Need answer from video card pros!

[Chabs]

Heres my new system, with 64 bit windows XP.

http://cgi.ebay.com/INTEL-QUAD-CORE-Q9550-QAUD-CORE-8GB-DDR-2-22X-DVD-RW_W0QQitemZ290277382306QQcmdZViewItemQQptZDesktop _PCs?hash=item290277382306&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C 240%3A1308

I went down to my local computer shop today, and bought 2 new 22 inch Acer monitors, model # X223W. Max res. of 1680x1050. The guy at my local computer store was acting like he would be shocked if my new system would run these 2 monitors, with the "garbage" video card, GeForce 9500GT. Im trying to line everything up so when my new comp actually arrives, im ready to go. And I would hate to be stopped in my tracks by a video card issue. Is he correct? I plan to 5 box with this system, and Im looking to sort the kinks out before they arrive. I hope to run my main screen with some decent effects settings, but I dont care if the 4 slaves on the second monitor are turned right down. For the past few years I havent even really seen the graphics, Ive had them turned down so low. It would be nice if this card would do what I hope it will. Hopefully some of you have experience with this video card, or can at least give me an accurate prediction of how it will handle the task.

Thanks

[Akeldema]

That Video card may struggle with two monitors of that size, How much it will struggle i dont know.
It will run them fine. Just ingame you may get nasty fps lag.



Edit- Hrmmm, It says it has 1gb of video memory, Thats normaly were they fail running two screens at that res. Not enough video memory But 1gb might just do it.

[Tsunami]

to make this short, you should be fine. there are people boxing with the 8800 video card with 512mb. 1 gb of video ram is a lot and will easily be able to render 2 screens no problem, don't listen to some techno geek. that was a good card at one time, so what if it is not the fastest on the market. hardware always advance before there are programs to run on them. use this card and in 6 months buy a 260/280 for half price.

[aboron]

I run 2 1680x1050 monitors with 5 clients total: 4 at minimum settings on the left and one and full screen max settings on the right.

I use the 8800gtx with 768meg and have a Q9450 cpu.

With the 4 low res clients limited to 20 fps, I get 40-50 fps from the main out in the world and at least 20 in town.

[Chabs]

I run 2 1680x1050 monitors with 5 clients total: 4 at minimum settings on the left and one and full screen max settings on the right.

I use the 8800gtx with 768meg and have a Q9450 cpu.

With the 4 low res clients limited to 20 fps, I get 40-50 fps from the main out in the world and at least 20 in town.

So what are you saying exactly? Is my vid card very similar to yours?

[zanthor]

the amount of texture ram is important, but not nearly as important as the tech specs on the card...

The 9500GT is the lower end of the 9000 series cards from Nvidia, the difference between it and the 8800GT is significant.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150322
Lets take a high end manufacturers card and spec's, assuming the best rather than the worst...
Costs $85.00

Chipset
Chipset Manufacturer NVIDIA
GPU GeForce 9500 GT
Core clock 550MHz
Stream Processors 32
Memory
Memory Clock 800MHz
Memory Size 1GB
Memory Interface 128-bit
Memory Type GDDR2

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150272
Now compare that with the 8800GT, a generation older card...
Costs: $130.00
Chipset
Chipset Manufacturer NVIDIA
GPU GeForce 8800 GT
Core clock 600MHz
Stream Processors 112
Memory
Memory Clock 1800MHz
Memory Size 512MB
Memory Interface 256-bit
Memory Type GDDR3

What you see is a significant difference in performance for a very moderate difference in price... Ultimately I don't expect you will have many problems with the 9500gt, but if the system chokes, that video card is going to be a likely candidate.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143141
So for a final contrast, take a look at the GTX280...
Cost: $425.00

Chipset
Chipset Manufacturer NVIDIA
GPU GeForce GTX 280
Core clock 602MHz
Stream Processors 240 processing cores
Memory
Memory Clock 2214MHz
Memory Size 1GB
Memory Interface 512-bit
Memory Type GDDR3

Quadruple the cost, twice the stream processors ( = faster frame rates)

So you can see how a little more money on the bottom end can go a long ways, but a LOT more money on the top end doesn't necessarily push you that much farther... do the 280's rock? I'm told yes... have I dropped $500 on a bleeding edge card? More times than I can count... Will I again? Absolutely.

The one thing I like about bleeding edge video cards is that while you may drop $500 on them, you only do it once every 3-4 years. In the meantime you could be replacing a $150 card yearly... ends up the same in the end...

[zanthor]

And with all that, I failed to mention, you shouldn't have a problem running 5 wows on it. You won't likely see the screaming fast framerates some people get, but I'd wager you can easily h old 30fps with the background windows set @ 15fps. If it doesn't work out, upgrade the video card...

[Ozbert]

My GeForce 8800GTX doesn't have any problems rendering on two 24" screens both at 1920x1200. The four clients on the right screen are limited to 15fps though.

[Frosty]

zanthor, you rock! You answered a ton of questions I've wondered about video cards.

Thanks for the helpful post! :thumbsup:

[Chabs]

Yes zanthor, that was a great reply. Im sure there are others like me who do not know the ins and outs of this stuff, and you made it make sense. I do want good performance out of this system, and if I dont get it, I think I know the reason, and I will be upgrading if required. Thanks for the reply.

[Chabs]

Hopefully zanthor reads this thread again.

Zanthor, would I be better off running one large monitor say 30 inch, instead of 2 monitors that are 22 inch? Would that be more, or less for the video card to handle?

[pengwynman]

Hopefully zanthor reads this thread again.

Zanthor, would I be better off running one large monitor say 30 inch, instead of 2 monitors that are 22 inch? Would that be more, or less for the video card to handle?sorry i'm not zanthor, but i'll do what i can. generally the only size of the monitor that matters in relation to the video card is the resolution. Higher resolution = more pixels to render = more load on your video card.

30" = 2560x1600 = 4,096,000 total pixels
2x 22" = 1680x1050 x2 = 3,528,000 total pixels

With a 30" monitor, you have the POTENTIAL for putting more load on your video card, though there are more factors here like what resolution are you actually running the game at, driver issues across multiple monitors, etc.

[zanthor]

30" = 2560x1600 = 4,096,000 total pixels
2x 22" = 1680x1050 x2 = 3,528,000 total pixels

With a 30" monitor, you have the POTENTIAL for putting more load on your video card, though there are more factors here like what resolution are you actually running the game at, driver issues across multiple monitors, etc. *Stretch* *Yawn* Yea, that.

[Chabs]

How does the pixel math work with multiple instances of wow running, at different resolutions? Would it be (800x600x4) + (whatever resolution my main screen is) = total?

Im wondering if I can get more mileage out of the video card by tuning down the resolution alot. Would that idea make the 30" monitor work well? And the same would go for the 22" inchers obviously. Im debating returning my 22s this morning and getting a 30 =). Thanks for the feedback.

Also, is it even possible or does it make sense to tune a 30 inch down that much?

[pengwynman]

How does the pixel math work with multiple instances of wow running, at different resolutions? Would it be (800x600x4) + (whatever resolution my main screen is) = total?

Im wondering if I can get more mileage out of the video card by tuning down the resolution alot. Would that idea make the 30" monitor work well? And the same would go for the 22" inchers obviously. Im debating returning my 22s this morning and getting a 30 =). Thanks for the feedback.

Also, is it even possible or does it make sense to tune a 30 inch down that much?it really depends on how you want to set it all up. if all of the clones are going to be set to 800x600, then the only other thing to take into consideration is the main. if you run your main at 1680x1050 on a 30" monitor, you'll get the same performance as the same resolution on a 22" monitor. if you ran your main at that resolution on a 30", you'd be able to fit your clones around that somehow, and you should get the same performance. now if you want to turn the main up to 2560x1600, you're probably going to get lower fps because the video card has more to render. it mostly depends on what resolution you want to run your main at and whether you want 2 monitors or 1.
personally, i have a 22" right now with a 17" crt for my clones, but i'm going to get a 30" for my main and put my clones on the 22".

[zanthor]

Quite frankly you can buy 22" monitors @ 1650x1080 for $150 and free shipping, the lowest I've seen a 30" LCD is right around $1000... for that sorta difference you can buy one bitching ass video card and drive the two 22" monitors with no problems at all... or you can drop $300 on two 22" lcd's, and $150 on an 8800GT or equivilant, and save yerself $550...

[pengwynman]

Quite frankly you can buy 22" monitors @ 1650x1080 for $150 and free shipping, the lowest I've seen a 30" LCD is right around $1000... for that sorta difference you can buy one bitching ass video card and drive the two 22" monitors with no problems at all... or you can drop $300 on two 22" lcd's, and $150 on an 8800GT or equivilant, and save yerself $550...yeah, i left that part out. 30" monitors are expensive! but oh so awesome :]

[Bovidae]

Quite frankly you can buy 22" monitors @ 1650x1080 for $150 and free shipping, the lowest I've seen a 30" LCD is right around $1000... for that sorta difference you can buy one bitching ass video card and drive the two 22" monitors with no problems at all... or you can drop $300 on two 22" lcd's, and $150 on an 8800GT or equivilant, and save yerself $550...Precisely why I use multiple 22" monitors.

Since you've already discussed pixel count and cost, I've done the math on square inches. A 30" monitor is roughly 18"x24" or 432 square inches. A 22" is roughly 13.2"x17.6" or 232.32 squares.

232.32x2= 464.64 vs 432

winner: Double 22"s

[heffner]

Just to clarify, the 8800GT outperforms the 9500.

Also, if you are multiboxing I assume you will be splitting the larger 30" into 4-5 windows? So, buying 1X30" vs. 2 X 22" doesn't really make much sense to me unless the price is similar.

[pengwynman]

just buy 2x 30's, that'll fit all your needs and wants