Thinking about: 1GDR2 AMD Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 1024MB GDDR5 PCIe

[cpuken]

1GDR2 AMD Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 1024MB GDDR5 PCIe 3.0 x16 Video Card

(My system ->> Motherboard = GA-78MT-USB3, currently 4gb Ram, AMD Phenom II X6 1045T processor, Corsair GS600 power supply)

I'm not a gamer but I may be interested in eventually running a 3 monitor setup. Currently running two and can't see ever going back to one.
At around $115 will this card do the trick, even though it is a 1GB version?
I know I have read a few places that 2GB is good for multi-monitor display work but I also see many 1GB systems around the net that don't seem to have any complaints.
What do you guys think?
Thanks
Ken

 

[Onus]

For non-gaming, it should be fine, in fact you could use something like a HD6670 if you won't be gaming.
Edit: I'm using a 1GB GT620 at work now, to drive two 1280x1024 monitors.
The GT620 is an extremely weak card for games, but is fine for business purposes.

 

[cpuken]

Quick side bar:
Other than games, what other activities actually tax a video card?
Just want to make sure some other stuff I'm doing doesn't suffer by the purchase of a mid-range card.

 

[Onus]

Some programs that rely on GPGPU processing (e.g. AMD Stream or nVidia CUDA) such as video rendering and conversion programs, may benefit from a higher-end card. Review your programs' documentation to see if any of them do, and if so, if they are limited to one architecture or another.

 

[ingtar33]

Well, GPU based encoding generally sucks so don't ever get one for CUDA.

The 7770 is right on the edge of needing 2gb... as it stands i doubt it will be strong enough to need 2gb of video ram. If you plan on xfire'ing a few together however... you might want to look into 2gb cards... as just 2 xfired jumps into 7870/660ti/7950 performance range... at that level of performance some more ram doesn't hurt.

 

[cpuken]

I have another option... maybe good maybe bad.
I can get the following card for $59 (after rebate), is it worth it our just hold out for the 7770?
ZOTAC ZT-60201-10L GeForce GT 640 2GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

Thanks
Ken

 

[Onus]

If you won't be playing games, that will do.