Don’t let the high cost of premium GPUs stand between you and your multi-monitor dreams.
Here’s what it’s crucial that you know about using multiple monitors for productivity without breaking the bank.
Related:How to Use Multiple Monitors to Be More Productive
Instead, what matters is the hold-a-lot-of-stuff factor.
Hannah Stryker / How-To Geek
In fact, you barely need any power at all.
If you’re not chasing benchmarks in current AAA-level titles, you’ll be fine with an older card.
First, you could buy an older GPU.
The chipset might be older, but benchmarks don’t matter much when you’re just trying to serve up pages and documents for work.
Second, you’re free to buy a current but not top-tier GPU.
There are benefits (and downsides) to both approaches.
Before we dig in, however, let’s be clear.
NVIDIA Quadro cards are designed specifically for the needs and demands of a workstation power user.
You canbuy a used GPUlike a GTX 700 or 600-era card for next to nothing.
you’re able to even findGTX 750 Ti cardsfor under $50.
Of course, there are a few downsides to going with dirt-cheap older GPUs.
You’ll also notice we didn’t rattle off any 4-port combinations.
Four display connections on older cards was pretty uncommon.
Which is a perfect price point to segue into talking about buying a new card.
The best thing new GPUs have going for them besides lower price?
The cheapest way to get a better experience is to opt for an old-tech-new-design GPU.
A great example of this is theASUS GeForce GT 730.
The underlying card tech, the GT 730 chipset, was released way back in June 2014.
But ASUS redesigned the card for passive cooling and slapped 4 HDMI ports on.
On the upside, it’s cheap and silent.
NVIDIA Quadro cards are designed specifically for the needs and demands of a workstation power user.
You’ll spend $200-220, but it’s still less than buying a used or new higher-end GPU.
