Dual-headed graphics card choice: DVI & VGA with 512MB or DVI & DVI with 256MB [closed]

Question

Which would you choose? Some more detail:

I can choose between:

1. A dual-headed card with both heads DVI but only 256MB of memory

2. A dual-headed card with one VGA and one DVI, with 512MB of memory.

3. Both monitors are 1600x1200

4. I'll be doing mostly business app development on the computer. No gameplay or advanced graphics work. It's running Win7 and is a quad-core i5.

I'm thinking of going with 256MB one, just so both displays are DVI and I don't have to shift between sharp & blurry when I look from one screen to the other. But I'm not sure if the additional RAM would be a huge boon for some reason (Win7 GPU acceleration, for example? But with a quad-core, who cares?).

Answer 1

You are very correct in that the 256MB one is the way to go as DVI offer pure digital link and you don't have to think about adjusting the parameters on the screens. You are also correct that the additional ram is unlikely to help much.

In general, if the GPU is good enough, RAM is usually not a big problem. If the GPU is not good enoguh, no amount of RAM will save it.

However, for the last bit, Win7 GPU acceleration, for example? But with a quad-core, who cares?, I think, for most of the GPU accelerated jobs, even the worst accelerated GPU of the current generation will give better performance than a quad-core CPU will give :)

Answer 2

VGA doesn't make the image blurry, as long as you set the settings on your monitor correctly. I'm running VGA & DVI on two identical monitors right now, and you can't tell the difference. Easy way to calibrate LCD running over VGA:

1. Pull up this test page in your web browser, hit F11 for full screen, fill the screen with as much of the test pattern as possible
2. Press the 'auto adjust' button on your monitor
3. Done! Your image should be nice and sharp now.