WQHD x 3 on (2) Nvidia 9800 GT's

[LTVETTE2]

I have an older Dell XPS 630i desktop that is running (2) Nvidia 9800 GT graphics cards. I was running 3 monitors @ 1920 x 1080 just fine, but now that the 2460 x 1440 monitors are coming down in cost, I want to upgrade all 3 monitors to higher res., The cards have 4 DVI outputs combined, so hook-up isn't my concern. Will the cards, both being 512 DDR ram, be able to playback vids at an acceptable rate? If not, what is the least cost way to upgrade to cards that can handle the task, remembering this is a 2008 MB?

 

[goku1234567890]

9800 Gt is quite old card. And if you want to play back videos in 1440p you should definitely buy a new card. Try getting this card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487025. This card should settle you for a year or two with 3 monitors and gaming too if you think of it.

 

[LTVETTE2]

Have a couple of
ASUS 1GB GDDR5 Graphics Card with NVIDIA Surround Technology GTX650TI-O-1GD5 coming, do you think they might do the trick? A little older, but cheaper and already have shipped....

 

[goku1234567890]

Yeah they work fine. Although GTX 650 Ti is a little old but they are good cards you could do gaming in 40 to 60 fps easily.

 

[LTVETTE2]

I put the cards into my old system here and got the 3 2560x1440 monitors hooked up. Video does seem a little lacking. Will going to 750's really help on this old pcie 2 bus? At this point I am shoveling money into a 6 y.o. Dell XPS, $400 for an SSD (which really helped) and now another 300 to maybe 460 on video cards......Kinda like an older car, where do you stop????

 

[goku1234567890]

Yeah GTX 650 Ti is more then enough for three monitors and Nvidia Surround. What is your processor. If your processor is old then you will definitely bootle neck the gtx 650 ti. As you said your current pc is 6 years old.

 

[LTVETTE2]

Processor is q6600 @ 2.4g, am sending for some 760's with SLI, but not holding out much hope for those to get the video playback up to speed......Might be time for a new pc?

 

[goku1234567890]

Have you already order the 760 if not do not order it. Those 760 will definitely going to be bottlenecked by your current processor.

 

[goku1234567890]

Get HD 7750. It is a good card and will not be bottle neck by your core 2 quad q6600.

 

[LTVETTE2]

I am afraid they are on their way from Amazon. Someone else here thought they might help? You don't think that the two 760's with the SLI will compensate for the slower processor? Kinda like that bridge thing in Jersey, all backed up I may just have to send it all back to Amazon, lesson learned, and put the 2 9800gt,s back in, and wait until I get a new system to use the 3 new high res. monitors. But new systems with dual 760's are about 3-5k for a decent build, and wait time is 2-3 weeks. Lot of money for a better res.........Thank you for your help, I was just trying to see if I could get the same result as I did with the SSD upgrade. 🙂

 

[goku1234567890]

No they will not perform better in any way because the processor is old and cannot support the new architecture of the graphic card thus forcing the graphic card not to use their full potential. And using them in SLI you are just causing load on your PC. My advice is to sell them and buy a HD 7750 for the time being cause as far as i know 9800 GT are dx10, but if you use 7750 you will definitely see the change as it is much better than 9800 GT combined.

 

[LTVETTE2]

Looked at 7750's, tough to find ones with 2 dvi outputs, and to run my 3 monitors, I will need 2 cards doing so. I am looking at an Asus HD 7770 with crossfire tech, are they really that much different than Nvidia's???

 

[goku1234567890]

If you want i can suggest you a nvidia card!!!

 

[LTVETTE2]

If you want i can suggest you a nvidia card!!!

For watching videos only, 9800 is a good enough card even with three monitors at 1440p. However, gaming is just not possible with this setup.

 

[LTVETTE2]

I am probably a little out of touch these days of what CPU's and GPU's work together well. Under the impression that Nvidia works with intel, and AMD with their own gpu's. I have 2 Asus GTX 650ti's that are probably coming out of this system Monday when the 2 760's arrive. I know now that I am trying to get way too much out of my older system, I mean in 2008, 2560 x 1440 res. was probably not considered when Dell put this machine together? Other than a good Nvidia card, do you have any suggestions on a PC builder? Origin PC sounds great, but I get way over budget very quickly.....I realize I ask a lot of an old PCIe 2 bus, I am not trying to game on this computer, just trying to watch videos without stutter if at all possible at this high resolution....Maybe it is just simply not possible???

 

[goku1234567890]

It is possible. Tell you what R7 250 of amd are great and can work on basically any computer. Get it, it is a very good budget card and on par with hd 7750 in performance.