Help me pick 2 video cards for my friend!

[Devilishy]

My friend wants to upgrade his video cards at work. He has a pentium D with 2 GB ram. He will have 3 LCD displays but has only 1 x16 slot. So the 2nd video card has to be PCI.

Usage:
Email, Spreadsheets, Applications.
Gaming: Rarely
Multimedia: Watch movies occasionally.

His main thing is that it should run Vista smoothly.

His current card died on him and he wants this new setup.

What do you guys suggest?

 

[Geomagick]

What resolution are these displays running at?

Also what is your friends budget?

 

[themisfit610]

If he doesn't game then it DOES NOT matter unless we're talking over 1920x1200 resolution. If he wants to run Vista with all the bells and whistles, anything newer than an FX5500 should be fine. I would definately suggest a 7300 or something, preferably non turbo cache.

As far as a PCI card to match goes, definately get something with the same chip manufacturer. IE all nVidia or all ATI.

Stay AWAY from any video card that uses a low profile design and has a cable that connects the VGA port to the card itsef. These have really bad artifacts sometimes.

 

[tatteredpotato]

You can plug 4 monitors into a 7950GX2 lol

But seriously a 7300 from Nvidia or a 1600 from ATI should suit your needs fine for the first 2 screens.

What resolution are you wanting to run the screen plugged into the pci slot at?

 

[Devilishy]

1280x1024