Most reliable GPU under $100

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Hanakuso

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Looking to get a GPU under $100 that has dual DVI ports (Or at least able to use 2 monitors) that must be reliable. I'm guessing the reliability all depends on the PCB/components compared to the actual GPU, but it would be nice for some recommendations/direction. This will be used for roughly 5-10 years, 8-9 hours a day

Btw it doesn't need to be powerful or anything. Something like a GT 520 or AMD 6450 will be good enough. Maybe workstation cards are more reliable?
 
honestly I cant see you going wrong with AMD or Nvidias low end offerings.
Most cards will last you unless it was flawed in the RnD stages. Thankfully those cards dont come to market tooo often.
 
I use the fanless 5450 with no problems on a media center, the 6450 should run just as cool and reliably.

You can pick either of those cards up for less than $40, especially with the rebates I have seen lately.
 
I'm guessing either AMD or Nvidia would suite me just fine, i'm basically concerned about the components and cooling. I would prefer just using the integrated Intel but I don't believe there is a way to use 2 monitors. I'm guessing fanless might be the best option since those dinky fans that come on the lower end GPUs have a tendency to die after years of usage.

At work we had a bunch of lower end Geforce5 cards that have been in use since whenever the Geforce5 came out. About 50% of them have died from blown caps or dead fans.
 
Yeah, onboard graphics usually will not do two monitors, not because of power, but just by design.
I went for fanless with a good cooling system in my case so I don't have a dead fan issue. It should work for a while to come.

Dead caps can be an issue with any manufacturer unfortunately. By the time they realize the batch of caps was bad, the cards are usually 2-3 years old.


Edit:
To let you know, both cards will do dual output, but they are DVI/HDMI.
So you'll either need one of each monitor or an HDMI->DVI adapter to get dual DVI, or the reverse for dual HDMI.
 
Last edited:
Personmans said:
Yeah, onboard graphics usually will not do two monitors, not because of power, but just by design.
I went for fanless with a good cooling system in my case so I don't have a dead fan issue. It should work for a while to come.

Dead caps can be an issue with any manufacturer unfortunately. By the time they realize the batch of caps was bad, the cards are usually 2-3 years old.
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Well my motherboard ports does include a displayport, which I heard is able to power two monitors from 1 displayport, but I haven't seen any simple DP to 2 DVI ports.

Yeah I guess when it comes to caps it's luck of the draw. If anything I could buy an older generation GPU like a Geforce 9600 and try to do research on how they been aging.
 
Hanakuso said:
Well my motherboard ports does include a displayport, which I heard is able to power two monitors from 1 displayport, but I haven't seen any simple DP to 2 DVI ports.

Yeah I guess when it comes to caps it's luck of the draw. If anything I could buy an older generation GPU like a Geforce 9600 and try to do research on how they been aging.
Click to expand...


If longevity is a concern, I wouldn't go with an older card. If you buy a 9600, chances are it's already going to have a few years of use under its belt. I think your best bet is going to be buying a new, low end card. Go with a reputable brand, and try and find something fanless, as that is the most likely thing to die.
 
I have only seen apple do mini-DP to 2x HDMI, but it wasn't reliable as I recall. I would go for dual dvi or DVI + HDMI to DVI cable/adapter.

I very much agree with Viper, all electrolytic caps have a lifetime and a card that's already ~4 years old, even if it's unused, will probably fail sooner.
 
I would agree with the above posters about something like a fanless GPU (such as the 6450). Low power draw, great for HTPC use, quiet. They can even play games, provided you don't want high or medium high details on newer titles.


Ian
 
^ I might go with that but i'm thinking dual VGA or dual DVI will simplify things. Thanks for the recommendations guys. I will basically get a low end, newer model GPU that is fanless
 
We probably have over 1000 Radeon X300 that came in our dell workstations. I have never seen one die or heard of one failing in our environment. They are fanless... I got an asus 5450 fanless for my work pc for $15 after rebate from newegg. for fanless cards make sure you have decent air flow in your case, unless your just sitting at a windows desktop
 
buttons said:
We probably have over 1000 Radeon X300 that came in our dell workstations. I have never seen one die or heard of one failing in our environment. They are fanless... I got an asus 5450 fanless for my work pc for $15 after rebate from newegg. for fanless cards make sure you have decent air flow in your case, unless your just sitting at a windows desktop
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The cases will be from prebuilt Lenovos so they're below average but at the same time they will be sitting at the windows desktop all day. With the basic programs like outlook, web browsing and videos
 
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