Multi 2D Graphic Card setup - alternative

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rosphite1

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I'm running an i7 with 3 GeForce 210 GPUs. It runs 4x(23inch) - 19**x10** displays. The system is very unstable (as appears to be the case for multi card set ups)
I'm looking for an alternative solution and would like to hear any suggestions on a Graphic Card that could support 3 displays - I am thinking of replacing the 4x 23inch displays with 3x 27 inch displays with higher resolutions e.g. 2560x1440.
Any suggestions?
As it is purely for 2D displaying - basically charts and data scrolling screens I would prefer to have a non-fan cooled card - if that is possible
I've read about the matrox c420 but it is very pricey and matrox gets slated in reviews generally (although I could not get any reviews on the c420)

Any help would be much appreciated
 
Solution
IInuyasha74
Yea basically anything including integrated graphics can do that now. I would personally say go with something like a GTX 750 Ti. I don't typically recommend them but they can handle 3 displays and could handle larger resolutions at 2D than you are thinking about using, and its power requirements are pretty low and stable.

AMD has excellent solutions that can do this too, and if you plan to use more than three displays Eyefinity would come in handy. For them I would recommend probably an R7 250x or R7 250. The one which doesn't need a PCI-E power connector. Not sure which one doesn't, don't remember.
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pasow

pasow

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Both Nvidia and AMD graphics cards from the last few generations support 3 displays per card or more. however Nvidia (i don't know about AMD) is limited to two over its DVI/HDMI interface.

a Nvidia Card from the 7xx series and up should be able to run three displays. some of the higher end stuff will be able to drive even more.
the lowest card listed, the GT720 supports 3 displays over its DVI, HDMI and VGA output according to Nvidias site.
http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gt-720/specifications


just make sure to read the specifications though on the unit your purchasing, as there are some re-branded cards that only support 2 displays still on sale. http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gt-730/specifications
 
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IInuyasha74

IInuyasha74

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Yea basically anything including integrated graphics can do that now. I would personally say go with something like a GTX 750 Ti. I don't typically recommend them but they can handle 3 displays and could handle larger resolutions at 2D than you are thinking about using, and its power requirements are pretty low and stable.

AMD has excellent solutions that can do this too, and if you plan to use more than three displays Eyefinity would come in handy. For them I would recommend probably an R7 250x or R7 250. The one which doesn't need a PCI-E power connector. Not sure which one doesn't, don't remember.
 
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rosphite1

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Thank guys for all the help - it's given me much homework to do

My MB is GA-X58-USB3 http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/motherboards/363343/gigabyte-ga-x58-usb3
My CPU is an i7 930 2.8Ghz (12GB RAM)

When I went Looking through the option to purchase from I ran into a world of 'unknowns'.
FOr convenience and rather than asking the community to comment on each; I'll clarify my understanding - if I'm wrong please highlight

I'm looking at the GT 730 DDR5 2GB and the 750ti 2GB DDR5

I'm assuming that the 2GB is better than 1GB - if the price is about the same
I'm assuming that the DDR5 is better than DDR3
(however the DDR5 is generally listed with 64 bit and the DDR3 is listed with 128 bit - not sure if that's an issue please comment if it is relevant to my objective)
Could someone comment on the issue of "Bottleneck" if it is relevant - I noticed from some reviews of products that there were "bottlenecks caused" - I don't understand if that has any relevance to me
The Geforce website states that both of these are "double-width" - I'm assuming that this just means that when I take out the 3 GeForce 210 I will have ample apace afterwards
http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gt-730/specifications
I noticed that on newegg.com some of the cards are OC and cost almost double (i think this is over clock - please correct) I'm assuming that this is not relevant to me i.e. a waste?

So for my purpose would I be correct in saying that for the extra $50 or so for the GTX 750 ti
Pros : 4 displays vs 3 displays
more future proof
Cons - uses more power

Ideally I would have preferred an non-fan like the GeF 720 (I'm not a fan of moving parts!!!) but if it's a non-starter then that's fine

If anyone has any comments on the above then please feel free and thank you in advance

 
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IInuyasha74

IInuyasha74

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your assumptions are pretty correct. 2GB is better than 1GB, but its conditional. For example using only one monitor and playing a game with a weak GPU that has 1GB, it may never use a full 1GB. Sometimes they sell weak GPUs with like 4GB of RAM and they simply cannot use that much under any real scenarios.

Given your high monitor and resolution count, having one with 2GB is of major importance to you, as increasing resolution uses more RAM on the GPU. Not sure if it gets to 1GB, but you are better safe than sorry.

You are correct again, DDR5 has theoretically double the transfer speed of DDR3. With the bit thing you are seeing, the total number of bits is the count of wires used for transferring the speed. So for example if the DDR3 was capable of transferring 30GB/sec at 64-bit, the DDR5 would manage 60GB/sec at 64-bit. With 128-bit they would double the total transfer speed. This is extremely simplified explanation, long story short the DDR5 is best because of other factors such as clock speed, that help cause the DDR5 to transfer more than the DDR3. For example with they both said they ran at 1000Mhz, then the performance would be double for DDR5 over DDR3, but often DDR3 cannot run faster than 1100Mhz, while DDR5 often runs at 1400Mhz or higher.

There is a lot to say on bottleneck, sorry I don't feel like going over it now, but long story short you don't need to worry about it. Your CPU is fast enough, and you aren't playing games, the RAM is fast enough, you won't have an issue.

Sorry it is really best you get a fan, but I would say go with the GTX 750 Ti, it honestly uses a lot less power than most cards of its performance level. The GT 730 would be okay too but 720 is abit too low.
 
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