Second GPU for multimonitor issue.

[[WoW]Coolykoen]

Hey guys,

 

Today i got a cheap gpu (evga 1030 passive cooled) to run my second and third monitors.

However, i immediately ran into issues as the second card will not be recognized by the msi motherboard.

Before i start with any more details on the issue, here's my hardware:

-CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600
-GPU1: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB FTW ACX 2.0+
-GPU2: EVGA GeForce GT 1030 2GB SC Passive Low Profile
-Motherboard:MSI B350M MORTAR
-RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX CMK16GX4M2B3200C16
Everything except the second gpu is working fine, at default core speed and oc 3200 mhz on the memory.
In windows, (with both cards inserted), only the 980ti is seen and works as expected.

 

The second card is not recognized by either windows device manager or the msi board explorer in the BIOS.

 

I have not tried to run the cards separately in both slots to confirm they are working, because of two reasons,

1. my setup is always a big hassle to get out and back in due to limited amount of cables and cable lenghts.

2. I honestly hope i am just missing some setting in the bios, although i coudn't find it.

 

 

Any help would be much appreciated, and i there really isn't any option other than testing both cards in both slots, i will of course do so.

 

 

Greetings,

Koen

[ProjectBox153]

Why not just run all monitors off the 980 Ti?

[[WoW]Coolykoen]

Just now, Jamiec1130 said:

Why not just run all monitors off the 980 Ti?

Well, as i mentioned before, i have to overcome the problem of having little to no leftover space, so my computer ended up inside a desk, which with one monitor wasn't a problem as my temps were about 40 on cpu idle and 35 to 40 on gpu idle... but once i connected two more monitors, my 980ti needed more voltage, and ran at higher mhz even at idle, making it run at about 58 on idle alone... (everything is in degrees celsius btw).

 

So since i really didn't want to start using water cooling, i decided to go this route, as i really have to be carefull with my pc since i won't have much money in the future, so water leakage really isn't an option, but yea, i didn't expect these kind of issues from this.

[heimdali]

Are you sure nothing will get too warm when you use two cards instead of one?  Wouldn´t that generate even more heat?

 

[Guest]

Are you on the latest BIOS? I know a friend w/ that board was having all sorts of PCIe issues. Resolved mostly w/ a BIOS update... then it died outright. One of the worst boards out there.

[[WoW]Coolykoen]

8 minutes ago, Legendarypoet said:

Are you on the latest BIOS? I know a friend w/ that board was having all sorts of PCIe issues. Resolved mostly w/ a BIOS update... then it died outright. One of the worst boards out there.

I will do the update, and post the results, but other then that, isn't there any like, configuration a need to do at all to make it work anyway?

[AnalogCanavity]

For Nvidia if you SLI, you can only have the same chipset, so you can combine a GTX 1070 with a GTX 1070 but you can’t do a GTX 1070 with a GTX 980

[[WoW]Coolykoen]

13 minutes ago, heimdali said:

Are you sure nothing will get too warm when you use two cards instead of one?  Wouldn´t that generate even more heat?

 

Actually, the max temps under load are under control and on idle as mentioned above, i get really low temps. So i doubt that'll be a problem. of course i can't confirm that until it's working though.

[[WoW]Coolykoen]

Just now, Zic05 said:

For Nvidia if you SLI, you can only have the same chipset, so you can combine a GTX 1070 with a GTX 1070 but you can’t do a GTX 1070 with a GTX 980

It is not meant for SLI, not even for gaming, since i will run all games on my main monitor which would be the only monitor running off the 980ti.  can i combine different chipsets for use without SLI?

[heimdali]

Why would the temperatures go out of control when under load other than because the air in the desk gets so warm that cooling is insufficient?  Adding more hardware that inevitably turns electricity into heat isn´t something I would try to solve an overheating problem (except for adding a fan) because it tends to make the problem worse.

 

Unfortunately, I don´t know if you can get it to work.  I suppose the board decides on which card to use and makes it so that the other one can´t be used, perhaps by not loading the BIOS of the other card.  I never tried having several cards in the same machine at the same time.

 

EDIT:  Does the 2nd card get interrupts assigned?

 

[[WoW]Coolykoen]

Just now, heimdali said:

Unfortunately, I don´t know if you can get it to work.  I suppose the board decides on which card to use and makes it so that the other one can´t be used, perhaps by not loading the BIOS of the other card.  I never tried having several cards in the same machine at the same time.

 

Don't get me wrong, i understand why you'd say this, but then people who'd do this for SLI woudn't be able to do it either, and somehow, they can.

I guess it's just my luck to find a board that just outright denies a second card then. *sigh*

Thanks for the answer though, im definitely not trying to react negatively to you, but more or less to my motherboard.

[[WoW]Coolykoen]

4 minutes ago, heimdali said:

EDIT:  Does the 2nd card get interrupts assigned?

 

I'm not sure what you mean by interupts, but i know that it isn't even seen by the motherboard, so let alone theoperating system.

[AnalogCanavity]

9 minutes ago, [WoW]Coolykoen said:

It is not meant for SLI, not even for gaming, since i will run all games on my main monitor which would be the only monitor running off the 980ti.  can i combine different chipsets for use without SLI?

Actually, I don’t think I will matter.

[[WoW]Coolykoen]

Just now, Zic05 said:

Actually, I don’t think I will matter.

oh no, if that's the case, i really just wasted 80 (plus 10 for apropriate cable) euros for something that won't work, and i didn't expect it to be impossible since so many people have been taking about things like using a second gpu for physx (in that scenario it also has to be seen by bios and os). So i really hoped it would "Just work" <- today however.. i think i learned never to expect.

[heimdali]

35 minutes ago, [WoW]Coolykoen said:

Don't get me wrong, i understand why you'd say this, but then people who'd do this for SLI woudn't be able to do it either, and somehow, they can.

I guess it's just my luck to find a board that just outright denies a second card then. *sigh*

Thanks for the answer though, im definitely not trying to react negatively to you, but more or less to my motherboard.

Poor mainboard

 

Weren´t there boards specifically designed for SLI, and using such boards and SLI is how people are able to use multiple graphics cards at the same time?

 

But then, I think there are other ways than SLI.  What if you have a VM and pass a card through?

 

Graphic cards (and other things) usually get interrupts assigned, which is like a way of telling the CPU that it should do something right now.  If you can check the IRQs and see that the 2nd card did get at least one assigned, that would mean that the board doesn´t just disable it --- I don´t know if it can even do that.

 

In any case, first you need to find out if the card works at all.  If it does, perhaps you can switch the slots and it´ll work.  Check the documentation of your board to see what it says about multiple graphics cards and about how the slots change the number of lines they can use when several of them are occupied.  Some slots turn from like 16x into 8x or from 8x  into 4x depending on if something is plugged in, and there may be combinations that actually don´t work at all.

 

Then there is the issue that PCIe slots are supposed to provide up to 75W to a card that is plugged in.  Perhaps your board isn´t up to the specification.  Even if it is, it might not be a good idea to draw 150W from the board itself ...

 

 

https://us.msi.com/Motherboard/B350M-MORTAR.html

MULTI-GPU: With Steel Armor PCI-E slots. Supports AMD Crossfire™

 

Other than that, it should just work.  The web site also says you have onboard graphics.  Can´t you use that?

 

[[WoW]Coolykoen]

3 hours ago, heimdali said:

Poor mainboard

 

Weren´t there boards specifically designed for SLI, and using such boards and SLI is how people are able to use multiple graphics cards at the same time?

 

But then, I think there are other ways than SLI.  What if you have a VM and pass a card through?

 

Graphic cards (and other things) usually get interrupts assigned, which is like a way of telling the CPU that it should do something right now.  If you can check the IRQs and see that the 2nd card did get at least one assigned, that would mean that the board doesn´t just disable it --- I don´t know if it can even do that.

 

In any case, first you need to find out if the card works at all.  If it does, perhaps you can switch the slots and it´ll work.  Check the documentation of your board to see what it says about multiple graphics cards and about how the slots change the number of lines they can use when several of them are occupied.  Some slots turn from like 16x into 8x or from 8x  into 4x depending on if something is plugged in, and there may be combinations that actually don´t work at all.

 

Then there is the issue that PCIe slots are supposed to provide up to 75W to a card that is plugged in.  Perhaps your board isn´t up to the specification.  Even if it is, it might not be a good idea to draw 150W from the board itself ...

 

 

https://us.msi.com/Motherboard/B350M-MORTAR.html

MULTI-GPU: With Steel Armor PCI-E slots. Supports AMD Crossfire™

 

Other than that, it should just work.  The web site also says you have onboard graphics.  Can´t you use that?

 

Ryzen cpu's for deskop (atleast the first gen like mine) don't have the APU for integrated graphics yet, these are just on the board for future cpu's. other than that, yea, if it supports amd crossfire, it should atleast see the card is inserted, but maybe list it as "unsupported", instead it's just completely ignored (or something is wrong).

[heimdali]

Maybe the card doesn´t work.