Hi mates,
I'd like to replace my old AMD video card, specially since I started working with two monitors (and the integrated intel GPU doesn't seems a good solution): so I bought a new silent Nvidia card, a GT 730, if I remember well, but once installed it gave me bad flickering issues. So I had to return it, reinstalling the old one.
Probably was a defect of that card, but now I'm getting suspicious about Nvidia; so I'm now considering a Gigabyte GV-R7360C, an AMD Radeon R7 360with 2 Gbytes of memory. It's not silent, but it has only one fan, big and slow enough to be very silent (or it seems so....)

Any suggestion? Did you have similar issues with Nvidia cards?
By the way, my system is a I7 4770K, mobo Asus Z87, 32 Gigs RAM, win 7/64

 

here nvidia gt-610, 2gb ram, no fan, double output dvi/vga works perfect with two monitors 1280x1024, Also with Cubase 5.1 in monitor 1 and 1920x1080 video full screen in the second, also gpu accell. for illustrator, etc. bueno y barato.

 

I have to admit I am an nVidia fanboy! I guess you get used to the same manufacturer and keep on going back.

I currently have GTX 960 4Gb w/display port running at 3840x2160@60 (UHD). I have lots of screen space and it works perfectly with my AOC U2868PQU monitor. I also have a 1080p monitor attached through DVI and have streamed TV running often, whilst I carry on with stuff on my main desktop.

I am running a hackintosh with Yosemite 10.10.5 and it also dual boots with Win7 Ultimate x64. I have no problems at all, apart from a minor glitch when loading the desktop in OSX. The only thing I had to do was get a new power supply that could power the on board fan.

Oh and also it's based on a Gigabyte GA-H61M-S2PV (which is slightly old now!) and 16Gb memory.

 

My DAW is only and exclusively for Audio stuff. So, I need to be sure that no hw device interfere with audio card causing glitches or other issues, being also as quiet as possible. I'm a Nvidia fan too, but I often heard about its driver issues with audio related stuff. Is it a "false positive" or not? Any further info about AMD?

 

I would make do with the integrated Intel VGA for the time being and buy a next generation Nvidia 1050 or 1060, or AMD Polaris 10 when they become available this year. Why? because it seems like there will be finally some great passively cooled VGAs available since they both transitioned to smaller and more energy efficient 16nm transistors finally [instead of 28nm].

I'm only using Nvidia and Intel VGAs in my builds and I can't confirm any issues, except that I'd always rather have an Nvidia VGA in my PC because I rather deal with Nvidia drivers [Intel is the buggier one in my experience], but the Intel VGAs you get with the processor are very handy because they're silent and good enough for a dedicated audio workstation. Regarding AMD, I haven't had good luck with them in the past, but things could be different now as I have assembled a few cheap AMD A-10 7890K based PCs and they work great, no issues whatsoever, only some little troubles with Linux which are now resolved.

In my experience Nvidia drivers got more buggy last few years and AMD drivers got less buggy. So now it all came down to a matter of preference, kinda. My preference is: stable driver, efficient-no-crap-in-the-background driver, all around working good driver. Then passive cooling [VGA should never use more than 60W, preferably 20-50W ] and 2D speed.

Cheers!

 

Last edited: Jun 2, 2016

You don't need a video card if you have a 4770k. The 4770k supports up to three screens out of the box. If you're not into gaming and you don't need 3d accelleration hardware, there is zero need for a dedicated video card.
Btw, I use a fanless gf 750ti because I do fancy some occasional gaming

 

Excellent choice of a VGA card fraifikmushi, if you still want to play an occasional game. Is it ASUS? Gigabyte? or maybe Gainward? I usually go with one of those three for a VGA.

 

Palit
But I have to admit the 2gb vram are not enough for hi-res textures, which is a pitty.

 

Thanks mate! You are satisfied with it, I suppose? No overheating? I might have a look at Palit cards in the future then, that's why I ask. It is rather hard to find a good passively cooled GTX750 and even harder GTX750ti.

 

@SineWave

I own a EVGA GTX750Ti ACX ... no needs for liquid cooling (if you have not enough space in your case).

 

Afaik palit and gainward are the only two manufacturers who have a passive version.
I never had a single issue, but I have a good case (fractal design r5) with case fans.

 

Make sure the card you get with OpenGL support, DAWs like Studio One and a lot of plugin developers are using this to render GUIs.
I got a GTX960 when I was building my rig last year, but the newer GTX950 should do and is cheaper

Don't worry too much about fan noise, mine are pretty much off during sessions. MSI Afterburner lets you set custom fan curves.

BTW Im on a Z87-Pro with 4970k which is pretty much the same as your system and I don't have any issues, plus I'm running 4 monitors.

 

Could you name a single current consumer video card that doesn't support opengl? Just one? I'd go out on a limb here and say there is none.

 

I don't have a desktop, but nowadays it's probably best to wait for next-gen nVidias.
Though right now, Palit KalmX 750ti is IMHO best option.

Intel X3100 doesn't have OpenGL drivers for Windows.

 

Yes, a chipset that's nine years old. That's why I wrote current...

 

I should have said support for the latest version of OpenGL.
But I think NCIX sells some 50-100$ cards that don't support it (I was comparing between two cheap cards or a GTX960 for 4 monitors)

 

Just get a gtx 750 or 950. Fairly decent priced, and can handle all your needs, low noise, low energy too on the 950.