dradutu wrote: i'm not going to search for anything older since this is cheap enough, like $10.
There is a reason why these cards can be bought for $10! Have you actually read the specs on these cards?
I would stay away from used GPUs as much as possible and remember that the GPU is probably one of the most important pieces of hardware you'll own and the most likely to be a bottleneck and give you issues so it's not a good place to save money. If you want to be able anything out of your second GPU, I'd get another GTX 680 at least.
4eyes wrote: Just get a second graphics card, It will save you loads of money and get you the outputs you need. Matching cards are nice, but you can also just get the cheapest Nvidia card possible that does 4 outputs for your secondary. It doesn't do any of the actual rendering, from what I understand the primary card that has your interface displayed on it does all the work.
Take a look at this post by Joris:
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=11874&p=48673&hilit=+render#p48673
4eyes wrote: X4's are nice, but unless you are in a situation where you truly need them (capped out outputs/PCIE slots/laptop) or you have money to burn you can get by without them.
I disagree with you! Once you start using an X4 I find that it's really hard to get by without it. In your list, you forget that the X4 is a very powerful and flexible video processor that gives you tons options that are not available with other gear such as:
- the ability to slice and dice your input however you want
each of the four outputs can have its own resolution and scale,
each can be DVI/HDMI or VGA
gen lock multiple X4 units
I use the Datapath X4 all the time and the combination of Resolume Arena 4 and Datapath X4 is hard to beat. I've designed systems up to 15 XGA projectors (using one Dl8 and four X4s) off one output of an Nvidia GTX 980 (DL DVI or DP) and they run rock solid at 30Fps.
Most of the work I do is live performance so these days my favorite use of the X4 is simplify signal distribution by pairing it with fiber optic converters so that I can easily place my rig several hundred feet from the projectors and only run 1 cable.