Best Non-Gamer Cards

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knevets

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Hi,

I'd like to run dual displays @ 1900x1200 or 1900x1080.

I use photoshop a great deal.

I also stream video via the web - which has been the biggest issue for me. Watching NFL.com videos or videos from a few major sites like fox.com, etc. seem to push my CPU utilization to 100% and if I watch the video full screen, I'm begging for choppy video. The videos that give me grief are always flash video, usually being served in some format that doesn't like to be saved locally. Even DVD's suck full screen on my system with no apps running, so I'm thinking this is more a video card problem than anything else.

Right now, my system is an older laptop (Dell Lattitude D830 / 4gb ram / NVidia Quadro NVS 140M), but I'm looking at building a desktop system, and I'm hoping for some friendly advice.

I think if I spent a ton of money on video cards it would be overkill since I don't really do gaming, but to get a system that works right for what I want to do, I'm willing to fork over what it takes. (I spend way too much time in my office for my PC to make me angry the way it currently does).
 
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Any modern IGP will do it, PS benefits nothing from a powerful GPU. So any card that starts with the numbers "4" for AMD/ATI and "9" for Nvidia will be fine.

Whats your budget for the build though? So we can get the most for your money.

Timop

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Any modern IGP will do it, PS benefits nothing from a powerful GPU. So any card that starts with the numbers "4" for AMD/ATI and "9" for Nvidia will be fine.

Whats your budget for the build though? So we can get the most for your money.
 
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knevets

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I was planning in the $2-300 range for a video card - but I'd be happy to spend less, and OK with spending more. It seems my needs are pretty minimal. If I can get by with that $40 card, I'd be excited.

At the higher end, it looks like a 9800 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125282) or maybe a 4870 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150436) would do the trick.

I don't know that all the horsepower is necessary - but the price range for both of those cards seems pretty reasonable to me.
 

decode

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Judging by what you say a 5670 would be sufficent for all your need's, I believe you can pick one up for around $100 dollars via newegg.com these days.

Will enable Dx11, Light gaming, Eyefinity etc, It also has a low TDP/Power consumption.
 
Since you included Photoshop in your query, i'll recommend Nvidia for the video card.. If you do not have any gaming desires at all, the GT220 will fit your needs nicely.. If you are not sure on your gaming needs and/or may go that route in future, your budget enables you to opt for the GTX 460 768 MB..
 

Timop

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What does Photoshop have to do with Nvidia? CUDA does not benefit ANYTHING on Photoshop.
 
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