Dual Monitor Graphics Card

cirx08

Right well I was in PC World today and I seen a graphics card (Radeon HD 6450 I think), it's just for dual monitor to improve productivity both displays will be different and no gaming... Anyway I asked the IT technician working there and he said no to run dual monitors with different content on both displays I would need SLI, That's wrong right? Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't SLI just for improving the performance and FPS and nothing to do with dual or triple monitors?

tazzzZ

he is wrong.... as long as the gfx card has more than one display output u can use dual monitors. not sure how well a 6450 would run 2 monitors depending on the content being shown on each... ie 2 full 1080p videos on each screen might struggle. but im not 100% sure bout that.

cirx08

I like to think I know what I'm talking about when it comes to computers but when it comes to the graphics card I haven't a clue... What would you recommend I look for when buying a graphics card?

For the moment it won't be used for gaming I'm gonna upgrade for that in the future tho I was looking at a Radeon HD 7950 for that and a triple monitor setup but for the next while I'm going for the productivity so that I can do my programming more efficiently and get the money for a better setup.

Thanks for the help by the way.

tazzzZ

yea that will be fine for programming and the like.

for a triple monitor set up i would if your looking for eyefinity to work and to have all the eye candy turned on you will need more than a single 7950. esp for newer games.

cirx08

So the 6450 would be fine running a dual monitor for programming? I also found a 1GB 625MHz Radeon HD 6450 for €50 capable of running triple monitors... At the moment I'm a console gamer and at that I rarely get time to play so when I do make the move to PC gaming I'm going to take it in steps and build onto my system so medium graphics would be fine to start off with

Overheal

Oh come now. You're going to be programming, I'm sure you're able to do the basic research here The 6450 is perfect for this solution.

That said, whomever you talked to in PCW was either leading you astray or misunderstood the question (Dual Graphics not Dual Monitors)

Torqay

tazzzZ wrote: »

not sure how well a 6450 would run 2 monitors depending on the content being shown on each... ie 2 full 1080p videos on each screen might struggle. but im not 100% sure bout that.

A HD 6450 can run full HD videos on 3 monitors without breaking a sweat. The card supports up to 4 displays btw.

marco_polo

Torqay wrote: »

A HD 6450 can run full HD videos on 3 monitors without breaking a sweat. The card supports up to 4 displays btw.

Need to be careful though, that is not true of all HD6450s. Some of the cheapest ones (with just VGA/DVI/HDMI) and no display ports can only output two signals at a time.

@OP You mentioned some gaming, but the HD6450 wouldn't be much good even at the lowest settings, you probably want to aim a bit higher if you are serious about even some moderate gaming.