Multi-screen with one graphics card - best bang for the buck

[rting]

I need to drive 4 monitors with one graphics card and game on 1 monitor only leaving other monitors for other simple tasks like browsing the web, e-mail, word processing, etc. The newer graphics (and higher end/double slot) cards all have 4 outputs - can I put 4 monitors on just one card? Assuming I have enough power in the power supply ... and assuming I can live with a minimum of 2 GBytes of GDDR5 graphics memory, etc.

 

[RobCrezz]

R9 280x would be a good choice for the money. Can do 4 monitors using display port.

 

[chugot9218]

If you have the proper inputs on all your monitors you should be good to go, just so you know, if you have integrated graphics you can drive some off the iGPU and some off the discreet card, at work I have 2 on my GPU and 1 on the Integrated graphics, although I could run another off the integrated for 4 monitors.

 

[geofelt]

With a suitable graphics card, you should be able to do that.
But... depending on what you are doing, and your pc, there are some other options.

A single card with multiple connectors will have different types of connectors.
You may need displayport or hdmi connectivity to your monitors. A soluble, but complicating issue.

If your motherboard has two pcie x16 slots, I would suggest using a cheap graphics cards for two of the side monitors, and a gaming card for the other two.

Or... if this is for something like a trading app, consider a single 4k monitor(seiki makes 39" and 50" units) for the more static displays, and a separate gaming monitor.

If you have a haswell cpu, you can drive 3 1080P monitors off of the integrated graphics, and use a dedicated graphics card for gaming.

I would not worry about vram, read this: http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Video-Card-Performance-2GB-vs-4GB-Memory-154/

 

[rting]

If your motherboard has two pcie x16 slots, I would suggest using a cheap graphics cards for two of the side monitors, and a gaming card for the other two.

Or... if this is for something like a trading app, consider a single 4k monitor(seiki makes 39" and 50" units) for the more static displays, and a separate gaming monitor.

My motherboard is LGA775 - Asus P5QE ... so PCI-E 2.0 x16 ...

I am not sure if the R9 280X would work well with PCI-E 3.0 requirements - I am actually hoping it works with PCI-E 2.0? Already bought BF4 over Black Friday sale ... LOL.

Yes, it involves trading app. Interesting how you mentioned 4K monitors ... so the higher resolution allows you to cram more charts into that one gaming screen? It is nonetheless heatbreaking to see my trading software unable to take advantage of the new multi-core multi-thread processor ...

That is, if I upgrade the entire rig, it will be more $$ of course but the $$ spent on the processor - like a mid-range i5-4670K - plus say loads of memory with a RAMDisk implementation will not help the trading application much and only help the gaming side.

If I just upgrade the graphics card - R9 280X - and assuming it works with PCI-E 2.0 standard - I am spending minimal amount but gaining some fun experience ... the 4K monitor idea is interesting - thanks geofelt.

 

[geofelt]

Graphics cards are both forward and backwards compatible with pcie 2.0/3.0.
Performance differences are minor, and only visible with the strongest of cards. You are good there.

If your app is single threaded and cpu limited, the 4670K with a conservative overclock will be perhaps twice as fast compared to a lga775 cpu.

Windows will keep as much code in ram as it can, available for instant reuse.
16gb is typical, 32gb is usually possible. A ramdisk will be no better for reading, and if updates need security, a ramdisk has issues.
A SSD is very good, and makes everything so much quicker. If you have not yet tried one, you will be impressed.

Seiki has two 4k tv/monitors. 50" for about $900, and 39" for $500.
If you have the desk space or wall space, the 50" will display a fair number of full windows with text of decent size.

As to gaming, they are not so good for fast action games. At 4k resolution, the refresh rate is limited to 30hz.
You can run the 50"(perhaps the 39") at 120hz in 1080P resolution for gaming.

 

[rting]

Graphics cards are both forward and backwards compatible with pcie 2.0/3.0.
Performance differences are minor, and only visible with the strongest of cards. You are good there.

If your app is single threaded and cpu limited, the 4670K with a conservative overclock will be perhaps twice as fast compared to a lga775 cpu.

Windows will keep as much code in ram as it can, available for instant reuse.
16gb is typical, 32gb is usually possible. A ramdisk will be no better for reading, and if updates need security, a ramdisk has issues.
A SSD is very good, and makes everything so much quicker. If you have not yet tried one, you will be impressed.

Seiki has two 4k tv/monitors. 50" for about $900, and 39" for $500.
If you have the desk space or wall space, the 50" will display a fair number of full windows with text of decent size.

As to gaming, they are not so good for fast action games. At 4k resolution, the refresh rate is limited to 30hz.
You can run the 50"(perhaps the 39") at 120hz in 1080P resolution for gaming.

Oh I see what you mean. It looks like a total upgrade then ...

Yes, I have a 128GB SSD on my laptop and it is fast. In fact, I have an off site setup where I have the laptop with a docking station driving three 19" very old EIZO Flexscan 1280x1024 (L695 and L788-i) monitors making a total of 4 screens and that was why I thought the 4K monitor you mentioned was for gaming ... as in total I have 15 charts on my 3+1 laptop setup.

Thank you for your answer and it looks like Boxing Day sale may be my day LOL.

 

[geofelt]

With your 4 displays, you have perhaps 5mb of pixels to display your charts.
A 4k(UHD) display will be 3480 x 2160 or about 8mb of pixels.
I saw the 50" version attached to a pc at compusa. The display was impressive. You might go to one and check it out yourself. If your trading is more than a hobby, it will pay you to buy the best.

 

[rting]

With your 4 displays, you have perhaps 5mb of pixels to display your charts.
A 4k(UHD) display will be 3480 x 2160 or about 8mb of pixels.
I saw the 50" version attached to a pc at compusa. The display was impressive. You might go to one and check it out yourself. If your trading is more than a hobby, it will pay you to buy the best.

Yes yes ... I understood what it means. Hey more reason to go shopping - it is at least the direction where the future of display technology will go. The funny part is, I usually do not use this off site setup / use it rarely and for that reason I set it up by salvaging old 19" monitors for free. Will try to position multiple charts on my 50" plasma first at 1920x1080 and see how far I have to sit vs. visibility vs. font size, etc.