Multiple GPUs

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1

I’m building a new PC and discovered it is possible to have 2 different models of GPU of the same brand (nvidia in my case) in non-sli mode. My plan now is to use my ancient 2gb 660 ti as a display card when rendering using the new 3080 (it’s a big upgrade) thus freeing up the 1-1.5 gb vram windows seems to always use for display purposes and so I can do some modelling / watch a video on the 660ti without any issues.

My question is whether this actually works: I’d have both cards plugged into the same monitor in different inputs, for general usage I’d use the 3080 (displayport) as the display card and when it comes time to render I’d change the input on the monitor to the 660ti (hdmi).

Would the 3080 automatically be removed as a ‘display’ card and the vram freed up? If not could I do this manually in software? Will this be more trouble than it’s worth?

2

I suspect that this might depend on your OS. I have two cards in my system, a GTX980 and a RTX2070. In my case I only connect up to the 980, the 2070 is not connected at all and it works fine to just render on the 2070. I haven’t tried to connect both cards to a single monitor to see if the vram is freed when switching ports. You are just going to have to try and see what happens. :slight_smile: I do know that if no monitor is connected, no vram is allocated by the OS.