New 2nd graphics card recommendation

drtanz

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Hi I have an ASUS P6T SE motherboard with an NVIDIA GeForce GT 240 graphics card (512MB) already installed. I would like to connect 3 monitors to my PC but apparently the card only supports two concurrent ones. Therefore I need to buy another card. I need something basic to cover the needs for my extra monitor, which is best from the below (found them all at same price):

512MB EVGA G210 PCI-Express Video Card

Captiva PCI Express VGA Card 8400GS 512MB

Gainward GF210 512MB VGA Card (CRT, DVI & HDMI)


and slightly more expensive:

POV VGA CARD GF210 1GB (LOW PROFILE)

Inno3D GF 210, 1GB VGA Card

1GB Gainward GF210 PCI-Express Video Card


Also would having 2 graphics cards help performance of software like Photoshop or games?
 
Pretty sure you can only achieve that in SLI mode. All of those are pretty much very low end versions of the 200 series and 8000 series, and none will SLI im sure. Both are at least 3 or 4 generations old. Better off getting a new lower end card from Radeon to support 3 monitors.
 
Its been awhile since I had nvidia GPUs, but if I remember correctly, you have to SLI 2 cards to be able to output to 3 monitors. Cant just have 2 vid cards in your system without SLIing them for that purpose. I could be mistaken, but I dont think so.
 

drtanz

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Hmm I see, maybe someone else can confirm this, in the meantime what Radeon card would you suggest which has the same or better performance than the one I have, and can support 3 monitors?
 

drtanz

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I use the PC mainly for web development, including some work in Photoshop. I'm doing fine with my current card, just need to add a 3rd monitor to have more screen space.

i7 930 @ 2.80GHz
6GB Ram

 

drtanz

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Looks good thanks, I'd just need a converter to one of my monitor's vga port.

I would still like a confirmation that I cannot just add another card to the one I have, as price-wise this would be preferable for me.
 

EzioAs

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No you can't do 3 monitors on nvidia cards without at least both same gpu in sli. there are some manufactures who put more video ports on nvidia cards but it's not the best solution. The best solution would be to go for AMD cards for multi monitor, and since you're not mainly using it for games, the radeon 6770 is enough
 

drtanz

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I've read in some place that I can still buy an extra card from the one listed above and use it to drive the 3rd monitor, without going into SLI at all, is that true?
 

randomkid

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It appears that your 240 does not support surround vision so you can not get another 240. Check this:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/3d-vision-surround-system-requirements.html
So the optimum way to get 3 monitor is to use an AMD 5XXX series or above. CHoose 1 that is within your budget. Sapphire Flex graphics card should be good because they support 3 monitors out of the box.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102938
Others will need display port to DVI/VGA adaptor.
 

drtanz

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Thanks, I would like to specify that I don't really care about surround vision, I just need to have 3 different displays, not an extended one over all 3 screens. So I would have like a different program displaying on each monitor, no need for fancy stuff like eyefinity or the like.
 

drtanz

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Also found this solution, although it has some disadvantages
http://techgage.com/article/displaylink_-_multi-display_setups_with_usb/