new system, need video card for dual 22" LCD monitors, non-gamer

[tanstafl]

I have 2 GA MoBos -- P35-DS4 and X48-DS4. Both have HIS brand ATI cards in
them -- 1 X1950 and 1 HD3850.

I like the HIS "Ice Q" cooling (now to v4 for newer cards) if you have to go
with a fan. However, they also have an "iSilence" line with Zalman fanless
cooling
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...escription=&Ntk=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=)
that may work for you.

I'm interested in the Ice units in the event that I can't avoid losing
an adjacent slot. I'm also evaluating two HIS fanless units listed at
Newegg (see the reply to Paul for links).

Those come in 2600XT, 3450, 3650, and 4650, versions, all with 512 MB RAM and
dual DVI outputs. You'll have to research the various GPU capabilities a bit to
see what performance level you will need. To get the lower-power units you
sacrifice the 256-bit data bus, but that may not be important for your use. The
ATI Catalyst software also supports pivoting.

Thanks for the list to work with. The Catalyst (or Nvidia equivalent)
is the next hill I need to climb. I fear using it correctly will be a
far greater challenge than picking the hardware :-(

 

[tanstafl]

* tanstafl:


So nothing fancy. All that can be handled even by a low end GPU.


Keep in mind that modern cards/drivers are optimized for 32bit and thus
16bit can be slower.

That's counter-intuitive - but so many other things in life are also

Despite that, even most low end gfx cards come with
128MB or more which is more than enough for your case. The
recommendation with 512MB or more is just plain nonsense.


Then get one of the PNY Quadro cards. Nothing for overclockers but
really reliable and well-built cards with 3 year warranty. The lower
models aren't even really expensive.

A Quadro NVS 285 is probably a very good choice for your case and
fullfills all your requirements:
http://www.pny.com/products/quadro/nvs/285x16NvsPciEx.asp

The write-up is interesting, but the site doesn't seem to carry any
pictures of the product. Newegg doesn't seem to carry it either.
I'll have to spend some time surfing.

Be sure to get the cable with 2xDVI. You don't want to connect 1680
monitors via analog VGA.


I don't think so. You may not know which gfx card is suitable for you
but you delivered a precise and detailed description of the
environmental parameters which makes recommending a card really easy.

Your kind to say that - but the fact is the statement is still
operative, exemplified by your clarification on the use of VGA. Many
years ago I understood vector graphics on radar scopes and IBM 3270
diode matrix character generation raster graphics. Then up popped a
(then) amazing picture of Cheryl Tieges(sp?) on my 3279-3G terminal.
Just had to know how that was done! By the time I figured it out - my
head hurt. Enough so that I decided networking was a much better use
of my time. I've studiously avoided graphics until now. So I have
big blind spots, and I don't necessarily know where they are

 

[Anton Ertl]

Newegg only carries the x1650Pro, not the Ultimate - but from the
single picture on the Sapphire site, that's a biiig radiator hanging
off the back. My board has PCIe slots fore & aft of the x16 slot so
I'd still wind up losing one.

Yes, the heatsink is big, and you would certainly lose a PCIe x1 slot
on that kind of board. Then take a look at other low-end Dual-DVI
cards. E.g., looking at the Sapphire Radeon HD 3470, the heat sink
looks low enough to allow other PCIe cards in adjacent slots; however,
I would only use that slot for a very low card, if at all, because
using it for a full-height card would constrict the air flow to the
graphics card.

The Newegg x1650Pro has a slim fan that
appears to not rise beyond the bracket boundary - I could probably use
the adjacent slot with a low profile short card that wouldn't block
the airflow to the 1650 card fan. But the slimness probably means
shallow impeller blades - likely only 10mm deep which likely means a
high RPM. Have you or anyone else used this card? Is it a screamer?
I'm not overly sensitive to fan noise - except for high pitched
screamers @ 6Krpm and up.

I don't know about that card, but I once had a Gforce 4200 card with
such a fan, and after about a year it started becoming annoyingly
noisy (before it was acceptable). That's why no fanned cards have
died on me -- I always throw them out earlier because the fan becomes
an issue.

Just curiosity - why the fup?

If you cross-post, it's generally a good idea to set a followup-to
(and annouce it in the body); sometimes people in one newsgroup go off
on a tangent that's not interesting to the other groups, and if you
have not set up a followup-to, all the newsgroups will get these
postings; this is especially annoying if the groups have a very
different amount traffic; typically the tangential subthread will
develop in a high-traffic group, and it can flood the low-traffic
groups. Another thing that can happen is that the local troll of one
group that everybody in that group has learned to ignore posts in that
thread, and people in the other groups don't ignore him, creating a
huge flamewar.

OTOH, setting a fup-to means that people who want to follow the thread
may have to subscribe to an additional group, which they may be
reluctant to do.

- anton

 

[Anton Ertl]

Thank you very much for the legwork - I didn't expect that. I
narrowed the search to dual DVI. Came up with 2 items that I'll look
at closer:

HIS 260 base @ $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161203

This one has heat pipes leading to the back, so there probably is a
heat sink on the back.

HIS 1050 base @ $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161202

This one seems to be low-profile enough that you can use the other
slots, so it may be what you are looking for. As I mentioned in the
other posting, if you put a card in the adjacent slot, make it short
and/or low to avoid constricting the air flow to the heat sink.

As you noted, the reviews are a mixed bag.

The X1050 is essentially a PCIe version of the 9600 that I had and was
quite happy with (but eventually it died:-(); amply sufficient if you
don't want to do games.

Followups set to alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati.

- anton