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I have two graphics cards installed, both nVidia. a GeForce 9600 and a GeForce 6200 TurboCache. I'd like to run my two monitors from the DVI port on each card.

The 9600 is working fine, the 6200 is not.

Running lspci shows the both cards in place.

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G94 [GeForce 9600 GT] (rev a1)
06:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV44 [GeForce 6200 TurboCache(TM)] (rev a1)

Running xrandr shows the following:

Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1920 x 1200, maximum 8192 x 8192
DVI-I-1 connected 1920x1200+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 519mm x 324mm
   1920x1200      60.0*+
   1600x1200      60.0  
   1680x1050      60.0  
   1280x1024      75.0     60.0  
   1152x864       75.0  
   1024x768       75.1     60.0  
   800x600        75.0     60.3  
   640x480        75.0     60.0  
   720x400        70.1  
VGA-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

These are the ports that relate to the 9600 card. Can anyone help me with getting the 6200 card recognised?

I currently do NOT have additional nVidia drivers installed. I tried running with "NVIDIA accelerated graphics driver (version current)[Recommended]" installed, but things got worse. My monitor changed from Dell 24" to 'unknown' in display settings and the list of ports disappeared from xrandr.

Finally, this PC is on a dual boot with Win7 under which both cards and monitors work fine, so I know the hardware is good.

1 Answer 1

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This is doable. But you need to understand some of the "limitations" that you will encounter.

Since these are two separate gfx cards You will have to run 2 different x servers.

  • You cannot move applications between windows (not as bad as it sounds!)
  • Unity doesent seem to work well with Separate X servers. You have to use unity2d.

  • you can "switch" desktops" independently of each other

here is a pastebin with the configuration I used

http://pastebin.com/NAd5jEH1

You will need to tweak some settings like the "PCI" port of your cards , horizsync and vertical refresh and possibly the resolutions.

Godspeed!

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  • that's really helpful, thank you. That device configuration is exactly what I needed. I understand the limitations you've mentioned and they'll probably spoil the experience for me. Would I have more success simply buying a new card with two DVI ports?
    – Darren
    Dec 2, 2011 at 10:22
  • You're welcome! you would run into the same problem , if you mean that you would have 2 separate cards. if you want a "simple solution" get a single card with three outputs, thats supported in linux. If you just want some more screen space, maybe an extra computer is something you have lying around. Then check out synergy synergy-foss.org
    – tomodachi
    Apr 18, 2012 at 23:19

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