Two video cards in Windows 7 x64??

[Alaskan57]

I recently built a new machine that I have three monitors for. When I only had two monitors I had this card installed: Newegg.com - PNY XLR8 VCG98GTEE5XEB GeForce 9800 GT EE 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

This card works perfectly fine and I had no issues with it and I plan to continue using it. However, now that I have three monitors and I need another video card I'm running into a lot of issues. I tried installing another PCIe 16 card I had lying around but my setup didn't seem to recognize the new card. I do not have the exact model number on that since it was given to me, but I believe it was a GeForce 6 series card. I also tried a PCI ATI Radeon card that I had laying around found here Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100945L-BK Radeon 7000 64MB 64-bit DDR PCI Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

This card showed up in the device manager as a Standard VGA adapater but in the properties it had an error saying "The device could not start".

So I guess my question is this: What is the cheapest way to get three monitors working on my windows 7 64 bit machine? I want to use the first card I linked to and one other one.

Would this card work? Newegg.com - PNY VCG84512SPEB GeForce 8400 GS 512MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

Here is my motherboard in case that'll help: ASRock > Products > M3A780GXH/128M

 

[nate42nd]

I might be missing something here, but the only way I know to run 3 monitors is a new card with VGA, DVI, and display port OR running crossfireX. (that would require 2 ATI cards not Nvidia - your motherboard does not support SLI.

You might be able to do something else I don't know about.....

 

[Alaskan57]

Right, I'm also thinking that my Mobo won't allow me to use two PCIe cards outside of Crossfire so I can't use two Nvidia PCIe cards for 3 monitors. Could I use a PCIe Nvidia and a PCI Nvidia? Like these two:

Newegg.com - PNY XLR8 VCG98GTEE5XEB GeForce 9800 GT EE 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

Newegg.com - PNY VCG84512SPEB GeForce 8400 GS 512MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

They won't end up using the same driver probably, but that shouldn't matter in windows 7 right?

 

[stormy13]

your motherboard does not support SLI.

Doesn't need to support SLI to use two Nvidia cards for running more than two monitors.

Alaskan57 not sure why it won't work with the old PCI Radeon 7000, only thing I can see is Nvidia and their wonderful little driver detection that disables an ATI card when detected (for more info on this, search ATI/Nvidia/Physx) in the newer drivers.

That 8400GS should work no problems.

They won't end up using the same driver probably, but that shouldn't matter in windows 7 right? 4 Minutes Ago 11:41 AM

Actually yes they will as they are both from the same generation (WDDM 1.1).

Easiest solution for what you want is if you had an ATI card to begin with, then you could have enabled your motherboard's SurroundView option. From the PDF version of the manual (page 23),

Surround Display Feature
This motherboard supports surround display upgrade. With the internal VGA output
support (DVI-D, D-Sub and HDMI) and external add-on PCI Express VGA cards, you
can easily enjoy the benefits of surround display feature.
Please refer to the following steps to set up a surround display environment:
1. Refer to page 25 and 26 to reverse the direction of ASRock SLI/XFire Switch Card.
2. Install the ATI
TM PCI Express VGA cards on PCIE2, PCIE3 and PCIE4 slots. Pleas
refer to page 20 for proper expansion card installation procedures for details.
3. Connect DVI-D monitor cable to VGA/DVI-D port on the I/O panel, connect D-Sub
monitor cable to VGA/D-Sub port on the I/O panel, and connect HDMI monitor
cable to HDMI port on the I/O panel. Then connect other monitor cables to the
corresponding connectors of the add-on PCI Express VGA cards on PCIE2, PCIE3
and PCIE4 slots.
4. Boot your system. Press <F2> to enter BIOS setup. Enter “Share Memory”
option to adjust the memory capability to [32MB], [64MB], [128MB] [256MB] or
[512MB] to enable the function of VGA/D-sub. Please make sure that the value
you select is less than the total capability of the system memory. If you do not
adjust the BIOS setup, the default value of “Share Memory”, [Auto], will disable
VGA/D-Sub function when the add-on VGA card is inserted to this motherboard.
5. Install the onboard VGA driver and the add-on PCI Express VGA card driver to
your system. If you have installed the drivers already, there is no need to install
them again.
6. Set up a multi-monitor display.

which I can tell you firsthand works very well; similar motherboard/chipset as yours (780G with HD3200) and a HD 4830.

 

[nate42nd]

Thanks stormy for clearing that up.

 

[Alaskan57]

Yea, when I built my machine I hadn't heard of SurroundView otherwise I would've went the ATI route. Nvidia was the cheaper option in my price range. Thanks for the help stormy, I'll try out the 8400 GS card!

 

[stormy13]

Seeing as your board has 3 PCI-E x16 (or 1x16 and 2x8, depending on configuration), why not get the cheaper PCI-E version of that card,

Newegg.com - SPARKLE SFPX84GS256U2LP GeForce 8400 GS 256MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

for it and what you are planning on using it for, it won't make a difference if the slot runs at x16 or x8 (or probably even x4 for that matter).

 

[Alaskan57]

Well, I have a spare PCIe card here at home that is an Nvidia 6 series I believe. I thought that that would do the trick but when I plugged it in to the spare PCIe 16 slot it didn't work. I heard that fan start up on the card like everything was working, but the card didn't seem to register with the mobo (or with Windows, not sure which).

Now I'm not sure what the problem is, I contacted Asrock to see if there's something on the Mobo that would keep me from using two PCIe cards in the machine (that aren't ATI) since the manual seemed to allude that the second PCIe 16 slot would only work for x16 in Crossfire otherwise it would operate as an x8, but naturally they haven't gotten back to me in a few days and I'm tired of messing with this whole thing.

So I figured, I'll just spend the extra ten dollars because I know the PC can see cards in the PCI slot and avoid the headache of possibly troubleshooting another card not working.

 

[drtalk]

Hey guys - I understand the reason for multiple cards for multiple monitors, but I don't get why some hard core gamers use 2 high end cards for a single monitor setup. Is it safe to assume that the 2 cards "double the power" so to speak for graphic intense games?

 

[ReBoot72]

I'm not sure if this will help but i'm running a asrock a770de+ mobo that was running a nvidia 9400gt vid, i upgraded to a nvidia 460 gtx oc vid and just for giggles i put BOTH PCIe cards in and they BOTH work with win7 64bit and XP 32bit i have two DVI connected to two monitors with the 460 and the 9400 is running to TV with the S Vid (old tv) for a total of 3 'monitors' <18" flat panel, 20" hatachi monstrosity, and 32" flatscreen tv> ... so it IS possible to have three monitors with two cards that is NOT xfire / sli.