I'm using Kubuntu with two NVIDIA GPUs: an RTX 3050 connected to two monitors and a GTX 1060 that should drive a third monitor. The system detects both cards with `lspci | grep -i nvidia`, but the GTX 1060 does not appear in NVIDIA Settings and the third monitor receives no signal. Since the RTX 3050 only has two usable display ports, I need both GPUs working. What driver or configuration changes are needed?
2 Answers
Mixed-GPU setups are not guaranteed to work smoothly, even when both cards are detected by the hardware enumeration tools. If the 580 driver does not make the third display available, the practical fix may be replacing or removing the GTX 1060, or using a single card with enough display outputs.
The RTX 3050 and GTX 1060 use different driver support generations. The Pascal-based GTX 1060 needs the NVIDIA 580 proprietary driver, and using an incompatible or newer driver can leave the card visible to PCI tools but unavailable to the desktop display system. Install and use the 580 driver for both cards, then reboot and check the display configuration again.
The important detail is that the GTX 1060 is a Pascal card, so it cannot use driver versions newer than the 580 series. Check the installed driver version before troubleshooting the monitor configuration further.