wiridil: I use the ASUS P6T motherboard. X58 for i7-930 chip. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131346 3 PCIe X16 slots. Driving 6 monitors. For 5+ months now. No problem. KTS mentioned another board a while back that has 7 PCIe X16 slots: Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD9 http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/rampage-iii-extreme-big-bang-xpower-x58a-ud9,2688-6.html I have no experience with it but it looks interesting.
If I have to do it over again, I will change one thing: I will not use P6T (trying to re-use 2 PCI display cards - PCI is the older bus... the cards didn't work in Win 7 for whatever reasons). I would go with the motherboard that has more PCIe X16 slots (like that Gigabyte MoBo) so that I can plug in more PCIe X16 dual cards on the box. Trying to save some money by re-using the old display cards turned out to be more troublesome than it's worth.
with that gigabyte MOBO how many monitors would it run potentially with that many slots? With dual video cards would it theoretically run 14 monitors? (no idea why you would want that just curious)
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL Model #:F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL Item #:N82E16820231311 Return Policy:Memory Standard Return Policy In Stock Note (Add20-231-311) Save Cancel $159.99 -$10.00 Instant $149.99 . . Update22-152-173 SAMSUNG EcoGreen F2 HD103SI 1TB 5400 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive Model #:HD103SI Item #:N82E16822152173 Return Policy:Standard Return Policy In Stock Note (Add22-152-173) Save Cancel $69.99 $69.99 . . Update19-115-225 Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield 2.8GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80601930 Model #:BX80601930 Item #:N82E16819115225 Return Policy:CPU Replacement Only Return Policy In Stock Note (Add19-115-225) Save Cancel $284.99 $284.99 . . Update32-116-758 Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM Model #:FQC-00765 Item #:N82E16832116758 Return Policy:Software Standard Return Policy In Stock Note (Add32-116-758) Save Cancel $139.99 $139.99 . . Update13-131-641 ASUS P6X58D-E LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard Model #6X58D-E Item #:N82E16813131641 Return Policy:Limited Replacement Only Return Policy In Stock Note (Add13-131-641) Save Cancel $239.99 -$10.00 Instant $229.99 . . Update14-127-472 MSI N8400GS-D512H GeForce 8400 GS 512MB 64-bit DDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card Model #:N8400GS-D512H Item #:N82E16814127472 Return Policy:VGA Standard Return Policy In Stock Mail in Rebate14-127-472 Note (Add14-127-472) Save Cancel $38.99 -$9.00 Instant $59.98 . . Update27-118-031 SONY Black SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model DDU1681S-0B - OEM Model #DU1681S-0B Item #:N82E16827118031 Return Policy:Standard Return Policy In Stock Note (Add27-118-031) Save Cancel $18.49 $18.49 . . Update11-129-065 Antec Three Hundred + BP430 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 430W Power Supply Model #:Three Hundred + BP43 Item #:N82E16811129065 Return Policy:Limited Replacement Only Return Policy In Stock Ok guys here is what I have come up with so far. Please critique it top to bottom. IF I am going cheap someplace I shouldn't please let me know. I went 8 gb of ram and a 1tb of hard drive just to overkill it. Same with I7 processor. Rather have too much and never use it than not enough and regret it every day. Especially look at the MOBO says 3 PCIex16 slots which is good for me. If I would be better off to spend more there please set me straight. THanks as always
I am running 8 monitors now but 2 of them were driven by external USB-VGA adapters. With another PCIe X16 I should do all 8 in Windows. I think one should be able to drive 14 mons with 7 PCIe X16 slots - but never had tried it... not sure if Windows imposes some limits.
I think your config looks pretty good. I have a very similar configuration. The 300 Antec case contains 2 fans. They have been adequate for me for the past 5 months. In my old HP box, I installed an extra 4-inch cooling fan (like $10) inside the chassis to help the cooling. Just mount the fan with silicone and some small wooden sticks. That's it. Nothing fancy, and really no need to spend $100 to buy an extra cooling device.
thats a good idea. When I see how much room is left in the case I might look at that. I guess more airflow the better
Here is a picture of my computer (Antec 300 chassis) with the side panel taken off. http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=195662&perpage=6&pagenumber=5 If I were to install an extra fan, I will try to mount it in the wide-open space where it was designed to hold more disk drives/DVD-RW drives. Most of the space is empty. And have the fan pointing to the 3 dual video cards with static cooling. Since if anything tends to get overheated it would be the CPU chip (which gets adequate airflows) and the video cards (not quite adequate).
If I wanted to record four 24" monitors, would I need a better CPU, graphics card, or both? About how much hard drive space would a recording of one full trading session take up?