Video card(s) for two 4k and one 1920x1200 monitor

[JB Rekit]

As the title states, my objective is to get two 4k and my 1920x1200 monitors going on my office pc (specs below). I had 4 monitors running for several years on my ASUS Radeon HD 3870 X2 and thought that I could just add the inexpensive Radeon R7 250 for the first 4k monitor, but I guess my understanding of using multiple video cards is lacking...

The R7 was purchased to get the first 4k monitor up and running to see if I even liked it, but now that I've decided to do two 4ks, it looks like I'll be needing some new hardware to some extent. Just unsure as to what the best way to accomplish this might be.

Use is purely for work, no games on here at all (not even the solitaire/hearts/minesweeper). Reason for so many monitors is due to the number of programs and folders typically open and being accessed at any given time. Most demanding graphics would come from autocad (just 2D line drawings), everything else is microsoft office or websites/emails.

Motherboard: ASUS P9X79 LE
Processor: Intel Core i7-3820 Sandy Bridge-E LGA 2011 130W
Memory: TridentX Series 32GB (4 x 8GB)
Power supply: EVGA 120-G2-1600-X1 80 PLUS GOLD
Cooling: CORSAIR Hydro Series H100i
Fans: multiple
HDDs: Samsung 850PRO SSD (operating system & programs)
Video Cards:
• ASUS Radeon HD 3870 X2 EAH3870X2/G/3DHTI/1G
• HIS iCooler Boost Clock Radeon R7 250 H250FS2G
Monitors:
• Samsung 28" 4K
• Dell 24" Ultrabright - portrait
• LG 31" 4k (to replace a 24" Dell going bad)

First question is, are the two video cards listed capable of running together on the same system and I'm just not doing something correctly?

Second question depends on the first, but what would be the recommended way of handling this? Get another R7 250? Get something else for the two 4ks and use the 3870x2 for the other monitor?

Thanks for the help

 

[PP Mguire]

If you can send the 250 back you can get this to only have one card in your machine. No sense to keeping the 3870x2 unless you just want a space heater for the winter.

XFX Radeon R7 265 Graphic Card - 900 MHz Core - 925 MHz Boost Clock - 1 GB GDDR5 SDRAM - PCI Express 3.0 x16 - Dual Slot Space Required - Newegg.com

That will run both 4k off HDMI and DP, then the 1200p monitor off DVI.

 

[JB Rekit]

That looks great, thanks! Can't take the other one back, but it will go in the parts closet until I need to make another computer for the office. Finally replaced the last pre-built computer with a home build last year. All have some parts leftover from continuously upgrading this computer over the years. Only thing left from the beginning is the case now. And maybe a SATA cable...

You're not joking about it being a space heater either. I had my AC contractor put in an extra supply and a return air in my office several years ago b/c of how bad it was.

 

[PP Mguire]

I owned the 4870x2 for a little while, so I know quite well.

Are your 4k screens 30hz or 60hz?

 

[JB Rekit]

The Samsung I already have is 60hz and the 31" LG is the 2nd one I was planning to add and it is 50/60hz as well. Just wanted to make sure I had the video card worked out before painting myself into a corner.

 

[PP Mguire]

Just so you know, HDMI on AMD cards will only go up to 30hz. On my TV the difference between 30 and 60hz is a big deal.

 

[JB Rekit]

I sure there are a ton of other options, but do you see any shortcomings for my planned usage with this one:
GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 960 GV-N960WF2OC-4GD 4GB 128-Bit GDDR5 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - Newegg.com

Couldn't find refresh rate even on the product manual, but it seemed to have everything covered with the 3 display ports. Not likely to add a third 4k (more of a desk real-estate issue), but it looks like it gives room to expand down the road if desired.

 

[PP Mguire]

I chose what I chose because I didn't know how expensive you'd want to go or whether or not you were ok with swapping to Nvidia. The 900 series has HDMI 2.0 and DP 1.2 so they'll both do 4k 60hz easy. Each 900 series card to my knowledge should support 4 displays as well.

Although I'd get this one instead.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...4487091&cm_re=evga_960-_-14-487-091-_-Product

 

[JB Rekit]

My initial reason for staying with the AMD card was b/c I thought that was all that was needed to run both at the same time.

Doing the hardware change kicked out my MS office activation for some reason so I had to go through that again.

Are there larger problems I should be concerned about changing over to Nvidia?

If I'm not using the other card anymore, It wouldn't be the end of the world for me to do a fresh install of everything again and get a new backup image to use.

 

[PP Mguire]

Shouldn't have even had that Office issue honestly. When switching over you'll need to uninstall the current AMD drivers and run DDU before installing the new Nvidia drivers. Other than that should be fine.