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Video Card Shuffle

B

board2death986

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Aug 13, 2005
Messages
1,404
Ive been having some problems with playing HD content with my Server, usually in the form of horizontal tears through the screen or short freezing. Also a problem is the fact I need 4 video outputs and currently have 2. I know my card isn't great for HD playback but that's why I'm posting. Here are my specs;

Gigabyte ep45-UD3P
Core2Quad Q6600
4GB Adata DDR2 1066
Geforce 8800GTX
Source drives are 7200rpm Sata drives in various sizes

So really my question is what video card is good for HD video playback and has 4 outputs? (DVI, HDMI, displayport, VGA) I'm usually an nvidia fanboy but I can't ignore ATIs current spotlight.

Also, I don't want to simply put my 8800 out to pasture or let it become a hand me down, could I put this in a rig to do physics acceleration or is that only on later series?

Thanks in advance, this forum is a blessing for it's advice and feedback, but a curse for the ideas I get that only cost me more $$$ and the deals I keep finding in the For sale and trade threads =P
 
The 8800GTX will work for Physx, however I believe that all HD 5XXX Radeons only support 3 outputs at a time. (They have 4 on them: 2 DVI, 1 DP, 1 HDMI; but when you use the HDMI it disables one of the DVI ports.)

If you want 4 ports, you could look at going with 2 5770s in Crossfire. They are about the same price together as a single 5870 and give you about the same performace, and then you would have 6 usable ports.

Review of 5770 in crossfire: http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-5770-review-test/1
 
I have to remind that this is a server/HTPC, the 8800 got there because it was overthrown by a GTX285 in my game rig. $300+ is a bit steep for my budget. My board has 2 pci-e x16 slots, I could get one card and get a second cheapy card for the other outputs. Forgot to mention the monitor setup. 3 outputs are for file/web browsing (2 at my desk, a third clones the primary screen over my bed) The 4th is my TV. Is the 5770 still necessary in this case or can I go lower on the spectrum?
 
You could downstep the 5770s to a pair of 5750s, which run as low as $135 each. The problem is getting you something with good HD playback as well as 4 outputs. That's the tricky part.
 
you could try and find some used 4850's they run as low as 70$ each, they do hdmi but only with an adaptor, otherwise its 2x dvi. so for the price of a 5770 you could have the preformace of a 5850 ish... obviously no dx 11 though

check cragslist
 
I sense I confused things a bit. My outputs are 2 VGA and 2 DVI, but adapters are cheap and easy to find so what's on the card isn't too important. Also all ports don't have to be on one card, I just wasn't aware current ATI cards only let you use 3. I'm not hugely familiar with how crossfire works either, would I have to run the two cards in crossfire for all outputs to work? With nvidia I'm able to use different gen/series separately. What I'm trying to ask is could I get one card, say a 5750, and get something older for the outputs that wouldn't be doing HD playback?
 
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