Pairing ATI and Nvidia for Cuda

[Modelworks]

I have a friend that has a system with an ATI 5770 card. He wants to use cuda and has an old 8800GT 640MB card and wanted to know if it was better to just purchase a fermi based card or change out his current motherboard for one that will allow him to use both cards, the ATI for display and the Nvidia for cuda.

His processor is a Q6600 and his current board only supports 1 PCIE card. I haven't done the mixing of two different brands on the same board thing so asking for opinions. He needs to keep cost as low as possible. I saw some motherboards for $40-50 with dual slots but not sure what is needed to make the above combo work. I advised him to just go with a fermi card and be done with it, but he doesn't want to spend that much.

The cuda is not for gaming like physx but for an application called 3dcoat.
http://www.3d-coat.com/

 

[Ben90]

I wouldn't get a new mobo personally for that personally. I would either use the 8800GT, or if he needs a faster card sell his current ones for a new Fermi based card. I'm not an expert on used prices, but he should be able to get a 460 for about 50 after selling the old cards. Best of all worlds, faster than a 5770, more power efficient then two cards, and faster cuda than 8800GT.

 

[Modelworks]

That sounds like the best path to me. I'm going to suggest that to him. Thanks !

 

[Voo]

To answer the question: You can use GPUs from different vendors on Win7 (XP iirc as well), but not vista (i.e. you can't install both drivers).

But the 460 should be the best route in either case.