Using the Onboard VGA output with a PCIe video card. Both nVidia

Question

I have 2 video cards, one On board, a nVidia 6150SE nForce 430 and a PCIe nVidia GeForce GT 220 1GB DDR2 RAM

I have already configured the PCIe card to use the dual monitor feature, using the VGA and HDMI ports, but now I want to add a third monitor, using the On board VGA port

I have managed to enable the On board graphics processor, which is taking 400MB of ram, but I cant manage to use it, nvidia-settings does not detect it, like it's not usable (but is there)

My questions are the following:

1. How can I manage to get the On board VGA display to work together with the PCIe graphics card?

2. If possible, how can I recover those 400 MB the on board card is taking (even without being used) or how can I get it to use the PCIe card available memory?

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System Details:

Linux 2.6.35-28-generic i686 Ubuntu 10.10 (All updates installed)
NVIDIA Driver Version: 260.19.06 (Official)

If more info is needed please let me know.

Here is the lspci output when the On board card is disabled:

00:00.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP61 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:01.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP61 LPC Bridge (rev a2)
00:01.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation MCP61 SMBus (rev a2)
00:01.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP61 Memory Controller (rev a2)
00:01.3 Co-processor: nVidia Corporation MCP61 SMU (rev a2)
00:02.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP61 USB Controller (rev a3)
00:02.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP61 USB Controller (rev a3)
00:04.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP61 PCI bridge (rev a1)
00:05.0 Audio device: nVidia Corporation MCP61 High Definition Audio (rev a2)
00:06.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP61 IDE (rev a2)
00:07.0 Bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP61 Ethernet (rev a2)
00:08.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP61 SATA Controller (rev a2)
00:09.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP61 PCI Express bridge (rev a2)
00:0b.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP61 PCI Express bridge (rev a2)
00:0c.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP61 PCI Express bridge (rev a2)
00:0d.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation C61 [GeForce 6150SE nForce 430] (rev a2)
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
01:09.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82557/8/9/0/1 Ethernet Pro 100 (rev 08)
02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GT216 [GeForce GT 220] (rev a2)
02:00.1 Audio device: nVidia Corporation High Definition Audio Controller (rev a1)

And this is when both are enabled:

00:00.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP61 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:01.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP61 LPC Bridge (rev a2)
00:01.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation MCP61 SMBus (rev a2)
00:01.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP61 Memory Controller (rev a2)
00:01.3 Co-processor: nVidia Corporation MCP61 SMU (rev a2)
00:02.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP61 USB Controller (rev a3)
00:02.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP61 USB Controller (rev a3)
00:04.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP61 PCI bridge (rev a1)
00:05.0 Audio device: nVidia Corporation MCP61 High Definition Audio (rev a2)
00:06.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP61 IDE (rev a2)
00:07.0 Bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP61 Ethernet (rev a2)
00:08.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP61 SATA Controller (rev a2)
00:09.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP61 PCI Express bridge (rev a2)
00:0b.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP61 PCI Express bridge (rev a2)
00:0c.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP61 PCI Express bridge (rev a2)
00:0d.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation C61 [GeForce 6150SE nForce 430] (rev a2)
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
01:09.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82557/8/9/0/1 Ethernet Pro 100 (rev 08)
02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GT216 [GeForce GT 220] (rev a2)
02:00.1 Audio device: nVidia Corporation High Definition Audio Controller (rev a1)

Output of lshw -class display:

  *-display
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: GT216 [GeForce GT 220]
       vendor: nVidia Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
       version: a2
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
       configuration: driver=nvidia latency=0
       resources: irq:18 memory:df000000-dfffffff memory:c0000000-cfffffff memory:da000000-dbffffff ioport:ef80(size=128) memory:def80000-deffffff
  *-display
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: C61 [GeForce 6150SE nForce 430]
       vendor: nVidia Corporation
       physical id: d
       bus info: pci@0000:00:0d.0
       version: a2
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 66MHz
       capabilities: pm msi vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
       configuration: driver=nvidia latency=0
       resources: irq:22 memory:dd000000-ddffffff memory:b0000000-bfffffff memory:dc000000-dcffffff memory:deb40000-deb5ffff

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If what I'm looking for is not possible, please tell me, so I can disable the On board card and recover those 400MB of wasted RAM

Thanks for your help!

Solution 1

Not really at the same time... Each video card has a Bios in it, trying to take control of all video in the computer. Only one will win... Unless both videos are designed for sharing control (Crossfire or SLI), you cannot run two video cards together at the same time....

the only scenario that i know of in which both will work at the same time is ATI hybrid crossfire "hybrid graphics"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATI_Hybrid_Graphics

Solution 2

Hybrid graphics have improved a bit lately. Have a look at this websites for various methods including bumblebee, I would be interested to see if you can get the two cards working with it:

• Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~hybrid-graphics-linux
• Blog: http://linux-hybrid-graphics.blogspot.com/
• Wiki: http://hybrid-graphics-linux.tuxfamily.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

Comments

[Admin]

Will an older Ninvida card work with this but only 2 monitors

[Thomas Ward]

This is typically 100% true. You will not be able to use your onboard card and your PCIe card unless BOTH are crossfire or SLI compatible. Most typical onboard graphics cards are not SLI or crossfire compatible.

[sebikul]

Do you know or think whether this would work on a desktop PC or not?

[719016]

@sebikul: it depends on the hardware. Laptops have a mux to do the switch, but Nvidia recently announced they will bring Optimus to desktop computers: anandtech.com/show/4292/nvidia-synergy-desktop-optimus

[Eduardo Cuomo]

I can do it in Windows!