Video card - build advice

[stapletonj56]

Hi all,

I am a long time lurker, first time (?) poster asking for a little advice on a new build I am going to try out for my office.

I will be building a 3rd gen core i7 w/16 G of RAM, 128 SSD.

My main use will be for Dragon Naturally Speaking and Word Processing. I do get on the internet a lot, mostly research, some youtube and watching the occasional TV show, etc.. Once in a blue moon, I may pop in a Blu-ray DVD if I am stuck in the office. I play no online games, such as first person shooters, etc., whatsoever.

I do however, want to go to a two monitor system, where I can open up a multiple page WP document and spread several pages of it across both monitors, or have a nice big window where I am copying and pasting from one document or web page or whatever into another.

Noise is also a big factor, so a passively cooled solution would be nice but not essential.

I see lots of passively cooled 2 DVI port, 1Gig, cards for about $50-60 online, but I don't know if that is enough for what I am planning to do or not.

reccomendations, thoughts, advice?

Many thanks in advance!

 

[scragnoff]

Hi stapletonj56! Could you give us an estimate of your total budget, asides from the $50-$60 video card.

 

[KAIJER]

since you are not gaming this card is a good option.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125427

 

[stapletonj56]

I guess you could say my total budget is technically unlimited, but I am shooting for a bang for the buck idea here.

KAIJER - This is one of the things I do not understand. I see that this card has the passive cooling -good.......is very reasonably priced - good ......... as 1 Gig video memory - good (I guess) .....

But I see 3 DIFFERENT connectors on the card and no two of them are alike. Is the HDMI connector the same as the DVI and it just carries sound too? If I have 2 identical monitors, do I just use an adapter and that's it?

BTW - MAny thinks for the quick replies!

 

[KAIJER]

sorry for the late reply !

there are 3 connectors -DVI, VGA (you should avoid it! the blue one ) and HDMI. And if your monitor dont have a HDMI port then you have to use a hdmi to dvi adapter.
like this one- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812270288

but if you can spend a little more like 110$ then you can buy a 2GB card and it comes with two dvi port as you want.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130744

 

[virtualban]

In bang for the buck, do add the cost of the whole system and see what little difference it can make going from 50 to 100, or from 100 to 150$.
My suggestion: given the specs mentioned, aim just a bit higher. Not too much, since appearing in no particular need of graphics muscle and you can change the card later on with no problem.

 

[virtualban]

Oh, also consider the GPGPU muscles and how software will more and more make use of it, even for as simple things as browsing the internetz.

 

[KAIJER]

And yes HDMI and dvi will give you same performance.

DVI = video only
HDMI = video and audio in one cable

Only use HDMI if you plan on using speakers that are in your monitor or hooked up through your monitor..

and yes, spend 110$ if you can spend and buy the card (mentioned above)..