igpu vs gpu for 2nd monitor

[kaa03fire]

So at the moment I have a dual monitor setup, one monitor connected to my gpu and the other to my hd 2000 igpu (i3 2100). My question is, would adding a geforce 210 result in better performance with both monitors enabled? Because the i3 2100 is only a dual core, my assumption is that if I'm taxing my cpu while gaming, having a 2nd monitor being running off of it as well is hurting me even further. Power consumption isn't an issue, just an fyi.

EDIT: The reason I don't want to connect my 2nd monitor to my main gpu (gts 250 512mb) is because I play most games at 1080p and I hit the video memory limit very easily, so that as well hurts performance if I'm running a 2nd display off of it

[Cyanotical]

as long as your MB has an additional PCIex16 length slot for a second GPU, you should be fine, and yes, you should see a minor performance increase by offloading work from the CPU to a dedicated GPU

[Termy]

as long as your MB has an additional PCIex16 length slot for a second GPU, you should be fine, and yes, you should see a minor performance increase by offloading work from the CPU to a dedicated GPU

It doesn't have to be a PCIex16, as most cards can't even saturate a second-generation PCIex8.

Also, the HD graphics built into your CPU comes from a dedicated piece of logic, meaning it doesn't impact CPU performance, or atleast not in any noticable way.

If you want to pick up another graphics card, make sure it's identical to your current card to avoid a lot of issues, if you can even get it to work at all.

Edit: You could use a GTX 210, but you would have to run both cards at the same clock speed, meaning you would most likely cripple your main graphics card, if it even works.

[kaa03fire]

yeah I have this mobo: http://www.gigabyte.us/products/prod...id=3774&dl=#ov

It has one pxie x16 and the 2nd is 4x.. but crippling my main gpu doesn't sound good at all :X

[Termy]

yeah I have this mobo: http://www.gigabyte.us/products/prod...id=3774&dl=#ov

It has one pxie x16 and the 2nd is 4x.. but crippling my main gpu doesn't sound good at all :X

Ouch, you have a h61 board, that means you're stuck to either dedicated graphics (your 250 GTS) OR build-in graphics (HD Graphics 2000 from the CPU), not both.

Your options are either a new motherboard, or an extra graphics card in a 4x slot, which would suck badly.

I'd recommend just running 2 displays off of 1 card and turn down some of the fancy stuff. It's that or coughing up some extra cash.

[booradlly]

It doesn't have to be a PCIex16, as most cards can't even saturate a second-generation PCIex8.

Also, the HD graphics built into your CPU comes from a dedicated piece of logic, meaning it doesn't impact CPU performance, or atleast not in any noticable way.

If you want to pick up another graphics card, make sure it's identical to your current card to avoid a lot of issues, if you can even get it to work at all.

Edit: You could use a GTX 210, but you would have to run both cards at the same clock speed, meaning you would most likely cripple your main graphics card, if it even works.

I'm really confused by your statement, assuming he is NOT doing sli, and that he has 2 pcie slots, the cards dont have to be similar at all. They have to be the same make (nvidia vs ati), but you can easily put a 560 in one slot and a 9800 in the other slot and be fine.

Another point, yes the second card will be crippled because the slot isnt x16, but if hes not using that monitor for gaming who cares. Back in the day, when there was only one agp slot we used pci slots for the other monitors, the graphics were horrible but if the document on that monitor never moved who cared, and he has an actual pcie slot, he might not even notice it if he doesnt use it for gaming or video watching.

[glo]

What are you doing on the second monitor? Web browsers, voice chat, youtube, and the such will use next to no integrated video resources. You wouldn't see much of any performance gain if that is the case.

[Termy]

I'm really confused by your statement, assuming he is NOT doing sli, and that he has 2 pcie slots, the cards dont have to be similar at all. They have to be the same make (nvidia vs ati), but you can easily put a 560 in one slot and a 9800 in the other slot and be fine.

Another point, yes the second card will be crippled because the slot isnt x16, but if hes not using that monitor for gaming who cares. Back in the day, when there was only one agp slot we used pci slots for the other monitors, the graphics were horrible but if the document on that monitor never moved who cared, and he has an actual pcie slot, he might not even notice it if he doesnt use it for gaming or video watching.

Never actually tried running without SLI, but if you want to run in SLI or Crossfire, Clock speeds have to be identical, because the cards work togeather.

[kaa03fire]

would I actually notice reduced performance while watching videos? The most I would use the 2nd monitor attached to a secondary gpu for is to stream 1080p videos via twitch.tv while im gaming on the main gpu/monitor

[glo]

Also, the HD graphics built into your CPU comes from a dedicated piece of logic, meaning it doesn't impact CPU performance, or atleast not in any noticable way.

Yes it does.

---------- Post added 2011-12-30 at 05:39 AM ----------

Never actually tried running without SLI, but if you want to run in SLI or Crossfire, Clock speeds have to be identical, because the cards work togeather.

Just because you have two cards on a motherboard doesn't automatically mean you have to SLI or Crossfire them... You can use them both separately.

[booradlly]

Never actually tried running without SLI, but if you want to run in SLI or Crossfire, Clock speeds have to be identical, because the cards work togeather.

Obviously.



You do realize sli came out a LONG time after people had more than one graphics card right ?

---------- Post added 2011-12-30 at 12:46 AM ----------

would I actually notice reduced performance while watching videos? The most I would use the 2nd monitor attached to a secondary gpu for is to stream 1080p videos via twitch.tv while im gaming on the main gpu/monitor

Theoretically you shouldnt have any issue with this if your only hang up is the x4 vs x16 slot for the 2nd card. However, I have no idea of a way to verify before purchase, all I know is people were watching youtube on agp slots, so the likely hood that you couldnt watch 1080p with an entire graphics card dedicated to it just because the slot was x4 vs x16 I would highly doubt. The x4 vs x16 just limits your thoroughput I believe, which you wouldnt need much of considering your not gaming.

[Cyanotical]

It doesn't have to be a PCIex16, as most cards can't even saturate a second-generation PCIex8.

Also, the HD graphics built into your CPU comes from a dedicated piece of logic, meaning it doesn't impact CPU performance, or atleast not in any noticable way.

If you want to pick up another graphics card, make sure it's identical to your current card to avoid a lot of issues, if you can even get it to work at all.

Edit: You could use a GTX 210, but you would have to run both cards at the same clock speed, meaning you would most likely cripple your main graphics card, if it even works.

I didn't say it had to be a full x16 slot, just x16 length, as most GPUs need an x16 length slot

and while the logic is separate, it still uses CPU resources to operate

if all the OP is doing is keeping a web browser open on the second monitor then literally any GPU on the market will work, he does not need another of the same GPU or even the same brand, a cheap ATi would even work, (but not recommended), so basically what the op needs is the cheapest Nvidia GPU on the market

[kaa03fire]

my friend is giving me his gt 210 for free btw.. he just upgraded to a 6870 :P

[BicycleMafioso]

yeah I have this mobo: http://www.gigabyte.us/products/prod...id=3774&dl=#ov

It has one pxie x16 and the 2nd is 4x.. but crippling my main gpu doesn't sound good at all :X

Even if the 4x would reduce the 16x to 8x, it would not be a problem.
Even a PCI-E 2.0 8x isn't enough to cap out on the most powerful single GPU cards there is today. And your GPU isn't close to that. Meaning it will be a "lossless" situation.

[kaa03fire]

good to hear

[vesseblah]

EDIT: The reason I don't want to connect my 2nd monitor to my main gpu (gts 250 512mb) is because I play most games at 1080p and I hit the video memory limit very easily, so that as well hurts performance if I'm running a 2nd display off of it

Performance hit is so small that you will never even notice it outside benchmarks. Using two cards is just begging for instability issues and I would not recommend it for your use.

And for reference, 1920x1080 desktop takes 6MB of RAM which is nothing compared to the game running on first monitor. WoW for example uses 80% of video RAM by default, leaving about 100MB of your 512MB free to use for Windows desktop.