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Can I put 2 graphics card in my computer?
I have a Nvidia Quadro fx 3800 curently installed
I am thinking about adding a ATI FireGL V7600.
Is it just as easy as plugging in the ATI?
I am not doing dual monitors.
I am just looking for more power when working with 3ds Max
Joe Thomas #73
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Legend
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Legend
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You would have to choose one or the other to plug your monitor in to. It's not like a dual processor where you can take advantage of both at the same time.
Buy the best card you can get if you are worried about performance.
Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
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I currently have both cards
Joe Thomas #73
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Legend
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Legend
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Pick the best performing card then. There's no advantage to installing 2 cards for 1 monitor.
Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
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there are plenty of configurations for running multiple cards. My Motherboard supports 3 cards running in parallel, and you can use it for 3D games. Most common implementation is alternate frame rendering where the cards alternate rendering calls to the screen, which usually gives you a 30-40% FPS boost compared to the single card. That said, its pretty complicated to set up. Nvidia has SLI and ATI has Crossfire and their not compatible, so your hosed w/ one of each  Also you gotta make sure the motherboard supports whichever multi-card solution your going for, although many motherboards support both its not always true.
#gmstrong
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Legend
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Legend
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Really? I have never heard of that. Guess I've been out of the computer game a while. 
Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
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Legend
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Legend
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Quote:
Really? I have never heard of that.
Guess I've been out of the computer game a while.
I've never been in it. I saw the thread title and started to thing about a deck of playing cards I had at one time that had graphics that caused you to hide them from your mother. 
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn. GM Strong ![[Linked Image]](http://www.dawgtalkers.net/uploads/small-gator-chomp.gif)
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You can also use multiple graphics cards for processing complicated math as they have many more cores that are optimized for number crunching more so than a standard processor. The newest NVIDIA card has 518 cores; put three of those in one system and you've got a math crunching machine that can thread out the calculations to 1554 cores simultaneously. This is something I've been playing around with the last couple of months for a product my partners and I are considering developing for retailers. Video cards aren't just for displaying graphics anymore....
#gmstrong
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Quote:
there are plenty of configurations for running multiple cards. My Motherboard supports 3 cards running in parallel, and you can use it for 3D games. Most common implementation is alternate frame rendering where the cards alternate rendering calls to the screen, which usually gives you a 30-40% FPS boost compared to the single card.
That said, its pretty complicated to set up. Nvidia has SLI and ATI has Crossfire and their not compatible, so your hosed w/ one of each Also you gotta make sure the motherboard supports whichever multi-card solution your going for, although many motherboards support both its not always true.
The setup is not really complicated at all. Big thing is to pay attention to what the mobo supports. When I built my box last year, put two ATI cards in, connected them with the bridge connector and booted up. Once in Windows, installed the ATI drivers and checked the box to enable crossfire.
It's supposed to be hard! If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard... is what makes it great!
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Dawg Talker
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Quote:
I saw the thread title and started to think about a deck of playing cards I had at one time that had graphics that caused you to hide them from your mother.
If you still have them, bring them to a game. It's possible we may need to break them out by halftime if the games this year are like the last 2 years.....
"People who drink light 'beer' don't like the taste of beer; they just like to pee a lot."
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It would liven things up at least ;P
#gmstrong
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I know My mother board supports both cards individually.
I dont know about tandem setup.
Can anything bad happen if I put them both in and boot up?
Joe Thomas #73
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Legend
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Legend
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Quote:
I know My mother board supports both cards individually.
Good to know your panel of moms give you their full support. 
Booting up with two cards shouldn't cause any problems. Many computers these days have on-board Video cards anyway, and run with no issues when you put on a 2nd, more powerful video card.
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Legend
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Basically what you want to do is an SLi setup.
Make sure your MB is SLi compatible. If so install both cards, and then enable SLi mode (refer to manual or manufacturers site for info)
We don't have to agree with each other, to respect each others opinion.
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Legend
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He has an Nvidia and ATI card. I don't think it's possible.
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How do I find out what my motherboard is?
Joe Thomas #73
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Legend
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check the bios at boot up, or open the case and look for the manufacturer and model stamp.
As far as Nvidia and ATI combo, it is possible, but sometimes comes with problems. tomshardware.com did a write up on it years ago, I don't see it on the site anymore, thinking it was back in '05 or '06
We don't have to agree with each other, to respect each others opinion.
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It is an ASUS P6T6 WS Revolution. web page I think I will plug them both in and see what happens unless some thinks this might be a problem. I can always take one out and be back to where I was right?
Joe Thomas #73
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2nd String
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Quote:
It is an
ASUS P6T6 WS Revolution.
web page
I think I will plug them both in and see what happens unless some thinks this might be a problem. I can always take one out and be back to where I was right?
You should be able to get both to run, and both can run screens, but you won't be able to SLI or Crossfire them. Basically you'll have two independent graphics cards in the machine.
I've run ATI and NVIDIA before at the same time, but you do tend to run into little incompatibility issues on and off.
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Dawg Talker
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Quote:
there are plenty of configurations for running multiple cards. My Motherboard supports 3 cards running in parallel, and you can use it for 3D games. Most common implementation is alternate frame rendering where the cards alternate rendering calls to the screen, which usually gives you a 30-40% FPS boost compared to the single card.
That said, its pretty complicated to set up. Nvidia has SLI and ATI has Crossfire and their not compatible, so your hosed w/ one of each Also you gotta make sure the motherboard supports whichever multi-card solution your going for, although many motherboards support both its not always true.
gage - I've got a question based on cost .......
If a person is not running a couple of bleeding edge cards in tandem, isn't it better to have a single superior card over two SLI / Crossfired cards whose combined cost is in the same ballpark as the single?
I have a basic understanding of key specs like core clock, shading, etc. and I suspect the answer is not that simple (i.e., dependent on use, system config), but then again that's why I'm asking.
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Quote:
If a person is not running a couple of bleeding edge cards in tandem, isn't it better to have a single superior card over two SLI / Crossfired cards whose combined cost is in the same ballpark as the single?
One card is better from what I have been reading.
I just happen to have 2 cards
Joe Thomas #73
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Legend
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Whether it is better if you have one card or two (or three) depends on the application you are running.
Generally speaking, the application needs to be optimized to take advantage of SLI/CrossFire for it to be of benefit. Without that, attempting to use it could actually result in a decrease in performance due to the increased system workload of trying to decide how the heck to share the workload.
As for running SLI, I know that it has gotten much simpler in recent years, but for a while you not only had to have a Motherboard and chipset that supported it, but you also had to have identical cards. Granted, that last bit isn't completely required these days, and there are even some ways around having an SLI motherboard as long as you have enough PCI-E slots for your cards (software SLI).
I used to run two 8800 GT 512's in SLI on my system and actually ended up taking the 2nd card out and giving it away because even in games optimized for SLI, I just wasn't seeing enough of a benefit to warrant the extra heat in the system from that 2nd card. Your mileage may vary.
Browns is the Browns
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Dawg Talker
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I would assume that many of the latest FPS's are optimized for the tech especially since it's been around for a bit. I haven't bought any games recently though and the most resource heavy game I have is Battlefield 2. I'm really looking forward to B3 and I suspect it's requirements will push me to another build. My current box is a dated 2.2 dual core with a couple gigs of RAM and a GT9500. It suits my current needs and the fact that I'm cheap. 
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from the perspective of the game they dont really have awareness if a graphics card is one card or two, they just make API calls to DirectX/OpenGL, and the graphics card driver handles the SLI portion I fall into the belief that if you can get 1 card the performs about as well as 2 if your considering that option, to get 1 card. It will take up less power and rare issues will usually be averted. Most of its been sorted out but biggest 'issue' I've heard with 2 cards is micro-stuttering. Basically one card renders a bit faster than the other, so while your frame rate is high, it can be perceived as stuttering because the frame draws aren't consistently fast or slow. Some people can sense it and don't like it, others dont perceive it, so no problem for them 
#gmstrong
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