Cheap PCI Express (3.0 x16 slot) card for 4k 60hz over HDMI

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sir__rob

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Nov 30, 2020
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I need a new video card to power a new 4k 60hz monitor with audio (HDMI 2.0) on an old computer. My Asrock Z77 Extreme4 motherboard has an available PCI Express 3.0 x16 Slot. I do not game, but I do photo editing. I am just looking for the lowest cost, quietest, and lowest power consuming video card available (in that order) that will run the monitor and do 4k video smoothly. I do NOT need it to be low profile.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
 
Welcome to the forums. Unfortunately, at this time everything you might want is sold out or owned by scalpers. Rumor has it that stocks and prices won't normalize for about 8 weeks.

Not what you want to hear - but simply look around the site and you will find this to be true. Even 'used' (probably heavily used) cards are selling for a premium at the moment.

Best bet: wait until February.
 
Thanks for your quick response. Once prices normalize again, are there any cards that you would recommend? I am beginning to think that a display port to HDMI adapter may be the cheapest way to go.
 
sir__rob said:
Thanks for your quick response. Once prices normalize again, are there any cards that you would recommend? I am beginning to think that a display port to HDMI adapter may be the cheapest way to go.
Click to expand...
I got a $5 display port to HDMI adapter on Amazon two years ago. It does 4k60 no problem off of a gtx 950.
 
I've had mixed results with dp-hdmi adapters. As in the card does not recognize that it had a monitor to display to.

I hate to say it - but if you want 'cheap' you run the risk of getting only a used card that won't satisfy / be worth the money - some people take care of their stuff, others never clean and run hot... And even used cards are too expensive for what you get.

What you should do is examine what you want to do with the card. If all you are doing work (spreadsheets and documents) web surfing and the occasional video - that is a whole lot different from wanting to play FPS's or AAA RPGs with decent frames /visuals.

Look at the 970 thread I started - there are a bunch of cards listed in the article that I linked to. They should show you what works 'reasonably'. Mind you - a 970 works for 1080p... But I would not suggest it for 4k gaming .


EDIT - whoops, you edited the OP. Good work. Yeah some of the cheapest cards might work for you
 
Very simple use (word processing, web browsing, etc.) except for watching some 4k video. If it can do 4k Netflix/YouTube/Prime then it will be good enough for anything else.
 
sir__rob said:
Thanks for the feedback. Any issues with 4k video playback with the GTX 950?
Click to expand...
I didn't use it for video playback I can't say for sure. A GTX 1050 for ~$100 should do fine for that, and they don't use much power.
 
I know my 1050ti can handle 4k video fine, including transcoding through NVENC, but that's the slowest card that i've tried it with. Mine is also half height and doesn't need a power connector.
 
I was using Cub 3D dp to HDMI on my R9 - 290x to do 4K 60Hz with great results . but best card on a budget is RX 570 as my daughter uses a RX 580x 8Gb to do 4K 60Hz on Samsung 43" 4K TV and as to what happen to my $85 1600 AF
 
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