Trying to build a computer for both work and gaming

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davealej

New Member
I am going to customize a pc in the future for both gaming and working, I work in the fields of 3D modeling, Image editing and Video Editing but at the same time I game a lot, I have everything clear on every other part of the PC except for the Graphics Card which I have very little knowledge on.

Which is the right way to customize this, do I have to get two graphics card that are exactly the same like getting two equal Nvidia GTX so that they behave like a single nvidia Quadro or can I get a Nvidia Quadro and a GTX and have them in the same computer, this is what I dont understand, if I choose the second option a Quadro for 3d modeling and work in general and a GTX for gaming how do I manage both under just one monitor, is it possible? or am i forced to buy two monitors one for each graphic card? also how do I know which application is using what, how can I know if my Maya application is not running under the GTX instead of the Quadro and the other way around how do I know if the Quadro is not accidentally running the games instead of the GTX?

Then the connections, if I want to have GTX and Quadro in the same computer and under one monitor how does the connection happen? would I have to make sure that the Monitor I buy has at least 2 HDMI slots or maybe I can buy a 32inch TV and use it as monitor, they usually have multiple HDMI slots.

Well I really appreciate if anyone could help with this since I am not pro at building PCs.

Thanks!!
 
Typically you would use just one video output for one card unless you want multiple displays. The way you described it is that you want a gaming video card and a graphics capable card. It doesn't work like that. 2 or more Nvidia cards are configured in what is called SLI. They have to be the same graphics cards and they have to support SLI. Same with AMD it's called Crossfire. Your Motherboard has to also have the PCI-e ports and be SLI or crossfire capable. You can have one graphics card and a dissimilar card for rendering physx only. You select that in the video card control panel.

I don't do graphics editing so I'm not sure what type of graphics card would be best, but I can tell you that a graphics card only for graphics editing won't perform well for video gaming.
 
What's your budget?

You definitely want an NVIDIA card, and since you do gaming, I'd probably recommend you stick to the GeForce cards.

I'd just go for a single GTX 770, 780 or 780 Ti if you can afford it. I wouldn't bother with multiple cards personally. Any one of those will be good for both rendering and gaming.

A Quadro would be better for your modelling and rendering than a GeForce, but probably not so good for gaming, so if you went with one of those you'd have to expect that your games probably wouldn't run as well as they would if you got a GeForce.

I doubt you can put a GeForce and a Quadro in the same system since the GPUs are completely different.
 
Thank you both for you answers, my budget is of 2500usd for the whole computer, from what I understand Smith is saying if I ever wanted dissimilar cards I cant tell in the nvidia control panel which card does the running of the 3D modeling software and which other does the running of the video games.

But also what spirit is saying is true I could get a 2gb GTX and use it for both gaming and modeling, it will work fine.

I tell you where my confusion came from, what I want is to build a good origin pc since I have heard they are pretty good so I went to their website and built a professional pc (http://www.originpc.com/configurator/d/d4.aspx?SYSTEMID=10) thats the link for the build page of that pc if you notice in the graphics cards section it lets you choose any GTX and a Quadro as optional both in the same system just couldnt understand how exactly did that work.

So what I think Ill do is get a 2GB Nvidia GTX 770 and use it for both gaming and modeling(working in general) I guess it should work, right?

Thanks!!
 
Agent Smith said:
Typically you would use just one video output for one card unless you want multiple displays. The way you described it is that you want a gaming video card and a graphics capable card. It doesn't work like that. 2 or more Nvidia cards are configured in what is called SLI. They have to be the same graphics cards and they have to support SLI. Same with AMD it's called Crossfire. Your Motherboard has to also have the PCI-e ports and be SLI or crossfire capable. You can have one graphics card and a dissimilar card for rendering physx only. You select that in the video card control panel.

I don't do graphics editing so I'm not sure what type of graphics card would be best, but I can tell you that a graphics card only for graphics editing won't perform well for video gaming.
Click to expand...

spirit said:
I doubt you can put a GeForce and a Quadro in the same system since the GPUs are completely different.
Click to expand...

You can actually use a Quadro and a GTX in the same build.
The editor of LinusTechTips uses a Quadro K4000 and a GTX 780. They work together to process the videos, using CUDA cores from the 780 and 10-bit color stuff from the Quadro.
But for your needs, a high end GTX is enough I would say.
LinusTechTips: Ultimate Video Editing Workstation @ YouTube (Starts at the GPU explanation, 41 minutes in)
 
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Yes you can have a Quadro and a GTX together, Later I learned that the trick consisted in telling the graphic cards using their respective control panels which applications you want them to take care of, its something as simple as making sure a certain executable is in a list of programs to run, so for example I could tell the quadro to run my Maya 3D modeling application and I could tell the GTX to make sure it runs everytime I plug in a game.

Thanks for your help!!
 
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