Need a simple video card with DisplayPort & DVI

[fbrdphreak]

Here's the situation: bought a pre-built Lenovo K450 desktop with Haswell Core i5 and it came with a GT 630 card that has VGA & HDMI outputs. I'm running a 30" Dell U3014 2560x1600 main display as well as a 19" secondary display.

The catch is that I'm using the HDMI input on my U3014 for my Xbox. I think for now I will adapt the HDMI output to DVI for the U3014, but I wouldn't mind a better solution down the road. Also, it would be nice to run DVI to my 19" secondary.

I will not be gaming. If I get to that point, I will re-invest in a totally different solution.

I do want to ensure I have no issues with watching full screen video content, on either monitor, both locally played (video rips or Blu-ray discs) or streamed via Netflix/YouTube. I want everything smooth as butter.

Any recommendations on what type of card to go with? This will be running in Windows 8. I don't mind paying for the right card with the right features, but I want to keep costs as low as reasonable; again, no gaming here.

Is AMD or NVIDIA the way to go for something like this these days? It's been a long time since I've been in this market.

 

[fbrdphreak]

No opinions bump?

 

[Jimzz]

AMDs 6450 has UVD3 and some of them have display port.

After that look at the R7 240 and 250 cards.

EDIT

Looks like there are not to many that have DVI and Display port.

Here is a 260 for $90 AR that has what you want and also TrueAudio
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127780

 

[fbrdphreak]

Thanks for the suggestion. Not sure what UVD3 or TrueAudio are, so I'll do some research!

 

[ViRGE]

AMDs 6450 has UVD3 and some of them have display port.

After that look at the R7 240 and 250 cards.

EDIT

Looks like there are not to many that have DVI and Display port.

Here is a 260 for $90 AR that has what you want and also TrueAudio
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127780

Note that R7 240 and R7 250 do not have UVD; Oland is a pretty cut-down chip that lacks extra features such as that. So I would not suggest either of those products for this guy.

Since he just wants video playback, a 7750, R7 250X, or GT 640 would all be reasonable choices. Heck, even another GT 630 with the outputs he needs would work (if only DisplayPort was common at this price range ).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...d=1&name=2 x DVI (1 Single Link, 1 Dual Link)

 

[fbrdphreak]

Thanks guys. I did look into the 260 and the benchmarks were surprising to me; looks like I could do some 1080p gaming if I wanted to even.

I did see the breakdown of DP/DVI cards on NewEgg, just wasn't sure where the sweet spot was for value and if the low-end cards would have any issues with video performance.

I can already tell you the GT 630 is leaps and bounds above the NVIDIA Quadro K1000 in my ThinkPad, it just never handled multiple external displays well.