Vista - Dual Graphics Cards.

Running Windows Vista Ult and i installed a second graphics card to run 3 monitors.
The problem is device manager doesn't show the second installed graphics card.

My System:

E6850
GA-x38-DQ6 MoBo
4Gb ram

8800 Ultra
7600GT (This is the card i added)

Basically it recognizes the 8800 Ultra only. I have read that to use dual cards with Vista they need to use the same drivers (169.25), which they do. Even if that wasn't the case shouldn't the graphics card show in device manager regardless?

Is there something about Vista and dual graphics that i am missing?

The 7600GT functions fine, (tested in another computer) so i am at a loss here.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

just a random thought... very n00bish but if you linked them as a pair (SLI) then disconnect them from each other

you could also try forcing the 2nd g-card by adding new hardware and manually giving it the driver

I'm running two 8600's and four monitors without any problems.

Have you tried just booting with just the 7600 in?

As far as i remember, the GA-x38-DQ6 MoBo did not support SLI, just Crossfire.
Maybe it depends of your date of purchase, just check on manufacturer's web site.

Not yet, but i do know it works.

Even if it is, i don't plan on putting them in SLI. Do you require an SLI board to use 2 nVidia cards?

I am not a mobo expert, but i think that a single NVidia card will work in an ATI mobo and a single ATI card will work in a NVidia SLI board. (i may be wrong, if a mobo expert reads this thread, pls confirm)

i'm not real sure but i think i read somewhere that the cards have to be the same.
like with the (running two 8600's) without any problems.
scrooge

The cards have to be the same to run SLI or CrossFire and then take advantage of the respective technology.
But you may use different cards in some mobos just to run for example 3 or 4 monitors.
The actual problem is that the X38 (intel i think) does allow to crossfire (ATI) or use only 1 Nvidia graphics card.
So using SLI/CrossFire is totally different that using 2 differen cards.

Hey rambat,
Can you post some screenshots from GPUZ so we can see your exact configuration?

GPU-Z Video card GPU Information Utility

Thanks
Steven

I'm using two nvidia 8600 on a x38 with no problems.

Did you try the 7600 on it's own yet?