• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Quadruple Monitor, 2 different Cards (ATi + Nvidia)

X-90

New Member
Joined
Dec 6, 2008
Messages
5 (0.00/day)
Processor Intel E8400 Wolfdale 3.6Ghz
Memory 4x2GB DDR2 800
Video Card(s) ATi 4890 Vapor-X 1GB by Sapphire
Storage Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB + Seagate 640GB
Display(s) Envision 19" + 54" Panasonic
Audio Device(s) Integrated...
Power Supply 750W
Software Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
I installed a 4890 Vapor-X by Sapphire. I had an extra PCI-e x16 slot so I threw in my 9800GT for Quadruple-Monitor.

For some reason, my 4890 Won't initialize at all. My 9800GT Starts up fine. I tried swapping the 4890 and the 9800GT's slots to no avail.

As far as the computer can tell, the 4890 doesn't even exist. When I take out the 9800GT the 4890 works like normal.

When I start up Catalyst, it gives me an error telling me that I have wrong drivers. I have both the 4890vapor-x drivers and the 9800GT's drivers installed.

I read some place that if the video card has a boot-up/bios screen, it will initialize last or not at all. I updated my bios to the latest and I got no options to initialize the 4890 first.

Is it possible to use these 2 together? (NOT Intended for sli/X-fire). I will be fine taking out the 9800GT and putting it to some better use.

EDIT: Vista on SLi board.
 
Last edited:
Joined
May 31, 2008
Messages
5,787 (1.00/day)
Location
Switzerland, Heart of Europe
System Name Fractality 1.0
Processor Intel Core i7-860 @ 3.6GHz
Motherboard EVGA P55 SLI
Cooling Prolimatech Megahalems and four Fractal Design 120mm fans, sleeved
Memory 16GB Kingston Hyper RAM
Video Card(s) PNY GeForce 580 XLR8
Storage 64GB and 180GB SSDs / 1TB and 2TB HDDs
Display(s) 24" Acer V243W
Case Fractal Design Define R2, sleeved all I/O cables
Audio Device(s) onboard
Power Supply Corsair HX750W modular, sadly only stock sleeving
Software Win 7 64bit
Having nvidia and ATI drivers together is generally not such a good idea.
 

sneekypeet

Retired Super Moderator
Joined
Apr 12, 2006
Messages
29,407 (4.48/day)
System Name EVA-01
Processor Intel i7 13700K
Motherboard Asus ROG Maximus Z690 HERO EVA Edition
Cooling ASUS ROG Ryujin III 360 with Noctua Industrial Fans
Memory PAtriot Viper Elite RGB 96GB @ 6000MHz.
Video Card(s) Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3090 24GB OC EVA Edition
Storage Addlink S95 M.2 PCIe GEN 4x4 2TB
Display(s) Asus ROG SWIFT OLED PG42UQ
Case Thermaltake Core P3 TG
Audio Device(s) Realtek on board > Sony Receiver > Cerwin Vegas
Power Supply be quiet DARK POWER PRO 12 1500W
Mouse ROG STRIX Impact Electro Punk
Keyboard ROG STRIX Scope TKL Electro Punk
Software Windows 11
Which OS are you running?

Yup, this is near impossible in Vista, capable in XP, but from what I read, way easier to use in Windows7.
 
Joined
Mar 13, 2009
Messages
827 (0.15/day)
Location
Bannock County
Processor AMD FX-8320 4.1Ghz
Motherboard Asus Aura
Cooling Corsair H60
Memory Crucial Ballistix Sport 32GB
Video Card(s) EVGA 1060 SC
Storage Intel 535 Series SSD + Seagate FireCuda 2TB
Case NZXT
Power Supply EVGA 650 Watt
Software Windows 10 Pro 64-Bit
Even in XP its not easy ...
 

sneekypeet

Retired Super Moderator
Joined
Apr 12, 2006
Messages
29,407 (4.48/day)
System Name EVA-01
Processor Intel i7 13700K
Motherboard Asus ROG Maximus Z690 HERO EVA Edition
Cooling ASUS ROG Ryujin III 360 with Noctua Industrial Fans
Memory PAtriot Viper Elite RGB 96GB @ 6000MHz.
Video Card(s) Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3090 24GB OC EVA Edition
Storage Addlink S95 M.2 PCIe GEN 4x4 2TB
Display(s) Asus ROG SWIFT OLED PG42UQ
Case Thermaltake Core P3 TG
Audio Device(s) Realtek on board > Sony Receiver > Cerwin Vegas
Power Supply be quiet DARK POWER PRO 12 1500W
Mouse ROG STRIX Impact Electro Punk
Keyboard ROG STRIX Scope TKL Electro Punk
Software Windows 11

Mussels

Freshwater Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 6, 2004
Messages
58,413 (8.21/day)
Location
Oystralia
System Name Rainbow Sparkles (Power efficient, <350W gaming load)
Processor Ryzen R7 5800x3D (Undervolted, 4.45GHz all core)
Motherboard Asus x570-F (BIOS Modded)
Cooling Alphacool Apex UV - Alphacool Eisblock XPX Aurora + EK Quantum ARGB 3090 w/ active backplate
Memory 2x32GB DDR4 3600 Corsair Vengeance RGB @3866 C18-22-22-22-42 TRFC704 (1.4V Hynix MJR - SoC 1.15V)
Video Card(s) Galax RTX 3090 SG 24GB: Underclocked to 1700Mhz 0.750v (375W down to 250W))
Storage 2TB WD SN850 NVME + 1TB Sasmsung 970 Pro NVME + 1TB Intel 6000P NVME USB 3.2
Display(s) Phillips 32 32M1N5800A (4k144), LG 32" (4K60) | Gigabyte G32QC (2k165) | Phillips 328m6fjrmb (2K144)
Case Fractal Design R6
Audio Device(s) Logitech G560 | Corsair Void pro RGB |Blue Yeti mic
Power Supply Fractal Ion+ 2 860W (Platinum) (This thing is God-tier. Silent and TINY)
Mouse Logitech G Pro wireless + Steelseries Prisma XL
Keyboard Razer Huntsman TE ( Sexy white keycaps)
VR HMD Oculus Rift S + Quest 2
Software Windows 11 pro x64 (Yes, it's genuinely a good OS) OpenRGB - ditch the branded bloatware!
Benchmark Scores Nyooom.
mixing the two doesnt play well. it can work in XP, but it can also go bad and screw up your drives making the OS not boot.


His isnt fixable in drivers, as he isnt getting an image at all - i had that on an SLI board once, if an nvidia card was present, an ATI card wouldnt give an image (even if it was PCI)
 
Last edited:

sneekypeet

Retired Super Moderator
Joined
Apr 12, 2006
Messages
29,407 (4.48/day)
System Name EVA-01
Processor Intel i7 13700K
Motherboard Asus ROG Maximus Z690 HERO EVA Edition
Cooling ASUS ROG Ryujin III 360 with Noctua Industrial Fans
Memory PAtriot Viper Elite RGB 96GB @ 6000MHz.
Video Card(s) Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3090 24GB OC EVA Edition
Storage Addlink S95 M.2 PCIe GEN 4x4 2TB
Display(s) Asus ROG SWIFT OLED PG42UQ
Case Thermaltake Core P3 TG
Audio Device(s) Realtek on board > Sony Receiver > Cerwin Vegas
Power Supply be quiet DARK POWER PRO 12 1500W
Mouse ROG STRIX Impact Electro Punk
Keyboard ROG STRIX Scope TKL Electro Punk
Software Windows 11
I ran the combo once, but I only had drivers in for the main ATI card, the second card ran in XP under the default NV drivers. Got an image on 3 screens, never ran the fourth.
 

X-90

New Member
Joined
Dec 6, 2008
Messages
5 (0.00/day)
Processor Intel E8400 Wolfdale 3.6Ghz
Memory 4x2GB DDR2 800
Video Card(s) ATi 4890 Vapor-X 1GB by Sapphire
Storage Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB + Seagate 640GB
Display(s) Envision 19" + 54" Panasonic
Audio Device(s) Integrated...
Power Supply 750W
Software Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
You guys are quite right, I am on vista with an SLI board. Used to run 9800GT's in SLi but found a deal on a 4890, so I sold one of the 9800GT's to pay for part of the 4890. Wanted to use Quadruple monitor without having to switch out of SLI or losing similar performance. Now I'm back to 2.

I've formatted this computer with Windows 7 some time ago, but I took out the hard drive to use it with another computer.

I'll re-migrate to Windows 7 when I have enough space for another partition. May be a while...
 

SamHughe

New Member
Joined
Jun 26, 2009
Messages
13 (0.00/day)
Location
Utah
You guys are quite right, I am on vista with an SLI board. Used to run 9800GT's in SLi but found a deal on a 4890, so I sold one of the 9800GT's to pay for part of the 4890. Wanted to use Quadruple monitor without having to switch out of SLI or losing similar performance. Now I'm back to 2.

I've formatted this computer with Windows 7 some time ago, but I took out the hard drive to use it with another computer.

I'll re-migrate to Windows 7 when I have enough space for another partition. May be a while...

Please report back when you have a chance after you try this out.
 

X-90

New Member
Joined
Dec 6, 2008
Messages
5 (0.00/day)
Processor Intel E8400 Wolfdale 3.6Ghz
Memory 4x2GB DDR2 800
Video Card(s) ATi 4890 Vapor-X 1GB by Sapphire
Storage Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB + Seagate 640GB
Display(s) Envision 19" + 54" Panasonic
Audio Device(s) Integrated...
Power Supply 750W
Software Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
I just ordered a 750GB hardrive, will format it with Windows 7 and will try the Combo again. Should come next week.
 
Joined
Mar 12, 2009
Messages
1,075 (0.20/day)
Location
SCOTLAND!
System Name Machine XV
Processor Dual Xeon E5 2670 V3 Turbo unlocked
Motherboard Kllisre X99 Dual
Cooling 120mm heatsink
Memory 64gb DDR4 ECC
Video Card(s) RX 480 4Gb
Storage 1Tb NVME SSD
Display(s) 19" + 23" + 17"
Case ATX
Audio Device(s) XFi xtreme USB
Power Supply 800W
Software Windows 10
i thought it would work with both cards as long as you didnt install catalyst control center or the nvidea control panel by just installing the drivers on there own. you might have to go into your bios and select a different card to boot both before windows will recognize it. i had that problem when i was running an ati 1900xtx and a x800gt all in wonder in a pci-e x4 slot i had to select the x800 as the primary card or windows wouldn't recognize it or the tv tuners.
 
Joined
Aug 30, 2006
Messages
7,195 (1.12/day)
System Name ICE-QUAD // ICE-CRUNCH
Processor Q6600 // 2x Xeon 5472
Memory 2GB DDR // 8GB FB-DIMM
Video Card(s) HD3850-AGP // FireGL 3400
Display(s) 2 x Samsung 204Ts = 3200x1200
Audio Device(s) Audigy 2
Software Windows Server 2003 R2 as a Workstation now migrated to W10 with regrets.
You guys are quite right, I am on vista with an SLI board. Used to run 9800GT's in SLi but found a deal on a 4890, so I sold one of the 9800GT's to pay for part of the 4890. Wanted to use Quadruple monitor without having to switch out of SLI or losing similar performance. Now I'm back to 2.
I just ordered a 750GB hardrive, will format it with Windows 7 and will try the Combo again. Should come next week.

I strongly recommend to AVOID mixing driver sets. Reason: each independent driver will "compete" for the same GPU resources and address space. There is no guarantee that a driver from one company will be "aware and friendly" to another GPU competing for the same "hooks" into the OS and memory space.

If you want to go quad monitor, then I suggest you sell the other 9800GT and go with a 4830. Same drivers. Will be compatible. You might be able to use a 4770, but I think the 4830 will give you less problem due to architectural changes on the 4770.

*** NOTE ***

I have had problems mixing drivers on ATI, e.g. a PCI card and an AGP card. Try as best you can to find SLI or Crossfire compatible cards, then just run them in single mode for quad output.
 

X-90

New Member
Joined
Dec 6, 2008
Messages
5 (0.00/day)
Processor Intel E8400 Wolfdale 3.6Ghz
Memory 4x2GB DDR2 800
Video Card(s) ATi 4890 Vapor-X 1GB by Sapphire
Storage Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB + Seagate 640GB
Display(s) Envision 19" + 54" Panasonic
Audio Device(s) Integrated...
Power Supply 750W
Software Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
Well I'm on windows 7 now, and I don't know where to begin.

I actually E-mailed Sapphire for tech support for a DIFFERENT problem (graphical corruption in several games on sprites with Anti-Aliasing) and they said that my card may actually be damaged. I don't know if this affects my position at all with using 2 cards.

I have my 9800GT plugged, same with my 4890. I did a little more reading around and it seems my board is just incapable of using 2 different cards. No BIOS option to start the ATi card first. I will take Lemonade's advice and attempt to get another ATi card. Maybe exchange my card due to the possible damage.

BUT if it's still possible, extra info from Win7.

In device manager, it only sees the 9800GT.
4890 produces no heat, fan spins though. On-card LED turns on.
Catalyst Tells me I have the wrong drivers, so it doesn't initialize. Tells me to check Device Manager.
Have first port on 9800GT plugged. Have DVI, and VGA plugged on 4890 (fourth monitor is stored away).

But it looks like this is the end. the 4890 gives me graphical corruption and I can't run it alongside my 9800GT, so I'm aiming to Exchange it for a new one.
 
Top