Need Video graphics card.

[BrassCat]

Hello the Forum, 7 rules!

Well, looks like my graphics card is dying.
Only one video output functioning, the other is erratic
and mostly outputs black. Not a monitor issue, bad video
follows the video card output connector, not the monitor
that's connected.

Have been using AMD FirePro V5800.

Looking for recommendations. My system is
AMD FirePro V5800.
AMD Opteron 6128 (G34 socket).
Bus connection 1 ea. PCIe16 v2 and 1ea PCIe8 (almost no video cards are PCIe8)
Not a gamer, used for Programming, and CAD use.

I have not followed video graphic cards much, only when I need one.
(like now).

What I am looking for:

3 to 4 monitor output capable

Monitors: 2ea Samsung 204B 1600x1200 (Samsung 204B) (VGA or DVI)
1ea Samsung 2443BWT (1920x1200) (VGA or DVI)

1 more maybe: HDTV or widescreen monitor (for movies)

(wouldn't you know, the video card is trying to work,
who says computers are aware! Ask Bowman.

3D would be a nice add on (with 3d glasses).

Used or new (not too high end, ~ <350??)

Any suggestions to look at. Thanks in advance.

Stan

 

[Mellon Head]

I wouldn't buy a used video card. No telling what the previous user has overclocked the card to...

For what you're doing with your PC, you don't need a terrifically powerful card. It should have some power, yes, but you don't need a gamer card, or the high cost of one. You can get a perfectly capable card for your needs for well under $350.

I'm not too familiar with Nvidia cards, so I'll let the Nvidia boys advise you on those. Nvidia may give more performance depending on the card, but the price tends to be higher than AMD cards are.

The AMD R7 300 series would work fine for you. There's enough power for CAD work, as well as an HDMI output for home theater use. This one:

XFX Radeon R7 370 R7-370P-4255 4GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 CrossFireX Support Double Dissipation XXX OC Video Card - Newegg.com

is a capable card, and only costs $149 US, to give just one example. Look around at sites like Newegg.com (if you're in the USA), and you'll see a number of offerings in the R7 300 series of AMD cards. I've had great luck with XFX branded cards and they come with a lifetime warranty.

An Nvidia card that might be worth checking out is the GTX 960 series. From Newegg, they average around $200. Here's a reasonable example of a pretty good card:

EVGA GeForce GTX 960 04G-P4-3969-KR 4GB FTW GAMING w/ACX 2.0+, Whisper Silent Cooling w/ Free Installed Backplate Graphics Card - Newegg.com

Notice that the Nvidia card only has a 128 bit memory bus, where the AMD card has a 256 bit memory bus. It does make a bit of a difference. Nvidia's offerings in the 256 bit bus range tend to run in the $400 dollar range, which is a bit out of your price range. Though Nvidia has cards in the 700 series that may suit your needs. I'll leave that one to the Nvidia folks here to comment on.

For gaming, I would say Nvidia all the way, especially if you have a large budget. But for what you're doing and AMD card will work just fine, and you'll save money. Maybe you can add more memory to the PC to speed things up a little.

 

[AddRAM]

i wanted to comment, but he has all amd parts, so I didn`t bother

You will not get a decent CAD card for $350, they can cost thousands.

I can`t even dig up the PNY link I want to. It showed the prices and everything.

https://www.pny.com/oem/products/nvidia-quadro-graphics-cards

https://www.pny.com/mega-commercial/explore-our-products/nvidia-nvs-graphics-cards

Brasscat, you are a little confused about the PCI Express bus speed, if you only have 1 card installed, the slot runs at x16 speed, when you install another card, the 2 lanes now run at x8 speed, this is totally normal.

The only way to have 2 lanes run at x16 speed is to buy the proper motherboard, which usually requires an E series Intel cpu, whether or not if a Xeon does that, I have no idea.

 

[AddRAM]

PNY Quadro - Newegg.com

 

[BrassCat]

Hello, thanks for responding. I am not confused, but perhaps
was not clear enough or misspoke! The motherboard has one PCIe16 (physical socket),
one PCIe8 (socket), plus a few PCIe1 and PCI slots. To use the Pci8e, it does
use 8 lanes from the PCIe16, making it electrically only a PCIe8. Of course
these are not dedicated to graphics, but essentially PCIe graphic cards ARE PCIe16.

The CAD software I use is TurboCad 21 and ORCAD (schematic &PCB).
The AMD FirePro V5800 has had enough ump for what I do, but could
not span 3 1600x1200 monitors, only two at that resolution.

I think you are correct on a used graphics card, better new.

Thanks, Stan

 

[Mellon Head]

Brasscat, you are a little confused about the PCI Express bus speed, if you only have 1 card installed, the slot runs at x16 speed, when you install another card, the 2 lanes now run at x8 speed, this is totally normal.

Actually, a "feature" of some AMD chipsets is to run one of the PCI slots at 16x and one at 8x or even 4x, depending on the motherboard that you buy. Not so much any more, but that used to be the case. With the 970 and 990FX chipsets it's not so much of a problem, but the OP has an older (I think anyway) server board, and I'll bet that one of the slots runs at 8x.

You're right about the CAD optimized boards being very expensive and outside the OP's budget. (Those Quadros are not cheap). If he's doing professional CAD work, then he needs a Quadro or Firepro board, no doubt. However, if the OP isn't doing full time CAD work and wants to stay under budget, perhaps a more capable card like something from the AMD R9 300 series would work better for him, and he could still stay under budget.

This is a more capable card that is still within the OP's budget:

SAPPHIRE NITRO Radeon R9 380 DirectX 12 100384NT4GOC-2L 4GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Dual-X OC Version w/ backplate (UEFI) Video Card - Newegg.com

This one is even better and should be on par with (or maybe a little better than) a GTX 970:

XFX Radeon R9 390 DirectX 12 R9-390P-8256 8GB 512-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 CrossFireX Support Double Dissipation XXX OC Video Card - Newegg.com

It's still not an optimal solution, but maybe BrassCat can tell us a bit more about how much CAD work he's actually doing. Maybe he really does need a Quadro.

 

[Mellon Head]

The CAD software I use is TurboCad 21 and ORCAD (schematic &PCB).

I use OrCAD with an AMD R9 280 3GB and it performs flawlessly on two monitors. (My card is a little less capable than the ones that I linked.) You should have no trouble using either CAD program with an R9 series card. Since you want to drive 3 monitors, looking at the R9 380 or 390 would be wise. The R9 390 is the biggest bang for your buck. A GTX 970 would also be good choice.

This is a good contender as well, but won't outperform the R9 390:

GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 970 4GB G1 GAMING OC EDITION - Newegg.com