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I have a good old i3-2120t (35w) cpu with 4 GB RAM. I have only used on-board graphics, but the time has come to put in a discreet card. THERE WILL BE NO GAMING ON THIS MACHINE. I have a PC for that. I will probably bump the RAM to 8 GB.

My thought is that this card is the best option:

https://www.msi.com/Graphics-card/GeForce-GT-1030-2GH-LP-OC.html

It boasts both an HDMI 2.0b port and a DP 1.4. Its also passively cooled, which is a bonus.

Also, as a side note, how well does audio do over video cards these days? The last time I did it, it required a special cable to enable it.

That will do you for hardware decode - all the Pascal cards use the eighth gen "PureVideo" tech, which actually includes hardware decode of up to 8k.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_Pu ... reVideo_HD

Audio over the HDMI or DisplayPort will do you just fine, just make sure the output is selected as your primary audio output in Windows. No more requirement of the odd SPDIF cable going to the card for pass-through.

Yeah, looks like you're all set there. I, personally, might have gone with another brand but a 1030 looks good for this use case.