xx

Homelab/ Media Server:聽Proxmox VE host - - 512 NVMe Samsung 980 RAID Z1 for VM's/Proxmox boot - - Xeon e5 2660 V4- - Supermicro X10SRF-i - - 128 GB ECC 2133 - - 10x4 TB WD Red RAID Z2 - - Corsair 750D - - Corsair RM650i - - Dell H310 6Gbps SAS HBA - - Intel RES2SC240 SAS Expander - - TreuNAS + many other VM鈥檚

iPhone 14 Pro - 2018 MacBook Air

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50 minutes ago, Biomecanoid said:

Any GPU can handle 2 monitors

34 minutes ago, LIGISTX said:

Plug you second monitor into your 7950, no need for a second video card. If there isn鈥檛聽the correct output, you can get HDMI to DVI adapters.聽

Yes, the 7950 actually have a DVI, a HDMI and two mini-DP outputs. But as i said, this card is not working on HDMI, and as my monitor is a little old it may not be compatible with a mini-DP to DVI adaptors (read on internet, not聽tried, but if it works, i could for sure buy a adaptor).
I already have some spares Nvidia and AMD cards here and some cables. So if possible i would like to use them instead of聽buying new things to a old computer.

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1 hour ago, DiegoTavares said:

Yes, the 7950 actually have a DVI, a HDMI and two mini-DP outputs. But as i said, this card is not working on HDMI, and as my monitor is a little old it may not be compatible with a mini-DP to DVI adaptors (read on internet, not聽tried, but if it works, i could for sure buy a adaptor).
I already have some spares Nvidia and AMD cards here and some cables. So if possible i would like to use them instead of聽buying new things to a old computer.

If you already have GPUs at hand use them. Its your PC

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58 minutes ago, Biomecanoid said:

If you already have GPUs at hand use them. Its your PC

This.

I wouldn鈥檛 mix AMD and nvidia. It鈥檒l work, usually. But driver conflicts are a thing and are not fun... OP, if you have and AMD, use that.聽

Rig: i7 13700k - - Asus Z790-P Wifi - - RTX 4080 - - 4x16GB 6000MHz - - Samsung 990 Pro 2TB NVMe聽Boot + Main Programs聽- -聽Assorted SATA SSD's for Photo Work - - Corsair RM850x聽- -聽Sound BlasterX EA-5聽- - Corsair XC8 JTC Edition - - Corsair GPU Full Cover GPU Block聽- -聽XT45 X-Flow 420 + UT60 280 rads - - EK XRES RGB PWM - - Fractal Define S2聽- - Acer Predator X34 --聽Logitech G502聽- - Logitech G710+ - - Logitech Z5500聽- - LTT Deskpad

Headphones/amp/dac: Schiit Lyr 3 - -聽Fostex TR-X00 - - Sennheiser HD 6xx

Homelab/ Media Server:聽Proxmox VE host - - 512 NVMe Samsung 980 RAID Z1 for VM's/Proxmox boot - - Xeon e5 2660 V4- - Supermicro X10SRF-i - - 128 GB ECC 2133 - - 10x4 TB WD Red RAID Z2 - - Corsair 750D - - Corsair RM650i - - Dell H310 6Gbps SAS HBA - - Intel RES2SC240 SAS Expander - - TreuNAS + many other VM鈥檚

iPhone 14 Pro - 2018 MacBook Air

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On 2/1/2021 at 2:01 PM, Biomecanoid said:

If you already have GPUs at hand use them. Its your PC

On 2/1/2021 at 3:00 PM, LIGISTX said:

This.

I wouldn鈥檛 mix AMD and nvidia. It鈥檒l work, usually. But driver conflicts are a thing and are not fun... OP, if you have and AMD, use that.聽

Thanks, that's what i wanted to know. I already tried to put another card together without success, a Nvidia 8400GS, because聽this 7950 is a power hungry card and i only had a RX470 and a聽HD7850, my PSU would fry. To go full AMD i'm getting a R7 250E, rated for 50W and has a DVI output, and the performance is not THAT bad as it seems to perform almost as a GTX550Ti.

As this R7 is a renamed HD7750 i guess that driver issues will not happen. But what about lag and performance losses? That's why i put a question about putting another 7950 and use the DVI from both.

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3 hours ago, DiegoTavares said:

Thanks, that's what i wanted to know. I already tried to put another card together without success, a Nvidia 8400GS, because聽this 7950 is a power hungry card and i only had a RX470 and a聽HD7850, my PSU would fry. To go full AMD i'm getting a R7 250E, rated for 50W and has a DVI output, and the performance is not THAT bad as it seems to perform almost as a GTX550Ti.

As this R7 is a renamed HD7750 i guess that driver issues will not happen. But what about lag and performance losses? That's why i put a question about putting another 7950 and use the DVI from both.

Just an FYI, if your not pushing the card, it won鈥檛 use much power. But still not a bad idea not to have cards that can potentially overdraw the PSU.聽

What do you mean lag and performance issues? Your just driving a second monitor, what will lag? Also does your mobo not have any video out that would work for your second monitor? Integrated video is always an easy way to add more monitors as well if your CPU and mobo support it.聽

Rig: i7 13700k - - Asus Z790-P Wifi - - RTX 4080 - - 4x16GB 6000MHz - - Samsung 990 Pro 2TB NVMe聽Boot + Main Programs聽- -聽Assorted SATA SSD's for Photo Work - - Corsair RM850x聽- -聽Sound BlasterX EA-5聽- - Corsair XC8 JTC Edition - - Corsair GPU Full Cover GPU Block聽- -聽XT45 X-Flow 420 + UT60 280 rads - - EK XRES RGB PWM - - Fractal Define S2聽- - Acer Predator X34 --聽Logitech G502聽- - Logitech G710+ - - Logitech Z5500聽- - LTT Deskpad

Headphones/amp/dac: Schiit Lyr 3 - -聽Fostex TR-X00 - - Sennheiser HD 6xx

Homelab/ Media Server:聽Proxmox VE host - - 512 NVMe Samsung 980 RAID Z1 for VM's/Proxmox boot - - Xeon e5 2660 V4- - Supermicro X10SRF-i - - 128 GB ECC 2133 - - 10x4 TB WD Red RAID Z2 - - Corsair 750D - - Corsair RM650i - - Dell H310 6Gbps SAS HBA - - Intel RES2SC240 SAS Expander - - TreuNAS + many other VM鈥檚

iPhone 14 Pro - 2018 MacBook Air

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5 hours ago, LIGISTX said:

Just an FYI, if your not pushing the card, it won鈥檛 use much power. But still not a bad idea not to have cards that can potentially overdraw the PSU.聽

What do you mean lag and performance issues? Your just driving a second monitor, what will lag? Also does your mobo not have any video out that would work for your second monitor? Integrated video is always an easy way to add more monitors as well if your CPU and mobo support it.聽

Probably with my use it would never use both GPUs and CPU on full load, but a low power card would be the best to not take chances.

I mean performance losses comparing to using only one GPU for both outputs. I had a core2 quad that i used with a GTX550Ti and the integrated graphics cause i needed VGA, but when i switched to both DVI outputs from the 550Ti even playing GTA V i could watch YT (had less load on CPU). Saying this, both my Mobo and CPU don't have integrated graphics.

I got the R7,聽had to start just the R7 on the second slot, then i started with both cards on, so it worked. Maybe even the Nvidia would work (?)

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3 hours ago, DiegoTavares said:

Probably with my use it would never use both GPUs and CPU on full load, but a low power card would be the best to not take chances.

I mean performance losses comparing to using only one GPU for both outputs. I had a core2 quad that i used with a GTX550Ti and the integrated graphics cause i needed VGA, but when i switched to both DVI outputs from the 550Ti even playing GTA V i could watch YT (had less load on CPU). Saying this, both my Mobo and CPU don't have integrated graphics.

I got the R7,聽had to start just the R7 on the second slot, then i started with both cards on, so it worked. Maybe even the Nvidia would work (?)

There will be basically no difference from using one GPU or two. Running a second monitor on a GPU is not really any actual extra load on the card.聽

Rig: i7 13700k - - Asus Z790-P Wifi - - RTX 4080 - - 4x16GB 6000MHz - - Samsung 990 Pro 2TB NVMe聽Boot + Main Programs聽- -聽Assorted SATA SSD's for Photo Work - - Corsair RM850x聽- -聽Sound BlasterX EA-5聽- - Corsair XC8 JTC Edition - - Corsair GPU Full Cover GPU Block聽- -聽XT45 X-Flow 420 + UT60 280 rads - - EK XRES RGB PWM - - Fractal Define S2聽- - Acer Predator X34 --聽Logitech G502聽- - Logitech G710+ - - Logitech Z5500聽- - LTT Deskpad

Headphones/amp/dac: Schiit Lyr 3 - -聽Fostex TR-X00 - - Sennheiser HD 6xx

Homelab/ Media Server:聽Proxmox VE host - - 512 NVMe Samsung 980 RAID Z1 for VM's/Proxmox boot - - Xeon e5 2660 V4- - Supermicro X10SRF-i - - 128 GB ECC 2133 - - 10x4 TB WD Red RAID Z2 - - Corsair 750D - - Corsair RM650i - - Dell H310 6Gbps SAS HBA - - Intel RES2SC240 SAS Expander - - TreuNAS + many other VM鈥檚

iPhone 14 Pro - 2018 MacBook Air

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