Quadruple Monitor, 2 different Cards (ATi + Nvidia)

X-90 · Aug 13, 2009, 02:29 AM

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.

MRCL · Aug 13, 2009, 02:32 AM

Having nvidia and ATI drivers together is generally not such a good idea.

SamHughe · Aug 13, 2009, 03:29 AM

Which OS are you running?

sneekypeet · Aug 13, 2009, 03:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SamHughe

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.

SamHughe · Aug 13, 2009, 03:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sneekypeet

Yup, this is near impossible in Vista, capable in XP, but from what I read, way easier to use in Windows7.

Yeah that's where I was going with my question.

Morrison5891 · Aug 13, 2009, 03:36 AM

Even in XP its not easy ...

sneekypeet · Aug 13, 2009, 03:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morrison5891

Even in XP its not easy ...

thats why I ended with W7 is way easier...lol

Mussels · Aug 13, 2009, 03:42 AM

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)

sneekypeet · Aug 13, 2009, 03:44 AM

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 · Aug 13, 2009, 05:41 AM

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 · Aug 14, 2009, 05:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by X-90

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 · Aug 15, 2009, 12:30 AM

I just ordered a 750GB hardrive, will format it with Windows 7 and will try the Combo again. Should come next week.

Geofrancis · Aug 18, 2009, 11:08 AM

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.

lemonadesoda · Aug 18, 2009, 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by X-90

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.

Quote:

Originally Posted by X-90

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 · Aug 19, 2009, 06:01 PM

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.

Aug 13, 2009, 02:29 AM	#1
X-90 Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 5 (0.00/day) Thanks: 2 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts System Specs	Quadruple Monitor, 2 different Cards (ATi + Nvidia) 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 by X-90; Aug 13, 2009 at 05:25 AM. Reason: Information update

Processor:	Intel E8400 Wolfdale 3.6Ghz
Memory:	4x2GB DDR2 800
Video Card:	ATi 4890 Vapor-X 1GB by Sapphire
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Aug 13, 2009, 02:32 AM	#2
MRCL Join Date: May 2008 Location: Switzerland, Heart of Europe Posts: 3,798 (2.09/day) Thanks: 340 Thanked 862 Times in 705 Posts System Specs	Having nvidia and ATI drivers together is generally not such a good idea. __________________ [I.R.A.] FBi I wouldnt buy toilet paper from MSI as it may be missing the preforations

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Aug 13, 2009, 03:29 AM	#3
SamHughe Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Utah Posts: 13 (0.01/day) Thanks: 2 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts	Which OS are you running?

Aug 13, 2009, 03:36 AM	#6
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Aug 13, 2009, 03:42 AM	#8
Mussels Doctor Moderator Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Bendigo, Australia (NOT THE USA) Posts: 34,561 (10.96/day) Thanks: 3,700 Thanked 8,696 Times in 6,393 Posts System Specs	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) __________________ Edumacational thread about PC Audio My external HDD's.5x samsung 1TB + 2x Seagate 1.5TB = 8 TB external storage 32 Bit OS vs 64 bit OS information How to get hardware accelerated H264 playback (DXVA) Netbook Owners United! Last edited by Mussels; Aug 13, 2009 at 03:48 AM.

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Aug 13, 2009, 03:44 AM	#9
sneekypeet Unpaid Babysitter Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 19,022 (7.31/day) Thanks: 3,039 Thanked 5,488 Times in 3,951 Posts System Specs	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. __________________ Hers: ASUS Maximus V Gene / i7 3770K / Swiftech H220 / 4X8GB Corsair Dominators / ASUS GTX660 / Corsair AX-760 / Windows 7 64bit / Fractal Design ARC Midi R2 Test: Gigabyte Z68X-UD4-B3 / i7 2600K / A lot Of Coolers / Ripjaws Currently / HIS HD7950 IceQ Turbo / Silverstone SST-ST85F-G / Windows 7 64bit / InWin D-Frame Limited Edition

Aug 13, 2009, 05:41 AM	#10
X-90 Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 5 (0.00/day) Thanks: 2 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts System Specs	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...

Aug 15, 2009, 12:30 AM	#12
X-90 Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 5 (0.00/day) Thanks: 2 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts System Specs	I just ordered a 750GB hardrive, will format it with Windows 7 and will try the Combo again. Should come next week.

Aug 18, 2009, 11:08 AM	#13
Geofrancis Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: SCOTLAND! Posts: 919 (0.60/day) Thanks: 91 Thanked 137 Times in 106 Posts System Specs	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. __________________ machine XI Phenom II 965 Black @3.8ghz, 8Gb XMS3 1600, Asus M4A88TD-M EVO/USB3, HD5970, 128gb sandisk SSD, mcubed t-balancer HP EliteBook 2530p SL9400 Core 2 Duo ULV @ 0.9v, 4Gb ddr2, 80Gb Intel X-18m G2, 64Gb express card SSD, Ubiquiti SR71-E 400mw wifi, 21mb HSPA+ ESXI Server Phenom II 1155T, MSI 890FXA-GD70, 12Gb ddr3, IBM M1015 sas, Dell sas 6i, 10 drive 8tb UNRAID array. Old Builds :watercooled matx rig\|Water Cooled ITX rig \|EeePC 701 7" netbook \| ITX Gaming raid build

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Aug 19, 2009, 06:01 PM	#15
X-90 Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 5 (0.00/day) Thanks: 2 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts System Specs	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.

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