6 monitors 1 computer

so im thinking of doing something like this:
.___.._______..___.._______.
[_2_][ . 1 . ][_4_][ . 6 . ]
[_3_][_______][_5_][_______]

Screen 1: 30" 2560x1600 (for my main)
Screen 2 through 5: 17" or 19" 1280x800 (one for each slave)
Screen 6: Full HD Projector (for TV)

i against screensplitting, so i need 6 outputs

i have limited room in my computer case and i would like to be able to fit a LYNX AES16 sound card in the case too

so ive found 4 card combinations that would suit me.

Option 1: 3 GeForce 9800 GT

Option 2: 2 Sapphire Radeon HD4850 X2

Option 3: 1 Sapphire Radeon HD4870 X2 + 1 Sapphire Radeon HD4850 X2

Option 4: 1 Sapphire Radeon HD4890 + 1 Sapphire Radeon HD4850 X2

Which would be the best (bang for the buck wise)


and on a side note, the Paramount Parabolic Multi-Monitor Display by Humanscale Design Studio was supposed to come out latest two days ago, but the site still says "Available First Quarter 2009"

You're going to need a gigantic power supply to run 2 x2 cards, and probably your own liquid nitrogen tank to keep that tower cool, but I would recommend the 4850s. I've used ATI pretty much exclusively in my computer building 'career', and they're very good cards. Just keep them cool and clean, and you'll never have an issue. It would seem to me that running that many monitors would drag your system down dramatically, but I've never run more than 2 on a rig, so I could be mistaken.

Hey i have been prondering the idea of doubling my monitors (currently three 19" monitors). Once you get yours all set up. Mind letting me know how well it works? I am particurally intressed in the frams per second that you get.

Thats ALOT of pixels you got there! Unless you have some kind of extreme machine I just cant imagine how that would end up as playable.

im about to move from a 2 screen to a 4 screen setup im going with 2x ati readon 4850's with crossfire 4x 19" lcd's

Isn't CF and SLI similar? If so, I think running in CF will hinder your frame rates.

I recall people running in SLI and MBing WoW having a terrible time with Frame Rates.

I would vote against this idea.
each monitor you add to the setup is more GPU/CPU you need in the PC, the higher the resolution of each screen the more GPU/CPU you need as well.
so I'm guessing a motherboard with 3x PCIe 16x slots, each card handling two monitors.

The problem I see with this setup is your memory bandwidth to the main memory is fixed and at some point the video cards are going to need more bandwidth that main memory can supply.
the same goes with the main CPU, even a quad core ( or the sudo 8 core i7 ) only has so much CPU it can give to each of the 5-6 games you are going to be doing.

three boxes with one video card each has 3x the main memory bandwidth and 3x the CPU bandwidth.
I've tried running 5 copies of wow on a single box with a GX280 and I find I have lag, using two PCs ( one with just an 8800, the other with GX280) with 2 copes of wow on one and 3 copies of wow on the other and I rarely have lag
when using 3 pc ( 8800,8800,gx280) I never have lag.
the slower PC only have 2.4Ghz quad cores and the big machine has a 3Ghz quad core.
It's from this experience that I find I don't want to make a monster machine, I prefer my 3 box setup over one monster PC.
I also find that when doing 3x PC I find I don't need a monster video card or the most expensive CPU.

I run dual 4870s on a 30" monitor and those cards are beasts! It's probably easier(cheaper) to do a hardware setup with multiple computers though...

I'm not going to use more than one box, except if there is some ultra cheap laptops able to run wow on and an external monitor through DVI (or a semi cheap laptop able to run 2 external monitors through DVI)


My computer is not in a case. it's hanging on one of those workshop walls with holes every 0,5 inch in a square pattern, also, at the moment i have several water cooling devices laying around and i have a coupæe of BIG fans pointing at the wall so heat i not a problem, and neither is power

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 'MaltheMM',index.php?page=Thread&postID=192291#pos t192291

I'm not going to use more than one box, except if there is some ultra cheap laptops able to run wow on and an external monitor through DVI (or a semi cheap laptop able to run 2 external monitors through DVI)


My computer is not in a case. it's hanging on one of those workshop walls with holes every 0,5 inch in a square pattern, also, at the moment i have several water cooling devices laying around and i have a coupæe of BIG fans pointing at the wall so heat i not a problem, and neither is power

---

I can see it now.

*fly buzzes in, lands on computer*
*ZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP*
*computer explodes*

Are you sure your motherboard even has three pcie slots?

i'm sure

i would personally go with 3x GTX 260 or 3x GTX 280 (if you can get them cheap) - but then i have had bad experiences with ATI cards overheating

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 'mikekim',index.php?page=Thread&postID=194800#post 194800

i would personally go with 3x GTX 260 or 3x GTX 280 (if you can get them cheap) - but then i have had bad experiences with ATI cards overheating

---

So would I. But then again, I fold when my PC isn't doing anything. ;)

You'll run into the same problem as the "5fps" guy. The video cards can handle the output if they get the input fast enough, its not the video cards that will stop you.

You cant send enough data for SIX screens along your PCI buss or system buss. I doubt even a i7 would have enough bandwidth. You are asking your cpu to move to much data.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 'Sam DeathWalker',index.php?page=Thread&postID=194888#p ost194888

You'll run into the same problem as the "5fps" guy. The video cards can handle the output if they get the input fast enough, its not the video cards that will stop you.

You cant send enough data for SIX screens along your PCI buss or system buss. I doubt even a i7 would have enough bandwidth. You are asking your cpu to move to much data.

---

Highly unlikely even the slowest pci express can handle 264 MBps that being said yeh better have an ssd or else it'll choke when its trying to load textures.

Like others have said:

There's simply too many problems with trying to do this. You'll save yourself a lot of headaches and trouble by just going with multiple computers.