Best video card or cards to have DVI on monitor, HDMI on HDTV, simultaneously?

I'd like to have DVI on my computer monitor and HDMI going to my HDTV, both running simultaneously, both with independent resolutions. What would also be really nice is if the HDTV output would sleep(ouput switches off until mouse movement) when not in use, so if i'm working on the computer, that output isn't running 24/7.



Can someone recommend the best video card(or cards if I should be using two cards for this) and maybe software(for independent screen sleeping) to do all of this. I don't think Windows 7 is smart enough to sleep only inactive screens(maybe it is with two video cards?). I really like ATI because it has Eyefinity vs Nvidias SLI which needs multiple video cards, but i've also heard ATI sucks compared to Nvidia.|||As previously mentioned, Windows will blank all displays simultaneously, it doesn't consider computer activity tied to any specific screen.



While most Nvidia-based cards only have 2 output ports, there are GTX 460 cards by Zotac which support up to four monitors from a single card (dual DVI plus HDMI and display port)



http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as…

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as…



ATI (Now AMD) doesn't "suck" compared to Nvidia, I've owned plenty of cards from both companies and overall I find ATI cards provide better image quality- things are simply crisper and cleaner. But others may prefer the way stuff looks running Nvidia cards. It's a matter of preference, you'll need to look at cards side- by side to determine which you prefer. But only Nvidia cards have hardware-level PhysX support, and Nvidia's driver support is better.



*** Update ***



I'm not sure about the HDMI output on non-Eyefinity Radeon cards. In those cases the HDMI output may simply mirror either VGA or DVI output.



On Eyefinity cards the 3rd monitor must be connected via the Display port interface- so in those cases the HDMI port is considered a legacy port along with the VGA and DVI ports. You can connect any two of them, in addition to the display port.



http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as…



It's simpler when dealing with Eyefinity cards that only have 3 outputs... they all work, you don't have to figure out which ones are usable. For example, here's a Radeon 5670 with DVI, HDMI and Display port. Each are independent of the others.



http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as…



On the Zotac GTX 460 cards I linked earlier, all 4 ports are independent.



http://www.zotac.com/index.php?option=co…|||1) In Windows, video output would go to "sleep" on both displays at the same time or not at all. It's not smart enough to turn off only one screen if you haven't moved the mouse to it for some time. You can, of course, deactivate the unused screen quite simply by switching your output to a single screen mode.



2) Both nVidia and ATI video cards can run dual monitors easily enough. nVidia maxes out at 2, ATI can handle up to 6, depending on the card.



3) What card you need depends on the tasks you want it to handle. A low end card can easily handle showing a movie and a desktop. If you're trying to game, you need much more powerful cards.



4) SLI and Crossfire multiple card setups boost gaming performance to a single monitor only (unless you're using ATI's Eyefinity 3-monitor setup). You can put in multiple non-linked video cards to provide more screens if you wish.



EDIT: all video cards released over the past year support at least two video outputs. After a long and fruitless search, I can find no specific references from nVidia nor AMD about any limitations on which output types are combinable.



Look like it's any 2 out of three (HDMI/DVI/VGA). Most cards now include a dual link DVI port, which can run two monitors by itself.



If you want to go to 3+ monitors, anything beyond the first two must be connected via DisplayPort, either to a DisplayPort equiped monitor, or through a active DP to HDMI/DVI/VGA converter. There are passive converters, but they do NOT work for multiple monitor use.



I have yet to see an explanation of why multiple DVI ports can't be used instead, so I presume that's a nVidia/ATI decision about technical support.|||Eyefinity and SLI have nothing to do with one another. Nvidia's cards can each run two monitors. ATI's can run three, provided at least one of the screens uses DisplayPort (and no, a DisplayPort to DVI adapter doesn't count). SLI, and ATI's answer which is called CrossFireX, allow you to combine multiple graphics cards and treat them like a single card. Normally, if you stick two graphics cards in a computer, you can only use one at a time.



As far as ATI vs Nvidia, that's more of a matter of taste. Nvidia is the clear winner in Linux support and Nvidia's General Purpose Graphics Programming drivers are way better than ATI's, but those don't effect the vast majority of people. In terms of gaming performance, they're about equal and ATI might even have a slight advantage.