I need a new video card

[Sarra]

So, I have a 4 year old video card. It's actually a good card, but I'm running dual 1080p monitors for gaming, and sadly, this card cannot keep up with my gaming needs. Plus, I plan on expanding from a dual to triple or quad monitor setup.

So, I'm running a Gigabyte GTX TI550 card. It's all stock, unmodded, never OCed. It has two problems: One being the above note about wanting a 3, 4 or 5 monitor setup. The other is the outputs... I've got a DVI, HDMI, and VGA output. The DVI and HDMI outputs work fine, but the VGA output has noise on it. Since the DVI and HDMI are driven from the same output, I can't run HDMI and DVI, so I'm stuck using DVI for my main monitor, and VGA for my second monitor. I've verified that it is, in fact, noise from the card. I've swapped both monitors, bought two new VGA cables, and done other things, but the noise persists. Both monitors are Dells, one is 23.5" the other 24". Plans are for a second 24", plus I have a 19" monitor that is sitting in storage (it's VGA only).

So, I'm looking at upgrade options. I'm a Gigabyte fan, so I'd prefer a Gigabyte card, however, I'm open to anything except Asus and Sapphire. I don't care AMD vs NVidia, though I have had a TON of NVidia cards (GeForce 200MX, 350TI, GeForce 5200, 6600GT, 6900, and now the TI550), and a few AMD/ATI cards (uhhhh... I can't remember what it actually is, but it's huge, has two GPU cores on one board, and has a MASSIVE heatsink that takes up 3 slots, it has a copper and an aluminum heatsink, and it weighs about 4 lbs).

I'm considering the AMD R9, and the GTX 9xx series... The 960 looks good, but... I'd prefer 4GB of VRAM over 2GB, and I know the 970 and 980 have some serious bandwidth problems (3.5GB of high speed RAM, and 500 megs of low speed RAM).

So, any suggestions on a card?

 

[desertmaxx]

i have the EVGA 970 and it works awesome. never had luck with any other brand but nvidia chips. for the money, you can't go wrong with a titan. but even a 980 is amazing. "thumbsup"

 

[Sarra]

Hmmm. I'm looking at the Gigabyte 970. I was going to go with two 960's in SLI, but... I forgot this board only has one PCI E slot, so... I'm looking at the 970 instead. I might consider the 980, if I can find one with as many display ports, DVI headers, and HDMI as the Gigabyte 960/970 has. I could run 4 monitors off the Gigabyte 970.

 

[HyperMark]

I bought one of these not long ago. Works a treat. I am only using one display though.
GTX 970 G1

I did need to go and get a new case though. Just a little too long for my old one.

 

[Sarra]

I bought one of these not long ago. Works a treat. I am only using one display though.
GTX 970 G1

I did need to go and get a new case though. Just a little too long for my old one.

That's actually what i'm looking at right now. I'd utilize all three DP right out of the box. I'd leave the actual DVI-I and HDMI slots free for whatever else...

I'm not sure if my case has enough room for that card, though. I gotta measure it... Then again, the 6870X2 I have is actually longer, I gotta test fit it.

 

[STANG KILLA SS]

im running the 8GB Sapphire Radeon 290X

SAPPHIRE Technology

 

[BUBBA069]

Single GPU and spanning 4 monitors for gaming could get interesting. Most folks I know running quad monitors are running dual GPUs to handle the load.

Not sure what the budget is but what about the jump to a single 4k monitor? 31.5" monitors run 3840x2160.

 

[Sarra]

My monitors are older. I'm only running 1080p on mine.

I'm not really a big fan of 4k monitors. I also want a wider field of view than a single 4k would give...

 

[BUBBA069]

Max res for most single cards 5000ishx3200ish (giver or take a few pixels) so 3x would be the limit, maybe 4 if you rotated them 90*

 

[cody426]

Just a FYI, PNY makes a 4GB 960. I have sold 2 of them in the last few months for some upgrades to older imaging workstations, nice cards.

PNY VCGGTX9604XPB GeForce GTX 960 4GB 128-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 SLI Support XLR8 Video Card - Newegg.com

PNY isn't my first choice but I have worked with them a lot over the years building these imaging workstations for a university professor. Usually we go with the Quadro cards but have used a few GTX cards also. In ten years of building these machines (about 25 total) I have never had to send a PNY card back. I can't say the same about really any of the other major brands, though I have installed many many more of the other brands over the years.

 

[Sarra]

I have had some rather... Frustrating dealings with PNY in the past. They're on my 'avoid' list.

The TI550's maximum supported resolution is.... What I'm currently running. Heh...

Thinking about maybe getting a 970, save up for a new board, and upgrade to something more sli-friendly.

 

[cody426]

970 would be a good choice. I want one but currently have no reason to upgrade my current card.

 

[losikid]

My GTX-780 is working great but I would get the new GTX-980 if I was buying today. Alot more energy efficient. And my 780 can handle 4 independent monitors on one card. I had it powering (3) 24" monitors and a tv until here recently.

And the quadro's mentioned above or mainly for productivity software, I was going to go with one but was told that they'll fall flat on their face in any sort of high setting gaming scenarios. But a normal graphics card works great for games and handles solidworks just fine as long as you're not doing crazy stuff.

 

[MattTheGenus]

I'm running a 770 and so is my friend (4gb of vram) seems to work well."thumbsup"
I'd go for the 970 or 980 if buying today.