Enabling Onboard Graphics On Dell Optiplex 980

Question

Hi! I recently upgrade my pc with some new ram and a graphics card. I have a Windows 10, Dell Optiplex 980, Intel i5, 16gb Ram.

I got the NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1030 graphics card. The graphics card has a DVI port, and an HDMI port. I got the necessary adapters to connect my dual monitors with VGA to the DVI and HDMI.

The problem is that when both monitors are plugged in to the graphics card, it’s like the system doesn’t know which monitor to display the apps on, so they jump back and forth. One screen goes black, it jumps to the other screen, then that screen goes black, and it goes back to the other screen.

I think the only solution is to run one monitor through the onboard integrated graphics, and the other through the GPU.

I can see that a lot of motherboards allow users to easily open BIOS and enabled onboard graphics which is disabled automatically when a new graphics card is installed.

The issue is, when I open my BIOS, I don’t see the option to do this. My BIOS seems to be different than everyone else’s that I have seen and therefore I can find the option to enable/disable onboard graphics.

I’ve attached a picture of what my bios looks like for reference.

My motherboard is:

Manufacturer:

Dell

Product:

0CT22T

Serial Number:

..CN7360413N00I0

Version:

A04

So my questions are:

Am I opening BIOS correctly on my computer?
Am I missing the setting/can you direct me to the setting to enable/disable onboard graphics?
Will enabling on board graphics and using it for one monitor fix my problem?
Is there anything else I should try or that you would suggest?

I really appreciate all the help I can get. I’ve spent all day trying to fix this issue and don’t really know what else to do. Once again thank you very much.

Thanks,

Jacob

speedstep · Accepted Answer

onboard video is not supported when a card is in the slot.

This is an un supported configuration.

You can use 2 monitors on a GT1030 but you need an HDMI to VGA adapter and dvi for the other monitor.

https://www.amazon.com/Moread-Adapter-Gold-Plated-Compatible-MacBook/dp/B01MS611LJ

Jacob JMF · Accepted Answer

Ultimately I ended up trying to order a different GPU, the MSI 1030, that had a DP and HDMI instead of DVI and HDMI.

Despite what the website said, the GPU didn’t fit properly because the heat sink was too large. I tried to remove the heat sink but couldn’t get the card to work properly.

So, I sent back the new card, and kept the first one I bought, the NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1030.

While the card won’t allow me to use 2 monitors at the same time, I can still use 1 at a time with a massive performance increase.

Whenever I need dual monitors for work, (10% of the time), I will be removing the GPU and plugging the monitors into the onboard graphics where both can be displayed at the same time.

The situation is not ideal, but I’m happy that I got a good performance increase with this upgrade alongside the new ram, and am quite frankly ready to be done with this mess.

Thank you to everyone who responded and helped out. Your efforts were greatly appreciated and helped me make informed decisions and learn more about computers, so maybe next time I won’t need your help.

Thanks,

Jacob

Jacob JMF · Accepted Answer

Someone on a separate forum suggested that two VGAs don’t work well together, so I should try one monitor with a DVI cord straight from the monitor to the GPU, without an adapter. I tried that and it worked!!! So the solution is to have one monitor running off of DVI and the other running off of VGA/HDMI adapter. It was quite the process getting all of those figured out, but it feels great to have both a better computer and still have dual monitors. Thank you to everyone’s suggestions. Even if they didn’t give me the solution right away, it was a step in the right direction. Thank you all!

Jacob JMF · Answer

Gotcha. Fairly confident I have the right adapters seeing how I can get both monitors to turn on and display. From what I’ve seen, the apps jumping back and forth is some weird thing with the GPU I bought. I was just hoping to find that setting in order to only have one monitor use the GPU. Thank you.

donm4599x · Answer

I think you have to take the GPU card out in order to use the on board video. So it won't help you.

Maybe someone can help you set up the two monitors on the GPU card and also make sure you have the right adapters, etc.

Jacob JMF · Answer

So I tried to change the settings around and go to onboard/card, but still couldn’t get a display on the secondary monitor that is plugged into the onboard.

I’ve taken a video of what exactly happens on my monitors just so that you can get an idea of what I’m seeing.

The video can be seen here:

https://m.imgur.com/a/boUwfYr

Someone suggested forcing the game to just one monitor, but I’m not sure how to do that.

CJ Goggin · Answer

I've seen some Dell systems where, even though multiple displays was enabled in the CMOS setup, either the second monitor wouldn't show up in the display settings app (windows 10) or would show up as two monitors depending on if you were extending or cloning the main display.  In either configuration, the behavior was buggy at best.  The solution was to plug both monitors into the motherboard rather than the motherboard and an add-in card.  I suspect plugging both into the add-in would have worked as well.  I've also seen systems where, in the display settings, each monitor had to be configured separately before setting the display app to extend or clone.  In this case, in the display settings app, the second display needed to have the resolution and refresh rates match the main display's settings before cloning or extending.

Lumberjack13 · Answer

I know this is an old thread but I was trying to find the answer today as I remembered having it working a long time ago so perhaps this will help somebody out. I had a big gpu that wouldn't fit into slot 1 x16 so I had at the time installed the gpu into slot 4 that I believe only has x4 lanes. And without thinking about it that allowed me to utilized 2 screens on my pcie gpu as well as a 3rd screen on my built in motherboard vga port. The optiplex 980 is an older machine but with an ssd it works perfectly for office work and I was just looking to set it up with 3 screens to see if that would be more efficient than 2 and I have it working as I type. My pcie gpu is a cheap amd R5 240 with a dvi port and a display port.

I initially started downgrading the bios thinking that was how it must have worked in the past. But then I read the bios carefully as it said the integrated graphics are disabled when a pcie card is in SLOT 1... So I re-flashed to the newest bios firmware I could find (A18) and did a quick graphics fps test. Then bumped the card down into the "slower" pcie slot 4 and the performance was the exact same with this cheap of a card. But the important part is I have a 3rd screen working now hooked to the integrated vga port.

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Enabling Onboard Graphics On Dell Optiplex 980

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