Graphics Cards for PC Trading Setup (6 monitors)

[gidster]

Hi there,
I am trying to help my father build a new PC setup so he can trade shares etc. I think it likely that the processor to go for is the Ivy Bridge i7-3770K to him (moderately overclocked), but I need to also recommend the correct graphics cards to allow him to run 6 monitors.

The way he uses the monitors is to have different 2D charts and 2D graphs displayed on each of the 6 monitors.

This system will not be used for anything else other than trading (so no need for 3D games etc. !)

Can anyone make any suggestions to me?

Thanks!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would look at the recently released FirePro W600:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6006/a...al-wall-market

[gidster]

Thanks for this suggestion. I had looked at this card but:
a.) My father needs the PC system now (and I cant see where to buy this in the UK at present) and
b.) My father won;t be using the 6 monitors as "one big monitor" which seems to be the strength of this card? Or am I missing something?

Thanks!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Thanks for this suggestion. I had looked at this card but:
a.) My father needs the PC system now (and I cant see where to buy this in the UK at present) and
b.) My father won;t be using the 6 monitors as "one big monitor" which seems to be the strength of this card? Or am I missing something?

Thanks!

If you want to run six monitors off one card - it is one of the few cards which do it.

There are consumer cards which do it:

http://www.morecomputers.com/extra.asp?pn=CGAX-68748M6

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-p...oogle+shopping

Also,the consumer HD7770 can run six displays via additional adaptors.

Another alternative is to run a pair of cards. You can also use Lucid Virtu software to use both the IGP on the Core i5 and a suitable graphics card.

However,AFAIK it can be buggy,and for the stuff your dad is doing,you would want maximum stability.

[IronWarrior]

That card can do 1 x 6 screens, so yes you are missing that point.

Personally, I don't know why CAT is suggesting you buy a $600/£300 card when two cheap £30 cards could do what you want, each card can output 3 monitors fine. That's if your motherboard has two PCI-E x16 slots.

[DanceswithUnix]

That card can do 1 x 6 screens, so yes you are missing that point.

Personally, I don't know why CAT is suggesting you buy a $600/£300 card when two cheap £30 cards could do what you want, each card can output 3 monitors fine. That's if your motherboard has two PCI-E x16 slots.

Sounds like the machine is not yet built, so adding dual x16 PCIe slots on the motherboard seems a small requirement to add. Specially if it drops the cost of video cards a lot.

Be careful of Nvidia cards, I am using a fairly recent Quadro card at work that has three outputs on it but can only drive 2 at once. I can't remember the name for the Nvida version of Eyefinity, but you would need the latest cards which probably makes them more expensive than ATI for this. Or get a motherboard with 3 graphics card slots on it, then you can go back to using £20 cards

[scaryjim]

if this computer is just going to be displaying 2D charts of changing stock prices, I can't see any need for an i7, to be honest. That shouldn't be CPU-intensive work. Go for a lower end processor, that frees up money for the board with 2x PCIe x16 slots, then add a couple of mid-range AMD cards that have Displayport outputs (make sure they have displayport, though - some cheap cards have DVI, VGA and HDMI and can't run 3 monitors). There's not many low end cards with DP - this Gigabyte should do the job though, with appropriate active adapters...

[gidster]

You are correct, the machine has not been built yet. Indeed, given the above feedback, I am thinking of the following... Would this deliver the 6 screen performance and stability that my father would want for his trading? [NOTE: I figured going for the HD 7870 would allow my father to add more monitors at a future date with another card should he choose to do so]

Case: Corsair Obsidian Series 650D Black Mid Tower Case
Motherboard - Intel Z77 Chipset: Asus Sabertooth Z77 Intel Z77 Chipset
CPU: Intel Core i7 3770K Ivy Bridge 3.5GHz Quad Core + Hyperthreading 8MB Cache
CPU Coolers: Corsair H100 Hydro Series Extreme Performance Cooler
Overclocking - CPU: Optimized Overclock - 4.4Ghz - Within wider safety margins for balanced thermal & acoustic characteristics.
Memory - DDR3: 16GB (4x4GB) Corsair Vengeance LP DDR3 1600MHz
ATI Graphics - Multi GPU Crossfire Options Available: 2GB XFX Radeon HD 7870 DD 1000MHz GPU 1280 Cores 4800MHz GDDR5
Power Supply Unit: 1050W Corsair HX Series V2 Modular (Dual GTX590 & ATI 6990)
Solid State Drives: 120GB Kingston HyperX SSD Read 555MB s Write 510MB s System Drives: 500GB Seagate Barracuda SATA 6Gb s 7200rpm 16MB Cache
Optical Drive 1 - DVD Blu Ray: Pioneer DVR-S19LBK DVD Writer
Sound Card: Asus Xonar DGX 5.1 Gaming Sound Card with Headphone Amp!
Gaming Network Card: *Use On Board Network Port*
Operating system: Windows 7 Professional

[gidster]

"Go for a lower end processor, that frees up money for the board with 2x PCIe x16 slots"

I should have mentioned that though the idea is not to waste money, the cost of the PC system relative to one of my fathers trades is relatively minor. Therefore there is no need to look for the budget solution.

My father also tends to look after his stuff well... this new system is replacing a creaky system that is 7 years old !!!

[scaryjim]

Looks like that's one 7870, which will only do 4 monitors (and you'd need two displayport monitors or two active adapters). Plus that's *massively* overpowered for watching stock charts update. Seriously. Try something more like:

AMD Socket FM1 ATX motherboard with 2 PCIe X16 slots (x16/x4): ASUS F1A55
Socket FM1 processor: Athlon II X4 651 BE
4GB DDR3 RAM: Corsair Value 1333MHz
Graphics cards with 3 monitor capability: 2x Gigabyte HD5450 HDMI/2xDP

That gives you a good value base, with enough power, and the capability to run 6 monitors (although you will either need 4 native displayport monitors, or 4 active displayport adapters). The graphics cards are from ebuyer and are £28 each, the other components are from scan and come to around £140. So that's £200 for the guts: just add a case, PSU, HDD and optical drive and you're golden

[scaryjim]

I should have mentioned that though the idea is not to waste money, the cost of the PC system relative to one of my fathers trades is relatively minor. Therefore there is no need to look for the budget solution.

Money is still money though. What's the point in building an ultra-high end system and spending £1000 you don't need to? That's another £1000 to put into stock trades and make money off! Plus, a high end build is likely to draw more electricity than a lower end one, so it costs even more money in the long run. And a £300 build replaced every four years is half the overall expenditure of a £1200 build replaced every eight years! So going for the cheaper build actually saves money in three ways, not just one...

[gidster]

Good spot on the 7870... I meant to write 6870 !!!

I get your point about replacing a cheaper system more frequently...and the running costs point ! Very good (and green!) of you to point that out!

I will ask my Dad what route he wants to go down (ie more money now and refreshed less frequently...or a cheaper system now refreshed more often)

Thanks!

[gidster]

More specifically : Club 3D Radeon HD 6870 Eyefinity 6 Edition Graphics Card 2GB GDDR5 PCI-E (as per CAT above)

[scaryjim]

Good spot on the 7870... I meant to write 6870 !!!

A 6870 will usually only run 3 monitors! Or did you mean 2 6870s? Ah, you've ninja crossposted Yeah, eyefinity 6 6870 would be a very good option - plus that would only require one PCIe x16 slot. If you went for an AMD Fusion platform you'd get an extra 2 monitors from the onboard graphics, potentially...

I get your point about replacing a cheaper system more frequently...and the running costs point ! Very good (and green!) of you to point that out!

Well, the lower electricity usage is green, but the frequent replacement isn't! If he wants to be green then getting a higher spec computer that will last longer is the way to go - but he doesn't need something as expensive as a 3770k. An i5 2x00 or Phenom II would do very nicely.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I was only indicating the type of cards which can do six monitors out of the box. As I mentioned even the consumer HD7770 can do so with appropriate adaptors. The Eyefinity 6 models do six monitors out of the box. However,as with the W600 they use mini-displayport outputs so,adaptors are needed for other inputs,just like the same with the HD5870 Eyefinity 6.

However,the drivers for professional cards like the W600 tend to be more stable though.

Also,from what I gather parts like the dual core Xeon X5698 running at 4.4GHZ were made for running trading software,so perhaps a Core i5 is not a bad choice,as it has good lightly threaded performance.

[DanceswithUnix]

You said this is replacing an old system...

Do you already have the 6x monitors, and if so what input do they use, vga or hdmi?
If not, monitor choice becomes a big part of the equation.