Graphics

[upulnc]

Hi,

My son is going to build a new system. I bought a Radeon Pro WX 5100 card for him to run SolidWorks and alike. But he insist that he wants to play high end games like Need for Speed, FIFA also. I saw NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1060 and Quadro P600 both cards can run together as they both share same driver. Can anyone suggest a similar solution so that I can save the money spent on Radeon Pro WX 5100.

Thanks in advance

[jargon]

If you intend on using AMD Crossfire for higher performance in games than with a single card, just remember that Crossfire compatibility and performance varies with each game, and that Crossfire performance is usually at most ~30% better than a single card.

The consumer counterpart of the WX 5100 is the RX 470 8GB. You should install the workstation drivers with the WX 5100 installed, then use the multi-driver feature to switch to the latest gaming drivers when you want to use the RX 470.

You shouldn't have very high expectations of the WX 5100's gaming performance though - the lack of a PCIe power supply connector means that it draws at most 75W from the motherboard's PCIe slot, and the cooling solution will be loud and probably inadequate when running intense gaming workloads.

[upulnc]

Thanks Jargon for replying. I'll forget about Crossfire. I just want to make use of the card I bought and at the same time make my son happy. I will consider the option you suggested; WX 5100 together with a RX 470 8GB. Is it possible to transfer the load to the RX 470 when playing games and back to WX 5100 when using SolidWorks? What about the monitor? Will I have to use 2 monitors for 2 cards? Can a single driver handle both cards? What is the best motherboard+processor combination come to your mind for this setup? budget I'm having in my mind is around $1500.00.

[upulnc]

Radeon RX 470 is not freely available. 5XX series had replaced 4XX. Will RX 570 be able to co-exist with WX 5100?

Thanks

[jargon]

With both cards connected to the system I believe the 'main' GPU under load will be the one that you connect the display to when you boot the system. However you still need to switch between workstation and gaming drivers to take advantage of the desired GPU in applications.

I don't think the consumer card will be detected with the workstation driver and vice versa, so 2 monitors for 2 cards won't even be a possibility with your setup. Neither is crossfire.

I'll leave the motherboard+processor combination to someone else, though where I live $1500.00 is not enough to purchase these two cards and be able to take advantage of them with the CPU.

[jargon]

If you mean just connecting them to the same computer through different PCIe slots, then yes. You could even place a consumer Vega 64 beside the WX 5100 if you wanted to. The drivers won't be able to detect both cards, only the one that they support (WX 5100 for workstation driver, and RX 470/570 for consumer driver).

[upulnc]

I see your point. Now I also feel, this setup may not work. As I already have the WX 5100, I guess I will have to live with that.

Thanks for your time.

[upulnc]

can 2 drivers co-exist in one system?

[upulnc]

Adrenalin driver 18.7.1 supports both cards.

Workstation

[elstaci]

The link you posted has software that uses two drivers. One for Professional uses and the other for gaming. It is the Radeon Pro Software Adrenaline version not the Enterprise.

When you install the Radeon Pro Adrenaline you need to activate or install the "OPTIONS" part of the driver. This will give you the ability to install both Professional and gaming drivers for your WX5100.

This is the "OPTIONS" User guide to give an idea how it is installed and works with your Professional AMD GPU card: https://www2.ati.com/relnotes/driver-options-user-guide.pdf