Old and new GPU

[chronuss]

I currently have a GTX 970SC installed and a old AMD 5870 in the second PCIe slot.  The 970 is running my 1080p 144Hz monitor that I use for running games on. The older second video card is connected to my secondary monitor at 1080p 60Hz, and a TV out in my living room by a 50ft hdmi cable at 1080p 60Hz. I was just wondering if its worth using the older card to run the 2nd monitor and TV and just keep the 970 on the main gaming monitor, or would its be better to run all 3 off the 970. Maybe even both monitors on the 970 and just the TV on the HD5870? What are your thoughts?

[CCCCC]

Depends on what games you play honestly, but running a display just for display purposes like watching shows or reading something doesn't really use up any gpu power. The gpu dies in your cpu can probably run whatever it is you're doing on the other two displays. Anywho, maybe just use the 970 use less power. Or build a HTPC with a MITX case somewhere with the old card.

[alexhelvetica]

If you need more displays than what your 970 can output, slap in the 5870, if you do not need anymore than 4 displays, remove the 5870 and repurpose it. 

[chronuss]

I use the secondary monitor for web browsing, game info, media players, and to get other extra programs off my gaming monitor. The Tv I use rarely for watching movies in the living room and playing games on the couch with a wireless xbox controller. So I use the secondary monitor consistently but not the Tv.  At the moment I don't have any other computer to put the 5870 in so I left it in in the hopes it would ease the workload for my 970 so it would only have to run the 1 144Hz monitor. Also the 970 is 4 gigs of Vram and the 5870 is 1gig i think.

[chronuss]

12 minutes ago, Comic_Sans_MS said:

If you need more displays than what your 970 can output, slap in the 5870, if you do not need anymore than 4 displays, remove the 5870 and repurpose it. 

I don't need any more monitors, but i don't have anywhere else to put the 5870. So should I just let it run the 2nd monitor and the Tv hopefully letting the 970 perform its best on just the main 144Hz monitor?

[alexhelvetica]

1 minute ago, chronuss said:

I don't need any more monitors, but i don't have anywhere else to put the 5870. So should I just let it run the 2nd monitor and the Tv hopefully letting the 970 perform its best on just the main 144Hz monitor?

It will not do much. Just remove the 5870 for now, maybe if DX12 multi GPU gets any where it may be worth putting it back in, just not now. 

[chronuss]

1 minute ago, Comic_Sans_MS said:

It will not do much. Just remove the 5870 for now, maybe if DX12 multi GPU gets any where it may be worth putting it back in, just not now. 

So is the 5870 hindering my performance in any way by having it in alongside with the 970? The 5870 would just sit on a shelf if I took it out. I'm trying to figure out if letting the 970 handle all the monitors would get me better performance.

[alexhelvetica]

6 minutes ago, chronuss said:

So is the 5870 hindering my performance in any way by having it in alongside with the 970? The 5870 would just sit on a shelf if I took it out. I'm trying to figure out if letting the 970 handle all the monitors would get me better performance.

The 970 isn't going to be nerfed much if at all if you plug in multiple monitors. The 5870 is going to use power and will do not much if anything at all.