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My motherboard is M3a78-cm and the new card I installed is the GT 520 from NVIDIA. I tried looking around the BIOS settings but I was only able to toggle between having the DisplayPort (internal gfx) on or off. Is this at all possible with my motherboard? Could I download some BIOS update to give me the option to enable both, or is there a way to dig deeper into my computer to make this work? I want to run two monitors, and I know I can do this with the new card alone, but I want to be able to run 3 at some point in the future.

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  • I believe that you cannot do this, the dedicated card overrides the integrated one Feb 27, 2012 at 2:31

1 Answer 1

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From the manual for that motherboard:

Page x:

Dual VGA output supports: RGB & DVI, DVI & DP, and RGB & DP

Page 1-19:

Due to chipset limitaion, when a DisplayPort monitor is plugged in, PCIe x 16 slot may not be able to support an add-on card. Set the DisplayPort Configuration item in teh BIOS to [Enabled] before using the DisplayPort.

Page 2-24:

Primary Display Adapter [GFX-GPP-PCI] Allows you to select which graphics controller to use as the primary boot device. Configuration options: [GFX-GPP-PCI] [GPP-GFX-PCI] [PCI-GFX-GPP]

Primary Video Controller [GFX0-GPP-IGFX-PCI] Configuration options: [GFX0-GPP-IGFX-PCI] [GPP-GFX0-IGFX-PCI] [PCI-GFX0-GPP-IGF] [IGFX-GFX0-GPP-PCI]

IGFX = internal VGA port
PCI  = PCI     video card
GPP  = PCIex1  video card
GFX0 = PCIex16 video card
(GFX is not defined!)

Taken together, what it means is that multiple video adapters are supported, but may not work depending on the particular configuration that you are using. Specifically, using the DisplayPort may prevent you from also using a PCIex16 card (which the GT 520 is), so disable the DisplayPort if you are not actually using it.

Check that the Primary Display * settings are set to the defaults because they best support what you want. However, you may want to experiment with different settings for Primary Display Controller, particularly the [IGFX-GFX0-GPP-PCI] option (you’ll have to redefine the primary in your OS).

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  • This worked, specifically the PDC setting you recommended! Thanks a lot :D! Now I have 2 monitors with the tv being the 3rd. My only remaining question is, is it possible to make the monitor coming out of the gt520 the primary monitor? There is a setting to fuse monitors 2 & 3 that I want to use so I can actually see what I am playing on my tv instead of having to drag it off both screens to have it visible on the tv. Mar 8, 2012 at 20:31
  • Setting the Primary Display Adapter to GFX-GPP-PCI and the Primary Video Controller to GFX0-GPP-IGFX-PCI (both defaults) should set the GT50 as the primary. Failing that, you should be able to set it in the Windows Display Properties depending on which version of Windows you are using.
    – Synetech
    Mar 9, 2012 at 15:21

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