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Hope someone can help.

I needed more graphics card ports because I want 4 screens. My main GPU is a Nvidia GTX 1650 Super I recently purchased a cheap second GPU (Nvidia GT710) thinking I can just stick it on my motherboard and all will be sweet. (Sounds like I made a mistake here). I am not expecting anything flash from the GT710 (Just watching Youtube and Excel etc.)

Here's the problem: Firstly, when I booted , the second card didn't pick up a screen so I messed with the drivers and downloaded the driver for the GT710. This looks like it's a very old driver (2020) or something. Now all screens started working but the same 2020 driver was also applied to my GTX 1650 Super which made it really slow and can't play games or antyhing on it anymore. Whenever I try to install a newer driver, the GT710 just stops working completely.

I've tried different things like Manually installing the driver for each card but Windows just takes that driver and applies to both cards.

I'm wondering if there's a way to hard force the driver to use in the registry ? anyone ever tried that? From what I'm reading, peeople say it's a Nvidia problem and I should probably have bought a AMD card for my second GPU.

Any advice?

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2 Answers 2

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I can confirm you can run graphics outputs with two different drivers on windows 10 and better - I am currently running one display with an onboard intel adaptor, and an nvidia RTX3080 for 2 others.

You didn't mention what your system was but a lot of modern CPUs have competent enough GPUs built in for these purposes. This wasn't included in the question, but might be an avenue worth looking at.

The problem in your case is two fold - they both use the same driver, and as you noticed, driver support got dropped around 2020 for the GT710. If you'd had a more modern Nvidia GPU with modern support, or any other GPU, chances are it'd work. You can't run 'different' versions of the same driver, and as you've noticed, the 'older' driver isn't as good as a new one.

In theory, and I've not tested this, you could use a GPO to prevent driver installation for a specific device but you're going to need the nvidia drivers for the newer GPU anyway.

As such I don't think there's a way to drop down a single adaptor to the 'basic display drivers' windows uses as a fallback either or to pin a specific driver for a specific device.

Also a year on since this question was asked you might have better options than the 710

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  • You're right that my answer might not work for the user. I thought of an alternate procedure using another answer of mine, so my answer might now pass your criticism.
    – harrymc
    Commented Jun 2 at 16:17
  • Have you actually tested it in anyway? While I am not buying a 710 just to test, I do run a dual display adapter system every day. The comments to your answer in 2023 indicate why it won't work. Great answers should draw from actual experience rather than google and guesswork
    – Journeyman Geek ♦
    Commented Jun 3 at 0:02
  • I also have Intel+Nvidia, but not two Nvidias, but the linked answer in my new text has worked for so many users that there is a chance of the described procedure working for two Nvidia cards. The comments do not pertain to the new text. (If answersers were required to have the same setup as in the post, there would be almost no answers on SU.)
    – harrymc
    Commented Jun 3 at 9:11
  • Answers are required to be useful, and show an understanding of the specific issues involved. You completely missed that the newer drivers don't support the 710, and you can't run two different versions of one driver. It wouldn't be useful for someone with the same issues either. Are we having a problem with me posting competing answers too?
    – Journeyman Geek ♦
    Commented Jun 3 at 9:32
  • My problem is that I'm not sure that Windows absolutely doesn't support two drivers for different cards of same manufacture. I can't find an authoritative source for that, perhaps you know of one. I have no problems with other answers, more are better. I'm out.
    – harrymc
    Commented Jun 3 at 9:38
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This procedure might work to have two different drivers to two different Nvidia cards:

  • Block updates to the GT710 as described in this answer.
  • Install manually the 2020 driver. This will change the driver for both cards (hopefully only for the moment). You might need to execute these two points in reverse order (but do not boot in-between).
  • Let Windows now update the driver for the GTX 1650. Several boots might be required.

If this works, you're going to have two different drivers for the two Nvidia cards. If it doesn't work, then Windows might not support having two different drivers for this setup. (I can't unfortunately test this on my computer.)

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  • This is unlikely to solve the issue. The main problem is the user must have the legacy branch driver for the legacy card and that one doesn't support correctly the newer card. This is and will always be a problem when mixing cards of many generations apart, Nvidia or AMD.
    – ChanganAuto
    Commented May 20, 2023 at 18:48
  • @ChanganAuto: I'm not in a situation to test the above, but it's claimed that with this procedure one can have different drivers for the two cards. If it doesn't work, this answer will be deleted.
    – harrymc
    Commented May 20, 2023 at 19:28
  • In your link the cards in question are GTX1070 and GTX980 that are supported by the same (and current) driver version unlike the legacy 710 the OP has.
    – ChanganAuto
    Commented May 20, 2023 at 19:33
  • @ChanganAuto: For the author of that post, it apparently didn't work like that (remember his driver dated from 2017). Also the poster of the answer claimed that it worked for him. I'll wait and see if it works for the poster, or not. Otherwise I don't see much hope for a solution for our poster.
    – harrymc
    Commented May 20, 2023 at 19:39

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