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adding a very cheap graphics card on the side of 2070 just for the extra HDMi port?

drinformationdrinformation Posts: 119
in The Commons

My new 2070 super graphics card only has one HDMi output and I have two monitors, should I add a very cheap graphics card on the side to use it's HDMi output for my second monitor or buying a displayport adapter is the more sensible option in the same price range?

the main questions are:
would a cheap graphics card (like nvidia 210) hurt my render performance in any way?
would giving the second monitor to another graphics card boost the performance of my main card?
what would the lowest spec card I need to add before seeing an improvement in render time?
would a radeon card be of any use in this situation?

Comments

  • nicsttnicstt Posts: 11,715
    edited June 2020

    I'd get a graphics card purely for your display. Then the 2070 can be used for rendering. You could use onboard graphics if the CPU has it, or as you ask, install an additional card.

    I still use a 970 for 3 monitors and a 980ti for rendering; I render in Blender using CPU and GPU (CPU out-performs the 980ti). No matter where I render, I don't add the 970 to the pool, not worth it and laggy.

    Any card you add needs as much RAM as your 2070, otherwise you'll have it being ignored when the scene needs more than the lower one has. Any card you have that fulfills the requirement for Iray rendering will make a difference, just don't expect much if you don't spend much. Iray is a cash hog.

    Edit:

    The current scene I'm working on in Blender, saw a ten second improvement adding the 970; it only takes two minutes to render using Blender's our of core rendering with my Threadripper and 980ti.

    Post edited by nicstt on
  • kenshaw011267kenshaw011267 Posts: 3,805

    1) Probably not but PC's are complex and something might conflict

    2) No.

    3) It would depend scene to scene. There are cards with less than 8Gb of VRAM that would boost performance but only when the scene would fit on their VRAM. But you could get something like a GTX 750 and it would occasionally boost render performance somewhat. However for better results you'd want something with more than 1Gb of VRAM. 

    4) It weould drive a second monitor but otherwise wouldn't help rendering.

  • vagansvagans Posts: 422

    I would just buy an adapter to utilize the other ports from your 2070 Super. An additional GPU is just more expensive and complicating things unnecessarily. Depending on your system, if it's an Intel CPU (in which almost all of them have iGPUs) then you might also have a HDMI on your motherboard that you could use for a 2nd monitor. Sometimes the built-in GPU is disabled when an add-in GPU is available but you can actually enable the built-in in the BIOS and run them concurrently.

  • Gusf1Gusf1 Posts: 257

        I just bought a cable with Display port on one end and HDMI on the other for $17, including shipping from Newegg.  I don't think you can get a second card for less.

                      Gus

  • kenshaw011267kenshaw011267 Posts: 3,805

    I was frustrated by this when I got my 3 monitor setup at work. They were all HDMI and I had 2 video outs, one on the motherboard for the eGPU and one on the GPU. I had 3 DP on the GPU as well but no reasonably priced monitors had DP ports.

  • drinformationdrinformation Posts: 119

    I do have a DP to HDMi adaptor for one of my monitors, however, if adding a second card would ease a noticeable amount of workload from my rendering card, I'm willing to invest a little more to acheive that.

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