Mixing new and old RTX Cards

[adam_glover]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone should chip in on this please?

I'm looking to upgrade and build a new PC, I've had 2x RTX2080 TI's since they first launched.

But I was thinking about using one of these to run just my monitors, and purchasing a new RTX4090 as a second card just for rendering.
I'm hoping it will make things more stable in IPR without the monitors being a load as well as a lot quicker obviously..

Does anyone see any issues here?

Thanks in advance,

Adam

[Muhammed_Hamed]

Hi adam_glover and welcome to the forums!

Using a 2080ti for your monitors should work fine, you need to do something in Nvidia control panel for this to work optimally
In Nvidia control panel, under Manage 3D settings, change OpenGL rendering device to your 2080ti
In my case here I have a 4090 and a 3080ti, I use my 3080ti for monitors and 4090 for rendering



Using a separate GPU for rendering is recommended, this way your 4090 VRAM is only used for GPU rendering. Windows and Max take a big chunk of VRAM on the card you use for your monitors and viewport

So mixing new and old cards is fine this way, even if you use both GPUs for rendering it should work fine. Let me know if you have more questions

Best,
Muhammed

[filip]

Hi Muhammed, do I have to have the monitors attached to this OpenGL rendering GPU (in your case 3080) as well or is it ok to have monitors to 4090? I am just wondering how this works as occasionaly I use the unreal engine and I would like to use the 4090 for display there. The idea is to have display cables to one card all the time and just decide which card is used for the display in nvidia panel - but is not this bottleneck somehow as the display info has to travel from one card to another?

[filip]

I just realized it is possible in win 11 assign the GPU per Application for instance 3090 for 3dsmax, 1st 4090 for unreal engine, 2nd 4090 for photoshop and integrated AMD for web browser (split the used gpu memory that way?). Still I have two 4090 and regardless I select the 1st or 2nd the 1st is always assigned, if I select 3090 it is assigned correctly. And should not be better assign all aplications to the card that has the cables to monitors?! Maybe everyone knows about this option already and I am the last one and I am sorry spoiling this thread, but think it is related and might help to some less educated person as I am F

[Muhammed_Hamed]

Hey filip
It is a very good question, I plan to have this on our GPU documentation in future.
It is best to connect your monitors to the same GPU you assign to OpenGL rendering, if you use Unreal Engine you will need to connect your monitors to one of your 4090s, best is the first PCIe slot

If you assign OpenGL to a different card than what you connected your monitors to, it affects performance and it might throttle the PCIe bandwidth(most likely you will be fine on PCIe Gen 4)

Best,
Muhammed

[adam_glover]

Hi adam_glover and welcome to the forums!

Using a 2080ti for your monitors should work fine, you need to do something in Nvidia control panel for this to work optimally
In Nvidia control panel, under Manage 3D settings, change OpenGL rendering device to your 2080ti
In my case here I have a 4090 and a 3080ti, I use my 3080ti for monitors and 4090 for rendering



Using a separate GPU for rendering is recommended, this way your 4090 VRAM is only used for GPU rendering. Windows and Max take a big chunk of VRAM on the card you use for your monitors and viewport

So mixing new and old cards is fine this way, even if you use both GPUs for rendering it should work fine. Let me know if you have more questions

Best,
Muhammed

Hi Muhammed, apologies for the lack of communication, I've had trouble logging in to the forum.

Thanks so much for replying.
I had heard that the 20 series just didn't work with the 40 at all which is what prompted me to ask the question initially.

I am about to do my build now, I may just use the 4090 without the 2080 TI, I cant make my mind up?
Power consumption is partly to do with it but also I think the 4090 may run 3No 4K HDR monitors better than the 2080 could (looking at the spec it says that 4k is "acceptable" while 1080 & 2560 are "Good")? - I think this refers to gameplay but that would impact using Vantage correct?

Also what is the consensus on Win10 vs Win11 for Max, Vray, Adobe, Davinci etc..is there any benefit to win 11 (Is Win10 more stable)?

Thanks again for your time replying,

Adam

[Muhammed_Hamed]

I had heard that the 20 series just didn't work with the 40 at all which is what prompted me to ask the question initially.

Hey Adam!

I haven't seen any issues on my side, running Turing and Lovelace GPUs together. This should work fine
You will only use your 4090 for rendering and the 2080ti for viewport and monitors. Don't use both cards for rendering

I am about to do my build now, I may just use the 4090 without the 2080 TI, I cant make my mind up?

Unless you will be playing games on this machine, I recommend having a separate GPU for your monitors and viewport performance
so all 24 GB of GPU memory is dedicated to GPU rendering, otherwise 3DS Max will take a big chunk(like 5 or 6 GB)
Other open apps will take from this memory as well

Power consumption is partly to do with it but also I think the 4090 may run 3No 4K HDR monitors better than the 2080 could (looking at the spec it says that 4k is "acceptable" while 1080 & 2560 are "Good")? - I think this refers to gameplay but that would impact using Vantage correct?

Power consumption shouldn't be an issue, 850 watts or more will do the job for these 2 GPUs(you will need 6x 8pin cables at least)
the 2080Ti should be able to run multiple monitors, there will not be any issues

Depending on the motherboard, you will need to use the 2080ti in the first PCIe slot and connect all your monitors to it

Also what is the consensus on Win10 vs Win11 for Max, Vray, Adobe, Davinci etc..is there any benefit to win 11 (Is Win10 more stable)?

I have been using Windows 11 personally, performance is pretty good plus some new handy features. This here is personal preference, unless you use one of the new Intel 12th gen or 13th gen CPUs, in this case you have to use Windows 11

Best,
Muhammed

[adam_glover]

Hey Adam!

I haven't seen any issues on my side, running Turing and Lovelace GPUs together. This should work fine
You will only use your 4090 for rendering and the 2080ti for viewport and monitors. Don't use both cards for rendering


Unless you will be playing games on this machine, I recommend having a separate GPU for your monitors and viewport performance
so all 24 GB of GPU memory is dedicated to GPU rendering, otherwise 3DS Max will take a big chunk(like 5 or 6 GB)
Other open apps will take from this memory as well



Power consumption shouldn't be an issue, 850 watts or more will do the job for these 2 GPUs(you will need 6x 8pin cables at least)
the 2080Ti should be able to run multiple monitors, there will not be any issues

Depending on the motherboard, you will need to use the 2080ti in the first PCIe slot and connect all your monitors to it



I have been using Windows 11 personally, performance is pretty good plus some new handy features. This here is personal preference, unless you use one of the new Intel 12th gen or 13th gen CPUs, in this case you have to use Windows 11

Best,
Muhammed

Thanks again for your help. I'll def give it some more consideration!
I didn't realise that 13th Gen Intel can only use Win 11. I'll be getting the 13900k so Win 11 it is then!
I've ordered a 1500w PSU and opting for the ASUS ProArt Z790 Mobo.

Thanks again Adam