$1600 6 monitor pc

[retroguy1987]

Hey guys. New to the forum so if i make any mistakes with my post i apologise in advance




Approximate Purchase Date: Asap - xmas at latest

Budget Range: $1600/£1000

System Usage from Most to Least Important: 6 monitors for poker setup, possible SLS (eyefinity?)

Parts Not Required: monitors, keyboard, mouse

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: ebuyer.com

Country of Origin: england

Parts Preferences: by brand or type: i want to use an i7 cpu and an eyefinity gpu

Overclocking: no

SLI or Crossfire: no

Monitor Resolution: 6 monitors with 1920x1080

Additional Comments: I play poker online for my living and need a better system. Some of the software i use is getting more resource intensive with new releases so i need to support it without lag.

ive been trying to figure this out without bothering others for help but everytime i think i figure it out i hit a new stumbling block (mostly with graphics cards and pci-e channel numbers). my plan was to get a hd radeon 5870 eyefinity 6 with the 6 mini displayports but this seems to be out of production and sold out everywhere. so now im looking for 2 eyefinity compatible graphics cards and a motherboard to run them.

i want at least 12gb of ram and will need 2 harddrives. 1 ssd and 1 bigger cheaper one

the only part i have firmly in mind is the case

case - case

thanks in advance

 

[WR2]

Hello retroguy1987;

Does your budget include the cost of six monitors?

 

[retroguy1987]

Hey

no the budget is just for the pc. ive got money set aside for the monitors and mounting

also, if i dont need to spend all of the budget id prefer not too. so long as i can get everything i need

 

[WR2]

Parts Not Required: monitors, keyboard, mouse
Right - just saw that note. It's a generous amount for just the tower components.

 

[retroguy1987]

yeah i figured it might be. like i say above, dont feel the need to spend it all lol. its just what ive got spare for it. i7, 2 hard drives, 12gb ram and 6 screen graphics cards and im sweet. the cheaper the better

 

[WR2]

A couple HD 6870 Eyefinity 6 video cards:
PowerColor HD6870 2GB GDDR5 Eyefinity 6 Edition
Radeon VisionTek HD 6870 Eyefinity6

 

[retroguy1987]

A couple HD 6870 Eyefinity 6 video cards:
PowerColor HD6870 2GB GDDR5 Eyefinity 6 Edition
Radeon VisionTek HD 6870 Eyefinity6

i did stumble on the powercolor one when looking, but i couldnt find it anywhere in england for less than £400. it seemed easier to build with just 1 card but cheaper with 2 thats the only reason i said i wanted 2. If anyone can find it in UK for a reasonable price i would jump on it. seems to be a very limited number of big websites to buy components from in the UK.

EDIT >> ok i might have exagerated the 400 pound. i found it for £225 so that would work fine

 

[DelroyMonjo]

If you're considering 'lag', that's a function of your ISP.

 

[retroguy1987]

If you're considering 'lag', that's a function of your ISP.

sorry, thats just my poor IT wording. the program isnt connected to the internet. its a database i run which just doesnt function properly on slow computers

 

[FinneousPJ]

Wait, why would you need a special edition card? Even the 6700-series supports up to 4 displays per card according to AMD, so two 6770s should drive 6 screens right?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102938 <- that card for example advertises it can run three screens

 

[retroguy1987]

Wait, why would you need a special edition card? Even the 6700-series supports up to 4 displays per card according to AMD, so two 6770s should drive 6 screens right?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102938 <- that card for example advertises it can run three screens

i dont need a special edition card. the only benefit to have 1 card with 6 outputs and eyefinity is the ability to make my 6 screens into 1 big screen. i dont know for sure, but i dont think i could do that with 2 cards as eyefinity groups are limited to the output of each card.

price wise i think it would be slighty cheaper for 2 cards but then the motherboard would likely be a bit more expensive. so its a coin toss.

 

[retroguy1987]

Also - im reading around and it seems there isnt a great difference between a bottom range i7 and the i5 2500k so i would be happy to use that if it cheapens the build

 

[FinneousPJ]

I think it's more than slightly cheaper.

The 2600K if a lot stronger IF your software can utilize HT.

 

[retroguy1987]

I think it's more than slightly cheaper.

The 2600K if a lot stronger IF your software can utilize HT.

HT being hyperthreading - yes? If right, i must admit i have no idea what this is lol could you offer a brief overview of what this is, and how i can use it

 

[FinneousPJ]

Yes, HyperThreading. It's way for the CPU to achieve a higher resource utilization level in heavily threaded applications: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HyperThreading

 

[retroguy1987]

thanks finneous.

ok, suppose i accept the additional cost and go for the powercolor card wr2 suggests, and i chose the i5 2500k and the case i chose in the OP. can someone suggest a motherboard?

 

[FinneousPJ]

Do you want to overclock?

 

[FinneousPJ]

Oh right you said no in the OP. Then you don't need the 2500K, get the non-K one and you can make due with a cheaper H61 motherboard too.

 

[retroguy1987]

if it wont affect performance im ok with that.

not because im lazy or anything, but could you post a link for a board and cpu from ebuyer.com - just so im sure i have the right thing.

 

[retroguy1987]

urgh - i have some kind of mental block that prevents me buying cheap things lol

i always like to have the option to upgrade later if i chose so a cheap motherboard doesnt appeal to me. id like at least 4 slots for ram and 2 pci slots. based on this is there another motherboard you could suggest?

im considering adding a tv tuner so i would need 2 pci slots

 

[FinneousPJ]

It's overkill given what you've told us but here's my standard recommendation for 1155 builds: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271 Unfortunately I couldn't find it on ebuyer. Here's the CPU anyway: http://www.ebuyer.com/251597-core-i5-2500-3-3ghz-socket-1155-6mb-cache-retail-boxed-processor-bx80623i52500

EDIT: here's the K version if you want the option to overclock in the future http://www.ebuyer.com/251596-intel-core-i5-2500k-3-3ghz-socket-1155-6mb-cache-retail-boxed-processor-bx80623i52500k

 

[retroguy1987]

It's overkill given what you've told us but here's my standard recommendation for 1155 builds: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271 Unfortunately I couldn't find it on ebuyer. Here's the CPU anyway: http://www.ebuyer.com/251597-core-i5-2500-3-3ghz-socket-1155-6mb-cache-retail-boxed-processor-bx80623i52500

EDIT: here's the K version if you want the option to overclock in the future http://www.ebuyer.com/251596-intel-core-i5-2500k-3-3ghz-socket-1155-6mb-cache-retail-boxed-processor-bx80623i52500k

thanks again
so (having no experience with overclocking) only some cpu can be overclocked? if thats the case i like to keep my options open in which case ill go for the 2500k.

 

[FinneousPJ]

Yeah, that's reasonable if you have a budget of 1000 GBP. With Intel these days only a few select CPUs are overclockable.

 

[retroguy1987]

ok, so, for easy reading for anyone (and for myself) here is what ive got so far

cpu - http://www.ebuyer.com/251596-intel-core-i5-2500k-3-3ghz-socket-1155-6mb-cache-retail-boxed-processor-bx80623i52500k

motherboard - http://www.ebuyer.com/260484-asus-p8h67-r3-h67-socket-1155-8-channel-hd-audio-atx-motherboard-p8h67-r3

graphics card - http://www.fotemia.co.uk/club-3d/radeon-hd-6870-eyefinity-6-edition/?utm_source=googlebase-co-uk&utm_medium=psm&utm_campaign=radeon-hd-6870-eyefinity-6-edition&edate=2011-11-07

case - http://www.ebuyer.com/270598-fractal-design-core-3000-case-fd-ca-core-3000-bl]

so thats roughly half the budget gone. how does it look for compatibility, performance ect.. ?

still need psu, ram, cooling fans, ssd hd and 1tb normal hd. any help would be appreciated

 

[FinneousPJ]

That motherboard doesn't support overclocking