Triple Monitor Card for Video Editing and 3D Modeling - Quiet and Cool a Must !!

[Fun Guy]

Okay, so here is what my monitor setup will look like:
Triple Monitors

The goal is a rig with multiple functions:

• Statistical analysis
• Writing scientific papers
• Photo editing
• Video editing
• Light gaming

Number one priority is to have a video card that is quiet, cool, and power efficient. But, I would also like the specs put out by the latest & greatest chips - just not max overclocked, etc.

AMD & NVIDIA have historically put out passively- or quietly-cooled cards with their newest chips to appease guys like me. However, I've been out of the game for so long I have no idea what the newest chips are or what exactly I should be looking for. Can you help?

 

[MeldarthX]

What programs will you be using; what is the rest of the system; and why passive? *curious more than anything* more details and we'll be able to help.

 

[Shehriazad]

I don't know about professional GPUs...so I'll just tell you about consumer GPUs that might match:

The fastest PASSIVE card is probably still the 750 /Ti. Goes into the 60°c area...but for a passive card that is impressive. It also manages decent 1080P gaming, as long as you don't expect ultra settings with MSAA.

The 750 comes with 1/2GB Vram and the 750 Ti with 2/4gb.

But if you just want quiet and cool....cards like the GTX 960 or 970 might be a good bet for you.
Many GTX 960 will naturally not use their fans at all until you reach a certain temperature.
And the GTX 970 can easily be configured the same way and a lot of very quiet versions exist, although not as quiet as the 960, obviously.



As for AMD...their passive side is really not all that impressive on the performance side...I think you'd have to go down to a R7 250 to get a passive card...and its' performance is rather sad nowadays.
R9 cards are generally a little on the louder side since their TDP isn't the lowest...so running it semi-passive isn't really working most of the time...but quiet designs might exist...some other people might have hints for you there...but I dont xD

 

[KingFatty]

Will you be using three identical displays? Or will you be using a combination of different brands/sizes/resolutions for the displays? If you ever plan to do some gaming, this might make a difference.

 

[therealnickdanger]

What sort of CPU do you use? You mention video editing, but not what software you use to edit. AE? Pr? Do you prefer CPU-based rendering against OpenCL/CUDA? Those are important questions to answer. Also, do you need 10-bit or 8-bit support for photo/video? That makes a large difference as well.

 

[Fun Guy]

Will you be using three identical displays? Or will you be using a combination of different brands/sizes/resolutions for the displays? If you ever plan to do some gaming, this might make a difference.

As shown in the link I provided, I will be using two Dell 2007FPs on the outside (in portrait) with a single Dell U3014 in the middle (in landscape), and yes, the resolutions will be different - 2560x1600 for the center monitor, and 1200x1600 on the outside monitors.

I've heard of issues with Eyfinity in gaming with monitors of different resolutions, is that why you ask?

What sort of CPU do you use? You mention video editing, but not what software you use to edit. AE? Pr? Do you prefer CPU-based rendering against OpenCL/CUDA? Those are important questions to answer. Also, do you need 10-bit or 8-bit support for photo/video? That makes a large difference as well.

I am looking at either the i7-4790K or the E3-1231V2, or perhaps the i5-4690K if I do not need 8 threads, just 4.

I am no pro as far as editing at this point in the game, so I am sure that 8-bit will be fine for now.

I don't know about professional GPUs...so I'll just tell you about consumer GPUs that might match:

The fastest PASSIVE card is probably still the 750 /Ti. Goes into the 60°c area...but for a passive card that is impressive. It also manages decent 1080P gaming, as long as you don't expect ultra settings with MSAA.

The 750 comes with 1/2GB Vram and the 750 Ti with 2/4gb.

But if you just want quiet and cool....cards like the GTX 960 or 970 might be a good bet for you.
Many GTX 960 will naturally not use their fans at all until you reach a certain temperature.
And the GTX 970 can easily be configured the same way and a lot of very quiet versions exist, although not as quiet as the 960, obviously.

As for AMD...their passive side is really not all that impressive on the performance side...I think you'd have to go down to a R7 250 to get a passive card...and its' performance is rather sad nowadays.
R9 cards are generally a little on the louder side since their TDP isn't the lowest...so running it semi-passive isn't really working most of the time...but quiet designs might exist...some other people might have hints for you there...but I dont xD

Thanks for this. I am not concerned with passive that much as long as the active states are not loud. I work in quiet and find noise very distracting, hence why I would like something that is not noisy.

 

[Snafuh]

Keep in mind that GeForce cards do not support 10bit colors in every application. Radeon cards have complete 10bit support.
I think most Adobe software support OpenCL and CUDA.

 

[nvgpu]

The cards you want is either the GTX 750 Ti(Maxwell 1) or the GTX 960 4GB(Maxwell 2). Both are very power efficient cards in their class.

Since you mentioned video editing, you'll probably be handling H.264 videos? GTX 750 Ti can decode 4K H.264, GTX 960 can decode both 4K H.264 and HEVC. No AMD low end card can do either of this. If you want to edit 4K video, it's better to have 4GB of RAM from what I've read.

GTX 960 is more future proof for gaming because it supports D3D12 feature level 12_1.

 

[KingFatty]

As shown in the link I provided, I will be using two Dell 2007FPs on the outside (in portrait) with a single Dell U3014 in the middle (in landscape), and yes, the resolutions will be different - 2560x1600 for the center monitor, and 1200x1600 on the outside monitors.

I've heard of issues with Eyfinity in gaming with monitors of different resolutions, is that why you ask?

On the contrary, Eyefinity allows for the use of mixed-resolution in triple-screen gaming. I'm currently mixing 2x 24" 1920x1200 on the sides with my center monitor being a 32" 2560x1440 display. You can choose different modes, such as fit mode, fill mode, or expand mode, if you don't want any distortion, so that it's like looking through 3 windows into your game:

To my knowledge this is not possible with NVidia cards. I still game though, and as soon as NVidia supports this I'll go NVidia (I'm not sure I could fit 3x 32" displays on my desk - so the pair of 24" side monitors on the sides saves some space). But for now I use AMD just to support mixed resolution eyefinity gaming. But if gaming is not your focus, this shouldn't be a deal breaker.