11 replies to this topic

[stanmarsh14]

Right, though I normally do pretty well when it comes to sorting comps etc, one area I am not that hot on, is GFX cards, and especially when it comes to running dual monitors.

Missus mate has asked me to get her lads Acer tower set up with a dual screen setup, and upon looking, he only has the one pci-e slot total in which to do this, so it's a fair bet only way this dual screen trick will work, is with a dual output GFX card.

Lad in question is what I would best describe, as a moderate sort of games player, and tends to go for stuff like Minecraft etc (Seams so from what I see installed anyway).

I need folks suggestions with two things..... a good (Not overpriced mind... the lad is costing his mum enough as it is LOL) GFX card that is nVidia based ideally (Times when I service comps, nVidia don't give me 1/2 as much shit as others do), and also if there is the possibility I need to uprate the installed PSU, depending on the GFX card obviously (Current one is rated at 500 watts).

I did see one dual output GFX card on Amazon that is massively cheap when compared to what else is available (£25, which seams a bit too cheap to me), but at only a gig's worth of memory, something tells me that may not be enough, especially when you note his current one is 2 gig dedicated on-board.

Tower in question, is an Acer Predator G3-605

http://www.acer.co.u...el/DT.SQYEK.012

Edited by stanmarsh14, 01 December 2015 - 09:40 AM.

[No1Stoney]

Whats the budget on a gfx card?

 

Wattage is important when it comes to PSUs driving good gfx cards, but you will also need to know the ampage of the 12v rail which will be plugging into the gfx card. some high end gfx cards require a high ampage. My 970GTX requires 44amps minimum on the 12v rail

[fuzion]

That model should come with 2 dvi outputs from the dedicated NVidia graphics card?   If not you could probably nick a d-sub output from the mainboard, to give you dual screen setup.  I've done that before. 

 

J

[nails]

i bought an ASUS ROG MARS card and have dual 3d screens, though i only use one for 3d. you just plug them in and off you go really. the nvidia software will help you configure where you want them, even longways up to play a 1600x layout. i *think* it has 3 or 4 outputs

 

i quite regular have a film playing on one screen and chrome/firefox window on the other. 

 

i am very tempted to sell them both and get a decent size 4k screen on the bench and stick a sound bar across the bottom

 

Attached Files

•  IMAG06641.jpg   66.81KB   1 downloads

[Guitar]

According to nVidia Specifications...http://www.geforce.c.../specifications

 

Display Support:

4 displaysMulti Monitor

4096x2160Maximum Digital Resolution⁴

2048x1536Maximum VGA Resolution

YesHDCP

YesHDMI³

One Dual Link DVI-I, One Dual Link DVI-D, One HDMI, One DisplayPortStandard Display Connectors

InternalAudio Input for HDMI

 

He doesn't need a new gfx card.

[stanmarsh14]

That model should come with 2 dvi outputs from the dedicated NVidia graphics card?   If not you could probably nick a d-sub output from the mainboard, to give you dual screen setup.  I've done that before. 

 

J

 

Ta for the heads up bud..... did not get much time to look at the tower, so all I did, was popped off the side and looked for whatever pci-e slots there was, which is 1 in this case.

Noting the other comments, I need to go back and have a proper look at this card again, and see exactly what outputs it has, and probs take a spare screen with me too, to check the outputs.

Edited by stanmarsh14, 01 December 2015 - 08:15 PM.

[bigtony]

My god only a 500 Watt power supply,wow.you will need 850 min with 2 x 8 pins connectors to power the cards

[stanmarsh14]

My god only a 500 Watt power supply,wow.you will need 850 min with 2 x 8 pins connectors to power the cards

 

That is what is concerning me, although the current card (Which may have the ability to run dual output, but needs checking), was supplied as standard with the tower, along with the 500 watt PSU.

Although my experience with GFX cards in general is limited, one thing I do remember, is some cards need an extra 12v molex direct power feed, as the power from the PCI-e bus is not beefy enough, and thus need a good PSU to do said job.

My experience tends to be getting any old pile of scrap running and with limited resources, so working on a more higher end sort of comp, is not something I normally get asked to do.

Edited by stanmarsh14, 02 December 2015 - 08:29 PM.

[nails]

im thinking of selling my 2xacer GD245HQ 3d monitors. 

 

any takers?

[No1Stoney]

There is no way on earth you will need 850w. Unless the psu is a generic pile of crap. If you get an 80+ certified psu in there 500w will be fine for that setup. You will want up to 750w for a dual high end set up as long as it's a decent brand and 80+ bronze certified at least. As I said before though check the required amps for any gfx cards you get and make sure any psu you have outputs the required amount.

Edited by No1Stoney, 03 December 2015 - 09:38 PM.

[Matty.N]

As above, Even with a Corsair PSU rated @ 650W 80+ Gold I'm able to run Dual 970s (Although overlcocking would be a no go). 850w would be overkill.

[Guitar]

I have an overclocked system with a single hi end gfx card (Core2Duo QX9650 @ 4GHz with AMD 6970 2GB gfx) and at idle (windows desktop) it pulls ~330W. At load it pulls around 440W.

 

A 500W PSU is ample if the PSU is a decent brand that will actually deal with 500W being pulled from it for any length of time. If you decide to go with a cheap PSU then I would add 250W as a buffer.

 

So if you go cheap, get a 750W PSU.

If you go for something decent then a 500W PSU will probably do.

 

Some PSU's have a dual rail 12V line, i.e 2 separate lines, and you can only pull x amount of amps from each line, if you need more than that for your gfx card then you will need to join the lines together with an adapter.

 

Bigger cards may need 2 PCI-E 6/8pin power supply lines too.