Can My Nvidia Motherboard support an ATI Graphics card?

Q: I have been looking into getting a serious graphics card update, i currently have an integrated Nvidia 7050/610i, and was looking into getting and ATI 4850 HD, Seems like that card is the best for the money. I'm not sure if it would support it because it's an ATI, and i think there may be a chance an Nvida motherboard might only support Nvidia GPUs. Any clarity on this would be helpful.

A: As a systems builder I have come across this scenario many times. Using an ATi card in a motherboard with an Nvidia chipset is entirely feasible, however as has been previously mentioned, you will not be able to use 2 ATi cards in crossfire mode as the Nvidia chipset does not support this. So yes, it will work, however from my experience I have noticed some stability issues in the past, which I believe can only be attributed to driver clashes. Since then though, I have since stopped building ATi/Nvidia combinations. In conclusion, yes they will work, however you can expect stability and performance issues unless the driver software has been sorted out, which is unlikely since each manufacturer want you to combine only their own chipsets and GPU's. Good luck and I hope this helps.

Related items