an old chestnut i know, but i need a card capable of handling the following: 1x CRT @1600x1200 80+ Hz and/or 2x LCD @1600x1200 not arsed about game support, i just want something that can handle my 21" CRT til i get a couple of LCDs in to replace it. any recommendations?
Cheap but crap for games http://www.nvidia.com/page/qfx_el.html This can handle four displays http://www.nvidia.com/page/quadronvs.html Not sure if they go up to 1600x1200 as i couldn't see anything when i had a quick look.
Where do you get a CRT that can handle 80+ Hz refresh rate???? (I have had strictly LCDs for quite some time now, so forgive me if this is a "what are you, stupid?" sort of question.)
they've been around for years, my belinea's about 5 years old and will handle up to 200Hz refresh, albeit at 16 bit, 800x 600. hell, not used a monitor with a lower than 85Hz since the 80's.
My 5 yr old iiyama 450 pro does 100hz at most settings. I only go down to 85hz for 1600x1200 and 60hz for 1900x1440 As for the gfx card, my not very good knowledge on the subject would be any quadro fx card for handling more than 2 monitors
All of my old 17in CRTs will handle 1024x768 at 85hz. Ecky, I also don't know how much you have to spend. But the two I recommend are the Radeon x1950pro or Nvidia 7900GS. Both very nice and fast mid-range cards. x1950pro is a bit faster than the 7900gs all around, but sometimes you can find a better deal on the nvidia. There is also the x1900gt, which isn't as fast as the 7900gs but cheaper. Of course you probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between them, except maybe the x1950pro. Are you running PCI-e or AGP, though? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102022 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130056 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814125052 If you're using AGP, then I recommend the 7600GT. You won't notice much of anything faster when it comes to AGP, unless you want to spend out your eyeballs. All of those handle at least 2 monitors. If you want to run a third monitor, you can always toss an old PCI card in your PC for it. I know these links are to US sites, but you can probably find the equivalent in the UK.
Yeah, you can do that too, if you have two pci-e slots. You'll get some very nice performance out of SLI or Crossfire. If you need a new motherboard to do it, and don't care about games tho, I wouldn't worry about SLI.
Got one that came with a Pentium 3 system that can rock out at 150hz. LCD doesnt need high refresh rate as it actually has pixel for each pixel. A CRT only draws 1 pixel at each instant so with a low refresh rate you see a flicker. The worst that can happen with low refresh rates on LCDs is that maybe it can't keep up with really fast motion and you drop some frames. Edit: back to the point at hand, ATI X1950 Pro is a pretty great value. Nice and quiet, fast, midrange price, dual DVI, VIVO, Avivo, and all that good stuff. Of course, it doesn't support DX10 (which almost nothing does yet), and I'm not positive if they have an AGP version. I'd recommend waiting for more DX10 cards but thats just me.
Ouch. I'd either go for a 7600GT or a new motherboard then bud. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814122009 Here is the problem. The cost of that card is like $180-190. The cost of the PCI-e version is $120-130. You can pretty much buy a PCI-e motherboard for the price difference. What processor do you run? There is also the x1650PRO. It's not a bad card, just not very good for games, well except older ones. I know you don't care about games, but good gaming performance, also means good overall performance. So that's the benchmark I mostly go by. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102057 There are also 7600GS, but the big problem with these cards is they only run GDDR2 memory, which is quite a bit slower than GDDR3. I noticed a difference between GDDR2 and 3. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150190 Like I said, it might be best to find out what processor you run and upgrade your motherboard. http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/01/05/the_best_gaming_video_cards_for_the_money/page5.html The above is a link to the article "Best Gaming Cards for the Money - January". I copied the link from page 5, which shows AGP cards. Figured I'd add this advice from the article:
I'd recommend waiting as well, but he's on AGP. If he doesn't upgrade his motherboard, there is no sense in waiting. The GeForce8s aren't really selling very well as of yet. So I'm not sure how big the push is for midrange dx10 cards is right now. If anyone was to buy a card today, I'd definately say go with the x1950Pro though.
