Is it worth having two GPU's?
Posted by 1Beardrinks2Beers@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 13 comments
I have a RTX 2060 6 gb in my PC and a GTX 1060 3 gb in my old one. Could I put the 1060 in my PC if I have space and would it affect anything at all?
Edit: Thanks to everyone for the answers I do appreciate them. And thanks for the silver it is my first award ever. To anyone wondering why I asked this is because I just did my first own build and had the 1060 from my old pc so I got curious since my board had space for one more gpu. But I couldn't find a real answer on google so I asked all of you here on this sub that knows more about this than I do.
-UserRemoved-@reddit
It would do nothing but increase heat/power while also taking CPU lanes from your primary card.
1Beardrinks2Beers@reddit (OP)
Thanks
sean0883@reddit
He's being a bit over-dramatic when it comes to "nothing", but he's not wrong in practical terms.
You can slave the 1060 out to Physx, but it's not exactly a huge concern these days. Plus, the 1060 might be slower at doing just Physx calculations than the 2060 is at doing it while under load. I have no idea if that's the case here, but I know it's the case sometimes. Though that's usually when the generational gap is larger.
Your PCI-E lanes also aren't a concern. You'd probably lose 1-2 frames, but 8x PCI-E is enough for a 2060.
With all this said, why would you want to do it? That's what it comes down to. Any added benefit or drawback is near-negligible, and you're paying more in terms of power draw for the privilege - so why bother?
Lewjar6@reddit
I was going to put a 630 graphics with my 4060ti bc low gram but I guess I should not now?
sean0883@reddit
Definitely do not do that.
deleted_by_reddit@reddit
if you want it to improve your gaming experience then you have to get identical cards, 2 different ones won’t work, PC will ignore the cheaper one
atherann@reddit
I was able to get a 1660 GTX w a 3050 RTX the system identified both .____.
OolonCaluphid@reddit
Yes, you can do it. Windows is very forgiving and you won't get any conflicts or errors fitting it (providing it physically fits and you can power it ok).
There's no practical reason why you would do it. The 1060 3Gb can't mine efficiently, so you can't set it to earning money for you. You can't 'sync them' to improve gaming performance, games will jsut ginore the 1060.
There's no sensible tasks that the RTX 2060 isn't simply tonnes better at in, to the point putting the 1060 3Gb into the mix isn't just adding complexity rather than more speed.
The 1060 3GB is worthwhile as:
A way to add more GPU outputs if you run mulitple moniors and have run out.
A back up card to keep around for troubleshooting
Sell it to a needy gamer whilst it has an inflated used value.
tomagfx@reddit
The 1060 could be a good render farm card for vfx artists/video editors like myself. Or really any task that requires quite a bit out of your GPU (aside from gaming of course). Anything you do work-wise that would otherwise shut your PC down for a few hours can now be done due to having a second GPU without having to wait to do other things
trevormooresoul@reddit
I think technically you could use it to run your second and third monitors, thus taking a little bit of heat off you main GPU, no? Not even sure if that's how it works. I know it wouldn't be much. But if you're in a niche scenario where you need an extra 1-2fps to hit a threshold, or need another 5MB of VRAM to keep from hitting a VRAM wall, maybe it could be used for that.
OolonCaluphid@reddit
Running additional monitors - as desktops - is absolutely trivial for any recent GPU. Not worth the hassle just for 'performance' reasons.
trevormooresoul@reddit
I mean, if you're using 7.99GB vs 8.01GB of VRAM when you only have 8GB, that can be a like 50%+ performance difference. As I said... niche scenarios.
Or, if you're at 59hz, and need 60 to prevent tearing or something.
bobthebulldike@reddit
If you're using 8.01GB of VRAM just close that 1 chrome window with all those Oatmeal Recipes and now you're back to using 7.99GB of RAM :)