Video Card upgrade suggestions

[DonaldM]

I was wondering if any of you that do scoring for video and/or video games might have recommendation on a video card. Right now my set up is a Dell XPS 435T/9000 Win-7 Pro 24gig RAM. Intel I7 [email protected] (I'll probably upgrade to Win-10 soon). Using PT 12.7.

My current video card is a Nvidia G-Force 240. It has 2 monitor outputs and I have dual monitor system with 2 22" monitors, which I like so I can see edit and mix screens at one time. However, I may be scoring for a video game here soon and I was wondering about the right video card that would allow me 3 monitors -- 2 for PT like now and the third for screening the video, and be powerful enough to handle most current computer/video game requirements AND run smoothly with PT.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

[Chief Technician]

If you have a SYNC | HD, my suggestion is that you get a dedicated video output peripheral and use that to drive your video monitor. You can genlock the video output peripheral and your SYNC | HD and get near-sample accurate sync every time you press play.

If you do not have a SYNC | HD peripheral, then hopefully someone with a setup similar to yours will recommend a graphics card with three outputs.

[Vedat]

Hi Donald, are you looking for a video card or a graphics card?
Graphics card is what drives the monitors. (Nvidia, ATi etc)
Video card is what gives software like ProTools video output options to interconnect with other Video hardware (Blackmagic, AJA).

In your case, I'd go with a graphics card that gives you 3 monitor outs.
I have an ATI Radeon HD 5770 and some active HDMi converters and it runs smooth as on my Mac.
Not sure on the Windows front though.

[DonaldM]

Originally Posted by Vedat

Hi Donald, are you looking for a video card or a graphics card?
Graphics card is what drives the monitors. (Nvidia, ATi etc)
Video card is what gives software like ProTools video output options to interconnect with other Video hardware (Blackmagic, AJA).

In your case, I'd go with a graphics card that gives you 3 monitor outs.
I have an ATI Radeon HD 5770 and some active HDMi converters and it runs smooth as on my Mac.
Not sure on the Windows front though.

Yes, I meant graphics card. (thinking of too many things at once when I posted!). I thought the graphics cards came with HDMi outputs built in?

[adolf02]

You should be safe with anything in the 9 or 10 series.

[adolf02]

Here are some tips for you http://pc4u.org/best-graphics-card-advice-and-tips/

[Joevb]

Any thoughts on using Nvidia Quadro cards? (P4000 or M4000 for example).

It gives 4 video outputs you can use for displays / video playback, but how are they in terms of compatibility / preformance (Windows10)

[zecaleme]

How the Quadro worked for you? Im thinking of getting one to upgrade my macpro and the quadro looks good.

[Wizzoboy]

NVidia GeForce GTX 6 series and 7 series support 4 monitors.

[MatzeHD]

I think, use a actual GTX 1060 or 1070. This cards supports with DP 8K for the future. And now you can connect until 4 monitor too @UHD with 60Hz. Asus has the Strix version with 2*HDMi and 2*DP Outs. Other cards has 1*HDMi and 3*DP.
I think the best way for Protools are 2 UHD monitor or 1 or 2 big 21:9 LG Displays or curved 21:9 by Samsung.

Btw, you can make with the actual Nvidia cards a virtual 8K desktop divided for 2 UHD displays, this is a good point too!