Please recommend budget graphics card for dual monitor

[amauro]

Hi,
It's my first hackintosh and I am in a small budget, trying to make things work right. I have been using mini-Macs for several years, and I just want a nice small office box to run MS Office suite, web, media view, etc... but I need to use dual monitor.

After reading some guides, I bought this build: Asrock Z370M Pro4, Intel I5-8400, 8GB Fury 2666MHz, SSD 120GB Sandisk G27 Plus, and a 450W Corsair power source.

Now I should buy the graphics card, but I'm in serious doubt about it. As said, I am in small budget, so I am considering to use Geforce GT 710. Would like to know is it ok to 2 displays? Is there any significative difference between 1GB or 2GB to use 2 displays? Any other suggestions or or cheap alternatives to dual displays?

Thanks very much.

Adrimaur

(P.S. - GT 1030 and GT 1050 are expensive to me, because I am in Brazil. Just to give you guys some notion about local prices: GT 710 is about US$ 70,00 and GT 1030 is about US$ 160,00).

 

[Bz16]

Hi Adrimaur,

Before everything: unless you look forward to get a overclockable CPU in the future, I don't see why you need to buy a Z-series motherboard with a non-OC-able i5-8400. You can go with a cheaper mobo (H370? H310?) if you really want to squeeze some money out of your build.

If all you do is office stuff and not gaming, rendering, or other graphic-intensive jobs, then the type of graphics card should not affect you, let alone graphic memory size. In fact, the integrated GPU (UHD graphics 630) on your i5-8400 would have satisfy your need — even better than a GT 710 would — just make sure your motherboard have more than one non-VGA video ports (the motherboard you picked does). Also, check the compatibility somewhere on this forum as I know pretty much nothing on that. Sorry, still learning!

If you really want a graphics card (I doubt you do ), then (at least from where I learned) it is the best to save some money for the real powerful stuff, e.g. GTX1050. The limitation of cheaper graphics card should be on 1) the maximum amount of screens supported, 2) the maximum screen resolution, and most importantly 3) efficiency on graphic-intensive jobs, e.g. rendering and hashing. From what I see, GT 710 supports a maximum of 2 screens, so you should be fine with it. Again, this extra $30 to $60 is actually worse in performance than intel UHD graphics 630 that comes with your CPU, so I'd say don't.

Lastly, I do think that newegg ships to Brazil... If they do, then a GT710 will cost you only $37; other components should be cheaper too.

Hope this helps.

Bz16

 

[amauro]

Hi,

Many thanks for your kind and thorough reply. Some comments bellow:

Before everything: unless you look forward to get a overclockable CPU in the future, I don't see why you need to buy a Z-series motherboard with a non-OC-able i5-8400. You can go with a cheaper mobo (H370? H310?) if you really want to squeeze some money out of your build.

Ok. I just bought a Z370N because got a good deal here. Curiously, it's was cheaper then H series.

If all you do is office stuff and not gaming, rendering, or other graphic-intensive jobs, then the type of graphics card should not affect you, let alone graphic memory size. In fact, the integrated GPU (UHD graphics 630) on your i5-8400 would have satisfy your need — even better than a GT 710 would — just make sure your motherboard have more than one non-VGA video ports (the motherboard you picked does). Also, check the compatibility somewhere on this forum as I know pretty much nothing on that. Sorry, still learning

I really read some documents and saw that the GT 710 is inferior then UHD630 integrated. But is unclear to me if Z370 integrated GPU will support dual displays without problems. Everything I have read says I need a external GPU to support dual display without issues. If you have any comments about this, I would like to hear it.

If you really want a graphics card (I doubt you do ), then (at least from where I learned) it is the best to save some money for the real powerful stuff, e.g. GTX1050. The limitation of cheaper graphics card should be on 1) the maximum amount of screens supported, 2) the maximum screen resolution, and most importantly 3) efficiency on graphic-intensive jobs, e.g. rendering and hashing. From what I see, GT 710 supports a maximum of 2 screens, so you should be fine with it. Again, this extra $30 to $60 is actually worse in performance than intel UHD graphics 630 that comes with your CPU, so I'd say don't.

I understand. Thank you very much for your help. I will consider everything carefully. I thing I'll try to use integrated GPU with 2 displays before to buy a graphics card.

Lastly, I do think that newegg ships to Brazil... If they do, then a GT710 will cost you only $37; other components should be cheaper too.

Yes, they do. But import fees are about 80% for that, and takes more than 40 days to arrive :-/

Thanks again and best wishes, from Brazil.

Adrimaur.