[SOLVED] Possible have two GPU's plugged in, one active?

[absolutevisionary]

Hi All,

Have a machine for which is multi-purpose. I have two graphics cards, one for each purpose.
At the moment, the machine has an old AMD Radeon 5870HD 2GB connected with the eyefinity 6 setup on 5 monitors for my daytime trading setup.
I also have a second card (AMD Radeon RX580) connected into the PCIE slot but no power connectors setup.

There is the possibility I would switch the RX580 out with a GTX2080ti or RX 5600XT at some point in the coming months but this is not totally necessary - I am only playing Warhammer Total War, afterall.

Two-fold question here:

1. Can I run both of these cards powered at the same time, enabling/disabling each card under the device manager as I need it and just switching the HDMI adapters over?
2. What PSU would one recommend?

The box running on a very old GA-X79-UP4 motherboard, i7 4820K GPU, 40GB Ram, Windows 7 Ultimate.

I know the machine is old, it is purpose built with several features "modern" hardware cannot provide for me.

Can anyone help me game after the market close each day?

 

[SteveRX4]

So you'll end up with a 2080ti and a 5870?
I think you should be able to plug both cards in. And connect them to their own monitors.
But I'm not sure how you would set up monitors in Windows.
And I've got no idea why you would want to do this?

 

[absolutevisionary]

What I want to be able to do, is have both powered and connected to their respective PCie slots at the same time, but disable one when I am using the other (e.g. have the 5870 active when I am using all 6 screens simply for stock trading during the day, and then activating the gaming card in the evening and switching over the HDMI cables with their adapters to that gaming card in the evening to game).

I hope that I have not caused confusion, it appears I may have.

 

[SteveRX4]

No worries.

Then you'll have to switch off one and shut it down. That'll be hard to do without being able to see a screen. Maybe hook one up to the motherboard.

 

[RTX 2080]

I completely understand if this is not an option for you for various reasons, but I think you would be best served by having two separate PCs.

Hear me out. You said you like your system the way it is for your day trading right? Well many of the things that make your PC a good day trading machine make it a poor gaming machine. Windows 7 Ultimate is going to make running some modern games that require features built only into Windows 10 difficult. DDR3 RAM is going to lose you some performance as is your CPU (which has low clock speeds and low IPC compared to newer variants). Trying to run two different sets of drivers might also be problematic (should you be running both an AMD GPU and a Nvidia GPU).

My thinking is that if you can afford a 2080 Ti, you can afford to put it in a computer that deserves it. It doesn't have to be that expensive, just up-to-date enough to not bog it down very much. You can run your current PC with your current GPU for your day job and then when you are done with that, shut it down, plug you monitor(s) into your other PC, boot that one up and then play whatever you want to play.

 

[absolutevisionary]

RTX 2080 fair point, this is something I will look at. It should only add 3-4K to the total cost so yes this would work. It will take up more space than I had hoped but life is not perfect - I live in a small space, city living and all.

Have a fantastic day, thank you all for you advice.

 

[RTX 2080]

RTX 2080 fair point, this is something I will look at. It should only add 3-4K to the total cost so yes this would work. It will take up more space than I had hoped but life is not perfect - I live in a small space, city living and all.

Have a fantastic day, thank you all for you advice.

You're welcome