Ideal Video Card Configuration

[Unknown Person]

I'm going to be building a new PC at the end of July/start of August, and right now given the nice price dip in video cards, it looks like some deals are coming by. This computer will have a triple-monitor configuration (1920x1200, 1650x1050, and 1280x1024, all monitors should have independent behaviour like DualView, except with 3 monitors) plus an additional output for an HDTV (using an HDMI cable). I intend on watching movies from my computer without having to do an annoying cable swap with the DVI and analog input that I'm currently doing. This kind of configuration would require two video cards, at least one with HDCP support.

Graphically, I'm going to be using this computer for moderate gaming (Source engine games, Oblivion, Assasin's Creed, etc), Photoshop, and a lot of other non-graphically intensive programs like MS Visual Studios, Sibelius, and zillions of instances of FireFox. I will be running 64bit Windows Vista Ultimate. Since gaming will be only on a single monitor, there is no need to get two high-performing cards, rather one high performing card and another mainstream card would be the general idea.

Here's the problem: NVIDIA or ATI? I'm a bit of an NVIDIA fan, having two computers with GeForce cards (6800GT and 7600GT) and I've been happy with the performance and driver software so far. I haven't used an ATI since about 5 years ago when I was using a 2.4GHz P4 and a Radeon 9200 card, and the software was quite, er, unpleasant to use. I've got nothing against ATI's software right now, though, since it's been a while and I wouldn't like to judge based on experiences such a long time ago. My budget for the two video cards would be around $300 CDN (which is around the same as USD, so meh).

If I stick with NVIDIA, at this price point, I'll probably be stuck with either the 9800GTX or 9800GTX+, and to find a low-end card at the $70 price point to supply the two alternate monitors. A question here: How are these two cards on support of HDMI with audio? I do need this feature for at least one card.

Going with ATI, I'd obviously pick the Radeon 4850, but I'm a bit clueless of what to pick for the alternate card. I haven't been up to date with ATI's older cards, so I don't know what card would work the best to bring two monitors (1280x1024 and 1650x1050) good enough performance for 2D graphics at the $80 price point. Since the HD 4000 series supports 7.1 audio through HDMI, this is a bit more appealing. Really the choice in selecting the ATI or NVIDIA configurations weighs on the importance of 7.1 audio over HDMI, or the GeForce GPU's support for CUDA, which I'm not completely sure allows me to do. Any thoughts?

I heard that the P45 motherboards' PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots reduce in bandwidth if dealt with a multi-GPU configuration, but I'm not clear to whether this applies if the motherboard is not using the GPUs in CrossFire. How will the performance be affected in the kind of configuration I'm looking at?

Thanks to anyone who can help out.

 

[Unknown Person]

I've done a little bit of looking for alternate cards of both NVIDIA and ATI brands, to not much avail. I've seen the GeForce 8500 GT, and one model having an HDMI-out port, but I don't think that model supports it that well, considering recent models from both companies are HDCP and HDMI compatible using a converter. I'm still a bit confused about ATI models, and it'd be nice if someone could confirm some of the questions I have above, as I'm leaning on ATI at the moment.

 

[lifeblood]

I used to run a 6600 GT PCIe plus a FX 5500 PCI and with nView they worked perfectly. But they was then and that was XP. I run an AMD 6650 with HDMI now (approx $70) and I bet it would pair up well with a newer 4850. My only warning would be to stay away from older (pre-Vista) DX 9 video cards as the driver support will be iffy which may lead to incompatibilities.

Good luck and please post your results. I'm curious how this will work as I may try something similar in the future.

 

[Unknown Person]

Sorry for bumping my thread, but I've been searching around the forums, and I haven't really found any answers pertaining to a non SLI/CrossFire multi-GPU system.

 

[Unknown Person]

It's been almost 3 weeks, and I have been flooded with an excess of new information and price changes, which is very nice. The price drop of the GTX 260 makes it an attractive choice, but I think in the end the Radeon HD 4870 would be the best choice as the primary card, although it seems to be in a close tie.

I have already bought my third monitor, a 24" Samsung SyncMaster 245BW which I am already using and am very happy with, which leaves my old BenQ 20.1" FP202W in the corner until I get this new computer built. Right now I am trying to choose the secondary video card will which handle the previously mentioned BenQ (20.1", 1680x1050) and Sceptre (17", 1280x1024). Here are the current candidates:

$41 - Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 3450 256MB DDR2 Dual Display PCI-Express 2.0 Graphics Card
$53 - Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 3450 512MB DDR2 Dual Display PCI-Express 2.0 Graphics Card
$66 - Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 3650 512MB DDR2 Dual DVI PCI-Express 2.0 Graphics Card
$74 - Sapphire Radeon HD 3470 256MB DDR3 PCI-E 2XDVI-I TV-OUT DIRECTX10.1 Lite Retail Video Card (No Fans)

Do I really need a 3650 for the two monitors? How does the 256MB and 512MB stack up for the 3450 model in this situation? There may be light 2D and 3D work on them, but generally the SyncMaster and the HDTV (which the 4870 would be handling) will be taking all the heavier 3D gaming.

As a bonus question, is there really any important difference between the vendors like Sapphire and Diamond? I see that a lot of the Diamond cards are around $30 cheaper. Would it be safe to get the Diamond card rather than the $30 more expensive Sapphire brand?

Any other thoughts on this whole setup? I have never tried such a weird setup.

 

[lifeblood]

If your going to do light 3d work on the secondary monitors I would go for the 3450 512MB card. The price difference is minimal compared to the 256 Mb version. I don't see a need for a 3650 for the secondary monitors. It certainly wouldn't hurt to have it, but I don't think you actually require it. However, look carefully at the apps you will be running on the secondary monitors. If they include 1st person shooters, go for the 3650.

I seen some good stuff from Sapphire, but I know nothing about Diamond so I can't comment on them.

The setup might be a little hard on your eyes. I did a 3 monitor setup with a 17" primary in the center, flanked by identical 15"s on the sides. I don't know how "comfortable" it will be to have 24" flanked by a 20" and a 17".

Good Luck.