2 cards w/ 2DVI each, or 1 with 4 DVI?

[jhammer569]

I need to support 3 LCD's for home video editing & trading & basic computer work. Games are not a concern. Intel Q9550 CPU. Haven't picked a mb yet.

Should I go with 2 graphics cards with 2 DVI on each to allow for the cross-card boost and easy replacement if one card goes bad?

Or should I go with 1 graphics card with 4 DVI on it?

Which card(s) do you recommend?

Thanks, it's tough to find a lot of good info on the above, I've been searching for days.

 

[QuixoticOne]

1x4DVI cards are usually a bit rare / hard to find, expensive, and lacking in modernity or features compared to the commodity 2xDVI units.

I'd look for a couple of basic inexpensive $35-$60 range (on sale) cards from reputable manufacturers, either EVGA, XFX, or for ATI cards, VisionTek, especially if the card models in question have lifetime warranties.

I see no reason why 2x8600GT or 2x9600GT or 2xHD3450 wouldn't be suitable for general purpose non-gaming uses. You should really check the status of multi-monitor support in your OS, your favorite applications, and the drivers / utilities for your chosen cards. Sometimes there are limitations when trying to do video overlays onto different screens if that's what you need to do (e.g. for live capture stuff or playback that uses overlay mode).

Basically anything but the couple of lowest end cards in the current ATI series.

For NVIDIA cards, anything but the lowest end 2-3 models in either the 9xxx or 8xxx series are good general purpose cards that can generally output reasonable resolutions and play back video decently.

Of course get ones with dual DVI ports...

You may also want to check on available resolution modes if you're driving an HDTV or a computer LCD bigger than 22" since some of the low end cards have limits.

 

[QuixoticOne]

Look at the anandtech and fatwallet 'hot deals' forums and usually within 2 weeks someone will have a good "heads up" message on a decent card on sale.

 

[jhammer569]

Ok great, yea, it's 2 20" dell lcd's, and i'll either add a 3rd, but i might add a widescreen for the middle one (to replace my crt).

What about matrox? no-go on those guys anymore?

 

[QuixoticOne]

I've got nothing against matrox, they were very good in their day, and probably still have some good points. But NVIDIA/ATI/Intel chips have dominated the areas of the market for so long that usually you find better performance, value, product availablility with the alternatives.

($34.99 after $15.00 Mail-In
Rebate pdf )

Originally posted by: jhammer569
Ok great, yea, it's 2 20" dell lcd's, and i'll either add a 3rd, but i might add a widescreen for the middle one (to replace my crt).

What about matrox? no-go on those guys anymore?

 

[QuixoticOne]

Just a quick look through Newegg video cards in their lowest 2-3 price categories with "DVI: 2" attribute listed the following units.

It is possible I have made a mistake about the number of DVI ports in the search sometimes, and I'm sure they're not all rated equally highly in terms of the reviews that have been done of the quality/performance/ customer satisfaction of particular units. I didn't even look at bus type, but I assume MOST of them will be PCIE x16 size and compatible with any of: ( PCIE x16 / PCIE x8 / PCIE x4 electrical widths).

But just at a very general first glance, they'd all appear to drive two DVI monitors, very likely to the full resolution of a 20" or 22" LCD monitor in virtually every case. For the most part they should be able to play / edit videos reasonably well given the CPU you have available. It is not clear exactly how well your trading or video editing S/W will like certain multi-monitor arrangements, so that is something to check out. NVIDIA / ATI both have multi-monitor options in their drivers for most cards in these kinds of series, though the fine details of what they support in the various configurations varies, so it's worth doing more research to ensure they'll suit your needs.

As you can see there's sometimes a wide range of prices between similar capability cards, and often there's not that much of a price difference (especially during a sale) between a card that is much more powerful and cards that are MUCH less powerful. In fact it is a standing joke in the industry how they can expect to keep selling very low end x1500, x2400, 5500, 5600, 5700, 6200, 6400 et. al. cards for list prices that are often higher than the price you can get something like a modern / much more powerful 8800gs or HD3850 for. So buyer beware.

The physical size, thickness, slot compatibility, power requirements, fan noise level, and warranty vary considerably. I assume you'll be putting these in a PCIE x16 slot for one and a PCIE x16 size but x8 or x4 electrical width slot for the second. So verify that that's suitable, as well as the physical slot spacing in width since some of the cards are physically more than one or two slots thick due to cooling fans on them etc.

Personally I'm a fan of XFX / EVGA / BFG / Visiontek for support & warranty reasons especially for the higher end cards (which you're not especially looking for) which often have lifetime warranties from these vendors, though the lower end models may have a shorter warranty.

Rebate experiences of delay, inconvenience, trustworthiness also varies considerably between vendors, and, again, I'd usually suggest EVGA / XFX / BFG over Sapphire and the rest any day. Even better since you need two identical units would be getting one at a low no-rebate price, and such deals pop up every couple of weeks or so in the $25-$60 range for reasonable mid-range cards like these.

Again, check the hot deals forums and sale / promotional listings on reputable e-tailers to find possibly better deals or more options.
Your needs don't sound like they're for high performance, so unless you're trying to create a video wall of numerous simultaneous independent overlay mode video playbacks or whatever during editing, most things would likely work.

Most mid-range / low-end cards don't need a supplemental 6-pin PCIE power connector, but if you select cards that do need it, be sure your Power Supply has them available.

http://forums.anandtech.com/me..._key=y&keyword1=radeon
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814130332
EVGA 384-P3-N851-AR GeForce 8800 GS 384MB 192-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
$64 AR with the promo code listed in the end of the anandtech thread

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EVGA 512-P3-N954-TR GeForce 9500 GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
($59.99 after $10.00 Mail-In Rebate

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814500013
ZOTAC ZT-86TEQ3P-FSL GeForce 8600 GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
$54.99 3 Business Day Shipping $8.25

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814102726
SAPPHIRE 100236L Radeon HD 3650 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
($49.99 after $10.00 Mail-In Rebate

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814131084
POWERCOLOR AX3650 512MD2 Radeon HD 3650 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
Avivo HD video support
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http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814500049
ZOTAC ZT-86TEH4P-FS GeForce 8600 GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
($44.99 after $20.00 Mail-In Rebate pdf

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814121243
ASUS EAH3650 SILENT MAGIC/HTDP/512M Radeon HD 3650 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card - Retail
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http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814102728
SAPPHIRE 100235L Radeon HD 3470 256MB 64-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
($34.99 after $15.00 Mail-In Rebate pdf )

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814121095
ASUS EN8600GT OC GEAR/HTDP/256M GeForce 8600 GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
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http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814121082
ASUS EAH2600XT/HTDP/256M Radeon HD 2600XT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
($19.99 after $35.00 Mail-In Rebate pdf )

 

[jhammer569]

awesome info, thanks for the detailed reply & the time! This is about all I'll need to pick something. Sounds like I can't really go too wrong though given that I'm happy with my existing ATI 8500dv & ATI 7500 (supporting the 3 monitors), so anything I buy today will probably blow those away anyhow.