PC video cards

[arthur.daley]

Hi

My old Dell Optiplex 745 has bitten the dust and I need to order a replacement - I think I have that sorted. However, I also need to order a PCI Express dual head video card. I am being told my old Nvidia Quadro won't run.

Not having had to think about video cards for 10 years i haven't really kept up with developments and don't really know where to start looking. What I need is a card to run a couple of large ish monitors, I need to be able to calibrate one but being able to calibrate both would be really useful. I don't need it to run the latest grahically intensive games but I do want it to have a good redraw/refresh time when working with big images. I don't want to be spending £500 on a video card!

Not really sure what else is relevant to card choice.

Anyone able to offer any pointers here?


regards


Arthur

[daviddeer]

You could try this card

[calvinabc]

do you definitly need the vid card? most screens and pcs are much quicker now with led etc. might be worth seeing how you get on first?

[Justin]

2gb card for £50+ should do the job. Biggest upgrade would be ssd if you don't use already? I did this on a cheap pc, it runs so quick it forgets it has poor CPU and gpu! Lol

[James990]

I have four screens running from two vid cards, and they are fast!

[arthur.daley]

well the deed is done!
Thanks for the pointers folks, I have looked at umpteen cards, including the recommendations above, ranging in price from £30 to £500

Yesterday I made a decision and the order was placed for a new PC - I have sold my sold my sole for a Dell T1700 Precision i7, SSD + 1tb, 16gb and the 2gb dual head card supplied, 64bit Win 7pro.

And before anyone points out i could have built my own system for half the list price - yes I know, but the Dell is blisteringly fast, comes with 3 years next day on site warranty and it will run straight from the box plus I really don't have the time - I have to have a reliable system now!

And in answer to Calvin - its the dual monitors that is important to me. I could run on a single huge monitor but they are hideously expensive. Whereas a pair of smaller monitors - one being the best 20 - 24 inch monitor I can afford where all the graphics and photshop work gets done and the currently a cheap(ish) and cheerful LG Flatron which is pretty low quality - great for text and movies, also happens to have TV built into it , into which I can plug my vhs/dvd capture system which I can then run at the same time as working on the main screen.

So with a bit of luck, this time next week .................................



Arthur

[arthur.daley]

well that all went down the pan!

Dell cancelled the order as the T1700 went end of life the day I ordered it only thing is they didn't tell me they had cancelled it until this week - bunch of numpties.

So the order is about to go in again for a T300 series Precision - its quite a new line so I should be a bit luckier this time! I might even throw caution to the wind and have a new Dell Ultrasharp monitor as well - just as soon as I can figure out what the real cost is going to be and that it really is the monitor I think it is and whether or not I can shoe horn a 27inch monitor onto my desk along side an old 22 inch monitor - you can never have too much monitor desktop ;o)

The spec and reviews on the monitor look very promising.

watch this space!

[pisquee]

Make sure it's an IPS screen, rather than TN

[arthur.daley]

absolutely!

looking at U2715H if I can find a few more pennies down the back of the sofa, but not fromDell - £549 plus vat from Dell or £415 INC VAT on Amazon. Interestingly the graphics cards I am looking at - AMD Firepro W2100 or w4100 are £50 plus vat/£75 plus vat from Dell and £100 inc/125inc from a dozen online suppliers.

[arthur.daley]

just looked a little harder and found that of all places Debenhams Plus will do the Dell monitor for £379 inc vat and delivery - I think I may be talking myself into one ;o)