Hi Guys,

Just purchased a new Samsung 32" UR59C Curved 4K UHD Monitor and having some minor screen lag when playing poker. I have a GeForce GT710 4GB, 8GB of RAM and an i7 CPU 860 @ 2.8GHz (part of a Dell Studio XPS 8100 I purchased years ago). I just upgraded this monitor from an ultra widescreen running 3440x1440 that I never experienced this problem with.

I'm now running 3840x2160 and am now running into the lag issue - it seems worse when i resize tables larger vs keeping at the default opened up on the sites I play on (BetOnline especially).

I believe I'll need to upgrade my graphics card but really not sure how big of an upgrade I'll need to have the chips and cards moving smoothly across my screen. My current GPU worked fine powering my old monitor at 3440x1440 and a second 24" monitor at a lower resolution and the new one will need to power the 4K monitor + the same 24" secondary monitor.

Appreciate any help!

might sound silly but did you restart your comp? had pretty much the same issue when i got a 4k tv (55") to go with my 27" curved and it worked much better the next day. still bought a new computer, ironically mine was an i7 870, but it wasnt entirely necessary

if that didnt help id check task manager and see if things are really maxing out or not. poker is hardly gpu intensive.

also, what connector are you using? hdmi/displayport/dvi?

I wouldn't upgrade just the GPU on that system at this point. First gen Core i systems are very long in the tooth at this point. Try unplugging the 24" monitor and see if that fixes the issue. If so, you're probably maxing out GPU. You added a lot of pixels to the workload for the GPU, going from a ~5 megapixel display to a 8.2 megapixel display.
Even with a 2d workload, pushing enough pixels can eventually tip over a low end or onboard GPU .

you're running on 4k 30hz
need a proper gpu to handle 4k@60hz
cheapest modern ones are GT1030 or newer from Nvidia and Rx 550 and newer from AMD
should find one that fits the bill in the 100$ range
neither the GT710 nor the onboard graphics from 1st gen I series can push 8 million pixels smoothly
actually there is a newly released GT710 that does; https://www.anandtech.com/show/15713...our-hdmi-ports
there are some older Quadro cards that also can, something like this https://www.ebay.com/itm/PNY-Nvidia-...4AAOSwiSVcDnhR and these are popular solutions for multi monitor setups. you'l need mini DP to DP/HDMI cables tho, those are ~10$ a pop
would go for a modern 100$ gpu tho for longevity and ease of use
https://www.amazon.com/GeForce-GDDR5...3761073&sr=8-3

headtrauama makes a great point
rather than spending 100$ for a gpu, get yourself an older refurbished pc for 200$

https://www.amazon.com/Dell-Optiplex...3764541&sr=8-6

this looks fantastic value and the integrated graphics will push 4k@60hz
not to mention you're getting 16 gigs ram and an ssd

better off 250$ for an i7

https://www.amazon.com/Dell-Optiplex...3764763&sr=8-5

Thanks for the replies guys - I rebooted my computer this morning and still seeing the same lag. I'm only running the 32" monitor at this point - want to get this running smoothly before throwing the 24" monitor at my GPU at the same time :-). Also, I'm using an HDMI cable.

Just to confirm my understanding - I do have my graphics settings set to 4K/60hz but I'm assuming my GeForce GT710 4GB is not powerful enough to support a refresh rate that high at this resolution and it's only reaching ~30hz?

I believe this is the GPU I'm using (though it says 2GB and my GPU settings say 4GB?: https://www.amazon.com/MSI-GT-710-2G...3787448&sr=8-1

At this point my preference is just to buy a new GPU, mostly because transferring all of my poker stuff (databases, software licenses) would be a bit of a pain, though it sounds like I'll need a complete upgrade soon. I really only use this computer for playing poker, granted I play probably four times a week still.

The EVGA GeForce GT 1030 SC 2GB GDDR5 you linked looks great - do you think it would be powerful enough to support the 4K monitor + the 24" (1920 x 1080p @ 60 Hz) or should I get something a little more powerful? Thanks again!

I didn't even think about 4k 30Hz mode. That's at least one of your problems. You need a card with HDMI 2.0 to drive a 4k monitor at 60Hz. 30Hz refresh is unacceptably laggy for use as a computer screen. The port doesn't have enough bandwidth, regardless of if the GPU has enough power. Edit: Cards with Displayport can also drive 4K 60Hz.

I'd also have little to no confidence your PC PSU can handle upgrading the GPU. The GT 710 is a 19 watt card. The lowest power modern add in cards are 75 watts and draw all that power through the motherboard, which is a decent way to tip over a motherboard or PSU that's on its last leg. The GT 710 is a relic of the era just before CPUs with graphics built in, the market pretty much went away when Intel launched SandyBridge (second gen Core i).

To borrow from Fight Club, on a long enough timeline, PC survival drops to zero. Your PC is on borrowed time, much better to perform an orderly migration now than have to try to recover data and move licenses after it dies. PCs are designed to last through a 3-5 year warranty and refresh cycle. Most last well past that, but eventually something dies, usually the PSU, mainboard or hard drive.

I'd suggest looking at refurbs in the $500-800 range. You can go cheaper, but since you don't frequently replace your PC, spending a bit more now will get you something that will last longer, and moving your apps and documents is a pain in the ass. Aim for 16GB RAM, Core i5 or i7 8th gen or newer (8xxx part numbers) and an NVME SSD for the OS drive. You can add SATA SSDs or hard drives if you need additional capacity, but aim to have enough room for your poker DB on the NVME. Running the DB from SATA SSD is reasonable as well, and will still be a big step up from the mechanical disk its on now. Newer AMD CPUs are great, any of the Ryzen GPUs or APUs (APU has graphics built in but is limited to 4 cores/8 threads for now) will also be a giant leap forward from your current PC.

What does the 4K 30hz mode mean? The EVGA GeForce GT 1030 SC 2GB GDDR5 ionutd linked has HDMI 2.0 wouldn't that card work? It says in the specs it is a 30W card and also only requires a 300W PSU and mine is 350W so that should work right?

I'm planning on upgrading the whole PC in the next year and appreciate the recommendations, just hesitant to do so now since I only use it for poker and it's been running very smoothly on the old 3440x1440 and 1920x1080 monitor setup.

I second everything HT said

I believe even an older Dell XPS's psu will power a 75w gpu, because these have always been quality, over built machines, but it does beg the question of how long til your 10+ year old system gives and then it's more of a hustle to get everything going again.

when it comes to having to re-install windows, you will have to do it at some point eventually anyway and transferring software licenses from one pc to another is really not a big deal, I do it all the time and you either have an option in the software itself and an account linked to your codes or it's resolved with a simple email to support within a day

so ye, I also suggest you invested in a new machine, 7-800$ gets you a decent modern computer and this is the value purchase for the long run. 2-250$ gets you an older refurb that should last you another good 5 years and power your new 4k monitor no probs.

does the job, yes
and there's a dvi port for your 2nd 1080p monitor. if thee monitor doesn't have DVI, it can be adapted to HDMI or DP

Hz, short for Hertz, is, in this case, referring to how many times per second the screen is redrawn. 60Hz is standard for LCDs. Back in the late CRT days, 60Hz was considered an affront to the eyes and we tried to pick resolutions our monitors could run at 85Hz, or 70 Hz in a pinch.

LCD displays have different characteristics than CRTs. The pixel light persists a bit when refreshing, so 60Hz is acceptable for general use. Gamer targeted monitors can run at 100Hz on up to 240Hz, with diminishing returns as you move up the scale.
Faster refresh makes motion on the display appear smoother to your eyes. Most people can tell the difference between 30 and 60Hz, quite a few can tell from 60 to 85, it diminishes rapidly past that.

The GT 1030 will probably work. Since you don't game an entry level used Quadro 4GB card is an option too.

The other problem with upgrading your GPU is that the cards you're looking at are likely to be totally unnecessary in your next PC, so you'd be better off putting the money into the next PC instead. With the market you're shopping in, the price/performance curve is unlikely to shift significantly during the course of the year.

Was searching for 4GB 1030s (which don't seem to exist) and saw this. Look for a GDDR5 card if you end up picking up a 1030.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonev.../#21b49f7793d9

Thanks guys. Thoughts on the below spec? About $900

16GB DDR4 at 2666MHz; up to 64GB (Additional memory sold separately)
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 1030 2GB GDDR5
512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD
9th Gen Intel® Core™ i5 9400 (6-Core, 9MB Cache, up to 4.1GHz with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology)

https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/comp...c-a3372727a8a1

that would very much do it
you can get a laptop too in that price range with an HDMI 2.0 port for your monitor
you also don't need a dedicated gpu for running 4k anymore, integrated graphics have come a long way since 10 years ago

whats your budget? is that really a good deal at $900?

https://www.amazon.com/Pavilion-Busi...s%2C246&sr=8-8

would snap this one up before it's gone

https://www.amazon.com/DeskMini-A300...ronics&sr=1-10
https://www.amazon.com/DeskMini-310W...ronics&sr=1-21

cheaper, compact options, without Windows pre-installed. if you want, I can show you how to get your Windows key for 10-15$ off specialized sellers and make a usb stick that you can use anytime you need to re-install it, if you're up for that.

btw the Intel version only outputs 4k60Hz off the Display Port, so you need to check if your monitor has one of those

yeah that hp is almost identical and $200 less, id be all over that. and the gfx card seems to have hdmi/dp/dvi instead of possibly just hdmi/dvi