[SOLVED] Can I run 2 gpus without SLI?

[KidWithAnMP5]

I'm running a Ryzen 2700x, and I was thinking about getting a second low power GPU alongside my GTX 1660 Super, for testing. My question is: if I have a 1660 in my top PCIe slot, and let's say a RX570 in my bottom slot, would they play nice? And could I have one display running off of the GTX and one off of the Radeon?

 

[RealBeast]

I'm running a Ryzen 2700x, and I was thinking about getting a second low power GPU alongside my GTX 1660 Super, for testing. My question is: if I have a 1660 in my top PCIe slot, and let's say a RX570 in my bottom slot, would they play nice? And could I have one display running off of the GTX and one off of the Radeon?

Yes, as long as your board has 2 PCIe x16 slots, which it apparently does, you can use two GPUs and attach a different monitor to each.

edit: and as Darkbreeze said, look at your PSU to insure that it is adequate and you have any necessary power connectors, each needs an 8 pin GPU power cable.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Yes, you can run dual non-SLI or crossfire graphics cards. They don't even have to be both Nvidia or both AMD to work. You can even run both integrated graphics and a discreet graphics card together in a non-SLI or non-Crossfire configuration.

What you CAN'T do is use them BOTH for gaming. You'll want to use the best one connected to your gaming monitor and your other one connected to your second or any other monitors, but there is nothing saying you can't have a second or third monitor connected to your primary gaming card AND a second graphics card connected to a third and fourth display. There are really no limitations in that way other than making sure you have enough power.

What is the model of your power supply and how long has it been in service?

 

[KidWithAnMP5]

Yes, you can run dual non-SLI or crossfire graphics cards. They don't even have to be both Nvidia or both AMD to work. You can even run both integrated graphics and a discreet graphics card together in a non-SLI or non-Crossfire configuration.

What you CAN'T do is use them BOTH for gaming. You'll want to use the best one connected to your gaming monitor and your other one connected to your second or any other monitors, but there is nothing saying you can't have a second or third monitor connected to your primary gaming card AND a second graphics card connected to a third and fourth display. There are really no limitations in that way other than making sure you have enough power.

What is the model of your power supply and how long has it been in service?

I have a Coolermaster Masterwatt Lite 600w, used for roughly 3 months. Obviously not going to attach 2 GPUs to it, I'll probably go for a Corsair HX1000 for modularity and power.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Eh, you don't need to get that carried away. Since you aren't going to be gaming on one of them you're never going to see any significant power draw on that like you would with an SLI or Crossfire configuration. A very good 750-850w unit is likely more than enough, and that's probably playing it safe beyond what's even necessary. A very good 750w unit, IF it has enough PCIe power connectors, would likely be fine.

In truth, the RX570 pulls significantly more power than the 1660 Super, so in reality you'd not be "getting a second low powered card", you'd be getting one that uses MORE power than your primary card, if you added the RX 570, but it would still not require a 1000w PSU, or even likely 850w, because it's not going to be used for gaming alongside the 1660 Super.

 

[KidWithAnMP5]

I think ill just keep using my 1660 Super, and then buy a 2070 for gaming

 

[Darkbreeze]

Makes sense. If I was going to put that kind of money towards a graphics card, I'd want to spend a little more and make sure all of it went towards one MORE capable than what I already had. Otherwise, you could easily get by with something MUCH lower tiered like a GT 730 or 1030 if it's not for gaming. Even integrated graphics is WAY MORE than enough for watching 4k video and browsing.

 

[refillable]

I have a Coolermaster Masterwatt Lite 600w, used for roughly 3 months. Obviously not going to attach 2 GPUs to it, I'll probably go for a Corsair HX1000 for modularity and power.

Don't run a 1660 Super with masterwatt lite!

 

[Zerk2012]

I'm running a Ryzen 2700x, and I was thinking about getting a second low power GPU alongside my GTX 1660 Super, for testing. My question is: if I have a 1660 in my top PCIe slot, and let's say a RX570 in my bottom slot, would they play nice? And could I have one display running off of the GTX and one off of the Radeon?

You can have some bad driver issues running both of those cards also not really a good idea.

 

[Darkbreeze]

There is ZERO need to install the manufacturer specific driver for most graphics cards, if the card isn't going to be used for gaming or high end production/graphics work. The natively supplied Windows drivers should work fine for secondary non-gaming cards that only need to be capable of basic functions like watching video, browsing, running applications, etc. Obviously, it's possible to have driver issues with cards from different camps, but I've done it many times and never had problems so long as the primary card FIRST had it's drivers installed.

Also, I agree with Refillable, that Masterwatt lite shouldn't probably even be used NOW, with only the ONE graphics card installed. Those are HORRIFICALLY bad power supplies.

 

[KidWithAnMP5]

Don't run a 1660 Super with masterwatt lite!

Whys that? i've had RTX 2070s hooked up and overclocked with no issues

 

[rcald2000]

KidWithAnMP5 I don't have an answer to your specific question, but if you wouldn't mind, could I ask you a question? Why do you want to run two graphics cards in your one system?

 

[KidWithAnMP5]

KidWithAnMP5 I don't have an answer to your specific question, but if you wouldn't mind, could I ask you a question? Why do you want to run two graphics cards in your one system?

Because I am running on a 2700x, without built in graphics. A second low power card would improve my performance,and leave room to troubleshoot when my main gpu is running bad.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Whys that? i've had RTX 2070s hooked up and overclocked with no issues

Doubtful. Here's the answer to "Why's that".

Cooler Master MasterWatt Lite 600W (230V) Power Supply – Page 6 – JonnyGURU.com

www.jonnyguru.com

It's possibly THE WORST power supply, or at least top ten, among units I've seen released from a major name brand in the last ten years in terms of being a POS.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Because I am running on a 2700x, without built in graphics. A second low power card would improve my performance,and leave room to troubleshoot when my main gpu is running bad.

How is it that you think it would "improve performance"? It's not going to improve anything other than giving you the ability to connect more monitors. The amount of load and GPU resources required to run a second monitor that is not being used for game display is negligible to the point of not even mattering at all.

 

[DSzymborski]

Darkbreeze is right on the money here. A second monitor that isn't used for gaming uses just nothing; an integrated GPU from 2010 can surf the web easily.

Buying a second high mid-end gaming GPU just to see a second monitor is a complete waste of money. If money's really burning a hole in your pocket, use it to buy a non-junk PSU.

Whys that? i've had RTX 2070s hooked up and overclocked with no issues

And you know this how? Most of the damage a PSU can do is invisible until it's far too late; just because nothing's outright died yet doesn't mean there are no issues.

]

This is how you see if a PSU is working without issues. Is this how you came to that determination? How was the voltage regulation? What were the measurements for the electronic ripple? At what wattage did the overpower protection kick in? How did the PSU fare in the crossload tests you ran?

 

[Darkbreeze]

Yeah, considering practically anybody with even a minor degree of knowledge regarding power supplies would never recommend any unit that scored below about an 8.5 on any of Oklahoma Wolf's reviews on JonnyGuru to anybody, that unit scoring a 5.5 is pretty SERIOUSLY bad.

 

[rcald2000]

Guys, please, "At Ease". I know that all these responses to KidWithAnMP5 come from a place of "community" and "kindness to others", but I don't want him to feel like he's at the receiving end of a verbal onslaught.

KidWithAnMP5 We're a passionate bunch, especially when it comes to power supplies; it happens to be my favorite PC component. The reason why we're so "passionate" is because a poor power supply, such as yours, can sometimes damage other PC components over time; sometimes all-of-the-sudden, without warning.

It is your money, and obviously your choice. However, were I in your situation, here is what I would do:

(1) Keep the GTX 1660 Super in my current build. I'm a huge fan of the R7 2700X that you have it paired with; it's a monster CPU.

(2) I would not buy a new GPU right now, because the new Nvidia graphics cards are rumored to release in the next 2 - 2.5 months from now. Best report I've heard is that they will be announced in August and probably available for sale the following month. Nvidia has stated that all of the new 30 series cards will have ray tracing, and they will have 4x the ray tracing performance of the 20 series cards. Ray tracing is a less-than-impressive feature right now. However, I personally believe that will change in the next 12-18 months if you plan to purchase new Triple A games. I also am a big fan of the new RTX Voice beta feature that's officially supported exclusively in their RTX graphics cards.

(3) I'm in agreement with the others about the power supply. I would indeed replace the power supply with a higher quality unit. The timing is unfortunate because right now it's very difficult to purchase power supplies and motherboards here in the United States, due to covid affecting logistics. Personally, there are three brands that I trust with my personal computers: EVGA / Seasonic / Corsair. I'm a huge fan of EVGA support, however I only trust specific model lines within their brand, as different models are made by different OEM manufacturers; some are good and some are bad.

In reference to JonnyGuru, it's a hardware review site, dedicated to deep dive reviews of PC power supplies. It was started years ago by a man named Jon Gerow. He later passed the reins to Oklahoma Wolf and Tazz, and moved on to become Director of R&D at Corsair. The JonnyGuru site is considered one of the utmost authorities on power supplies and I trust their assessment of Coolermaster Masterwatt Lite 600w (230v). Even though it's the 230 volt variant, I assume that it's performance on 120 volts (US) isn't far off. https://www.jonnyguru.com/blog/2018/10/08/cooler-master-masterwatt-lite-600w-230v-power-supply/6/

Summary: I would swap to a better quality power supply, purchase a 30 series card in the next couple of months, and then consider keeping the gtx 1660 super as a really nice backup GPU. It is your choice. Happy gaming =>

 

[Darkbreeze]

rcald2000, we haven't had problems in the past, so lets keep it that way. In the spirit of that, lets refrain from trying to moderate the moderators, especially when there is zero need to do so. Let's also not try to act like we are a prolific member when we aren't or a community leader, when none of those things is the case. K?

 

[KidWithAnMP5]

Guys, please, "At Ease". I know that all these responses to KidWithAnMP5 come from a place of "community" and "kindness to others", but I don't want him to feel like he's at the receiving end of a verbal onslaught.

KidWithAnMP5 We're a passionate bunch, especially when it comes to power supplies; it happens to be my favorite PC component. The reason why we're so "passionate" is because a poor power supply, such as yours, can sometimes damage other PC components over time; sometimes all-of-the-sudden, without warning.

It is your money, and obviously your choice. However, were I in your situation, here is what I would do:

(1) Keep the GTX 1660 Super in my current build. I'm a huge fan of the R7 2700X that you have it paired with; it's a monster CPU.

(2) I would not buy a new GPU right now, because the new Nvidia graphics cards are rumored to release in the next 2 - 2.5 months from now. Best report I've heard is that they will be announced in August and probably available for sale the following month. Nvidia has stated that all of the new 30 series cards will have ray tracing, and they will have 4x the ray tracing performance of the 20 series cards. Ray tracing is a less-than-impressive feature right now. However, I personally believe that will change in the next 12-18 months if you plan to purchase new Triple A games. I also am a big fan of the new RTX Voice beta feature that's officially supported exclusively in their RTX graphics cards.

(3) I'm in agreement with the others about the power supply. I would indeed replace the power supply with a higher quality unit. The timing is unfortunate because right now it's very difficult to purchase power supplies and motherboards here in the United States, due to covid affecting logistics. Personally, there are three brands that I trust with my personal computers: EVGA / Seasonic / Corsair. I'm a huge fan of EVGA support, however I only trust specific model lines within their brand, as different models are made by different OEM manufacturers; some are good and some are bad.

In reference to JonnyGuru, it's a hardware review site, dedicated to deep dive reviews of PC power supplies. It was started years ago by a man named Jon Gerow. He later passed the reins to Oklahoma Wolf and Tazz, and moved on to become Director of R&D at Corsair. The JonnyGuru site is considered one of the utmost authorities on power supplies and I trust their assessment of Coolermaster Masterwatt Lite 600w (230v). Even though it's the 230 volt variant, I assume that it's performance on 120 volts (US) isn't far off. https://www.jonnyguru.com/blog/2018/10/08/cooler-master-masterwatt-lite-600w-230v-power-supply/6/

Summary: I would swap to a better quality power supply, purchase a 30 series card in the next couple of months, and then consider keeping the gtx 1660 super as a really nice backup GPU. It is your choice. Happy gaming =>

I was thinking about getting a ROG Thor 850, because I've heard it's spectacular but JonnyGuru has yet to put a review on it. Is that a reccomended PSU?

 

[KidWithAnMP5]

Darkbreeze is right on the money here. A second monitor that isn't used for gaming uses just nothing; an integrated GPU from 2010 can surf the web easily.

Buying a second high mid-end gaming GPU just to see a second monitor is a complete waste of money. If money's really burning a hole in your pocket, use it to buy a non-junk PSU.



And you know this how? Most of the damage a PSU can do is invisible until it's far too late; just because nothing's outright died yet doesn't mean there are no issues.

]

This is how you see if a PSU is working without issues. Is this how you came to that determination? How was the voltage regulation? What were the measurements for the electronic ripple? At what wattage did the overpower protection kick in? How did the PSU fare in the crossload tests you ran?

There must be issues, yesterday I installed a RTX 2070 Super, plugged in my machine, and the second I pressed the power button, POP! A huge puff of smoke shot out of my 2070 Super. I instantly drove back to Micro Center and announced it had smoked like hell when it was plugged in, and I traded it for a Asus VG248 and a GTX 1660 Super.

 

[refillable]

ROG Thor is a good PSU. Much better than the CM MW lite you are using,

it is just usually more expensive than others.

 

[Darkbreeze]

SMDH