Nvidia and ATi in the same machine?

[legacy-Keith_C]

Not OT as UT2k3/UT2k4 will be played on this machine

My boss is speccing out a few new PC's for the office. We're going to be putting Radeon 9800 Pro's in as the main gfx cards, but I like to run 3 screens. Not interested in the Matrox Parhelion as that doesn't have enough performance for us, and things like the 4-head Quadro's are silly money.

At home I have an ancient Banshee running a 3rd screen, which coexists quite happily with my own 9800P, but as you can't exactly buy them any more I'm trying to find a suitable PCI card - and Nvidia seem to be the only ones that make PCI cards you can actually get hold of (ATi do make some, but I can't find anywhere selling them, certainly not for a decent price).

So - does anyone *know* if a 9800P and a PCI FX5200 will co-operate with each other in both normal and gaming use, or am I better off trying to find a PCI ATi card? I'm not intending to do 'surround gaming' or use anything other than the primary display for actually displaying the games, so the 5200 won't need to do anything other than just display Windows, but I'm just concerned about performance issues and driver conflicts.

Cheers

[legacy-Gaal Dornik]

This is surely the wrong forum to ask a technical question awaiting 100% proofed answer.
They schould work both, since this is the issue of Windows. Yes it was time there such "incompatible" xards existed (S3 or such) but not now. IMHO

[legacy-Keith_C]

Cheers - I know it's not the best place, but I couldn't think of anywhere else I know where there's a very wide variety of machines and configurations of them in use.

I mean, it doesn't have to be those specific models of cards - just anyone using ATi/Nvidia cards which both use the latest drivers at the same time would be useful info

[legacy-mrpartyhat]

You have too much money Beef

[legacy-kitzingmarko]

i've heard stories of ati and nvidia cards mutating their own coolers into some sort of hair dryer to blow the hot air directly on the other card. the result was the complete destruction of both cards.
i do not know it this is true, but you never know... :bulb:

marko

[legacy-Keith_C]

Originally posted by mrpartyhat
You have too much money Beef

Not me - my boss

These are the monitors we're getting :

I like my job

It's just I need a pair of CRT's for sticking other stuff onto while working.

[legacy-IGetKilledALot]

I'm not 100% sure but I don't think XP Home supports multiple display adapters. I would assume that isn't your case.

[legacy-Keith_C]

No, I've got XP Pro

[legacy-LeJimster]

Depending on whether your going AMD or not on the mobo/processors... There may be a decent nforce 2 mobo out there with onboard gfx that you can use for the 3rd monitor. Other than that.. I believe Dr.Sin (epic programmer) uses a GF4 MX (PCI) in combination with another gfx card. for dual monitor display.


Why are u doing this anyway?? So you can frag and work at the same time?

[legacy-CH405]

Does having an Nforce2 Mobo and a Radeon 9700 PRo count

[legacy-;-x]

sure,you should be able to do it but i wouldnt mix brands

Id sudgest staying away from the 5200fx,as it is total ****
its basically a gf4mx 440 with 64 more mb of cheap ram and dx9 capibility
try to find a ati 9100 pci card,they are by far the best pci card available.

[legacy-Sailor_Saturn]

Originally posted by Keith_C
Not me - my boss

These are the monitors we're getting :

I like my job

It's just I need a pair of CRT's for sticking other stuff onto while working.

Ive got a better idea for you dude, why not try a monitor from go-l they have tripple and quad panel monitors available. they are pricey yes, but offer great performance and work with a variety of cards I believe. From 42" to 52" for 3 panel cinema and up to a whopping 92inches for quad panel grand canyon displays.

As for your card issues, I dunno, maybe ask the go-l people, they're computers are made for this kind of stuff so they may be able to help.