Two different GPU's in one PC.

[IronWarrior]

Has anyone got any experience with using two different GPU's in one PC?

I know it can work but one thing that is confusing me is regarding how does a game know what GPU to use?

I would like to use a Air Passive GPU for very light night gaming instead of my main one, reason being is my main GPU is damn nosy when gaming and runs very hot even with very light games. I need a new one, but that's for a other time.

In the mean time, I was thinking of installing this AMD 5450 alongside my 6950.

I know I have to change the monitor input, but I don't understand when I click the game .exe, how does Windows 10 know what GPU to use for that matter, how does it know what to use to display what?

 

[tommybhoy]

It knows which one to use going off the GPU that's connected to the outputting monitor.

If using more than 1 display -1gpu connected to each display, it'll default to the main display selected in display properties unless you use commands/multimonitor apps.

 

[Confused Stu]

Exactly as Tommy said - it depends which output you connect the monitor to.

Just to think outside the box a little, does your motherboard/CPU have an onboard graphics chip? You could connect a monitor to that and use it for quiet, light gaming, then switch to a second monitor attached to the 6950 when you want to run louder, heavier games. That's assuming you have space for two monitors, or fancy going under the desk and switching the cable to the different output each time you want to switch between graphics cards!

A much better option is to try to get hold of a graphics card that supports switching the fans off under a certain temperature/workload. Most modern ones do this, I believe, (AMD RX 480 and Nvidia 9xx/10xx series) but there may be some that don't. They've even started to trickle onto the second hand market. That way you have a silent GPU under light loads, but the fans start up when the going gets rough and the GPU gets warmer.

 

[Brazo]

Could also play with fan profiles. The 1050/60/70/80 cards are very quiet with a quality cooler, even under load.

 

[Razor Time]

Just turn the settings down and cap the frames late at night. Basically don't stress your current gpu. A custom fan profile will also help and run the fan slightly warmer. You can also look at repasting the card which might help drops temps a bit which in turn will lower the noise.

Or you could just replace the gpu cooler totally which would be the best solution and not really cost more than buying a 2nd gpu.

 

[IronWarrior]

Well, seems this isn't going to happen now. After 6 years of faithful service, my poor 6950 finally gave up last night. I don't know what you would call it but after 10+ or so minutes, the displays would all go one colour, black on one monitor, blue on a other and large white bars on boot up and huge graphic corruption when crashing.

Had to switch to this GTX470, expecting it be a month till I can get something new.