Question Workstation Graphic Card Advice for a non-gamer

[Technocrat]

I need some advice for those way more savvy than I. I know it's a terrible time to buy a graphics card due to supply issues and mining but I am looking for advice for a good graphics card for a non-gamer. I primarily use my desktop for work with browsers, office products, YouTube, Photoshop and some movie watching and video encoding. I don't do any type of gaming. I'm wondering what good options in graphics cards new or used to upgrade so I can run 2 to 3, 27" 4K Monitors. I have included my computer specs to assist with compatibility.

I would buy new but not sure what I need and the prices are high and supply is low. I'd also buy used but worried about buying some graphics card that may not be compatible or have been used in a mining rig.

Current Setup - Custom Desktop

• Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD5H-BK has a PCI Express x16 slot
• Intel i7-4790K with 32GB Ram
• Sapphire Dual-X Radeon R7 265 video card
• 2 - 24" Dell Ultrasharp U2412M @1920 x 1200
  

If you have any more questions, please ask. I appreciate any help or advice.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Well, you only had to look two posts down:

Discussion - Screw this GPU crisis, I'm getting a Quadro!

Since the dawn of the COVID era and the Great Videocard Drought (TM), I've been patiently trying to get a low-profile GPU for a slim HTPC. It doesn't have to play games at the highest settings, but I need it to run 4k@60Hz with HDR and provide reliable, good-quality hardware...

forums.anandtech.com

The T400 won't break the bank - it can be had for about $100, and does everything you need.Look it up.

 

[Technocrat]

Well, you only had to look two posts down:

Discussion - Screw this GPU crisis, I'm getting a Quadro!

Since the dawn of the COVID era and the Great Videocard Drought (TM), I've been patiently trying to get a low-profile GPU for a slim HTPC. It doesn't have to play games at the highest settings, but I need it to run 4k@60Hz with HDR and provide reliable, good-quality hardware...

forums.anandtech.com

The T400 won't break the bank - it can be had for about $100, and does everything you need.Look it up.

Thanks for the heads up. When I posted I didn't see that one. I've been looking for the T400 but haven't been been able to find one close to $100. Any other options y'all can recommend?

 

[Soulkeeper]

For just driving the displays with no real rendering or demanding graphics, most any card will do.
Here is a good review of the latest radeon workstation cards:

RDNA2 For Workstation: AMD Radeon Pro W6600 & W6800 Review

AMD has so far released two Radeon Pro models built around its RDNA2 architecture - W6600 and W6800 - and compared to the previous-gen, there's a lot of improvement. In addition to faster performance in general, we see additions like hardware RT, as well as support for resizable BAR and variable...

techgage.com

I figured i'd post it because it shows a table comparing their entire lineup, including previous/cheaper ones you might be able to find.
Wikipedia hasn't added the w6600 and w6800 yet.
The problem with the workstation specific cards is that they tend to be near identical to desktop cards in many cases, just costing more.
Although with the current climate everything is out of whack.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Thanks for the heads up. When I posted I didn't see that one. I've been looking for the T400 but haven't been been able to find one close to $100. Any other options y'all can recommend?

it's a bit complicated, because I'm in Canada, so the prices and availability are different and I'm not familiar with the market in your part of the world.

These being said, I would find it very strange if the Canadian market had better prices or choice.
So the T400 is CA$130+ tax here... which is why I figured out that the U.S. price should be around US$100, considering the exchange rate.
Do a thorough search, I'm sure you can find smaller companies that sell it.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

You could eBay an old NVS 510. It's Kepler architecture so it's actually about a year older than the card you have now. But it has 4 individual Mini-Displayport 1.2 interfaces and can drive 4, 4K displays. It should get security updates through 2024 I believe, as Kepler was recently moved to legacy status. But since they're so old and weak you should be able to get one for less than $50 CAD on the aftermarket (please don't pay a bunch to buy something that old new in box). It would fit the bill for pure display needs, but being really old, it doesn't have any suitable video decoders except the usual h.264 and VC1 stuff. You mentioned YouTube, and it's important to know that most multi-million view content is streamed via the AV1 codec, while the thousands and tens of thousands viewed content is usually VP9. Very little of it is H.264. But only the the most recent cards have decode for AV1, and cards in the last 3-4 years with VP9 support. So for 4K YouTube you'll still be relying heavily on your CPU to do the work. Fortunately a 4790k is still a strong CPU and should be able to handle the decoding efforts for some time to come.