Programmer workstation graphics card.

[camelCase]

I am speccing a high-end programmers workstation and do not know what level of graphic card I need. This new PC will never run games software, edit video or play DVDs but it will need to support oodles of multi-monitor desktop space running under Windows 7. The M/B will be supporting an overclocked Sandybridge so that rules out on-chip Intel graphics.

The central screen will be 30" @ 2560 x 1600 with my existing 1600 x 1200 monitor (DVI input} to the side. A 3rd screen of around 20" is a possibility in the future.

Software development tools create diagrams these days but otherwise it's all text and rectangles.

I don't want the VGA card(s) to be a performance bottleneck however neither do I wish to throw money at some hot high-end card that adds to case noise.

What graphic card should I buy?

 

[camelCase]

By the sounds of it an IDE such as Visual Studio/Eclipse and diagramming/UML software.

Yes Visual Studio, the recent versions allow internal windows to be dragged outside the main window of the app and onto other screens.

Once a program gets to 20,000 lines plus diagrams are needed to paint a picture of program structure. Then in other windows I will have a database query trace running, finally I might be running Firebug to trap execution of browser page JavaScript. All in all one expansive desktop but a low rate of UI update relative to a game I suspect.

 

[camelCase]

You can use a Z68 board to allow you to use the onboard SB GPU, so one monitor will connect to that, while the other two will connect to a bog standard cheap GPU.

Yes a new Z68 is a logical choice but I have been following the first reviews on Anandtech and the initial perf numbers are far from stellar. The SSD caching of the Z68 is no benefit to me because a 128 Gb SSD is all the storage I need in my machine.

 

[camelCase]

Are you going to be doing any 3d modelling, rendering etc?

Nope, nothing like that.

An overclocked CPU is a bad idea if the system is intended for any serious work - especially if you're speccing on behalf of a client.

The new PC is for personal use.

My last overclocked PC had a turbo button that hoiked the CPU from 20 to 25MgHz and I was hoping that 20 years later the auto overclocking discovery utility program available for an advanced Pro Asus motherboard made the whole o/c process more reliable.

I believe I would feel the difference between 3.6 and 4.6 GHz when working.