choice of middle-range Nvidia (3440x1440, NO gaming)

_undy_

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Hi, I can't figure out what graphic card would be good for me, so I'm asking for some help.
These are the main requirements:

- will be used with a 34" monitor QHD 3440x1440 @ 60 Hz (DisplayPort)
- I watch a lot of movies
- NO gaming
- must be Nvidia (I'm going to do some CUDA programming)
- decent support for Linux (no Windows installed)
- should be reasonably silent
- tentative budget: 150-200 €

The rest of the configuration includes an Asus Z170 Deluxe + Intel Core i7-6700 + 16GB (maybe 32GB) DDR4-3200. The power supply is a 650 W Seasonic

For example: What about something like an "EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti, 2GB DDR5, PCI-Express". Would it be appropriate?
It is easy to find reviews/comparisons/advices of cards for gaming, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what would be good for my needs...
Thanks!
 
Solution
Depends on what motherboard you go for. DisplayPort is an exclusive choice; not many people use it as most still go for no larger than 1080p.
As far as Asus motherboards are concerned, you'll have to go for atleast the mildly expensive Z170-Pro Gaming to find in-built DisplayPort connectivity.

Since you are not a gamer, I'd say get the card and the motherboard at the same time. The motherboard outputs won't work when you put a card in, so the DisplayPort on the motherboard will become useless.

Better go for a cheaper motherboard(such as the Asus H170M-E D3) and get a dedicated graphics card later. Until then, I think you should have either of HDMI/DVI on your monitor to get you going.

Roti-Kebab

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I think a 960 should perform fairly well. An MSI GTX 960 4G, yes the 4GB version, you'll need it for the higher res
 
Get the cheapest card with DisplayPort that you can find. Even something like a GTX 750 or (bottom line) GT 730 will work; more expensive cards will more readily include DisplayPort outputs.

I'd say a 750/750Ti. Get one from EVGA if available; theirs seems to have the DisplayPort output.
 
I'd suggest an EVGA GTX 950. I specifically prefer the SCC (P4-2957) and FTW (P4-2958) models that cost approximately €156,99 and €165,99 respectively. I like those two models because they are dual fan cooling, and are dual BIOS, unlike the SC+.

*** GTX 950 ***

The GTX 950 has 768 CUDA Cores 768 Stream Processors
Ports: 1 x Dual-link DVI-I 1 x HDMI 2.0 3 x DisplayPort 1.2
SLI compatible

*** GTX 750 Ti ***

The GTX 750 Ti has 640 CUDA Cores
Ports: 1 x Dual-link DVI-I 1 x HDMI 2.0 1 x DisplayPort 1.2
No SLI compatibility

Question: Does it matter how many CUDA cores that you have for your programming? I know nothing about CUDA programming.
 
For programming, CUDA cores are more like CPU cores. I don't think a 950 and 750Ti will make any difference.

I attended a workshop on HPC once, which used CUDA. They were actually using GT 610's. And even those were on some of the PC's, rest of the PC's(around 15-20) were connected via a LAN connection to those.

That's why I recommend the cheapest DisplayPort based card.

If you're doing number crunching though, it's a different story. Get the fastest one then. But not for programming.
 

_undy_

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Yes, that's right: a 950 and a 750Ti wouldn't make much of a difference...

But I was just thinking... apart from CUDA (which I am not going to do right now anyway), would I be able to use the ultrawide monitor I mentioned earlier (34", 3440x1440, 60Hz, DispalyPort) and decently watch movies (and do ordinary things like programming, internet etc.) with just the HD Graphics 530 of the i7-6700 (skylake)? If yes, than I could buy the Nvidia card later, in one year or so, when I will actually need it.

For such an usage like the one I described, would I see the difference between the HD Graphics 530 and, say, a GeForce GTX 750 Ti?
 
Depends on what motherboard you go for. DisplayPort is an exclusive choice; not many people use it as most still go for no larger than 1080p.
As far as Asus motherboards are concerned, you'll have to go for atleast the mildly expensive Z170-Pro Gaming to find in-built DisplayPort connectivity.

Since you are not a gamer, I'd say get the card and the motherboard at the same time. The motherboard outputs won't work when you put a card in, so the DisplayPort on the motherboard will become useless.

Better go for a cheaper motherboard(such as the Asus H170M-E D3) and get a dedicated graphics card later. Until then, I think you should have either of HDMI/DVI on your monitor to get you going.
 
Solution