Two different brand graphics cards on same MB?

ET3D · Jun 28, 2006, 10:17 AM

Since I'll be getting a new ATI card soon, I have to upgrade my MB to PCIe. I thought I'd buy an SLI board (specifically, the DFI Infinity NF4 SLI, which is decently priced and seems decently specced). My aim isn't to speed up graphics, but to be able to use two completely different graphics cards at the same time, which is helpful for D3D development (as you can develop for different features and test with different cards without switching machines).

What I'm wondering is whether anyone tried this, or expects this to work. I've used an NVIDIA AGP + ATI PCI combination a few years back, under Win2K, and it worked okay (just some minor problems when upgrading drivers). I'm hoping things haven't become worse since. Anyone has experience with this?

(Hmmm, maybe I should have posted this to some graphic card forum, but I'm not sure which.)

H3X4D3C1M4L · Jun 28, 2006, 04:55 PM

So you want to run an ATI PCI-E and an nVidia PCI-E board? It should work... I don't see why not. If you can install a PCI card and an AGP board of different manufacturers (I think PCI and AGP are software identical or at least very similar), it should work.

Judas · Jun 28, 2006, 04:59 PM

there are some issues as both cards have appeared to want to dominate..

or get each others control panels confused with one another.

I beleive you'll have to run the ATI card as the primary card.

as for operating 2x full 3D Accelerated apps at the same time...

you'll NEED to force one of the apps to default to the 2nd adapter.

Your going to have fun reguardless

But i've found that nvidia is far better as managing more then 1 3D accelerated display.

Jun 28, 2006, 10:17 AM	#1
ET3D Hopeless Dreamer Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Dreamland, near the pool of infinite graphics cards Posts: 3,057 Rep Power: 105 System Specs	Two different brand graphics cards on same MB? Since I'll be getting a new ATI card soon, I have to upgrade my MB to PCIe. I thought I'd buy an SLI board (specifically, the DFI Infinity NF4 SLI, which is decently priced and seems decently specced). My aim isn't to speed up graphics, but to be able to use two completely different graphics cards at the same time, which is helpful for D3D development (as you can develop for different features and test with different cards without switching machines). What I'm wondering is whether anyone tried this, or expects this to work. I've used an NVIDIA AGP + ATI PCI combination a few years back, under Win2K, and it worked okay (just some minor problems when upgrading drivers). I'm hoping things haven't become worse since. Anyone has experience with this? (Hmmm, maybe I should have posted this to some graphic card forum, but I'm not sure which.)

Jun 28, 2006, 04:55 PM	#2
H3X4D3C1M4L DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 6,794 Rep Power: 0	So you want to run an ATI PCI-E and an nVidia PCI-E board? It should work... I don't see why not. If you can install a PCI card and an AGP board of different manufacturers (I think PCI and AGP are software identical or at least very similar), it should work.