Dual Graphic Cards with Triple Monitors

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maeks84
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Dual Graphic Cards with Triple Monitors

Post by maeks84 »

I'm not sure if this is even possible, but I'm trying to setup three monitors using two graphics cards.
inxi -Fxz https://pastebin.com/ci6naDtx

Running the Nvidia driver, the two DVI (Dell 20") monitors show fine, but the third VGA (Dell 15") monitor is not recognized at all.
Running the Nouveau driver, the two DVI monitors are fine and the VGA monitor is recognized. However the VGA monitor only displays a black screen and it's backlight is on. It also shows up under Monitor Preferences and I can position it as desired. Might be worth mentioning that when I first pulled up the prefs, the VGA monitor was set to Off.

I don't really care what driver I use, but the searching I've done isn't really clear on what to try. Maybe someone has some guidance?

Edit:
Here is my /var/log/Xorg.0.log http://termbin.com/jy8p
Also, noticed that when using the Monitor Preferences, I cannot make changes to the resolution of the VGA monitor. It results in "could not set configuration for CRTC 63".
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
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roblm
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Re: Dual Graphic Cards with Triple Monitors

Post by roblm »

Using two Nvidia GPUs with the Nvidia driver is possible if the GPUs are identical or very similar, but there will be some problems using Mint Cinnamon. MATE or Xfce work better.

Using two dissimilar GPUs is possible with the nouveau driver, but your ancient Riva TNT2 Model 64 GPU, which I assume is integrated, is too underpowered and probably not well supported anymore. If you check this web page, it’s at the bottom in performance, given a rating of 4 on a scale of 0 to 21367.
https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/low_end_gpus.html

I suggest replacing the GeForce 8800 with at least a GeForce GT 710, which has 3 video ports (VGA, DVI and HDMI) and is supported by the newest Nvidia driver series. You will need to use an adapter for using the HDMI port. You can get one at newegg for $39, including shipping.
maeks84
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Re: Dual Graphic Cards with Triple Monitors

Post by maeks84 »

Ancient is a good word to describe it. It is a PCI card though. Also, I am using MATE.

Your comment gave me a bit of a head slap moment though. It made me think of another card I got a while back, a Gigabyte AMD Radeon 6850. Looking at it and some googling has made me think that it does support triple monitors. I've ordered an adapter and will give it a try when it arrives. Thanks!
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