Can I convert workstation to dual use

[gilesosborne]

I currently have the system in my sig which is used for work, where the current 4 screen desktop from the NVS450 is an (essential) Godsend, albeit usually only used for MS Office and similar apps. the card is currently in the primary x16 PCIe slot, however there are 2 more available, albeit at lower speeds on the P8Z68 V.
Is it possible to add a gaming standard graphics card, with its own dedicated new monitor? how would the drivers/CPU etc work out what's doing what...and am I forced to stick with nVidia or can AMD be used as well (they won't be linked obviously)...or am I asking the impossible?
what card, if possible would you suggest, bang-per-buck for a budget of up to £200. Thanks all.

 

[Orcvader]

Don't think that's possible.

Are you just using the NVS450 to display 4 screens and not to accelerate certain software?

Also, your sig is too big. There's a 4 line limit, see here for forum rules: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/faq.php?faq=vb_board_usage#faq_vb_memberlist_how

 

[gilesosborne]

It's not being used for acceleration, just being utilised for its quad screen capability at the moment, so being relegated to a x8 slot robably not a problem. When I say decicated monitor, I don't mind it sharing the desktop, I can always unplug it...but if I put a game onto that monitor, would it get to use the GTX card? I seem to recall that Win 7, unlike Vista, can "take" 2 drivers..but am unsure how to go about/check this set up would work before buying a card,.....

 

[Orcvader]

Games will usually lauch at the primary monitor (The one with the task bar).

Good to know the NVS450 is just being used for outputs! We can just simply replace the card! With Windows 7 it's possible to use more than one different GPUs. And your system already has an extra GPU onboard: the i5 2500K (your sig says 5500K for some reason )

With that budget I would go with either the:

OcUK 560 Ti @ £159.95 inc VAT: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-173-OK&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1341

Or the HIS 6950 @ £209.99 inc VAT: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-036-HS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752

560 Ti vs 6950: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/293?vs=330

You can then connect the two primary screens to the graphics card, then hook up the two remaining screens to the onboard Intel GPU. Make sure you enable the onboard first in BIOS as having a graphics card installed usually disables it. This will then allow you to game on the main monitor, and still have up to four screens.

Another note is the 6950 can actually support up to four monitors by itself, but for this to work, while the first two monitors can connect via DVI/HDMI/VGA, the third and forth must be connected by Displayport. Hence an active adapter is needed to convert the DP signals to DVI/HDMI/VGA if needed. So with a 6950 and the 2500K you have a total of six possible outputs...

 

[bru]

The NVS 450 uses two NV8400 GPU's with 8 cuda cores each and has 4 native display port outputs. Moving it down a slot and adding an Nvidia gaming card is probably the best solution, not exactly sure how the driver situation would be managed though.

 

[gilesosborne]

The route I was hoping was to keep the NVS450 (4 x Display Port) and add a gaming card and forget the 2500k's native graphics. I'm very happy with the NVS450 and it's worked beautifully for the last 18months, so am loathe to get rid of it. If I can go down this route, I think I'll up my budget to a higher end card, maybe GTX 570 or similar, but would gat one of your 3D screen/glasses bundle and go the whole hog!!!!!..so 5 screens. But does this mean I have to make the gaming screen the primary all the time...can I relegate it to 5th when working and move it out the way, but change to primary in monitor management when playing a game. ie will just dragging/launching the game on the new monitor not mean that GPU would be used for the game??
You see I'd prefer to have the larger/gaming screen out of the way when not in use? thanks for your views

 

[Orcvader]

Ahhh so I see what you mean.

If that's the case, yes you can keep the NVS450. Just need to move it down to the second PCI-E slot.

Any card will do in the primary slot, however I think going down with Nvidia might be the best choice, so you can create desktop profiles in the Nvidia control panel (not sure if this is possible?). That way you can have one profile where the monitor from the gaming GPU is the primary monitor, and the other profile where it disables the gaming GPU monitor and makes one of the NVS450 screen the primary one. Bare in mind this will still mean the gaming card is on and uses power, even if it's not being used to display anything at all.

 

[gilesosborne]

That's great, so i think I might go for a 570/580? and 3D screen bundle. don't mind about the power, it's the convenience/duality which is most preferable..

 

[Orcvader]

Perhaps it might be best to wait for the next gen Nvidia cards? They should be out in a couple of months.

But if you can't wait then either a 570 or 580 will do. Your PSU is fine for the job and the NVS450 only uses 35w.