What GPU would I need to drive 3 Dell SP2309W?

[paperfist]

Hi folks,

I'm a little confused on what card or more specifically what ports I would need to use to drive 3 Dell SP2309W with?

They have these inputs:
1 x VGA - 15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15)
1 x DVI-D - 24 pin digital DVI
1 x HDMI - 19 pin HDMI Type A

I see a lot of cards have Display Ports, but to use that I need a $80 adapter. I don't see too many cards with 2 DVI outputs.

The XFX Double D FX-795A-TDJC has 2 DVIs and 1 HDMI, can I mix those 3 to drive the output?

I'd like to get the max res on all 3 monitors of 2048x1152.

Thanks for the help

 

[IGemini]

I see a lot of cards have Display Ports, but to use that I need a $80 adapter.

Uh, what? I'm finding DP->HDMI/DVI adapters for $10-15 on the Egg, and even cheaper on monoprice.

 

[paperfist]

Uh, what? I'm finding DP->HDMI/DVI adapters for $10-15 on the Egg, and even cheaper on monoprice.

From reading over the forums the past couple of days I thought I needed an 'active' display port adapter and those were in the $80 range.

 

[RussianSensation]

I think you are better off grabbing a GTX670 for $360, sell BL2, bringing the cost lower, save $ on not getting an active-DP-to DVI adapter. Amazon also has the Galaxy GTX670 on 680 PCB/cooler for $350 or so. I think that card also gets BL2, but the coupon will be sent by email in 7-10 business days. Those 3 monitors are a lot of workload on the GPU, so maybe down the line you are ready to add a 2nd 670, giving SLI drivers an added advantage.

In general, I wouldn't consider the XFX 7950 card. That cooler is one of the worst for this generation of 7900 series cards, nearly as loud as the reference 7970 card! To make matters worse, it can hardly cope with the heat of an overclocked 7950 card at reasonable noise levels. In other words, this is one of the worst 7950 cards for real world overclocking without it having to sound like a jet engine.

MSi TF3, Sapphire Vapor-X, Sapphire Dual-X, Gigabyte Windforce 3x are all better 7950 cards imo.

 

[paperfist]

I think you are better off grabbing a GTX670 for $360, sell BL2, bringing the cost lower, save $ on not getting an active-DP-to DVI adapter. Amazon also has the Galaxy GTX670 on 680 PCB/cooler for $350 or so. I think that card also gets BL2, but the coupon will be sent by email in 7-10 business days. Those 3 monitors are a lot of workload on the GPU, so maybe down the line you are ready to add a 2nd 670, giving SLI drivers an added advantage.

In general, I wouldn't consider the XFX 7950 card. That cooler is one of the worst for this generation of 7900 series cards, nearly as loud as the reference 7970 card! To make matters worse, it can hardly cope with the heat of an overclocked 7950 card at reasonable noise levels. In other words, this is one of the worst 7950 cards for real world overclocking without it having to sound like a jet engine.



MSi TF3, Sapphire Vapor-X, Sapphire Dual-X, Gigabyte Windforce 3x are all better 7950 cards imo.

Thanks for the info. If I went with that Galaxy GeForce GTX 670 I would be able to power all 3 monitors via the dual DMI and 1 HDMI ports? I wasn't sure you could mix anything with HDMI because of protection schemes it has/had. My knowledge of them is from when the port first came out.

I guess to clarify, I don't necessarily intend to game on all 3, primarily they will be used for Word/email/Excel/browsers. So if I could power 2 for gaming that would be cool.

 

[llee]

Since none of your monitors support the DisplayPort standard natively, I would recommend investigating the Sapphire FLEX video cards and the GTX600 series. The FLEX edition cards are unique in that they can support up to three displays without DisplayPort tech while the regular AMD cards have a limit of two. The GTX600 series can also support three displays without DisplayPort tech but it's widely acknowledged that their multi-monitor gaming performance is severely hampered by their 256-bit bus width connecting the frame buffer with the GPU.

 

[RussianSensation]

Thanks for the info. If I went with that Galaxy GeForce GTX 670 I would be able to power all 3 monitors via the dual DMI and 1 HDMI ports? I wasn't sure you could mix anything with HDMI because of protection schemes it has/had. My knowledge of them is from when the port first came out.

I guess to clarify, I don't necessarily intend to game on all 3, primarily they will be used for Word/email/Excel/browsers. So if I could power 2 for gaming that would be cool.

Ya, you can run 3 displays as 2x DL-DVI + HDMI on NV. You don't need to use a display port for 3 screens.
http://www.geforce.com/hardware/technology/3dvision-surround/system-requirements

Alternatively, HD7950 Flex, but at $350, that's too close to the price of the 670 that's faster out of the box. The FLEX at this price only makes sense if you plan on overclocking. Between the 670 versions I linked, I'd go for the GTX680 PCB/fan version.