Display Card Help please

First thought, how much power (watts) is your power supply.  Many video cards require a minimum power supply. 

Whatever you get, make sure its compatible with whatever OS you have. 

(I was "K3FFZ" back in the 60's).

Bill, the 210 has pretty low power consumption, although the GT220 appears to be a better option performance-wise, at least according to this comparison review I glanced at:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/a...play/gf-210-gt220.html

For my DAWs, I always use a low power and cool running (passive heatsink - no fan!) graphics card, and am not concerned about 3-D capabilities. Better to have the best 2-D graphics. If the DAW will be used for playing video (like when scoring), then good hardware-assisted video decoding capability is highly desirable (unless you use a dedicated video decoder card). Another thing I want is the ability to run multiple digital monitors.

One thing to watch out for if using HDMI is the HDMI audio on the graphics card not playing nice with other audio devices and applications. and whether HDMI audio can be disabled if desired, just like with PC onboard sound.

Also, check that whatever card you choose supports the requirements of the OS and applications you will be using or might move to in the near future.

Just something for you to chew on.