Graphic card advice

[phishhook47]

Hello,

I am building a budget system to support my intraday online equity trading. I currently have three monitors - two dell 24" LEDs and a Samsung 19" LCD. I am looking for a graphics card or cards that I can acquire for less than $120, which will support these three monitors. I do not game but occasionally will stream HD movies. I have already picked out my other components and this one is proving to be quite a problem child, so please offer any advice or suggestions!

 

[rockyjohn]

With 3 monitors, you definitely want an ATI/AMD card and can find one to meet your basic needs for less than $50. You can get by with an HD 5450 (about $60) but I recommend going with the HD 5570 (about $80) for a little more power.

Upgradevideocards.com has a page on their website devoted to non-gaming cards that can provide you a little more background if you want and also recommends specific cards.

http://www.upgradevideocards.com/nongaming.html

 

[Frizzo]

zotac gtx 460 1gb after rebate on newegg $115. heard a lot of good things on zotac although never owned any of their products. $115 for that card is a steal.

ZOTAC ZT-40408-10P GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

 

[rockyjohn]

The GTX 460 is a much faster card, but only handles two displays. In addition, Zotac has a reputation for noisy cards, as confirmed by this review specifically of the GTX 460:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Zotac/GeForce_GTX_460_1_GB/30.html

 

[4745454b]

I agree with rocky all the way. Depending on your gaming needs, don't be afraid to get a 5670 or 5750, 5770, 6750, etc. Avoid Nvidia cards, you need to run two just to support 3 monitors.

 

[Frizzo]

sorry, know i had seen people with nvidia setups running more than 2 monitors. didnt realize they were plugging their old nvidia cards in the 2nd mb slot to do that.

 

[jyjjy]

Even if it could support 3 monitors on its own the GTX 460 would be very overpowered/expensive for non-gaming purposes. A reasonable choice would be an HD5670. You will need to purchase an active displayport adapter to use the third monitor.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102870
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814999030

 

[phishhook47]

Thank you for all the responses! I think I am going to go with 5750 or 5770. I don't really want to spend over $120ish. Could anyone suggest a specific card or brand, or doesn't it really matter? This is my first build from scratch and the video cards are throwing me off quite a bit, especially with the triple monitors. I doubt I will do any gaming at all, the most demanding thing will be streaming multiple charts (possibly as many as 18) in real time. Thanks again guys!

 

[jyjjy]

For non-gaming purpose there will be no difference at all between the HD5670 I linked and the HD5750/5770. All you will be doing is wasting money on a card that's better at something you don't plan on doing(playing games.)

 

[phishhook47]

May be a silly question, but I was advised by friends to get a 1 gb card, does this not matter since I won't be gaming?

 

[jyjjy]

You are indeed correct, it doesn't matter.
Any vaguely current discrete video card is powerful enough to handle three monitors of 2D applications but only certain ATI/AMD cards have the hardware necessary to connect 3 and you need the adapter I linked to do so.
There are some specialty cards that can handle 3(or more) but they are overpriced. For example here is an HD4350 that can handle 4 monitors;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814139055
The HD5670 is many times more powerful than that card however. Basically, when it isn't HD video, 2D is trivial for modern cards.

 

[phishhook47]

I do stream HD videos from time to time, will this card prove to be a problem for that. I also occasionally do 3-d renderings in SketchUp. I'm sorry I forgot to mention that before

 

[jyjjy]

No, the HD5670 is great for video of all sorts. It actually is a modestly capable gaming card even. It should do very well for your purposes.

 

[phishhook47]

Best answer selected by phishhook47.