New Vid Card?

[wileyCoyote]

...want to get new vid card w/ HDMI out, ..plus i'm also thinking i may want to have 3 monitor setup in the future...

current config:
- evga geforce 9800GT
- win XP MCE

curious about the zotac multiview cards (two models), ..which claim to allow you to connect three monitors to one GPU... i don't think any of the radeon cards will work because the "eyefinity" multi-monitor config is supposedly not work on Win XP

here's what i'm leaning toward:
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 550 Ti Multiview [ZT-50403-10L]

any comments/suggestions/experience, ...how is zotac?

[raynor139]

The 550 are decent cards I'm running a sli setup with them now. Im not sure how well 3 monitors will run off them. My 2 seem to tax them as it is. But I run stuff pretty maxed out a lot. NVIDIA is rolling out the new 600 series now. Might be something better or go with a more powerful 500 series card

[wileyCoyote]

The 550 are decent cards I'm running a sli setup with them now. Im not sure how well 3 monitors will run off them. My 2 seem to tax them as it is. But I run stuff pretty maxed out a lot. NVIDIA is rolling out the new 600 series now. Might be something better or go with a more powerful 500 series card

i'm not a gamer, ...but just streaming web vids, and stuff like that... i'm thinking this card would be the last i buy for this machine (6 yr old dell xps 400), ..so don't want to spend to much..

[Z28Thunder]

The 550 are decent cards I'm running a sli setup with them now. Im not sure how well 3 monitors will run off them. My 2 seem to tax them as it is. But I run stuff pretty maxed out a lot. NVIDIA is rolling out the new 600 series now. Might be something better or go with a more powerful 500 series card

I agree I would wait for the new 600 or go with a more powerful 500 series. I have a 8800 GTX that is going bad. I have replaced it with a 550 GT EVGA. IMO my 8800 can dance circles around the 550 GT... I am mad the 8800 GTX is buying the dust. There is nothing I can throw a it maxed that it cant handle.

[Z28Thunder]

i'm not a gamer, ...but just streaming web vids, and stuff like that... i'm thinking this card would be the last i buy for this machine (6 yr old dell xps 400), ..so don't want to spend to much..

If that is all you're doing with it that card will be perfect for you.

[wileyCoyote]

I agree I would wait for the new 600 or go with a more powerful 500 series. I have a 8800 GTX that is going bad. I have replaced it with a 550 GT EVGA. IMO my 8800 can dance circles around the 550 GT... I am mad the 8800 GTX is buying the dust. There is nothing I can throw a it maxed that it cant handle.

the GTX 680?... it starts at like $500! no thanks!

i don't want to put that much into this machine... i'm thinking $150 tops, especially since i'd be putting the perfectly good card i have now on the shelf...

[Z28Thunder]

the GTX 680?... it starts at like $500! no thanks!

i don't want to put that much into this machine... i'm thinking $150 tops, especially since i'd be putting the perfectly good card i have now on the shelf...

Notice my reply to what you will be using the machine for...

[wileyCoyote]

Notice my reply to what you will be using the machine for...

ha - didn't see that one, ...damn multi-tasking
thanks

[wileyCoyote]

ok, ordered the zotac gtx 550 ti... hopefully i won't regret it - first time going w/ zotac...

[Schmalgar]

Lemme know how it works when you get it... I've been considering setting up a 3 monitor non-gaming 'command station' as well, I'll use you as a guinea pig...

[wileyCoyote]

so far seems pretty good i think.. only one monitor though right now...

schmalgar, ..if you're going to do 3-monitor gaming, i don't think this card will be ideal - from what i've read, it exposes two of the three monitors to the OS as one expanded monitor, and the third as a "second" independent monitor ..so while this is fine for me just desktop computing, ..it probably wouldn't be good for gaming... you might need to look toward the Radeon HD cards that works w/ multiple independent monitors - i think it requires windows vista or windows 7 to work though - which i passed on because i'm still w/ winXP...

[Ed Blown Vert]

I run Eyefinity with just a single 5870 pushing 5870x1200. Don't have any issues running MW3.
You should consider moving to 7.

[wileyCoyote]

I run Eyefinity with just a single 5870 pushing 5870x1200. Don't have any issues running MW3.
You should consider moving to 7.

yeah, but i'm too cheap! i'll wait until what i have i no longer viable before moving on...