Secondary Video Card Choices

[Unknown Person]

Since I've only gotten one response from my 3 week old thread that I bumped quite a bit, it seems like people are a bit afraid of long posts, so I'll keep this one short. (for reference, here's the link to my old thread: http://forums.anandtech.com/me...d=31&threadid=2203096)

I am going to build a computer that will be running a triple monitor (SyncMaster 245BW 24" 1920x1200 as main, BenQ FP202W 20.1" 1680x1050, and Sceptre 17" 1280x1024) plus an HDTV (Acer 38" 1080p). I have already come to the decision to selecting the Radeon 4870 as a primary video card to handle both the main monitor (SyncMaster) and the HDTV via HDMI (Acer), although the HDTV will only be used when I choose to watch movies.

Here comes the question: what kind of video card should I select to handle the two sub monitors? Since all the 3D work will be done by the 4870, I presume a budget or mainstream card would be plenty. The question is which model? I found a bunch on Canada Computers:

$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)

All the cards are at a nice price, but it'd be nice to know what is required. The downside with the 4850's is that there is only one DVI and one VGA, while my two sub monitors use DVI. If there are any other fanless options that I can buy from Canada, those would be nice too, since I'd like to keep this computer as quiet as possible.

Thanks to anyone who can answer my questions.

 

[DaveSimmons]

If you install generic ATI drivers from AMD it should be OK to mix Radeon brands. Are there other brands you can look at for the 3450? Other brands might have 2 x DVI.

I'd get the cheapest 3xxx card with DVI, after checking user reviews at newegg.com to see if there is something wrong with it.

 

[taltamir]

what? the 4850 has two DVI ports... no VGA ports there...

 

[Unknown Person]

"what? the 4850 has two DVI ports... no VGA ports there..."

Sorry, I meant to say 3450.

So mixing brands is okay? That's nice. Is there really any benefit to getting a Sapphire? The Diamond 4870 is the cheapest in Direct Canada (around $270 without any rebates).

Thanks for the quick replies.

 

[Unknown Person]

Alright, so I looking at some models, and the only one I could find that had a passive cooler and 2 DVI slots was the 3470.

http://www.directcanada.com/pr...L&manufacture=SAPPHIRE

Another one I found was an ASUS 3450 with Passive cooling, although it doesn't fit since it has a VGA.

http://www.canadacomputers.com...019188&cid=999.243.272

The price in Direct Canada is quite more expensive than the other cards I found, even the higher end cards, which doesn't make that much sense. Should I get this one, or just sacrifice noise for the cheaper 3650 or even 3450?

Ideally the ASUS EAH3650 would be the best (http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16814121243) but I can't find any of those in any Canadian sites.

 

[Unknown Person]

So I narrowed the choices down to two selections:

Sapphire Radeon HD 3470 256MB DDR3 PCI-E 2XDVI-I TV-OUT DIRECTX10.1 Lite Retail Video Card ( http://www.directcanada.com/pr...L&manufacture=SAPPHIRE )
or

ASUS EAH3650 SILENT MAGIC/HTDP/512M ATI Radeon HD 3650 Chipset (725MHz ) 512MB (1000Mhz) DDR2 Dual DVI Display PCI-Express 2.0 Graphics Card ( http://www.canadacomputers.com...018778&cid=999.243.272 )

I'm not quite sure which one to pick, as both have both their pros and cons. In this case, I don't think performance is crucial, but both of them are at the same price point (not including the ASUS's mail-in rebate). Both have what I'm looking for, passive cooling, two DVI slots, but I have a choice between the better performer or the smaller single-slot one. Anyone here able to help me with this decision?

 

[ViRGE]

If they're both at the same price point, get the 3650, it's the faster card. A single slot is great if you're short on room or have to work with very strict thermal limits, otherwise why pay more/the-same for less performance?