Can I use two different video cards on same PC ?

I have a Dell T – 7500 workstation which came with AMD FirePro 2260 Video Card.

I removed it & installed AMD FirePro 2460 Video card to run a total of 4 Monitors ( This Video Card has 4 Mini DP Port & comes with 4 Mini DP To DVI Converter Cables )

All monitors are identical.

Now one of those 4 Mini DP To DVI converter cable has failed & I am left with only three functioning monitors.
( I tested everything & narrowed it down to the converter to be the culprit )

I am thinking about plugging back the original FirePro 2260 video card which will run the 4th monitor till I get the replacement converter.

So my question is if those two different Video Cards will work together ? ( Yes, FirePro 2260 has DP to DVI Converter )

If yes, do I need to download two different drivers ?

From AMD’s site, it seems both use same drivers.

http://support.amd.com/us/Pages/AMDSupportHub.aspx

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/fire/fire-2d/Pages/fire2d_win7-64.aspx

Many Thanks

 

As both cards use the same driver, will probably work.

 

I have a system with a 3D card and a 4 port 2D card.

They use different drivers, works fine.

 

What is the worst thing that can happen in case they don't work together ?

Is it likely that I could blow up FirePro 2460 ? That would be a disaster & of course very costly.

 

Not that... one or more of them probably would just not light... or it wouldn't accept your customized settings.... something like that.

The 2460 is likely just the 4-port version of the 2260 and if so should be completely compatible.

Video driver problems can be a real bitch, so good idea to make an image or clone of your present system first... ALWAYS a good idea, actually.

 

Not always the case.... and considering the mess it CAN make when it doesn't work, not worth the risk. Sometimes trying to run different cards with different drivers can hose your system up so badly that you have to reinstall your OS.... I had it happen to me.

 

As far as Windows 7, what's the suggested imaging software of choice for this?

Thank you for your suggestion in advance.

 

As Scataphagos suggested, I do a frequent clonning of my HDD & use " Acronis True Image Home "

It takes only 1.5 Hrs to clone a 500 GB HDD & you have a second HDD ready all the time. No imaging & restoring.

Recently I also clonned a 3 TB HDD at night before going to bed so I am not sure how long it took but it wasn't more than 6.00 Hrs.

Hope that helps.

Scat is a pro & might have better suggestion though.

 

Nope. I still use Acronis v11. That was the last version with unrestricted use... no yearly license fee, no "limit to 1 PC" crapola.

A few years ago I started doing "images" instead of cloning for general backup routine... better use of resources. Still clone sometimes for convenience and/or troubleshooting.

I also use 2, USB external drive enclosures and alternate images on them periodically. I once went to restore an image and either the drive or the enclosure had a problem and I lost all backups on that drive. Fortunately, I had another.

 

You can but it's a really bad idea. Usually the rule of thumb is to avoid it all together and just don't.

If you *must* make sure that the cards have the same GPU chipset - but even then I've gotten burned a bunch by doing the same thing. For example, PNY uses an NVIDIA chipset and drivers for some of their cards. The difference is that PNY and NVIDIA use different/proprietary FIRMWARE on each of their cards. Drivers and updates are applied differently to each card and it can royally screw you over with blue screen of death, machine freezes, shut-downs, etc.