Can I use Nvidia card for gaming and a AMD card for mining

[locke9342]

Hi right now I have an: i5 3570k, asrock extreme 4, 750 wat psu, and a 2tb hdd.
I want to know if I can get a GTX 770 and then a 5970 for mining. So I would have my monitor hooked up to my 770 while the 5970 mining in the background while I am playing games. Is this possible?

[Kaepora]

Hi right now I have an: i5 3570k, asrock extreme 4, 750 wat psu, and a 2tb hdd.
I want to know if I can get a GTX 770 and then a 5970 for mining. So I would have my monitor hooked up to my 770 while the 5970 mining in the background while I am playing games. Is this possible?

Sure I have done it with my gtx 670 and two hd 7950s

[lch]

I think its possible, but make sure your rig has sufficient cooling or it may shorten the lifespan of your rig.

[locke9342]

Yup it's possible, just make sure your spec is enough for it.

what spec? I'm pretty sure my mobo has enough slots.

[KhronX]

I'm gonna hazard a guess, and say that he was talking about  your power supply High-end cards need a lot of "juice"

[locke9342]

I have a corsair 750 wat psu. Do you think that would be enough for maybe a 670 or 770 and a 6970 or 7870xt?

[Kaepora]

I have a corsair 750 wat psu. Do you think that would be enough for maybe a 670 or 770 and a 6970 or 7870xt?

more than enough

[locke9342]

Cool. Are there any software I need to download besides the drivers, or is  it just as simple as it looks.

[Kaepora]

Cool. Are there any software I need to download besides the drivers, or is  it just as simple as it looks.

Download the latest drivers for whatever secondary cards you use.
For AMD Drivers: http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx

[locke9342]

And you can verify this works right? I dont want to spend all this money and then find out someone was just misinformed.

[progambler]

Yes you can, this is a great idea actually, so that only one card (the one used for mining) will get much wear and tear on it. If you ran it full-time for very long, the Bitcoin mining card would tend to encounter errors and graphics glitches when playing games.

[Kaepora]

And you can verify this works right? I dont want to spend all this money and then find out someone was just misinformed.

I said I have done it before, its up to you to trust me though.

[locke9342]

Alright thanks. Sorry I just wanna make sure.

[bene]

Is it economical to mine with a GPU at all?

[locke9342]

Well it should be for me. I'm still in school and my parents wont mind the power bill. Im on the computer a lot anyways; now I'll be making a little money while doing it.

[Kaepora]

Is it economical to mine with a GPU at all?

Yea based on how much you pay per Kw and how much power you would be using. Also what you want to mine is a factor since mining a worthless coin is like losing money.
Check out my sig for some basic info.

[fflewddur]

Unless you specifically want an nVidia card for games, just get a pair of AMD cards. My desktop has two 7950s normally running cgminer at an intensity of 8, but when I want to game, I drop one down to 1. It's still powerful enough to run Bioshock Infinite maxed out, and when I'm not gaming, the two cards combine for north of 1Gh/s.

[fflewddur]

Also, be careful about heat. Two cards mining in a case with poor airflow gets dangerously hot. You'll want a couple of strong intake fans in the front of your case, a strong exhaust fan in the back, and a weak intake on the side to keep the air around the GPUs moving. I've also found stock blower-style GPUs fans to work better at keeping the hot air out of the case--custom two or three fan GPU coolers just move the hot air off of the first GPU and directly onto the second.

[locke9342]

Yea I think im gonna go with a EVGA 670 FTW for the first card and a Saphire 7870xt or Saphire 6970 cause its on sale

[Kaepora]

Yea I think im gonna go with a EVGA 670 FTW for the first card and a Saphire 7870xt or Saphire 6970 cause its on sale

Sounds like a good plan, go for the best deals you can get