Unable to run two different video cards at the same time.

Dark_Templer_102

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Hello everybody,

I just finished installing various components to my new computer, and I've been wanting a tri-screen set up for a while. I finally have the ability to run more then one PCI-E video cards, but it seems like it really isn't working out on the P6T. I currently have a XFX HD 4890 working fine, but I would like to put in my old ATI X1800XT. I've done some research about drivers and how Vista handles them but i'm not sure if thats the problem entirely.

I have a Asus P6T Deluxe V2 Motherboard

If I put the X1800 on the second PCI-E slot, the video card fan just runs at 100% with the 4890 already in the first slot. The 4890/X1800 runs fine regardless of the slot, only if it is alone. If I put the X1800 on the first PCI-E, it runs fine while the 4890, on the second slot, has its fan on 100%.

I'm not sure if this is a software problem or hardware or what. I know the X1800 still runs normally because if i put it back into my old computer, the fan runs at it's normal speed. Also, I don't think its a PSW issue since I'm using a Corsair that's rated to 620 Watts and I'm not overclocking or anything of that matter.

Thanks for reading, and any help will be appreciated.
 
If you're getting into the OS and can get video on both cards, you're golden because it's just a silly driver bug. If not, you're boned. ATI's drivers (and to an extent, nVidia's as well) aren't terribly good at the whole "two different video cards running independently" thing. If you slapped an nVidia in the second slot, I'd bet it'd work (aside from any fighting the nVidia and ATI drivers do with each other).

My advice? Learn to live with the noise.
 
Hmm, I'll try to get my friend old 7800 GTX or whatever it is and try it in.

Though, I noticed when i had the second video card in with the loud ass noise, it worked until i restarted the computer and then eventually gave me blue screen after i restarted. I'm gonna be busy so i won't be able to try and fix it till later..
 
Hello everybody,

I just finished installing various components to my new computer, and I've been wanting a tri-screen set up for a while. I finally have the ability to run more then one PCI-E video cards, but it seems like it really isn't working out on the P6T. I currently have a XFX HD 4890 working fine, but I would like to put in my old ATI X1800XT. I've done some research about drivers and how Vista handles them but i'm not sure if thats the problem entirely.

I have a Asus P6T Deluxe V2 Motherboard

If I put the X1800 on the second PCI-E slot, the video card fan just runs at 100% with the 4890 already in the first slot. The 4890/X1800 runs fine regardless of the slot, only if it is alone. If I put the X1800 on the first PCI-E, it runs fine while the 4890, on the second slot, has its fan on 100%.

I'm not sure if this is a software problem or hardware or what. I know the X1800 still runs normally because if i put it back into my old computer, the fan runs at it's normal speed. Also, I don't think its a PSW issue since I'm using a Corsair that's rated to 620 Watts and I'm not overclocking or anything of that matter.

Thanks for reading, and any help will be appreciated.

About the noise, why don't you just run the x1800 fan off a 5v molex? Sure it won't be adjustable and it won't tell you the fan speed, but that way you can atleast make it silent enough..
 
Atitool or Rivatuner might be able to control the fanspeed of both cards. Anyway, Vista isn't really capable of running several pci-e graphics cards that use different drivers. Slighty different cards using the same driver package are fine, but different cards are a no-go as far as I know. A friend tried exactly that a year ago: primary card gforce 8800 gts but back then the drivers where crappy and wouldn't save his tv settings, so he bought a cheap ati card for his second pci-e slot only to discover that it didn't work no matter what he tried. I on the other hand use two almost identical ati cards (only difference is clock speed and amount of memory, otherwise they are the same) and it works like a charm (with four screens).
 
Hmm, if that is true, you think another 4000 series video card will work? No way I want to spend money on another 4890 (given its only 200 but its still a little high since I would buy two). Another thing is, I'm really low on power connectors on the PSW and I don't want to overload the system.
 
Basically it has to be the same or a very similar gpu to be used with the same drivers. E.g. even two 8800 gts might not work together because there are versions with 90 and 65 nm technology which use different drivers (check codename of each card, if they are the same they should use the same drivers). Cards with different codenames *might* still use the same drivers but it's hard to tell really because from ati and nvidia you usually download a large package that contains drivers for all sorts of cards, so it's most likely no good saying "the download is the same, so they must use the same driver".
Regarding the power issue: I used sli with a 520 W Corsair PSU and overclocked my cpu (2x 2.6 -> 3.2 ghz with raised core voltage) and had no issues. So with 620 W you should be fine. Depending on you board / cpu configuration you can expect about 150 W power consumption from your board and another 150 to 200 W from each card when they are both in full 3d mode. But since the secondary card will most likely only run in 2d mode anyway its power consumption will be very small.
 
Huh, that's odd - I run a GTX260 and 7800GT in the same system - and have all the way through Vista and into Windows 7. I know for a fact it's not a limitation of the operating system (it really doesn't give a rat's ass what video drivers it needs to load - it just needs to be told to load them), so again, it has to be down to buggy, broken drivers (which are, unfortunately the norm today).
 
Hmm, I guess I should try again, it didn't work at one point and I chose to use last good settings so I should be able to try again later.

Ah, thanks for the fan utilities, forgot what the names were, but no idea if they will actually work...
 
Bump, I tried reinstalling drivers for the 4890 while the X1800 was installed, which did nothing.

I also tried EyeMWing's idea, and I got my friends old 6800 installed, and it still reports errors. Error code 43, which means the device stopped because it reported errors. Gee, thanks Microsoft for pointing that out...

Not sure, maybe ATI's drivers just suck. Someone on the Asus forums said they run two nvida's fine..not sure if ATis do aswell..
 
I was only able to get this running with the second card using the standard VGA graphics adapter driver. In XP it worked fine as long as the cards were different brands (or one card's drivers would override the other's).

My understanding was that in Vista they had to be able to run the exact same drivers to be compatible. So an old card with a new one might not work unless you install the old drivers.
 
That makes sense, a 4350 might run off the same drivers as a 4890 but a x1600 certainly wouldn't.
 
To quote Microsoft on the topic:

To support multiple graphics adapters in Windows Vista, the following conditions must be true:
  • All the graphics adapters must use the same driver model. Therefore, all the graphics adapters must use Windows XP Display Driver Model (XDDM) drivers. Or, all the graphics adapters must use Longhorn Display Driver Model (LDDM) drivers.
  • If the graphics adapters use Windows Vista Display Driver Model (WDDM) drivers, all the graphics adapters must use the same driver. For example, you may have two graphics adapters that use the same driver. Or, you may have a Dualview graphics adapter. For more information about Dualview, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
Source

So if you get hold of xp drivers and get them to work with vista you might be able to use two completely different graphics cards.
 
Hey, I was just coming to ask the same thing. I want to be able to run a TV along with my two monitors.

I currently have a 8800 GT. So if I just buy a new but cheap NVIDIA card (i.e. it runs on the latest NVIDIA drivers), I should be good?
 
Just because the download is the same doesn't mean the cards use similar drivers. That's the trouble with these big driver packages, you don't really see which card uses which driver inside that package: both the gforce 8 and 9 series use the 190.38 driver package but I doubt cards from both series use the exact same driver because their architectures are quite different. It *might* work, but if you want to be on the safe side it would have to be another 8800.
 
Just because the download is the same doesn't mean the cards use similar drivers. That's the trouble with these big driver packages, you don't really see which card uses which driver inside that package: both the gforce 8 and 9 series use the 190.38 driver package but I doubt cards from both series use the exact same driver because their architectures are quite different. It *might* work, but if you want to be on the safe side it would have to be another 8800.
Ugh. $$$
 
Yes I know ;) that's why I bought two rather cheap cards.
Maybe if you ask the nvidia support, they might have an answer to which cards use the same drivers. Or if possible buy the other card from a shop where you can return it if it doesn't work out.
 
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