I remember finding a chat on here that had the size ram you would need to run 2+ monitors. I am picking a new workstation for my new job where i hope to have two 4k monitors hooked up to eventually. can anybody point me to that post?
My boss is looking to get this Dell Workstation: Dell Tower Plus Desktop PC | Dell United States
At least 8 Gb, 12 or 16 would be better. Currently running 2 4K monitors with 12 Gb, no problem. If you are going to be rendering on the GPU you might want more…
I’m a little confused. The link I posted had 32g ram computer. Were you saying 8,12 or 16 ram would be better than that or were you just saying the larger the ram the better… i know this might be a dumb question…
Wow! $1400 for an RTX 4060 Ti 8GB equipped machine, and a lacklustre Intel Ultra 265. That is insane!
I know its the ol’ company handshake and support, but goodness me these machines are dreadful value.
For two 4K monitors, you more want to consider the GPU VRAM, not the system RAM.
That Intel 265 will be fine, but I’d want a 4070 Ti Super, with 16 GB if I was doing heavy rendering and 4K imaging.
As for standard system RAM, 32 GB is the general baseline nowadays.
This “Hot Deal” (!) may be more fitting for the extra $90. At least you get 12 GB VRAM from that RTX 5070. I have been very happy with my 4070 Super, which has 12 GB VRAM, and does most of my GPU rendering.
But it depends on what your industry is. Some will consume a lot of GPU VRAM by default, if you have lots of geometry, heavy textures, or other items that need to sit in VRAM.
Thank you David, which model number is that?
Second option in?
My only warning is that Dell have a propensity to supply garbage passive CPU coolers, but in fairness, the latest Intel Ultra series does run very well; much more efficient than my Raptor Lake equivalent.
- I cannot take responsibility for anyone’s purchases, but given the proximity to budget, that would be my choice under duress. The jump to 16 GB GPUs is quite large.
Video VRAM, not computer RAM. That’s what drives your monitors.
Thank you, not much of a computer person and I forgot those were separate.
It’s worth noting that the RTX 5070, even with it’s capability to run dual 4K monitors, may not be the “optimum”. But it’s as close as I can get.
that’s a good deal!
HI David, I didn’t have too much choice on the matter, but I did give my boss your advice and he chose your selection. Can you tell me why the 5070 isn’t optimum? I’m always interested in learning more…
Probably I present an irrelevant case, but I think that 16 GB cards tend to be viewed (anecdotaly) as more ideal for dual 4K setups. But that is mostly in relation to gaming really.
Ultimately, if most of your work is “static” (not VR, live demand, gaming engines), then you should be fine within reason. Plenty of people use 4070 Supers (which is performance wise, more or less the same) for 4K gaming, probably with mid settings.
Really, for gaming cases, it comes down often to the ability of a GPU to render a game at 60 FPS at decent settings; without the VRAM becoming saturated. But rendering stills is a different case. As we don’t know your industry, it’s hard to say.
Just take care not to demand too much simultaneously from both monitors.
may want to peek at this thread-
specs apply to desktops too-
Just as a side-note. One aspect of powering 2x 4k screens is the hardware, but sometimes the software can not handle them efficiently. You either get scaling issues or the performance of the software in use is not efficient. With this significant extra amount of pixels you may experience lags or odd behaviour, even with a suited hardware. Personally I prefer a single 2k ultra-wide screen and smaller second monitor which I hardly ever use. But ultra-wide screens are controversial.