Help me find the right Graphics Card - Please

[sujanks]

I have 2x PNY GTX 560 ti on SLI. However, I get frequent display errors and my screen goes blank enforcing me to push the reset button - sometimes every 1-2 hours. I have tried all the drivers avail to no fix for the problems. So, I have now decided to replace them.

I have a setup with three LCDs each at 1600 x 1200, for a total of 3600 x 1600. These have only the DVI and VGA inputs.

I do NOT use my computer for gaming at all, but mostly for office applications of very large files such as 200-300 mb xls files, and lots of graphics work on CS6 and Lightroom 4. Some of the PS files I work with are about 6 gb and some of the AI files are around 2 gb. I want to be able to use this for 3d programs in the future but currently not important. I also have lots of browser tabs open at any given time (sometimes over 50).

So, here is my dilemma. I am going to sell the two PNYs and replace them, but what should I replace them with (Budget is max $800):

1. another set of more reliable 2x GTX 560 ti (about $400) OR
2. 2x GTX 670 (2GB, about $800), OR
3. 1x GTX 670 (4GB, about $450 + $30 for DP -> DVI dongle) OR
4. 1x FirePro w7000 (about $770 + $30 for DP -> DVI dongle) OR
5. Any other suggestions!!!

The computer currenlty runs on ASUS P9X79, i7-3930k, 2x 120GB SSD on RAID0, 16GB DDR3-2133 RAM, with 2x Velociraptor drives and 1x 2TB HDD.

Thank you for your time.

 

[Arkaign]

I think maybe a good single 7970 3GB card would do the trick, at least IMO. The new ones are a little bit quicker than a 680. I also like the idea of 3GB or more for memory size w/multimonitor.

<-- owns a 2GB EVGA 670FTW, but really only games with it at 1920x1200.

 

[etamin]

Any games in particular that you want to play?

 

[Arkaign]

Any games in particular that you want to play?

OP doesn't game.

 

[Jaydip]

As you will likely venture in professional apps I would recommend this one from your list
FirePro w7000

 

[etamin]

OP doesn't game.

wow, totally missed that part...

 

[Greenlepricon]

That firepro will be plenty. Those professional cards are optimized for what you want to do and if that's all your computer will be used for then it's a good tradeoff. Depending on how much you'll be doing, you may be able to get away with a slightly cheaper one, but it sounds like this will take up quite a bit of your time. I would say stick to that last option.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

Aren't the 7 series based FirePro cards really bad?


Also shouldn't your current cards still be under warranty? It sounds like you have a hardware issue. Have you considered contacting PNY or trying some of the fixes such as force constant power/per max perf/and adjusting how much load is required before boosting from low power clocks? You could also try flashing your cards with higher voltage at lower power states if none of the aforementioned worked and the cards aren't under warranty any longer.

 

[bononos]

I have 2x PNY GTX 560 ti on SLI. However, I get frequent display errors and my screen goes blank enforcing me to push the reset button - sometimes every 1-2 hours. I have tried all the drivers avail to no fix for the problems. So, I have now decided to replace them.

.......

Is the power supply, airflow(case), gpu temps all fine?

 

[tweakboy]

I have 2x PNY GTX 560 ti on SLI. However, I get frequent display errors and my screen goes blank enforcing me to push the reset button - sometimes every 1-2 hours. I have tried all the drivers avail to no fix for the problems. So, I have now decided to replace them.

I have a setup with three LCDs each at 1600 x 1200, for a total of 3600 x 1600. These have only the DVI and VGA inputs.

I do NOT use my computer for gaming at all, but mostly for office applications of very large files such as 200-300 mb xls files, and lots of graphics work on CS6 and Lightroom 4. Some of the PS files I work with are about 6 gb and some of the AI files are around 2 gb. I want to be able to use this for 3d programs in the future but currently not important. I also have lots of browser tabs open at any given time (sometimes over 50).

So, here is my dilemma. I am going to sell the two PNYs and replace them, but what should I replace them with (Budget is max $800):

1. another set of more reliable 2x GTX 560 ti (about $400) OR
2. 2x GTX 670 (2GB, about $800), OR
3. 1x GTX 670 (4GB, about $450 + $30 for DP -> DVI dongle) OR
4. 1x FirePro w7000 (about $770 + $30 for DP -> DVI dongle) OR
5. Any other suggestions!!!

The computer currenlty runs on ASUS P9X79, i7-3930k, 2x 120GB SSD on RAID0, 16GB DDR3-2133 RAM, with 2x Velociraptor drives and 1x 2TB HDD.

Thank you for your time.

If you dont use your computer for gaming but do for PS and other stuff then All you need is a 660 Ti It has 3 ports, 2DVI and 1 HDMI .... you can have your triple mon setup and PS will render nicely with the card and CPU you got. gl

l:whiste:

 

[sujanks]

Thank you everyone.

The PSU is 750W. Airflow is "ok" i guess. I have two inflow fans in the front, and two outflow on top and back (total 4). The case is HAF 912.

Just ran CPUID HWMonitor. GPUs are at 29C and 34C. CPU at 40C and MB at 30C.

Also I bought the refurbished card from Newegg (have been more than 90 days now). Never buying refurbished cards again. However the other rig with 2x PNY GTX 460 runs really amazingly with no problems. 460s give no problems in this setup as well.

I saw in one of the benchmarks that HD 7970 and 7950 outperform most cards on OpenGL (for CS6) and DirectX, but were nowhere near for AutoCAD and others.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/firepro-w8000-w9000-benchmark,3265-19.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/firepro-w8000-w9000-benchmark,3265-20.html

Plus, the max length of the card can only be 10.6" due to my case limitation (I really like this case), else I have to loose those HDD spaces, which I def need. There is one 7950 that is smaller than 10.6" in newegg, and few 7970s but one of the displays must support DP to support eyefinity. None of my current display have DP or DVI.

So, now I am leaning towards the 1x W7000 or 1x 670 (4MB) card. W7000 runs with 150 Watt and 670 with 170W. 7950 is at 200W and 7970 is at 250W. Currently the 2 560s are drawing 2x170W. This way I can lower the power consumption and use the same PSU to add 2 more SSDs???

Thank you for all your help.

 

[sujanks]

I think I should add the prices of the cards on NewEgg are as follows:

EVGA GTX 670 SC +w/Backplate 4GB: $429.99 => I am not sure if the DP->DVI dongle actually works to get 3 monitor setup.

FirePro W7000 4GB: $769.99. This comes with 2 dongles but I still have to get 3rd.

DP->DVI dongle : $29.99.

 

[sujanks]

If you dont use your computer for gaming but do for PS and other stuff then All you need is a 660 Ti It has 3 ports, 2DVI and 1 HDMI .... you can have your triple mon setup and PS will render nicely with the card and CPU you got. gl

l:whiste:

I thought the only single GTX cards that can support three monitors were/are the 290, 590 and 690, with the exception to this particular EVGA GTX 670 card.

 

[tweakboy]

I thought the only single GTX cards that can support three monitors were/are the 290, 590 and 690, with the exception to this particular EVGA GTX 670 card.

You thought wrong even GTX 460 1GB has 3 inputs,,, 2DVI 1 hdmi

the 560 Ti card will get you a 7.9 , for me its 7.6 cuz of my CPU.
It overclocks well as you can see from my sig and the price is great. Now you can save the rest of the money for a SSD. If a 660 Ti price is right then grab that. My old man uses PS CS6 and Adobe Premiere with a Sandy and 560Ti ,,,,, its fast,,,,, flawless and scrolling thru timeline has no lag rendering is fast....... nVidia has good OpenGL support for adobe apps. gl

:whiste:

 

[BallaTheFeared]

Um I'm not sure about that tweakboy, my 470s all have 2 (non stacked) dvi's and mini hdmi but I don't have a cable for the HDMI. I'm not too sure they can display 3 screens off one card. We all know they can't surround, but I've never really heard anyone discussing 3 screens 1 card w/o surround before so I can't say for sure.

My guess is 2 screens per card prior to 6xx series.


I don't understand the OP's need for SLI though in this case. Isn't really all he needs is a main card and a cheap secondary for the additional display?

 

[sujanks]

Thank you for all your helps. After a few driver changes, changing the pcieSlot and all that, I haven't seen the display error for two days now. I am going to give this one more week of try. I think I am getting the GTX 670 FTW edition from EVGA. I thought, I may play games one of the days when I'd have no work to do. Thanks again.