Using Cuda on a machine with two different GPUs

Accelerated Computing CUDA CUDA Programming and Performance
1

Hi,

I am just starting out with Cuda, I have a machine with an ATI graphics card but also have a 9500GT and a spare PCI Express slot. I have used the 9500GT as my main GPU before on this machine but got the ATI because it’s better for gaming. I want to keep the ATI card for gaming and use it’s output to display on the monitor, but I want to use the 9500GT for Cuda.

I have put the 9500GT in my machine as well as the ATI one and installed the latest drivers but when I start up the machine the drivers for the 9500GT do not load and in device manager it gives a code 43 error. I don’t use the 9500GT for any display purposes at them minute.

Is it possible to use an nVidia card purely for Cuda and use an ATI card for graphical display? If so does anyone have any ideas how to solve the driver error?

Otherwise is it possible to disable the ATI card and move the DVI output cable onto the nVidia card only when I want to use Cuda?

My machine:

Vista 64 bit Home Premium
Intel 2.4GHz Dual Core
4Gb DDR2 RAM
Sapphire ATI 4870 1Gb
BFG nVidia 9500GT 1Gb

2

I’m not sure about vista, but my XP machine had trouble with a geforce combined with an ati card (system locks up). Fedora linux had no trouble at all using both cards, even with displays connected to them. Yes, I had 2 displays on my geforce and 1 on my ati… So I would recommend giving linux a try, but that is probably not the answer you were looking for.

3

On Vista, you can only use graphics drivers from a single vendor. Even though you’re not using the display capabilities of the 9500 GT, it still appears as a graphics device to the system. Win7 won’t have this limitation.

4

Ok, thanks for your replies!