Reliable, cheap and very low power graphics

cablechewer

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Nov 12, 2008
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I have a machine I am using as my home server and Hyper-V lab box. The motherboard has onboard video, but if I hook up a VGA display and a DVI they both display the same picture. I think it is an 880G board and I have tried numerous driver versions in the hope of getting it to work properly as a dual display system. I also tried a DVI splitter, but the motherboard isn't dual-link.

I am considering giving up on the IGP for dual display and going with a cheap video card.

I don't need 3D performance. I want a passively cooled card with very low TDP and Idle power that can handle stretching the desktop of W2K8 R2 across 2 1280x1024 monitors. My inventory of monitors includes 2 DVI panels and 2 VGA (D-Sub connector) panels. Unfortunately I have 1 DVI and 1 VGA in Brand A (both are black) and the other 2 panels are a different brand in white/beige cases. If I want the displays to match on my desk I will need a card that handles DVI and D-Sub connectors or an adapter for one of them.

I could change out the motherboard, but that is more expensive and I have a stable board right now.

Any advice? I haven't been having much luck finding TDP and Idle power for the low end video cards I see on Newegg. I am a little frustrated because I have the machine idling at less than 50 watts and any video card will push me higher.


Thanks

Cablechewer
 

johndabeast

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Apr 4, 2011
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Very low end cards just draw the motherboard's power, so they should be fine.