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I have a Nvidia GeForce GTX 550 Ti - I did have two but one expired. looking for a similar replacement to run a single TV through HDMI, the current card runs two monitors.

Do I need to be looking at the same brand or spec? Or will it work with anything?

I expect it to be showing webpages most of the time. I have it set up as an over head monitor that'll I'll be using to collect reference materials.

As I won't be using it for games I'd like to keep the price as low as possible.

My main concern is in order to achieve this I'll need to buy two new cards because I can't see this one for sale.

Rig:

  • CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K
  • Operating System: Microsoft® Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
  • Motherboard: P8Z68-V LX
  • Memory:16.0GB Corsair 1600mhz Vengeance (4x 4GB)
  • Graphics card: 1 x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti 1GB
  • Sound card: Onboard 7.1 Audio
  • Case: Xigmatek Asgard (20 x 41 x 48 cm)
  • PSU: 700W Xigmatek
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  • The reference specs for the GTX 550 Ti indicate that it has two DVI-I and one mini-HDMI. Are you certain you need a second card for a third display?
    – T.J.L.
    Apr 6, 2016 at 12:39
  • Yes it will only run two monitors at a time even though it has three ports
    – LewiG
    Apr 6, 2016 at 15:38
  • Just had to be sure. As I understand it, it has something to do with the clock signal generation. Because DVI and HDMI are electrically identical (on the video channels, anyway), one port of each type sometimes shares a clock, and therefore only one can be used at a time. That was the case on my GTX460, but not my GTX 760... I wasn't sure when they changed. In any case, I concur with @RajHuff's answer. The 700-series is only one generation behind the 900-series, because the 800-series is the 700-series in the mobile flavors.
    – T.J.L.
    Apr 6, 2016 at 15:49

1 Answer 1

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The GTX 550Ti is a discontinued video card (and has been for a couple of years now) You would be paying a premium on ebay for a (probably) used card if you wanted to find a matching one.

In order to use SLi, you need to have matching graphics cards. Though the brand and clock speed may be different, they must have the same GPU (and both be Ti or non-Ti) as well as the same amount of video RAM. If you are not gaming or doing graphical rendering I wonder why you would want two cards anyways? You are able to use two (and on some models three) monitors with a single GTX 550Ti.

If you are looking for a new single video card of comparable power which can also support multiple monitors, I recommend the GTX 750 which can be found for around USD$100, or the current GTX 950 for about USD$140. The GTX 660 Ti is capable of supporting three monitors, but can be difficult to find because it has been discontinued.

Virtually any video card sold in stores today will support multiple monitors (at least two) and be capable of web content and bluray playback. Bear in mind that ATi video cards will need to use DisplayPort (or a powered adapter) in order to use three displays simultaneously.

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  • Thnk you Raj, I am limited to run two displays, I would like to run three. Essentially I'm creating an area I can dump things I need, but not working on - FTP Program, Web Tutorials, Reference files. I'm a web coder so on the main displays I have code vs website usually
    – LewiG
    Apr 6, 2016 at 15:46
  • Your workload sounds like replace, not add. You only needed two cards before to push on three monitors; you can get rid of the current card and replace it with one better card. I concur with Raj's card suggestions... however... if you can wait, Nvidia is starting to roll out Pascal-based GPUs (the Tesla P100 released today, it seems). When the Pascal-based consumer GPUs start rolling, the now-current Maxwell-based consumer GPUs should drop in price.
    – T.J.L.
    Apr 6, 2016 at 15:56

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