Graphic Cards PCI Express 3.0 X 16

[Harry_Wild]

I am shopping for a new graphic cards for my desktop computer that I will be buying.

I am going to be using it for internet surfing and video watching and was wondering what the difference between a gaming and workstation graphic cards. I don't want to spend more then $200 for a graphic card - so what should I be looking at! Specs: 1 x Half-Length, full-height, PCI Express 3.0 x16 (75W max)
I want a quiet card! First priority but also a card that will last for 3 years or more! I figure that a separate card is better then buying a i7 4790 CPU. It more pricey but has more options to it!


The computer I going to be buying has a Intel Xeon E3-1271v3, 16GB RAM DDR3 1600MHZ and a Samsung 850 Pro SSD 512GB. Power supply 450 watts.

I plan on upgrading the monitor to a 24" Dell P2415Q - it a UHD monitor - about 3800 x 2000?? roughly - cannot recall exact!

Just want to do it all at once! I don't care about Skylake since I will not need the bandwidth for surfing and video watching!

 

[3DVagabond]

Workstation cards and their drivers are optimized for professional apps. 3D Max, Photoshop, Maya, etc... They also cost appreciably more. For your usage just get a regular Geforce or Radeon model.

You might consider the P2715Q 27" UHD for only $100 more.

 

[OlyAR15]

You are probably better off just buying an i7 or even i5 CPU if all you are doing is just web surfing and video watching. In fact, you can probably just get an i3 or a NUC and call it a day.

 

[Harry_Wild]

Workstation cards and their drivers are optimized for professional apps. 3D Max, Photoshop, Maya, etc... They also cost appreciably more. For your usage just get a regular Geforce or Radeon model.

You might consider the P2715Q 27" UHD for only $100 more.

Higher the screen size lower the pixel per inch; less sharp for text and images. Don't want to go to big for now; until the next generation of 8K monitors come to market!

The regular GeForce and Radeon only go to 2580 X 1600! I kind of out of luck unless I go into the photo editing/CAD cards to get 4K resolution for now!

 

[Harry_Wild]

You are probably better off just buying an i7 or even i5 CPU if all you are doing is just web surfing and video watching. In fact, you can probably just get an i3 or a NUC and call it a day.

I try to always buy close to the state of the art in computer equipment. That way; I don't have to continuously replace stuff every year. I keep my computers a long time! I not waiting for Skylake to be release in September so I kind of buying old technology already! LOL! i7 and i5 only have screen resolutions up to 2580 X 1600! That kind of low for my Dell monitor since it goes to 3800 X ????. It already obsolete the HD 4600 GPU! Plus the bandwidth is limited too!

 

[3DVagabond]

Higher the screen size lower the pixel per inch; less sharp for text and images. Don't want to go to big for now; until the next generation of 8K monitors come to market!

The regular GeForce and Radeon only go to 2580 X 1600! I kind of out of luck unless I go into the photo editing/CAD cards to get 4K resolution for now!

Radeon and Geforce will do 3840*2160 @ 60Hz. Radeon R5-R7-R9 models all do. Eny reference I can see for Geforce GTX-7** and up. You might be looking at the DVI spec. Look at the displayport specs.

 

[Techhog]

Higher the screen size lower the pixel per inch; less sharp for text and images. Don't want to go to big for now; until the next generation of 8K monitors come to market!

The regular GeForce and Radeon only go to 2580 X 1600! I kind of out of luck unless I go into the photo editing/CAD cards to get 4K resolution for now!

If that were true, 4K gaming wouldn't be a thing. The can drive a 4K desktop.

 

[Harry_Wild]

Radeon and Geforce will do 3840*2160 @ 60Hz. Radeon R5-R7-R9 models all do. Eny reference I can see for Geforce GTX-7** and up. You might be looking at the DVI spec. Look at the displayport specs.

Thanks you. I did not know this until now!

 

[OlyAR15]

integrated GPU can do 4k resolution @60Hz through displayport. Again, if all you are doing is normal web surfing and video watching, you do not need a lot of cpu or gpu power. It doesn't matter how old the computer equipment is if that is all you are doing.

 

[VirtualLarry]

integrated GPU can do 4k resolution @60Hz through displayport. Again, if all you are doing is normal web surfing and video watching, you do not need a lot of cpu or gpu power. It doesn't matter how old the computer equipment is if that is all you are doing.

Well, sort of. I wouldn't want to surf the "modern web" with a P4 or Athlon XP.
Anything C2D or newer is fine.

 

[Harry_Wild]

integrated GPU can do 4k resolution @60Hz through displayport. Again, if all you are doing is normal web surfing and video watching, you do not need a lot of cpu or gpu power. It doesn't matter how old the computer equipment is if that is all you are doing.

intel 5930k@4.4GHz, Asus X99-A, 16GB DDR4, GTX980 SLI, Samsung 850Pro 1TB, Seasonic SS-860XP2, custom watercool in Phanteks Enthoo Pro case; Win 8.1
Dell U3014 & Asus PG278Q dual monitor;

You are right on the 4K with the 4600 according to Intel! But my future PC description only states:

Video Resolution (max) VGA/DP: 2560×1600@60Hz
DVI/HDMI: 1920×1200@60Hz

Is DVI to display port connector provide me with 4K? resolution

But still I kind of jealous and want to be a little bit like you(see above)?

 

[therealnickdanger]

Only DisplayPort and HDMI 2.0 can do 4K@60Hz natively.

DVI and DisplayPort can do 2560x1600@60Hz (even up to 120Hz in some situations). VGA can do 2560x1600@75Hz in some situations.

HDMI 1.4 can do 1920x1200@120Hz and 4K@30Hz.

HDMI 2.0 can do 1920x1200@120Hz and 4K@60Hz.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Specs: 1 x Half-Length, full-height, PCI Express 3.0 x16 (75W max)

If you want a discrete card, I'd just mention the GTX750(TI), that's the best sub-75W card you can get. Just make sure you get one with DisplayPort. EVGA and Gigabyte makes such cards. Gigabytes is even low-profile.

I also think there is an ASUS-branded R7-250X with DisplayPort floating around somewhere...

 

[Harry_Wild]

If you want a discrete card, I'd just mention the GTX750(TI), that's the best sub-75W card you can get. Just make sure you get one with DisplayPort. EVGA and Gigabyte makes such cards. Gigabytes is even low-profile.

I also think there is an ASUS-branded R7-250X with DisplayPort floating around somewhere...

My current PC is a Lenovo 58P SFF desktop with 1 PCIe X 16 and 280 watt PS.

Both cards are too expensive and use a dual slot in low profile! I only have one slot! Requires 400 watts minimum too.

What doe you think of this card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127830

And this card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150677

Don't have display ports however so you use HDMI???

 

[Insert_Nickname]

My current PC is a Lenovo 58P SFF desktop with 1 PCIe X 16 and 280 watt PS.

Both cards are too expensive and use a dual slot in low profile! I only have one slot! Requires 400 watts minimum too.

The computer I going to be buying has a Intel Xeon E3-1271v3, 16GB RAM DDR3 1600MHZ and a Samsung 850 Pro SSD 512GB. Power supply 450 watts.

Excuse me, but how does that fit together? You're buying a new PC, yet want a card for your old one, or...?

 

[Harry_Wild]

Excuse me, but how does that fit together? You're buying a new PC, yet want a card for your old one, or...?

Some one many post ago; stated that I could get by using my current PC since I am "only" doing internet surfing and video watching and so I went with that thought to see if it could be done! Right now it is up in the air since I don't know if more horsepower is need to drive the UHD monitor or the cheapo cards will work to do so!

Any thought on this yourself? I guess you can start with post number 5 and read down!

 

[lopri]

A discrete GPU is better than iGPU at any resolution, but especially so at a higher res like UHD. If all you do is watching one video at a time on one browser tab, then yah iGPU might be enough. But the more stuff you do and leave open, iGPU will not only be unable to keep up but also will cripple CPU and memory access as well.

Unless power/noise/space are the deciding factors, I would opt for a dGPU for UHD at this time. At the least it will free up the CPU cycle.

 

[Harry_Wild]

A discrete GPU is better than iGPU at any resolution, but especially so at a higher res like UHD. If all you do is watching one video at a time on one browser tab, then yah iGPU might be enough. But the more stuff you do and leave open, iGPU will not only be unable to keep up but also will cripple CPU and memory access as well.

Unless power/noise/space are the deciding factors, I would opt for a dGPU for UHD at this time. At the least it will free up the CPU cycle.

Thanks! I guess I going to have decide to shell out the bucks and get the top of the line in PCIe X 16 2.0 for about $170 or buy a new computer like I was planning on doing in the first place! LOL!

 

[Techhog]

My current PC is a Lenovo 58P SFF desktop with 1 PCIe X 16 and 280 watt PS.

Both cards are too expensive and use a dual slot in low profile! I only have one slot! Requires 400 watts minimum too.

What doe you think of this card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127830

And this card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150677

Don't have display ports however so you use HDMI???

I just googled that PC, and as I thought, you are very confused. "Dual slot" refers to how many slots the case needs to have, not the board. A dual-slot low-profile card would fit in there just fine.

 

[Valantar]

My current PC is a Lenovo 58P SFF desktop with 1 PCIe X 16 and 280 watt PS.

Both cards are too expensive and use a dual slot in low profile! I only have one slot! Requires 400 watts minimum too.

What doe you think of this card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127830

And this card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150677

Don't have display ports however so you use HDMI???

As Techhog says, your case has room for a dual slot LP card. They still only use one slot on the motherboard, dual slot only refers to its thickness.

Also, a GTX 750ti should run fine on a 280W PSU (75W card +90W CPU (guessing) +50W for the motherboard, drives and such = 215W under "power virus" loads (which are completely unrealistic), completely safe on a (good quality) 280W PSU), but it's a bit anemic to be sure. You won't find many cards drawing less power than that while still being able to give a meaningful upgrade from an iGPU, though.

What are the specs of your current PC?

And as was stated earlier, HDMI 1.4 (which is what you'll find on most GPUs) only gives you 4K @30Hz. Not ideal. DP is preferable by a long shot.

 

[zir_blazer]

I think that you need to learn a lot more before being able to decide yourself what you really need and should buy, since most of your assumptions are wrong.


You don't need a discrete Video Card for what you want to do, current Intel IGPs should happily do that, making a discrete Video Card unneeded. However, the Xeon E3-1271V3 does NOT have one, you should look at the E3-1246V3 or 1276V3, as these includes IGP. Also, why are you buying a Xeon on the first place? Unless you need vPro, TXT, ECC RAM support, or you can get it considerabily cheaper, a Core i7 4790K or i5 4690K would be a better choice. If it doesn't satisfy you, you can drop in a new Video Card AFTER confirming it doesn't meet your needs, giving you the chance to save that money if it does.

Second, not saying what Motherboard and Power Supply brand/model you will be buying isn't good. "450W power supply" tells nothing, if no one knows if it will be a crappy generic one. Also, PCI Express is backwards compatible, so if you want to add a Video Card to your current computer, you do NOT need it to be "PCI Express 2.0", since you can use a new 3.0 instead.

Third, purchasing high end because "it will last for years", unless you have a crystall ball to know so, is a bad criteria. You should purchase because it meets your CURRENT needs. And you don't even need a high end Quad Core for the usage your describe.
Giving the current trend, it seems hard that new Software will appear that is substantially more heavy that what is already in use, specially for mainstream users, so chances are that a computer tangible performance remains consistent during some years since we're in a stagnation period. But you should also considering that price/performance ratio worsens as you climb the ladder, and that today high end will be tomorrow mainstream, so it may be a better to purchase two mid end systems in the same time frame that going for a big computer that you're not going to use. You can buy cheap and upgrade often, or going big once.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Some one many post ago; stated that I could get by using my current PC since I am "only" doing internet surfing and video watching and so I went with that thought to see if it could be done! Right now it is up in the air since I don't know if more horsepower is need to drive the UHD monitor or the cheapo cards will work to do so!

Any thought on this yourself? I guess you can start with post number 5 and read down!

Hey, just trying to help.

Post #5 is a little... vague... on what you're trying to achieve.

I think that you need to learn a lot more before being able to decide yourself what you really need and should buy, since most of your assumptions are wrong.


You don't need a discrete Video Card for what you want to do, current Intel IGPs should happily do that, making a discrete Video Card unneeded. However, the Xeon E3-1271V3 does NOT have one, you should look at the E3-1246V3 or 1276V3, as these includes IGP. Also, why are you buying a Xeon on the first place? Unless you need vPro, TXT, ECC RAM support, or you can get it considerabily cheaper, a Core i7 4790K or i5 4690K would be a better choice. If it doesn't satisfy you, you can drop in a new Video Card AFTER confirming it doesn't meet your needs, giving you the chance to save that money if it does.

Second, not saying what Motherboard and Power Supply brand/model you will be buying isn't good. "450W power supply" tells nothing, if no one knows if it will be a crappy generic one. Also, PCI Express is backwards compatible, so if you want to add a Video Card to your current computer, you do NOT need it to be "PCI Express 2.0", since you can use a new 3.0 instead.

Third, purchasing high end because "it will last for years", unless you have a crystall ball to know so, is a bad criteria. You should purchase because it meets your CURRENT needs. And you don't even need a high end Quad Core for the usage your describe.
Giving the current trend, it seems hard that new Software will appear that is substantially more heavy that what is already in use, specially for mainstream users, so chances are that a computer tangible performance remains consistent during some years since we're in a stagnation period. But you should also considering that price/performance ratio worsens as you climb the ladder, and that today high end will be tomorrow mainstream, so it may be a better to purchase two mid end systems in the same time frame that going for a big computer that you're not going to use. You can buy cheap and upgrade often, or going big once.

This^^

Plus, I think you need a crash-course on the PCI(e) standard. A "Half-Length, full-height", like you mention in your first post, doesn't mean a low-profile card. "Half-length" (175.26mm) refers to length in reference to a "Full-length" (312mm) card and has a slightly below full-size bracket (120mm, 107mm for the card itself) height. I'm actually old enough to remember full-size, full-length PCI cards. They're BIG, we don't even have anything except top-tier graphics cards (R9-295X@305mm) coming close to those these days.

A "Low-profile" card describes a card in either the MD1 or MD2 standard.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conventional_PCI#Physical_card_dimensions

 

[TemjinGold]

OP: I understand your desire to not need to upgrade for years. Do keep in mind most of us need to upgrade regularly because we game on our computers and gaming requirements keep going up as tech advances. If all you do is watch videos and surf on the web, you will NOT see escalating requirements the same way we do. You would only need to replace your stuff if it breaks. Here's the thing, there's downsides to having a discrete card too:

1) Cost. You are shelling out for a card.

2) Power use. A discrete card uses much more power than an iGPU.

3) Potential heat/noise/etc. depending on the card.

We accept those drawbacks because we get the performance we need in exchange. You will not see a difference in performance for what you do, so you would essentially be accepting our drawbacks for NOTHING IN RETURN.

Also, you may want to check out a 24" 4k monitor in person before buying one. The text on one is TINY. I personally wouldn't use a 4k smaller than something in the 30"+ range but to each his own.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Well, sort of. I wouldn't want to surf the "modern web" with a P4 or Athlon XP.
Anything C2D or newer is fine.

I surfed with a Pentium 4 631 the other day. When GPU acceleration works, it's actually not too bad. And when it doesn't, patience is key.

I am shopping for a new graphic cards for my desktop computer that I will be buying.

I am going to be using it for internet surfing and video watching and was wondering what the difference between a gaming and workstation graphic cards. I don't want to spend more then $200 for a graphic card - so what should I be looking at! Specs: 1 x Half-Length, full-height, PCI Express 3.0 x16 (75W max)
I want a quiet card! First priority but also a card that will last for 3 years or more! I figure that a separate card is better then buying a i7 4790 CPU. It more pricey but has more options to it!


The computer I going to be buying has a Intel Xeon E3-1271v3, 16GB RAM DDR3 1600MHZ and a Samsung 850 Pro SSD 512GB. Power supply 450 watts.

I plan on upgrading the monitor to a 24" Dell P2415Q - it a UHD monitor - about 3800 x 2000?? roughly - cannot recall exact!

Just want to do it all at once! I don't care about Skylake since I will not need the bandwidth for surfing and video watching!

Get a used Geforce 640 card. 3 monitor support. 2 gigs of RAM. Nice card.

 

[Harry_Wild]

I surfed with a Pentium 4 631 the other day. When GPU acceleration works, it's actually not too bad. And when it doesn't, patience is key.


Get a used Geforce 640 card. 3 monitor support. 2 gigs of RAM. Nice card.

I am reassessing this; and now think about buying a new SFF high end PC with a i7 4790 system! The time and cost will be around $100.00 for the new graphic card while new PC will cost me only $600.00. I can buy it at wholesale price. Everything is brand new; my current PC is 2008! 7 years is good time to buy new!