2 QUESTIONS. Which DVI Port do I need to use? & Which GPU should I get?

[trombonier]

QUESTION #1:
Which DVI port do I need? I know there's DVI-I & DVI-D but I don't know the difference.
I have THIS MONITOR. And It has a VGA I'm not planning on using. And 1 DVI port. I'm not sure which DVI it has. DVI-I or DVI-D. If I don't need 1 certain DVI port, I could just go for THIS EVGA GTX 970 that has only that one DVI port. And like that I can have more Display Ports.

QUESTION #2:
This depends on the answers I get from Question #1. But I have narrowed the GTX 970 GPUs to THESE TWO CARDS ... Unless I can get away with that one Dual Link DVI from the EVGA FTW+ ACX 2.0 Video Card...

I would only be using my Asus monitor as a main display through DVI along with another display through HDMI at first. But I will get a 4K monitor next year that would become my main display, having my current Asus monitor as secondary display.

Please Help. This is my first build in over 8 years. I've been away from PC and just console ever since Xbox 360 was released but I'm finally coming back to the Dark Side.

 

[alexoiu]

DVI-I provides both analog and digital signal.
DVI-D - only digital.
Your monitor has a DVI-D port, therefore both DVI-I and DVI-D would work.
I'd go with MSI.

 

[trombonier]

DVI-I provides both analog and digital signal.
DVI-D - only digital.
Your monitor has a DVI-D port, therefore both DVI-I and DVI-D would work.
I'd go with MSI.

Hey, thanks for the speedy response alexoiu!
Thanks for clearing that up. I kept looking online but couldn't find something so clear cut like you put it. thanks.
You suggested the MSI 970. Is there a reason for that? Is it just brand preference or is there something I'm not seeing that makes MSI shine over EVGA?

 

[alexoiu]

Hi, You're welcome.
Just a brand preference. And if you ask me what card I went for... it's an ASUS Strix. Actually, all cards would perform similarly. Go for the one with best reviews/users' opinions.
Are you aware about the "memory issue" with 970 cards? Not something to worry about, but it's good to know it before purchasing the card:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2875740/nvidia-explains-geforce-gtx-970s-memory-performance-issues-admits-error-in-specs.html
or similar.

 

[trombonier]

Are you aware about the "memory issue" with 970 cards? Not something to worry about, but it's good to know it before purchasing the card:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2875740/nvidia-explains-geforce-gtx-970s-memory-performance-issues-admits-error-in-specs.html
or similar.[/quotemsg]

Yes. I was reading about the 3.5 / 0.5 Memory error. Either way I think that by next year I'll SLI with a 2nd GTX 970 and get that 4K Monitor. But for now, I know what I need. Thanks a bunch, once again. Much appreciated.

 

[alexoiu]

No problem. Good luck!