'current' technical data regarding using two different video cards with Windows 10 Pro 22H2

Question

I have a working Win 10 Pro system that currently has a GTX 1660S (Super) that is running 3 monitors.
1 x 2K Pixio monitor at 95 Hz on Display port

and

2 x 22.5" 1080p monitors one on DVI the other on HDMI both at 60 Hz

I have a Radeon HD7850 2Gb card laying around doing nothing and was curious if there was any way I could use it to run the two 60 Hz monitors.

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What I have been told:
Adding a second graphics card in the current release of Windows 10, will only use the primary graphics card/driver and any monitors attached to the second card will simply be used as a means of connecting more monitors to the system. At most, the second graphics card memory, DAC and hardware ports are accessible, but not the second graphics accelerator itself, or any higher features present.

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What I would like:

A definitive answer regarding the feasibility of doing this, before creating an unwieldy "Frankenputer" and links to any White Papers or other technical errata, regarding Windows 10 and using multiple GPU's.

Thank you,
Mark Farrell

Answer 1

Hi Mark-W-Farrell,

I'm Rodrigo and I will help you.

The answer on "What I have been told" is partially wrong.

You can use multiple GPUs on Windows to connect multiple monitors and use them simultaneously, it works definitely.

The downside is that you can't use both processing power for the same task, there is no program that will combine the processing power of both GPUs on the same task.

E.g: Connect another GPU on the computer to boost game performance, render a video or a 3D model faster.

• Unless you use NVIDIA SLI or AMD CrossFireX to combine GPUs from the same brand, but it has compatibility issues, not many GPU models support it and the performance boost is way less than double when combining 2 GPUs.

On Windows 10, each program can be set to use each GPU, dividing the workload. On Windows 10 you can set it on Settings > Display > Graphics Settings > Select the application and select which GPU the application will use.

This is good on laptops with integrated graphics and dedicated graphics, since the integrated graphics will use less power, this can be used to preserve battery.

Answer 2

Thank you, this is more in-line with modern windows 10 releases and I knew about the select feature in the system settings. I was just hopeful that Micro$oft had gone forwards with multiple graphics cards rather than the backwards step they took initially.

Answer 3

Thank you for your prompt response, however I do not consider an old message from 2013 and a much earlier release of Windows 10 to be 'current', in any sense of the term. Also, I am still waiting on any actual technical information regarding this operation - White Papers, tech errata etc...

Thank you,

Mark W Farrell

Answer 4

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/can-i-use-two-graphics-cards-at-once-on-the-same/baba8eca-460b-47f8-ada4-122600f63128