What Graphics Card to get?

Alex · Official Cemetech Site Manager (Posts: 7912)

Nope. Not to start a rivalry war but look at the Retina MacBook Pro. That's from 2012 but it can power 3 external displays: 2 at 2560 x 1440 over DisplayPort and 1 at 1920 x 1200 over HDMI. Then of course the Retina MacBook Pro display itself for a grand total of 4 displays. If a MacBook Pro can do all those displays, any moderate GPU should most likely do it too Wink

Don't go overkill on your GPU unless you really want/have to. It doesn't hurt anything in case you want to pick up gaming or even VR but it'd be a sin to purchase a 980 TI and not use it.

Tari · Systems Wrangler (Posts: 3535)

That's per-output.

Odds are good nvidia will have new cards at Computex (at the beginning of June), dropping the price of current ones and bringing newer/better cards at the current price points. In order to compete, AMD will doubtless be forced to lower prices on their current cards as well. Given the graphics market has been basically stagnant for about two years at this point (on the AMD side since I know it better, the R9 300 series are the same chips as the R9 200 just tweaked a little, disregarding the Fury and Nano which are novel because they have HBM), I'd say it's worth waiting about a month.

For your stated purposes, basically any GPU will work provided enough display bandwidth. Given you need three outputs you won't be able to go extremely low (under $100 or so), but something like an R7 370 (again, just AMD because that's my preference) would probably do the job fine.

You might also look at THG's "best GPUs for the money" roundup which is updated with good regularity.

Alex · Official Cemetech Site Manager (Posts: 7912)

You are so wrong. The Apple Retina MacBook Pro (2015) only comes with a max of 2GB of RAM yet it can power 4 monitors, 3 externally. My Mac Mini without a GPU, can support 3 external monitors with a resolution of at least 1080p; I have 512MB of video memory on my integrated Intel HD3000.

Just to include a non-Apple example a GTI 750, which has 2GB or RAM as well, comes with 3 video outputs: DVI, HDMI and, Display Port. So it can support 3 monitors. Plus, the mother board likely has a video out so a computer with the 750 could likely support 4 monitors as well.

jonbush · Power User (Posts: 364)

I would recommend using DisplayPort without adapters if possible. It is also good to note that DisplayPort 1.2 supports daisy-chaining monitors with DisplayPort input and output together. We used a setup like this in our motion capture lab, and it has worked flawlessly. Dell UltraSharp monitors, such as the U2415 support this.

jonbush · Power User (Posts: 364)

If you have all three monitors in portrait orientation, you will only be able to have a window at most 12" wide before needing to stretch it across multiple screens, which can be moderately annoying for things that involve text. I would recommend two larger monitors instead of three smaller ones. In my setup, I usually have the primary display directly in front of me, and the secondary display off to the right at a slight angle. This allows me to work on the primary display while showing reference material on the secondary display.

Alternately, you could consider a single wide monitor (like the U2913WM), possibly curved. This could be used in conjunction with a smaller portrait monitor for reference material. If you are not gaming, you should be wary of the amount of desk space consumed by three monitors in relation to the benefit of the third monitor. If you plan on working on any physical projects, or with paper at some point, you will most likely want some place other than the floor to put it.

CHill · Power User (Posts: 339)

What is the final cost?

Tari · Systems Wrangler (Posts: 3535)

This is about twice as much capacity as you need.