Any real* benefit to a graphics card in this desktop?

burritomike · 2014-10-30 17:00:20

I am building a desktop machine, I might Crunchify it but most likely I will just install Debian, Openbox, and the very few packages I actually use like Iceweasel, Gedit, a media player, LibreOffice, and maybe xscreensaver. I had planned to stick with onboard graphics (i5-4570 CPU) as I don't game or watch movies on my computer but last night my dad gave me one of these

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6814130625

and now I am wondering if I should bother with it. Besides using more electricity and the ability to have dual monitors, will I really see much of a difference during normal operation by using this card?

Need to buy:
Gigabyte B85N Phoenix motherboard
8 gb DDR3 (2x4)
Intel i5-4570 CPU

Already have:
Cooler Master Elite 110 case
PNY 240 SSD
Corsair CS450M PSU
EVGA GTX 550 Ti video card

CSCoder4ever · 2014-10-30 17:52:04

No, you likely wouldn't, but incase you wanted to game, it might not be a bad addition to your machine.

If you do however plan on dual monitors, yeah I'd use it 8o

Different55 · 2014-10-30 19:14:47

You could put some eye candy compositing on your desktop, programs like blender would really benefit, and if you're one of those people who mine bitcoins, that would speed things up nicely.

ohnonot · 2014-10-30 19:30:11

i'm pretty sure i read some thread recently where someone had trouble with an nvidia card of the "Ti" series.
it's not the newest, iirc?
but that person was probably a moron.
so if installing a proprietary nvidia driver is not over your head, why not try it - maybe on a seperate partition.

and always remeber, debian stable runs best with mature hardware!

damo · 2014-10-30 19:30:28

If you do use it, then be aware that nvidia drivers can be problematic. It is actually quite easy to deal with, so just ask if you need any assistance

TicTac · 2014-10-30 19:33:48

@burritomike,

If you want dual monitors, your power supply is adequate and the card was free... Why the heck not?

@CSCoder4ever & Different55,

Not much of a gamer myself nor a hardware junkie but wouldn't using this card free up his on board system resources as well, like clock cycles and memory?

Different55 · 2014-10-30 21:39:52

TicTac wrote:

@burritomike,
If you want dual monitors, your power supply is adequate and the card was free... Why the heck not?
@CSCoder4ever & Different55,
Not much of a gamer myself nor a hardware junkie but wouldn't using this card free up his on board system resources as well, like clock cycles and memory?

It would free up a not-insignificant amount of memory. Onboard graphics usually chew on a piece of the installed RAM to do their calculations, while discrete graphics cards come with their own faster RAM, leaving all installed RAM available for the OS to use.

As far as clock cycles go, I don't think he wouldn't see a benefit unless something he was doing had hardware acceleration support, like compositing, rendering, video watching, bitcoin mining, hash brute-forcing, or something else like that. Some browsers support hardware acceleration, which might make web browsing a slightly smoother experience, but I don't think it would make much of a difference over onboard graphics.

Last edited by Different55 (2014-10-30 21:40:01)

CSCoder4ever · 2014-10-30 21:40:44

@TicTac The Power supply is definitely adequate, And I'm not entirely sure. Where it would really shine is gaming though. And maybe some other programs that can use that CUDA technology!

@Different55 It's not AMD, and even so, I would discourage bitcoining, but that is just me.

ohnonot wrote:

i'm pretty sure i read some thread recently where someone had trouble with an nvidia card of the "Ti" series.
it's not the newest, iirc?
but that person was probably a moron.
so if installing a proprietary nvidia driver is not over your head, why not try it - maybe on a seperate partition.
and always remeber, debian stable runs best with mature hardware!

Nvidia's been using the "Ti" part for a few generations now, 500 ofc, and it's possible the current 900 series will as well... eventually.

oh yes and I have used my 550 Ti in Crunchbang before, definitely works without a hitch... albeit I'd install the proprietary driver... that's just me though.

Last edited by CSCoder4ever (2014-10-30 21:47:27)

Copper0 · 2014-10-30 22:05:24

Just for the record I am running dual monitors with on-board graphics on an H87I-PLUS MB with a i5-4670

TicTac · 2014-10-30 22:11:56

Different55 & CSCoder4ever... Thanks to both of you.

pvsage · 2014-10-30 22:14:37

For the record, I've run an extended dual-monitor desktop (including the internal LVDS and 1080p monitor) with a Dell Mini 9 with a single-core Atom processor and low-end Intel HD graphics. I wouldn't recommend it for anything other than the novelty of it...

burritomike · 2014-10-30 22:28:55

CSCoder4ever wrote:

No, you likely wouldn't, but incase you wanted to game, it might not be a bad addition to your machine.
If you do however plan on dual monitors, yeah I'd use it 8o

I think I will keep it on the shelf for right now and if I ever get a chance to buy a couple really nice monitors (think Black Friday) I will have the card ready to go!

I so like the idea of freeing up memory by having the graphics card use its own, so that's another good reason, but seeing as I hardly tax the 4gb I am currently using, maybe I will save the electricity until I have two displays.

Thanks everyone for the great info

ETA: What is the best way to run dual monitors with onboard graphics? Are there adapters available to split the VGA output jack?

Last edited by burritomike (2014-10-30 22:30:33)

TicTac · 2014-10-30 23:02:43

@burritomike,

Yeppers... http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications … &CatId=467

BUT... I believe this solution will only achieve a "mirrored" dual monitor display.

Last edited by TicTac (2014-10-30 23:06:23)

Different55 · 2014-10-31 00:29:47

CSCoder4ever wrote:

@Different55 It's not AMD, and even so, I would discourage bitcoining, but that is just me.

Are AMD cards a lot better at bitcoin mining? I've never mined bitcoins or anything like that so I don't know much about it.

CSCoder4ever wrote:

oh yes and I have used my 550 Ti in Crunchbang before, definitely works without a hitch... albeit I'd install the proprietary driver... that's just me though.

I'd second this, but that's just us though.
If you really like free software, nouveau is okay. I had a few very small visual artifacts when using it and I read somewhere that some cards get nerfed quite a bit, but if you enjoy the possible colorful glitchyness and still aren't planning on doing any gaming, it should do just fine.

TicTac wrote:

@burritomike,
Yeppers... http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications … &CatId=467

BUT... I believe this solution will only achieve a "mirrored" dual monitor display.

Yeah, these only mirror the image. All the classrooms in my high school use these to double the display on the projector.

Last edited by Different55 (2014-10-31 00:32:13)

Copper0 · 2014-10-31 01:28:43

However the B85N does not have a VGA port. so @burritomike what monitors are you planning on hooking up? You do have DVI and HDMI available.

CSCoder4ever · 2014-10-31 02:02:43

^ Could get a DVI to VGA adapter, I'm surprised the board doesn't come with one... mine did ( z77e-itx ) 8o

Different55 wrote:

CSCoder4ever wrote:
@Different55 It's not AMD, and even so, I would discourage bitcoining, but that is just me.
Are AMD cards a lot better at bitcoin mining? I've never mined bitcoins or anything like that so I don't know much about it.

Oh yeah, at one point, I was able to trade my current 7950 for one of those 780s because the price of it went so high ]:D

ohnonot · 2014-10-31 07:18:04

burritomike wrote:

I will save the electricity

+1 to that!

CSCoder4ever · 2014-10-31 14:00:26

ohnonot wrote:

burritomike wrote:
I will save the electricity
+1 to that!

It won't be much of a savings but alright.
The extra cost would be worth it if ever @burritomike decides to game, or do something intense

TicTac · 2014-10-31 14:08:09

CSCoder4ever wrote:

ohnonot wrote:
burritomike wrote:
I will save the electricity
+1 to that!
It won't be much of a savings but alright.
The extra cost would be worth it if ever @burritomike decides to game, or do something intense

Agreed, can't possibly be much of a savings to be had with regard to electricity and if the OP wants dual NON mirrored monitors and has a free card laying around... Why not?

burritomike · 2014-10-31 15:59:36

Copper0 wrote:

However the B85N does not have a VGA port. so @burritomike what monitors are you planning on hooking up? You do have DVI and HDMI available.

Wow, I never noticed that! My monitor has an HDMI port and I'm sure I've got a cable hanging around the house somewhere. Thanks for pointing that out!

If I get two monitors I don't want them mirrored so I'll hang on to the card and see what Black Friday (or maybe Santa) brings!

Copper0 · 2014-10-31 16:47:02

But that's what I am saying, if your other monitor has DVI then you I think you would be able to run those in extended mode (i.e. non-mirrored)

burritomike · 2014-10-31 17:07:58

Copper0 wrote:

But that's what I am saying, if your other monitor has DVI then you I think you would be able to run those in extended mode (i.e. non-mirrored)

You mean like run one from the HDMI port and one from the DVI port and have them be non-mirrored?

ohnonot · 2014-10-31 17:58:13

TicTac wrote:

CSCoder4ever wrote:
ohnonot wrote:
+1 to that!
It won't be much of a savings but alright.
The extra cost would be worth it if ever @burritomike decides to game, or do something intense
Agreed, can't possibly be much of a savings to be had with regard to electricity and if the OP wants dual NON mirrored monitors and has a free card laying around... Why not?

i didn't mean financial savings. i was talking about saving the planet.
i know, it probably isn't much in this case, but it's important to keep that factor in your decision-making.

Copper0 · 2014-10-31 18:11:19

burritomike wrote:

Copper0 wrote:
But that's what I am saying, if your other monitor has DVI then you I think you would be able to run those in extended mode (i.e. non-mirrored)
You mean like run one from the HDMI port and one from the DVI port and have them be non-mirrored?

Yup. Might not work under Wheezy but Under Jessie it should be fine. Or i guess backport a few packages.

burritomike · 2014-10-31 18:15:50

ohnonot wrote:

TicTac wrote:
CSCoder4ever wrote:
It won't be much of a savings but alright.
The extra cost would be worth it if ever @burritomike decides to game, or do something intense
Agreed, can't possibly be much of a savings to be had with regard to electricity and if the OP wants dual NON mirrored monitors and has a free card laying around... Why not?
i didn't mean financial savings. i was talking about saving the planet.
i know, it probably isn't much in this case, but it's important to keep that factor in your decision-making.

I agree on all counts. Can I do that? I know the actual electricity saved will be negligible but if I use this approach with everything in my life (which I am working on!) maybe I will see a real financial benefit. The personal benefit to this way of doing things is not only a possible financial one either. Since I would have to be using a fair amount less electricity to see real savings on my energy bill I would also feel warm and fuzzy knowing I was being less of a drain on the planet's resources. Funny, but that was never really a factor in my decision-making until our son was born.

Copper0 wrote:

burritomike wrote:
Copper0 wrote:
But that's what I am saying, if your other monitor has DVI then you I think you would be able to run those in extended mode (i.e. non-mirrored)
You mean like run one from the HDMI port and one from the DVI port and have them be non-mirrored?
Yup. Might not work under Wheezy but Under Jessie it should be fine. Or i guess backport a few packages.

Interesting, I will have to check this out! Thanks for the idea

Last edited by burritomike (2014-10-31 18:17:01)

CrunchBang Linux

SEARCH

#1 2014-10-30 17:00:20

Any real* benefit to a graphics card in this desktop?

#2 2014-10-30 17:52:04

Re: Any real* benefit to a graphics card in this desktop?

#3 2014-10-30 19:14:47

Re: Any real* benefit to a graphics card in this desktop?

#4 2014-10-30 19:30:11

Re: Any real* benefit to a graphics card in this desktop?

#5 2014-10-30 19:30:28

Re: Any real* benefit to a graphics card in this desktop?

#6 2014-10-30 19:33:48

Re: Any real* benefit to a graphics card in this desktop?

#7 2014-10-30 21:39:52

Re: Any real* benefit to a graphics card in this desktop?

#8 2014-10-30 21:40:44

Re: Any real* benefit to a graphics card in this desktop?

#9 2014-10-30 22:05:24

Re: Any real* benefit to a graphics card in this desktop?

#10 2014-10-30 22:11:56

Re: Any real* benefit to a graphics card in this desktop?

#11 2014-10-30 22:14:37

Re: Any real* benefit to a graphics card in this desktop?

#12 2014-10-30 22:28:55

Re: Any real* benefit to a graphics card in this desktop?

#13 2014-10-30 23:02:43

Re: Any real* benefit to a graphics card in this desktop?

#14 2014-10-31 00:29:47

Re: Any real* benefit to a graphics card in this desktop?

#15 2014-10-31 01:28:43

Re: Any real* benefit to a graphics card in this desktop?

#16 2014-10-31 02:02:43

Re: Any real* benefit to a graphics card in this desktop?

#17 2014-10-31 07:18:04

Re: Any real* benefit to a graphics card in this desktop?

#18 2014-10-31 14:00:26

Re: Any real* benefit to a graphics card in this desktop?

#19 2014-10-31 14:08:09

Re: Any real* benefit to a graphics card in this desktop?

#20 2014-10-31 15:59:36

Re: Any real* benefit to a graphics card in this desktop?

#21 2014-10-31 16:47:02

Re: Any real* benefit to a graphics card in this desktop?

#22 2014-10-31 17:07:58

Re: Any real* benefit to a graphics card in this desktop?

#23 2014-10-31 17:58:13

Re: Any real* benefit to a graphics card in this desktop?

#24 2014-10-31 18:11:19

Re: Any real* benefit to a graphics card in this desktop?

#25 2014-10-31 18:15:50

Re: Any real* benefit to a graphics card in this desktop?

Board footer