Dual monitor video card for 3D?

[BReeves]

Now that I have a 3d printer on the way started looking at what I needed for a computer. I have an HP 8300 tower with 64bit Windows 7 that will work except for one little item. It has an old PCIe dual monitor video card that really doesn't do 3D and will need to replace it. The computer has 3 PCIe slots X1, X4, and X16, Not looking to spend more for a graphics card than absolutely necessary to be able to run typical 3D printer software. I have been out of the computer business for quite some time and haven't kept up with with what is available.

So what say ye computer geeks, maybe something I can find on eBay in a dual monitor 3D graphics card? Preferably with two VGA outputs so I can connect it to my dual monitor KVM switch.

 

[BReeves]

Well I didn't wait, found a 1Gig ATI FirePro V8700 on eBay for $109.00. No cables or driver CD but I have the DMI to dual VGA cable for it and can download the driver. This was new retail a ~$900.00 graphics card. Supposedly checked out and 30 day return so not taking much of a chance.

 

[NightShade]

Uhhhhm, that fire pro is for a Profesional cad cam type of work. If you just want to manipulate something and it doesn't need to be dead acurate (like your 3D printer isn't good down to a very tiny increment) I would just grab a RX series or cheap GTX 10 series card. You can probably find one for about the same and have something MUCH MUCH more capable.

Plus the last time the card you are linking was sold new on newegg it was 120 not to mention that it is a ten year old card. I wouldn't pay ten bucks for it. Shoot one of my old HD6850's is better.

https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=FirePro+V8700&id=440

https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=Radeon+HD+6850&id=45

 

[NightShade]

Really anything from this list with enough connectors will work.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007709 601204369 601275822 601296396&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=36

You may just need to grab a display port to whatever you are using converter.

 

[BReeves]

Wow wasn't aware a 2 gig card could now be bought for ~$100.00. Should have waited for the experts. Oh well not the first time I jumped too soon and probably won't be my last. Might buy a new one for the 64bit computer and put the eBay card in my desktop. It has a 256mb dual video card I have been thinking about replacing for a while.. A 10 year old card would be about the same vintage as the computer.

 

[NightShade]

Yeah, I have found trashed computers less than ten years old. Threw one of my HD6850's into a HP that had a bad HDD when I got it. Had to swap a PSU but had one sitting around that worked fine (had a spare drive as well, laptop sata but was just setting something up for a guest.)

It's always better to look at new before you troll ebay for something. An RX550 has a score almost triple the FirePro and it costs less https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=Radeon+RX+550

 

[BReeves]

I'm still up in air over this durn video card mess. I have been researching the RX 550 and the more I searched the more confused I became. Looking at a MSI card it says it has a "DL-DVI-D 1" port (whatever the heck that is) and from what I have found out you need an active adapter to convert a DVI-D port to vga. Specs say it will support up to 3 monitors but I only need two and was hoping I could use one of the DVI to dual VGA cables I already have with the new card. From what I could gather, what I should be looking for is a card with a "DVI-I" port which from what I could see is a dual link analogue port.

This is the card I'm looking at...
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA6ZP5NT2904

This is an image I found on the web..

I could rearrange my computers and use two existing monitors that have both VGA and DVI-D inputs. Supose I could use the DVI ports but then I would have to buy the splitter plus two DVI-D cables. May not have made such a bad decision buying the FirePro card, it has a DVI-I connector and I should be able to use a DVI to dual VGA cable and will likely be good enough for 3D CAD.

 

[NightShade]

Well you may need to get a couple cables but they are cheap. I would just get a cheap dvi-d to vga adapter and a display port to vga adapter with an rx550. It would add about 20 bucks to the cost. There is no need to split the dvi-d unless you need more than two connections. I am actually getting to the point that I have very little that is VGA only as it supports lower resolutions than DVI and HDMI and are generally smaller screens. In May or June I actually picked up an 18Inch lcd brand new for about 60 bucks on clearance that has dvi and vga to replace an old vga only screen so that may be another option to try. Probably end up with better screen, lower power use, higher resolution capability, larger screen and work straight with dvi.