Question cheap card for 3440x1440

[spdfreak]

What's the cheapest card I can get for an office system that will do 3440x1440 for the new monitor I just got? The old AMD HD6800 in it won't do anything greater that 1080 as far as I can see.

 

[Iron Woode]

used or new?

Used: I think a GTX 1070 should handle it easily.

New: probably any of them.

 

[spdfreak]

used or new?

Used: I think a GTX 1070 should handle it easily.

New: probably any of them.

I'll probably run to Micro Center and pick something up, just don't want to shoot myself in the foot by getting something that won't work.

 

[jpiniero]

If you're talking about Southern Islands, something that old, you may as well just upgrade the CPU and use the IGP on that.

 

[mindless1]

Does the monitor use HDMI or display port? What is the minimum acceptable refresh rate?

Generally anything that does HDMI2 or display port from the last... (decade?) and can set custom resolutions should work?

Considering only nVidia for a moment, GTX950, GT 1030 and newer generations should be capable of merely getting the UWQHD resolution at 60Hz for office work.


However I would look further into what the HD 6800 can do. If it has display port 1.2, then it might be able to do UWQHD using a passive DP to HDMI2 cable and the right driver? I did see a puzzling statement that might be relevant:

Although DisplayPort 1.2 HBR2 can easily accommodate resolutions up to 4096x2160 @ 60Hz, the AMD Radeon™ HD 6800 series GPUs are designed to support up to 4096x2160 @ 50Hz.

https://archive.techplayboy.com/images/reviews/video_cards/Radeon_HD6870/AMD_Radeon_Display_Technologies_WP_20101019.pdf

Being too lazy to do the bandwidth math, nor knowing the driver limitations, HD6800 might not support over 30Hz refresh on it's HDMI 1.4 port, or a crippled driver without custom resolution/refresh-rate settings might only show the 1080p at a higher refresh rate and 24bpp color or higher.

Anyway the cheapest card I'd get for this res. office work would be an nVidia GT1030 used on ebay around $25. I'm only generalizing, random other more powerful cards could cost no more used than some over-priced used GT 1030's... the video card market hasn't been right in a long time.

Also with the older generation cards you'll run out of driver vs OS support at some point.

 

[spdfreak]

Does the monitor use HDMI or display port? What is the minimum acceptable refresh rate?

Generally anything that does HDMI2 or display port from the last... (decade?) and can set custom resolutions should work?

Considering only nVidia for a moment, GTX950, GT 1030 and newer generations should be capable of merely getting the UWQHD resolution at 60Hz for office work.


However I would look further into what the HD 6800 can do. If it has display port 1.2, then it might be able to do UWQHD using a passive DP to HDMI2 cable and the right driver? I did see a puzzling statement that might be relevant:

https://archive.techplayboy.com/images/reviews/video_cards/Radeon_HD6870/AMD_Radeon_Display_Technologies_WP_20101019.pdf

Being too lazy to do the bandwidth math, nor knowing the driver limitations, HD6800 might not support over 30Hz refresh on it's HDMI 1.4 port, or a crippled driver without custom resolution/refresh-rate settings might only show the 1080p at a higher refresh rate and 24bpp color or higher.

Anyway the cheapest card I'd get for this res. office work would be an nVidia GT1030 used on ebay around $25. I'm only generalizing, random other more powerful cards could cost no more used than some over-priced used GT 1030's... the video card market hasn't been right in a long time.

Also with the older generation cards you'll run out of driver vs OS support at some point.

The 6800 has 2xDVI, 1 DP, 1 HDMI. It was defaulting to 60Hz. I had a Radeon R7 240 in a computer hooked up to my TV and it would 4k on the TV but only 2560x1080 with the new monitor... so, not sure what's going on. A friend is sending me a card he had in a mining rig that is a few years old so I'm sure it will do all the higher resolutions but I don't know why the R7 won't do 3440x1440.
I'm going to try using a new cable and see it that might be the problem...

 

[EXCellR8]

Could be the cable, I've a R9 380 on the shelf that will only output higher than 2560 x 1600 with a specific spec DP cable 🤷‍♂️

 

[mindless1]

The 6800 has 2xDVI, 1 DP, 1 HDMI. It was defaulting to 60Hz. I had a Radeon R7 240 in a computer hooked up to my TV and it would 4k on the TV but only 2560x1080 with the new monitor... so, not sure what's going on. A friend is sending me a card he had in a mining rig that is a few years old so I'm sure it will do all the higher resolutions but I don't know why the R7 won't do 3440x1440.
I'm going to try using a new cable and see it that might be the problem...

Did it just not show the 3440x1440 choice to select, or did you also try to set up a custom resolution and then got a blank screen or some error message?

That's about all I know for ATI, not how to get past an error message to force an output resolution. I know on nVidia's drivers you can just have it try to output whatever you choose, and just get a blank screen or out of range message if the monitor can't accept that while there's a countdown timer and button to click to accept the settings changes. If the monitor couldn't use the output, it just reverts back to prior working settings once the countdown timer ends.

https://www.amd.com/en/resources/support-articles/faqs/DH3-032.html

Do try a different cable, and (newer?) driver.

Backing up a bit, are all these HDMI video card output, to HDMI monitor input? If the R7 240 only had an HDMI 1.4a port, there's a possible cause, if it was outputting at lower than 60Hz (30Hz for example) to the 4K TV to accomplish that, but the monitor will not accept a refresh rate that low. I did momentarily run a 4K TV like that at 30Hz refresh with an HDMI 1.4a connection on a GTX 750TI but never tried to hook it up to a UWQHD/3440x1440 monitor. Possibly the monitor specs list the (minimum) refresh rate range it can use?

The data rate required for 3440 x 1440 @ 60Hz is higher than the HDMI 1.4a limit of 8.16 Gbit/s. Calculations show it requires about 11 Gbit/s (depending on color depth/blanking).

On the other hand if the R7 has a display port output and you used that, then in theory it should have worked, if the monitor has either display port input or you use a displayport (host/PC) to HDMI2 (monitor) adapter cable. I have one 4K TV hooked up like that with a cheap/thin Amazon Basics 6ft passive cable, so thin that I doubted it would work but it does.

Amazon.com

 

[spdfreak]

The R7 has HDMI only. I did try the new cable that came with the new monitor. There is a huge list of resolutions in the drop down list in display properties but the highest is 2560x1080. The drivers are the last AMD drivers listed but they are quite old. AMD doesn't support anything this old, apparently.
The HD6800 card does have a DP output but I never tried it. I didn't bother because everything I read (google) said the card wasn't capable of 3440. I may stick it back in and see. But, the card my friend is sending me should be here Monday, so I'll probably just wait and put that card in. It will be massive overkill for an office system since it is a mining card with like, 3 fans, etc.

 

[mindless1]

For non-gaming use I'd still consider looking for a used GT 1030 on ebay, or GTX950, etc, one of the x030 or x050 series cards newer than 750TI, any with HDMI2, for smaller size, lower power draw, less case heat, etc. Some of the 1030 are passively cooled too, IIRC.

Depending on # of hours you'd run that mining card per year, the lower draw of a 1030 could pay for itself in power bill savings. Then again they can be underclocked, undervolted to achieve a significant drop and possibly keep those fans lasting longer.

 

[spdfreak]

For non-gaming use I'd still consider looking for a used GT 1030 on ebay, or GTX950, etc, one of the x030 or x050 series cards newer than 750TI, any with HDMI2, for smaller size, lower power draw, less case heat, etc. Some of the 1030 are passively cooled too, IIRC.

Depending on # of hours you'd run that mining card per year, the lower draw of a 1030 could pay for itself in power bill savings. Then again they can be underclocked, undervolted to achieve a significant drop and possibly keep those fans lasting longer.

I think you are right about it being a timing issue with these old cards. AMD's specs show that the 6800 will do 4k but only at 50Hz and only over DP. This new monitor is rated up to 120 but may not support something as low as 50. New card should be here Monday, so then we'll know...