Recommend a good budget video card with 3 or 4 HDMI ports

[lan101]

These days I rarely have to put many video cards into any office computers because integrated works for 99% of people I deal with.

Can anyone recommend a decent budget card between $100-$200 dollars that would have 3 or 4 HDMI's? Just office 365 work and web/email is all these computers do majority of the time.

On a quick Amazon search I found this one here:

Amazon.com

I'm just pretty out of the loop with video cards right now so didn't know if there's a better recommendation for the money. All their monitors they use already have HDMI so I prefer not to be using different cables and adapters and all that because too many glitchy things can happen in my experience doing that if I can avoid it.

A few use 3 monitors or integrated would work fine with 2 monitors in most cases with these.

I appreciate it. Thank you.

 

[thecomputerguy]

I have used this on a Dell SFF PC with a non-upgradable PSU with success. Got 3 monitors out of it .. never tested a 4th with the VGA though.

Amazon.com

Use these adapters and buy a few of them, they come in handy

Amazon.com

In very budget setups I throw one of these on and even though the refresh on them stinks they get the job done and most people can't even tell.

Amazon.com: StarTech.com USB 3.0 to Dual HDMI Adapter, USB to 2x HDMI Monitor Converter for Windows, TAA (no support for macOS/ChromeOS/Linux) : Electronics

Buy StarTech.com USB 3.0 to Dual HDMI Adapter, USB to 2x HDMI Monitor Converter for Windows, TAA (no support for macOS/ChromeOS/Linux): Cables & Interconnects - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

a.co

 

[phaZed]

I'd look at an RX560 or a RTX3050. The 730 is really old at this point, doesn't support DX12 - and NVIDIA is dropping further driver support for that and most 10-series cards.

Nvidia starts to wind down support for old GPUs, including the long-lived GTX 1060

Nvidia last dropped Game Ready driver support for older GPUs in 2021.

arstechnica.com

 

[lan101]

I have used this on a Dell SFF PC with a non-upgradable PSU with success. Got 3 monitors out of it .. never tested a 4th with the VGA though.

Amazon.com

Use these adapters and buy a few of them, they come in handy

Amazon.com

In very budget setups I throw one of these on and even though the refresh on them stinks they get the job done and most people can't even tell.

Amazon.com: StarTech.com USB 3.0 to Dual HDMI Adapter, USB to 2x HDMI Monitor Converter for Windows, TAA (no support for macOS/ChromeOS/Linux) : Electronics

Buy StarTech.com USB 3.0 to Dual HDMI Adapter, USB to 2x HDMI Monitor Converter for Windows, TAA (no support for macOS/ChromeOS/Linux): Cables & Interconnects - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

a.co

Thanks for the info. For the usb adapter hdmi deal do they still show up in windows where you can re-arrange which monitor is 1 2 or 3 etc?

That would probably work in this case honestly. When you say refresh stinks...you mean just the refresh rate in general?

For this office work I doubt anyone would notice anything like that...just doing word, excel, and email the majority of the time. Web browsing too of course.

 

[lan101]

I'd look at an RX560 or a RTX3050. The 730 is really old at this point, doesn't support DX12 - and NVIDIA is dropping further driver support for that and most 10-series cards.

Nvidia starts to wind down support for old GPUs, including the long-lived GTX 1060

Nvidia last dropped Game Ready driver support for older GPUs in 2021.

arstechnica.com

I considered that and if they want to spend the money may go that route. Everyone seems to be trying to save a dollar these days at least my clients are lol.

Thank you.

 

[frase]

Asus Geforce GT 730 are decent for basic use I have found and I still use these for basic multiple monitor setups, it has x4 HDMI for very basic use and not into any kind of gaming. If they are willing to spend more maybe look at RTX 3050 for a basic card these come with x2 HDMI and x2 Display Ports though.

 

[Blues]

I'm not reading everything just yet but a worthwhile note is most GPUs have 0-2 HDMI ports but total output between HDMI and DP is usually 3-4 so I would look at picking up some DP to HDMI dongles if HDMI is a must.

TBC after reading

 

[lan101]

I think I'm just gonna get the startech usb to hdmi gadget instead of a card. Gonna just use the dell pro (optiplex why did they get rid of that name lol) Use the hdmi and DP built in and then the startech for the 3rd screen.

Their 3rd screens mostly just sit idle and they may have like an excel spreadsheet or a schedule pulled up that just sits there the vast majority of the time.

 

[Blues]

So looking back the 730 card you linked will work but if you want something more current the 3050 is probably your best bet but will likely need the adapter dongles to get 3-4 displays on it. I forgot to add some cards may have the HDMI port linked with a display port where only 1 may be used ie plug in an HDMI and it disables one of the Display Ports or vice versa. so it may have 4 ports but only supports 3 displays.

 

[frase]

So looking back the 730 card you linked will work but if you want something more current the 3050 is probably your best bet but will likely need the adapter dongles to get 3-4 displays on it. I forgot to add some cards may have the HDMI port linked with a display port where only 1 may be used ie plug in an HDMI and it disables one of the Display Ports or vice versa. so it may have 4 ports but only supports 3 displays.

Adapter dongles can be very hit and miss, personally I avoid them.

 

[frase]

I'm not reading everything just yet but a worthwhile note is most GPUs have 0-2 HDMI ports but total output between HDMI and DP is usually 3-4 so I would look at picking up some DP to HDMI dongles if HDMI is a must.

TBC after reading

DP > HDMI Cables or vice versa would be the better solutions than dodgy dongles.