Windows – Does Windows 7 support multiple simultaneous nVidia graphics cards with different drivers

graphics cardnvidia-graphics-cardvisual-artifactswindows 7

On one of my dev machines at work (currently running XP), I have two nVidia graphics cards:

Quadro NVS 440 (my original card, for my three primary monitors)
GeForce GTX 275 (just added, for CUDA development)

I can get both cards to work OK by installing the latest GeForce drivers, but I get some annoying-but-not-crippling display artifacts on the Quadro's screens (mostly scattered black rectanges where repainting fails for a few bits of UI in certain applications).

Under XP, this seems to be the best I can do. I can use Device Manager to supposedly install different nVidia drivers for the two cards (the latest Quadro drivers for the NVS, the latest GeForce drivers for the GTX), but I actually end up with the same driver for both, because the driver dlls all have the same names and get installed on top of one another in the system directory.

I have read that Win7 has a new video driver architecture that better supports multiple heterogeneous cards. Does anyone know if that will handle my scenario? If so, it will give me a compelling reason to get that machine on Win7 ASAP.

Best Answer

AFAIK, the new video driver architecture will not aid your situation. The official stance from Nvidia is no you can't mix cards, and experiences from other users is that your mileage may vary when you try to mix the pro and consumer cards.

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – Dual NVidia graphics cards in Ubuntu / xorg.conf mania

I got it to work. The first step was to replace the GeForce card with a Quadro card identical to the first. Then nvidia-settings was able to see it. I ended up with this xorg.conf:

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Default Layout"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    Screen      1  "Screen1" RightOf "Screen2"
    Screen      2  "Screen2" RightOf "Screen0"
    Option         "Clone" "off"
    Option         "Twinview" "on"
    Option         "Xinerama" "on"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "DELL 2408WFP"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 83.0
    VertRefresh     56.0 - 76.0
    Option         "DPMS"
    Option         "RandRRotation" "on"
    Option         "Rotate" "CCW"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor1"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "DELL 2408WFP"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 83.0
    VertRefresh     56.0 - 76.0
    Option         "DPMS"
    Option         "RandRRotation" "on"
    Option         "Rotate" "CCW"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor2"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "DELL 2408WFP"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 83.0
    VertRefresh     56.0 - 76.0
    Option         "DPMS"
    Option         "RandRRotation" "on"
    Option         "Rotate" "CCW"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Videocard1"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "Quadro NVS 295"
    Option         "RenderAccel" "true"
    BusID          "PCI:3:0:0"
    Screen          1
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Videocard0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "Quadro NVS 295"
    BusID          "PCI:3:0:0"
    Screen          0
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Videocard2"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "Quadro NVS 295"
    BusID          "PCI:4:0:0"
EndSection


Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Videocard0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "UseEdidFreqs" "True"
    Option         "TwinView" "0"
    Option         "metamodes" "DFP-2: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen1"
    Device         "Videocard2"
    Monitor        "Monitor1"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "UseEdidFreqs" "True"
    Option         "TwinView" "0"
    Option         "metamodes" "nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen2"
    Device         "Videocard1"
    Monitor        "Monitor2"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "UseEdidFreqs" "True"
    Option         "TwinView" "0"
    Option         "metamodes" "DFP-3: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

TwinView doesn't seem to be available across multiple cards, so now I use multiple X screens with Xinerama, which causes the Gnome Screen Resolution applet not to work (it thinks XRandRExtension is not enabled even when it is). But I hard-coded the screen rotations in there, and it all works.

Hopefully Ubuntu Karmic solves all this with whatever its replacement system is for the rather dreadful xorg.conf.

Windows – Install two incomptaible nvidia drivers at the same time in windows

Unfortunately, what you wish seems impossible unless you have some guru-level programming and OS knowledge. The GTX 970 driver only supports back to the 400 series. Basically nVidia would have to make a conscious effort to merge support of the 200 series into the current driver. I would imagine it would also increase the driver size to over 600 MB. Good luck in your quest but overall I too think that the PhysX delivered by the 280 will actually hold back your 970

There was a video I saw of a GTX 580 using a 8600 GTS for PhysX and the FPS drop was substantial vs. just running everything on the 580. I cannot find it though :(

^ I found the video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbww3dhzK0M the details

Here is a solid run-down: http://www.volnapc.com/all-posts/how-much-difference-does-a-dedicated-physx-card-make and this picture specifically http://www.volnapc.com/uploads/3/0/9/1/30918989/7654086_orig.jpg. Unfortunately the blog does mention using a 200 series with 900 series so I question the credibility.

enter image description here

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – Dual NVidia graphics cards in Ubuntu / xorg.conf mania

Windows – Install two incomptaible nvidia drivers at the same time in windows

Related Question