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Help Selecting a video card

F

firstbatch

n00b
Joined
Mar 12, 2010
Messages
3
Finally purchased a new desktop computer after slaving away for far to long on a Pentium 4 machine.

Gateway DX 4831 with a i3-530 chip and 6GB RAM. Yep, Intel Grpahics card built in with 64MB dedicated memory. Not bad out of the box. Only a 300watt power supply and has a an available PCIe 16x slot.

Monitor is a Dell 2209wa. Want to go with dual monitors. Mostly web applications and not much gaming at this point.

Initally looked at a Quadro NVS 295 on ebay as it gets high marks but has DP and the Dell has DVI ...so I thought there may be a better card available that has DVI ports so I do not have to fool with the adaptors. Looked at some FX series cards but don't really understand the diffence in them all. I aslo, realize the 300W power supply is limiting. Bottom line would like to buy the best "used" card availble that will work with what is in this Gateway. Seems like some of the FX cards had a better spec and were cheaper than the NV.....but I'm green on the specs so.

Also, my second monitor will probably be an older 15" ViewSonic that only has VGA so should I be looking for a dual card with one DVI and one VGA or both DVI and and get a VGa adpator? Can you use 2 monitors togetther that are not of the same spec?

And do I need to get a multiple monitor software like UltraMon to be able to use a 2 monitor set-up?

Apreciate input. Great forum. Big help to me in selecting the 2209wa.
 
Upgrade your power supply ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004 ) and get a 5850 ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150455&cm_re=5850-_-14-150-455-_-Product )

Really, though, unless you tell us you're budget we can't help too much. But we can tell you that unless you do CAD work you definitely do not want a Quadro or FireGL card. They would be a huge waste of money as the consumer versions of the same card are much, much cheaper. You should be looking for a GeForce or Radeon card - or rather you should tell us you're budget so we can help you look for a geforce or radeon card ;)

And most video cards come with a DVI->VGA adapter, and they work just fine. Hell, I've got like 10 of the little buggers floating around my apartment, lol. Windows supports multiple monitors just fine.
 
Ok, I was thinking right now less than $100. I saw a few of the Quadro nvs 295 cards on eBay or $40 to $50...one went yesterdy for less than $20 with 2 dp/DVI adpators. and again I know little to nothing about the difference in business vs consumer video cards.....so looking for simple but effective upgrade from the onboard video where I am now and then maybe later move up to somthing better.


Lots of specs on these cards that are greek for the most part and multiple ports..... Like on the GT40 card..it has a DVI, VGA and a HDMI.. Does that mean you could hook up 2 monitors as sell as port out to a TV with the HDMI?


Thanks for indulging the newbie.
 
firstbatch said:
Ok, I was thinking right now less than $100. I saw a few of the Quadro nvs 295 cards on eBay or $40 to $50...one went yesterdy for less than $20 with 2 dp/DVI adpators. and again I know little to nothing about the difference in business vs consumer video cards.....so looking for simple but effective upgrade from the onboard video where I am now and then maybe later move up to somthing better.
Click to expand...

$100 will get you a pretty good *new* card, no reason to buy used. If you do want to go the used route, I'd try to stick with an XFX card. They have a double lifetime warranty, which means that not only does the original owner get a lifetime warranty, the second owner gets a lifetime warranty as well. I'd also check out the FS/T section here and skip ebay.

So now that we know budget what do you want to do with the card? Since intel integrated doesn't seem to be working for you I assume you want to play some games? What games? New games? Older games?

Lots of specs on these cards that are greek for the most part and multiple ports..... Like on the GT40 card..it has a DVI, VGA and a HDMI.. Does that mean you could hook up 2 monitors as sell as port out to a TV with the HDMI?
Click to expand...

No. The only cards that support 3 simultaneous outputs at the moment are ATI's 5xxx series. All the other cards with multiple outputs only allow 2 to be active at once (afaik, anyway)

Thanks for indulging the newbie.
Click to expand...

No problem :)
 
Thanks all for the insight and Jeff for the direct to the PNY GT240 for $70. I ordered the GT card today as it looks like the best fit for my current needs and the limitations of a 300watt power supply that I am not ready to upgrade quite yet.
 
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