Suggestions appreciated. It's for a friend, and he wants to buy new.
Not for gaming BTW.
edit: 4 x 1080 monitors.
4 x 1080?
yessir, 4x1080
I'd maybe look at something with a nice lot of display outs and video memory.
A 390 will prob be a little too expensive but I reckon you could get a r9 290 for 300.
May need some adpators for the monitors though idk.
a 970 has the capability you're looking for. 3x dp, 1x dvi, 1x hdmi.
also, a budget would be nice to include. 970 looks like it's about 350USD
And here we go again...
The question is driving 4x1080p monitors, that basically means 4k. And the suggestion is: GTX 970 with it's infamous lack of Vram.
Since the goal is not gaming, why should he spend that much money on a gpu? I mean 270X have 4 gig models, 370 and 380 have 4 gig models... But the goal is not gaming, so I don't really see a reason for that expensive gpu. Unless you need the power And the Vram, which basically means 290. 970 and 390 are over 300, 270X and 370 are to weak, so 380 4gig or some extra gpu power - 290...
Not sure what the exact needs are. He might want to take a look at the FirePro W4100, W5100 would be better for driving 4 screens but it is over 300CDN. For this sector I was not able to find any Nvidia option.
For gaming solutions a R9 380 with 4GB VRAM should work. Another idea would be to go with GTX 960 G1 Gaming.
My biggest concern with gaming cards for multi monitor work however are drivers. For the AMD-side I can tell you, multi monitor with something like the W8100 works great. (The only reason I don´t use it right now are some PSU-problems.) Since I do not have any experience with Nvidia, I have no idea if 4 monitors can be driven by a single 960.
As far as I am informed you can put two GPUs in a system and run them in non-SLI or non-Crossfire mode for multi-monitor displays.
In that case I would recommend the Sapphire R5 230 flex or rather two of them (I own one). It has 3 digital outputs (per card) and consumes a max of 17 Watts. There is also a low-profile adapter included. The power draw is so low that they do not need additional power cables. They cost around 50€ each. I would not throw 3 4K-Displays each at them but HD works just fine (well a bit less than HD, but you get the picture). And they are fanless and therefore quiet. Single digit power draw when in idle.
I had three displays running and played some Settlers: The Next Generation on it (probably in dual-monitor eyefinity) without problems.
You do not need much VRAM or power to power a couple of displays. I have three displays running of my HD6870 currently, the gpu clock idles at under 5% and the VRAM usage is at 325 Megabytes. Static Monitor display does not take much in terms of GPU performance.
Other options would be something like this one: Vision Tek ATI 5570, with 247 CDN well in budget. It has the VHDCI connector which is something like 4x DVI rolled into one. Also available with a short bracket. Around 39 Watts of power consumption (maximum).
Going for non-gamer GPU is beneficial because of less power consumption, less heat and silent operation.
Thanks for all the great replies everyone (as always!).
Will pass along this information.