Question Multiple vendor GPU fetish

[igor_kavinski]

I used to own a Geforce 1060 3GB and a Radeon RX 580 (sold them both for peanuts and got a Geforce GTX Titan X for around $165). I think I would prefer to have cards from both vendors, just for fun. So here's some questions:

1) How many here have both Nvidia and AMD cards in the same PC?

2) How many have Nvidia and AMD cards in separate PCs?

3) Which card sees the most use?

4) I know Nvidia is liked a lot for different reasons but do you find yourself liking something about your AMD card that Nvidia seems to neglect?

5) How many are planning to pick up an Intel card to add to their collection, if it performs at least as well as a 3070?

6) Subjectively speaking, which card delivers the smoothest gameplay with less tearing and other issues?

7) What do you hate the most in both and do both suck at that thing or does one vendor does it far better than the other?

I'm not expecting many replies, coz that's a lot of questions

 

[OlyAR15]

Why would you have multiple graphics cards in the same computer? My game PC is built on an mITX board, so no chance to install multiple cards anyways. I gave up on SLI years ago, back when I had a pair of GTX980s.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Why would you have multiple graphics cards in the same computer?

To have both AMD and Nvidia driver/gameplay/unique features experience, without needing to invest in a separate gaming rig. I suppose game developers, especially indie developers, may really prefer such a setup. Especially with an Intel CPU to make sure the game runs well on Intel's iGPU too.

 

[Thunder 57]

That sounds like a nightmare driver wise.

 

[igor_kavinski]

I read somewhere that the different GPU drivers co-exist peacefully. I wasn't able to test both AMD and Nvidia together in my system when I had both cards but their drivers were installed and Windows would boot and work fine no matter which card I put in the primary PCIe slot.

 

[Leeea]

I read somewhere that the different GPU drivers co-exist peacefully. I wasn't able to test both AMD and Nvidia together in my system when I had both cards but their drivers were installed and Windows would boot and work fine no matter which card I put in the primary PCIe slot.

I have found this to be the case also.

The drivers are happy to coexist.

 

[aigomorla]

so here is my 2 cents.
I don't have 2 different cards in a gaming setup, because sometimes games are too stupid in the way they are programed to use the proper GPU.
So unless you have the option, or .ini file to manually force GPU, it will default to whatever mercy windows feels like it.

Different drivers do play nice, if the program can pull the proper gpu.
As i said in the top portion, the reason i burn test the gpu with mining software is because mining software is a bruit force so of menthod to ensure ALL gpu's are loaded.

This just isn't possible on furmark, or gaming.

Why do i not just burn test the gpu in the proper system?
Because most of the time i am ugprading the card, and i want very little downtime for the system getting the gpu upgrade.
This is why i will mine on them for about a week, and see if the return numbers are even.
If the cards pushes out the same amount of hash rate, for 1 week straight @ stock settings i am pretty sure the cards are fine.
I of course do a final test for artificating in the main primary system the card will go in after validation tho .

But my 2 cents... Dont.... unless u have a feature on your board like i do, to disable a pci-e slot on the fly, i do not think 2 cards of even same manufactorer is worth it unless you know how to manually set your main card as primary. (seems like nvidia control panel does) so i have not had problems on hjaving a 3090 + 3060ti in the same system concurent.

I use the 3090 to drive my primary display which is an alienware AW38.
The 3060ti is used for my 2nd and 3rd display along with my Oculus RiftS.

I don't think i would even think about adding a AMD card to the system becasue again, it would probably play messy with games which have no option to select which gpu to drive the game with.

I am gamer, not a developer, so i am speaking on a gamer ethic.
For a developer, i guess it wouldn't matter, as the developer himself can create the .ini file to force whichever gpu s/he wishes to run.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Windows 10/11 have the graphics setting in System settings to select the preferred GPU on a per-application basis. I have not seen how it behaves with multiple GPUs though. With an Intel iGPU and dGPU, it shows Intel as the power saving GPU and dGPU as the high performance option. Not sure what it would do when both are dGPUs in a Zen 3 system. Would it show, for example, the 1650 as the low performance GPU and the 3060 as the high performance one? Would be interesting to find out.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Anyone remember that goofy old tech that promised to allow us to CFX/SLI cards from different vendors together?

Sounded too good to be true and, lol and behold, it was.

 

[Leeea]

Windows 10/11 have the graphics setting in System settings to select the preferred GPU on a per-application basis.

Yes, primary display

I have not seen how it behaves with multiple GPUs though.

It works excellently.

With an Intel iGPU and dGPU, it shows Intel as the power saving GPU and dGPU as the high performance option. Not sure what it would do when both are dGPUs in a Zen 3 system. Would it show, for example, the 1650 as the low performance GPU and the 3060 as the high performance one? Would be interesting to find out.

For me no.

Default GPU is whatever primary display is set to. Right click - display settings - make this my primary display.

If the application is capable of manually setting the GPU, it just labels them according to the model and I could pick which ever. No option to pick high or low power for me.

Most games let me pick the primary display adapter. Some games even let me pick the GPU separate from the display, but that is rare.


For me Civ 6 is a game that allows for a non-display adapter GPU to be used.

 

[igor_kavinski]

For me Civ 6 is a game that allows for a non-display adapter GPU to be used.

Interesting. So then the 2nd GPU sends the finished frames over PCIe to the primary display. There might be a slight performance impact but it's convenient. Some mining cards without any display output also work that way and play games under Linux only. Nvidia has that functionality disabled in Windows.

 

[Leeea]

Interesting. So then the 2nd GPU sends the finished frames over PCIe to the primary display. There might be a slight performance impact but it's convenient. Some mining cards without any display output also work that way and play games under Linux only. Nvidia has that functionality disabled in Windows.

Spoiler: under the impression it can be done in windows with nvidia

 

[igor_kavinski]

Spoiler: under the impression it can be done in windows with nvidia

That hack doesn't work with latest drivers unfortunately.