Shopping for Video Card

Mr_You · Mar 29, 2012

ATI FirePro 2460 has 4 mini-DisplayPort connections and fanless (quiet): $234+

WinstonTJ · Apr 4, 2012

Half of the reason why people buy performance cars is for the exhaust note.

If you want a Bentley or a RR you'll need to pay up a hefty premium.

A robust workstation is going to have some noise from CPU fans and video card fans - or you are going to have to pay a hefty premium to avoid that.

For less than $250 you can buy two NVIDIA NVS 420 cards and have 8 DVI ports available without needing extra external power boost. How could that be a bad thing?

dolemitettu · May 9, 2012

Quote from WinstonTJ:

Half of the reason why people buy performance cars is for the exhaust note.

If you want a Bentley or a RR you'll need to pay up a hefty premium.

A robust workstation is going to have some noise from CPU fans and video card fans - or you are going to have to pay a hefty premium to avoid that.

For less than $250 you can buy two NVIDIA NVS 420 cards and have 8 DVI ports available without needing extra external power boost. How could that be a bad thing?

Will the Nvidia allow me to manage each screen separately from the rest, or will it blend some of them together (similar to a matrox, etcâ¦)?

Thanks for the info.

Scataphagos · May 10, 2012

Quote from dolemitettu:

Will the Nvidia allow me to manage each screen separately from the rest, or will it blend some of them together (similar to a matrox, etcâ¦)?

Thanks for the info.

Your monitors become "extended desktop"... just like 1 monitor except bigger. You can put a window anywhere in the extended desktop you like. Some "snap" sizing will confine the action to a particular monitor, but not all. In either case, you can manually size and position various windows and the OS will keep track of your changes and display them the same way next time you start up.

shopster · May 10, 2012

do propeller heads actually trade or just get jazzed up on the hardware..............?

playing thru.

s

just21 · May 10, 2012

The new Intel Ivybridge processor will run three monitors without a graphics card.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/Intel_IvyBridge

see paragraph 5 on first page.

dolemitettu · May 10, 2012

Quote from Scataphagos:

Your monitors become "extended desktop"... just like 1 monitor except bigger. You can put a window anywhere in the extended desktop you like. Some "snap" sizing will confine the action to a particular monitor, but not all. In either case, you can manually size and position various windows and the OS will keep track of your changes and display them the same way next time you start up.

Thanks Scat. My system previously had 2 monitors and they both functioned as independent units (ex, if I drag one window to one screen and maximize it, it only maximized in that particular screen...it acted independent of the other screen).

I added two more screens with a matrox and it does exactly what you're describing - blends them together as an extended desktop. That's proven to be a real PITA for me.

I'm trying to find a solution that allows me to have multiple monitors that all have discrete boundaries...Are you aware of any HW/SW solutions?

Scataphagos · May 11, 2012

Quote from dolemitettu:

"... I added two more screens with a matrox and it does exactly what you're describing - blends them together as an extended desktop. That's proven to be a real PITA for me.

That's exactly how extended desktop functions. No "solution" necessary.

Manually size a program to fill a monitor. (You have to do it only once for each monitor... takes 5 seconds.) When you maximize a sub-window within that program, it will snap to fill the monitor. Have separate programs displayed on separate screens and you'll have what you want.