any suggestions for good low cost nvidia card?

[smys]

any one have any suggestions on a good nvidia gfx card I can add to my system strictly for dual monitoring purposes? I already have a GeForce 6150SE nForce 430 but it only has 1 vga out and I read on many sources that in order to achieve extended desktop display you need a second vga out for the second monitor thus needing a additional gfx card. I might be limited due to my motherboard aswell.

any help or suggestions would be highly appreciated !

here are my specs : HP Pavilion p6500 Desktop PC series -  HP Pavilion p6557c Desktop PC Product Specifications - c02185984 - HP Business Support Center

 

[smys]

and I most def might have to upgrade my power supply I suppose

 

[Joshatdot]

defo PSU upgrade .. what is your price range for new card?

Your mobo is PCIe x16 .. but doesnt say 1.0 or 2.0/2.1 .. so I assume 1.0

Best Graphics Cards For The Money: May 2011 : May Updates

This is should be a good selection of PSUs ..

Newegg PSUs, 400-499w, 80+ cert

 

[stormy13]

The cheapest Nvidia card for dual monitor (and definitely not for gaming) would be this,

Newegg.com - MSI N210-MD512D3H/LP GeForce 210 512MB 64-bit DDR3 HDCP Ready Low Profile Video Card

Or if light gaming might be a consideration something like this,

Newegg.com - ASUS EAH5450 SILENT/DI/512MD2(LP) Radeon HD 5450 512MB 64-bit DDR2 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready Video Card

would be a better option.

The 250W power supply in that HP is a concern, but both of those cards should be OK on it as they both have very low power usage.

 

[smys]

@ joshatdot : I got about 50-65 dollars for a gfx card and 60-80 for a psu or vice versa. I also need to get an extra internal hard drive for audio purposes. Do you know if a sata II or later drive would work with my motherboard? My current drive is just sata so I don't know if that's a issue when buying a new drive. I'm making an account
@ newegg; I see it refreneced alot and it seems like a great site so I'm just going to buy my upgrades from there

@ stormy13 : that first one looks great ! would it being ddr3 conflict with my system as it uses ddr2 ram?

 

[stormy13]

would it being ddr3 conflict with my system as it uses ddr2 ram?

Not in the slightest. The memory on a video card is used by the video card only, and not used or added to the system memory.

 

[bobkn]

@ joshatdot : I also need to get an extra internal hard drive for audio purposes. Do you know if a sata II or later drive would work with my motherboard? My current drive is just sata so I don't know if that's a issue when buying a new drive. I'm making an account

The SATA controller on your nVidia 6150SE based board is 3 Gb/s, sometimes called SATA II. According to HP, the 500MB disk that shipped with your model was SATA II.

Your only concern would be if you bought a 6 Gb/s (SATA III) drive. I think those are supposed to be backwards compatible, though.

 

[smys]

@bobkn : yeah I think I could get away with a 3 GB/s 64 mb cache less than 10.0ms seek/latency drive that would no doubt work .. but ideally a 6 GB/s 64 mb -10ms seek drive. but even if I were to install a SATA III interface drive and have it work, wouldn't it be limited since my board is SATA II? Would it probably be better to just go with the 3 GB/s 64mb sata II? also, do most drives built now-a-days only run off NTFS formatting? or are there still ones still formatted with FAT32? because NTFS is what I require. I notice most ads don't specify that

@stormy13 : a question that has plagued me for quite some time !! hense dedicated graphics. eureka ! now.. I have a little extra money for the graphics card and even though It's going to be used strictly for dual monitoring, I'm still going to be running a few audio programs that require nvidia graphics and could be somewhat taxing but not nearly as much as a PC game. With that being said would that first card still be prime canidate? this system for shure is not going to have any gaming on it, but just a few audio programs. If I could still get away with that first one that would be ideal but I don't mind going up a bit if it's nessesary for what I'm trying to achieve.

 

[smys]

@everyone: infinite thanks for your suggestions / knowledge !! it's highly highly appreciated ! you guys own it up in in here !

 

[krazymate]

Yeh i would go for a way better psu Corsair is probably the most reliable so i would go with them good warranty to
Graphic cards wise i would go for a 5000 series ATI or a 6000 series Ati the 2gb cards are mostly better for dual display i have a ATI 6950 2GB and it runs perfectly on my 48 inch tv and my 22 inch monitor