can i install 2 graphics cards on 1 pc?

Question

I have two graphics the same make and model 1 is AGP and 1 PCI can i have them both in the 1 computer?

Answer 1

Hi there -- YES, You certainly can run 2 video cards on one computer.

I always run 2 video cards on every machine... and often have 4 video cards and 4 monitors.

The cards do not have to be the same at all.

A person asked earlier about using 3 video cards, for a specific purpose of seeing 3 screens, and you should note that if you want just a WIDER screen with more open windows, you have a huge number of options...

Note, as I state below, that ONLY 1 video card will run full speed,
since Windows / Directx will turn off the high end features of the 2nd, 3rd, 4rth etc. monitors, no matter what card you put in. ( newer Crossfire cards and such with 2 PCI-X cards in tandem are the exception, but as you state above, you already have the AVP and PCI cards ).

There is a great deal of information in the answer I already gave to the last Question, so I will cut and paste the reply - a LOT of the permutations and combinations of cards and monitors and accessories may apply to you, depending on what you are using the two video cards FOR, in the first place - the other ASKer clearly stated his goal - you do not, so that I can't specifically give you targetted solutions!

Here is the other question and answer:
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Can I connect 3 Monitors on one PC (Spanning)?

I have one workstation connected to stock market, I am using PNY Nvidia GeForce 6200 Video Card, and I connected 2 monitors on this card, I can see different things on each monitor, but now I am working in another stock market (Dubai) I need to watch it from same computer on another screen, can any one help me, I think these are the solutions:
1. PCI card that support multimonitors.
2. USB or any external VGA device
3. Two Computer: (No Way) My office decorate can't handle more than one case.
4. If I found a VGA card with one VGA + DVI + S-Video, can I span between these three outputs.



Hello:
I usually have 2 monitors on all my computers, and often have 4 monitors. You can use any combination of single or dual out AGP or PCI cards. Years ago, I would use one AGP, and 3 PCI cards. There is a list of the cards that are compliant with multiple monitor use on the Microsoft website in a FAQ, but almost ANY newer card, circa 1996 and newer should work, to be compliant with the new VGA standards.
Since I am running out of PCI slots on some of my newer motherboards, I am trying the DUAL 15 pin AGP cards outputs.
This gives me 2 monitors on one card. Then, if I have the free slots, I just put in 2 inexpensive PCI cards. There is NO need to put in expensive PCI video cards, since nothing " high end" will run on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th monitor in any event, since DIRECTX turns off all the high end features. Only the main monitor " 1 " will run high end graphics. You are looking at TEXT windows in any event, since all the stock pages and programs I have used to date, have very simple page layouts with little animation / sound / and graphics. Older 4 meg PCI cards should be available for $5. If you do not have any spare PCI card slots, then you are forced to be creative - you do not mention how many of what slots that you HAVE on your motherboard - or for that matter, you do not list the name of the motherboard, nor do you list what cards you ARE using in the motherboard, so that you leave anyone trying to help you, guessing a great many possibilities.
Since you already have one Dual monitor, 15 pin VGA plug, out, video card, your best solution is to put in a PCI card for the 3rd monitor ( if you have a free PCI slot ). I have had to remove a 56K modem and a LAN ethernet, PCI cards, and put in a single COMBO 56K/Lan card, to allow me to use another PCI card. Most most modern motherboards ( again you do not state which one ) have onboard LAN, onboard Sound, and even 56K, so that this compensates for the lack of 6 or 8 solid PCI slots that one could find on older motherboards. The newer motherboards are getting smaller and smaller as well, so there is no room for the PCI's.
Looking on the PNY website, there are only 2 of the 6200 cards under "products", both AGP, although a web search mentions one 6200 which is PCIX ( express). There appear to be NO PCI 6200's. This means that you are not using any of your PCI slots for video.
Hopefully, you can find a way to just put in any old PCI video card, and add any old monitor ( $25- ), and configure the windows settings under DISPLAY, to add the new, 3rd unit. (( NOTE: using old second hand inexpensive monitors, even with digital on screen programming, and fairly modern, MAY require a sheet of tin between the monitors. I use tin in an L shape, under each monitor next to the monitor beside it, grounded to a wire to the monitor's chassis. Where 2 tins meet, I use corrugated cardboard or thin wood sheeting between the two sheets of tin. This is to prevent cheap, non-shielded monitors from drawing interference patterns on the other monitors. You will get one horizontal line slowly running from top to bottom for each monitor - 4 monitors will produce multiple lines on all machines. If you get a $3200 Mitsubishi Diamond Pro T 21 inch type of monitor, the tube is already completely covered in a metal covering.-- most "home" use monitors just have the plastic casing over the electronics though, and a price to match. )) As I said, I always run 2 monitors, often one AGP, and one PCI, with no problems, and the video cards are inexpensive. One AGP single and 3 PCI singles are just as easy, and the last computer I built was an XP with 1 AGP dual, with 2 PCI singles. Finding an " old " inexpensive, PCI with 2 monitor outs, is rare. Since, like you, I am using the extra 3 monitors for simple tasks, such as text pages, there is no reason to get a screaming "AGP-compliant " chipset PCI card with 256 Meg of ram and a high end GPU ( $130 - $ 250 + ) -- a $5 card does the same job. Note that I have two monitors on the desk side by side, and two directly on top of these, to save desk space. It works well, and the mouse is easy to move from one monitor to another in the least amount of travel -- as opposed to having 4 in a row, where the screen on the left is a huge distance from the rightmost desktop.
If you get a chance to post more information on the number of free PCI slots, or other details, please post them and I will check back.
The DV and the 15 pin VGA dual plug cards often have 2 monitors like yours, but on all the cards I have, the Video out is a jumper over to the VGA source, NOT a 3rd monitor.
There were some custom, high-end cards that have been offered with more than 2 monitors, but I have not seen one on the consumer market. Compared to a $5 PCI card, which is easily available, I would not even think of looking for a 4 monitor AGP or PCI-X card. I have seen video cards for $4000 to $8000 - however - to simply display a page of stock market quotes, this would be overkill!
LASTLY ... there are widescreen LCD monitors that have ordinary 15 pin VGA plugs on them as well as the other common inputs. You could purchase one of these, and just have 2 programs or screens running beside each other - just like adding another monitor... by stretching the desktop over the width of the wider monitor.
OR, similarly, you can get a doublehead or triplehead2go from MATROX, and plug in extra monitors to stretch your desktop wider, hence, more windows open at the same time.

www.matrox.com/graphics/triple...

($ 150 to $350 on various web locations )

review at http://www.flightsim.com/cgi/kds?$=main/...

With these combinations, you could get many more open views, and... if you coupled this with a widescreen LCD, you would have a virtually unlimited viewing area. If you used 3 widescreen LCDs with ONE triplehead on ONE VGA 15pin output on your existing Video card, and one widescreen on the other 15 pin VGA output, you would have 4 wide monitors, covering, typically, for 20 inch wide monitors, 80 inches, or, 6 1/2 FEET of monitor viewing room on your desk - without adding a single PCI, AGP, or PCIX video card...

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As you can see from the above dialogue - there are a great many options, depending on what you are going to use the two card / two monitor setup for.

If you post what you are intending to do, I can make more direct suggestions and supply more direct information...

good luck

robin

Answer 2

Yes, you can have a PCI video card along with either an AGP or a PCI-E video card, in the same computer. There's really no reason to do that, though, except for being able to use an AGP ATI card for games in Windows, and an nVidia PCI card for Linux.

If you're only wanting to have dual-display capability, you'd be MUCH better off just buying a decent AGP video card. Nearly every AGP card made in the past few years has dual-display capabilities. Here's the best place to buy video cards:

As you can see, all of the $30 and up AGP cards have dual-display capabilities. But, just so you know, the more you spend on the card, the better it will handle running two monitors, because a faster video card will always be more enjoyable to use with more than one monitor.

Answer 3

NO!
In order to run 2 graphics cards together in SLI:
1) They BOTH have to be PCI-Ex...
2) They BOTH should have and SLI bridge connectors...
3) Your MOBO should support it...

u CANT run both an AGP and a PCI graphics cards in ur computer at the same time.

Answer 4

Yes sir

You can do Crossfire/SLI only if they are PCI Express. Only Good I can see from two graphic cards on an AGP/PCI is dual monitors. You will have to set it up in WIndows to get them to work.

Answer 5

You can upgrade the VRAM with any good GPU but not the system RAM. If you need to change the RAM as well, then you have to check from the manufacturers website whether DDR2 is supported in your M/B. Get a ATI Radeon 1 or 2 GB GDDR4 RAM Graphics Card for your system & it will do just fine.

Answer 6

Yes but your motherboard will need to support SLi or Crossfire also you will need to upgrade your CPU from the one you used with one Graphics Card, twin cards are not all that there cracked up to be ! (eg) 1 GeForce 7950 series will give better performance than 2 GeForce 7600 in SLi ATM i use 1 ATI Radeon X1950 XT-X SILENT Heatpipe 512MB GDDR4 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) and it can take anything i can throw at it.

Answer 7

yea... but why would you? You can have SLI or CROSSFIRE and run 2 cards on the same interface for improved performance.

Answer 8

Yes, you can install 2. It's better if they are the same exact type though.

Answer 9

check you motherboard have SLI/Crossfire or not