Using two different GFX cards on one machine

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Hi guys,
As you may know, I bought a new PC a few months ago. Only problem is that it refuses to play M:TW, S:TW or a few other members of my older collection. This could have been made bearable by my laptop allowing this to happen, but, most unfortunately, it refuses to run the older drivers which could enable compatibility.

I must have completely lost it, but, if what I want to do is possible, I'm going to try and buy a second hand Nvida Geforce 2, and ram it into my free AGP slot on my motherboard.

As you may expect, there is a snag - I don't want to have to sacrifice my 8800 GTX to be able to do this. I have read stories on the internet of laptops having two entirely different graphics cards together, with a choice over which one to use on boot, but nothing about PCs enabling this feature.

So, may I ask, is there the possibility of having two cards run on one machine, and have the ability to select which one the owner wishes to use on boot?

All contribution appreciated, thanks!

[Whacker]

Hello Omanes. The problem isn't really the video cards, it's the drivers. As Nvidia and ATI update their drivers, invariably older games start to break over time. Both claim to have "backward compatibility teams" in place to help ensure that functionality is maintained, but one only need Google to see lists of complaints of games that no longer work correctly. System Shock 2, Mechwarrior 2 (windows ed.) and 3, KOTOR now has some bugs, basically anything from between the late 90's and 2003/4-ish etc etc.

Getting an older card wouldn't solve the problem, as you'd have to go back and use a much older version driver from before whenever the game was broken. Literally every time you wanted to play, you'd have to (probably) uninstall your new card, install the old one, remove the current drivers, and then backdate to the older drivers. Backdating can be done but it's far from foolproof, and you run the risk of potentially hosing up your system completely.

You'd be better off getting a separate, older PC and installing older drivers with whatever card would work best with them. Even then it's not a guarantee, as certain driver revisions have known to work very poorly on certain cards, and great on others. However if you HAD to get something to play those games, this is probably realistically your best option.

Cheers

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

I thought the problem might be something complex such as that. Thanks anyway Whacker. The only problem with getting another PC is space - I'm already rather stuck for it with one laptop and one PC.

Just out of curiosity, would it be possible to run Vista and XP side by side on the same computer and use drivers for each OS? Of course this would involve buying XP, a rather awkward expense, but this should enable me to utilise some of the older, and more compatible, ATi Drivers on my laptop.

[Blodrast]

Yes. Vmware or some similar virtual machine software will do the trick.

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Thanks Blodrast, I'll take a look into it.

[TosaInu]

Yes. Vmware or some similar virtual machine software will do the trick.

Wouldn't it be possible to just create a dual boot? One running the drivers for card 1, OS install 2 running the drivers for card 2. I don't think a virtual machine is required, that will only slow it down.

[Whacker]

Two things I'd like to add.

Yes. Vmware or some similar virtual machine software will do the trick.

I'll prefix this with my knowledge of VMware is at least a year old, so I could be wrong at this point, so please keep me honest mate. This is an excellent suggestion for DOS games, this or DOSbox work wonders. However, unless they've changed it, VMware is not very well suited for modern 3d gaming. The reason is VMware simulates "virtual" hardware to the guest operating system, thus fooling it into thinking that there are other devices installed. The video adapter that the guest OS sees was some special hacked-up adapter that can do some very rudimentary DirectX API operations at best. So in other words, one couldn't simply install a guest OS, and the install their ATI/Nvidia drivers inside the guest OS. I do remember reading that VMware was working on some advanced DX support, but it's been a long time. Again please correct me if I am wrong here.

Wouldn't it be possible to just create a dual boot? One running the drivers for card 1, OS install 2 running the drivers for card 2. I don't think a virtual machine is required, that will only slow it down.

This is a possibility yes, however I personally would not recommend it. Dual booting two versions of Windows is often a tenuous operation at best, and based on my experience at home and work it's not something I'd recommend to anyone anymore, unless there was some dire temporary need. Driver installations can conflict (even when on separate partitions), application installs get wonky, user settings sometimes automagically "migrate", and a host of other wierd activities that we could never find adequate documentation or explanations for. I am aware of others who have dual booted Windows variants with varying degrees of success, but again, in my personal view, I would not recommend this to anyone except as a temporary measure.

My $0.02 USD friends.