I want to build 12 Monitor System Using 3 ATI FirePro 2460 Cards. Each card supports 4 Monitors [ Dell U2412M ( 24 inch )- 1920x1200 ] http://www.amd.com/es/products/work...-3d/2460-mv/Pages/2460-mv-specifications.aspx Please suggest the motherboard having at least 4 PCIe X16 Slots, CPU, a good brand RAM & GB needed, a good brand Modular PSU with Wattage requirements & decent Case. My budget is around $2000.00. I already have the Video Cards, Monitors, Hard Drives, Keyboard, Mouse & DVD-RW. Also if anyone has 12 Monitor system, would you please share your specs ?
I have four PICex16 slots in my Asus WS series mobo. It's a discontinued product. You can go to newegg and Power Search there by quantity of PCIex16 slots and other factors. http://www.newegg.com/Product/PowerSearch.aspx?N=100007625&IsNodeId=1&SubCategory=22&GASearch=3 If you ONLY check boxes for qty of slots then you can see from there what the results and then start saying how much ram, etc. Sounds impressive. Keep us informed.
Did a Search & came up with following 2 (1) ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z LGA 1155 Intel Z68 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Extended ATX Intel Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131760 (2) ASUS P8P67 WS REVOLUTION LGA 1155 Intel P67 / NVIDIA NF200 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131714 Question = Would # 1 work ? Expensive but has Z68 Chipset & 4 PCIe X16 slots But I am confused the way they say how those slots work. It doesn't say all 4 work. Here is what they say : PCI Express 2.0 x16: 4 (x16 or dual x8 or x8, x16, x16) Question = Can someone please explain it ? I guess you have # 2 ? It clearly says all 4 work : 2 x PCIe 2.0 x16 slots (@ x16 or x8); 2 x PCIe 2.0 x 16 (@ x8)
It would take me two hours to download the manuals for the gpu and the mobo and read them, ask both manufacturers if it will work with all three x16's, etc. There's this guy Scat on here who can smell what will and won't work. Let's wait for him to bop along... Scat?
Actually need a bit more information to say specifically how they will work, but the bottom line is that he can run 4 video cards in those slots and each will run at x8 or x16 speed... which is waaaaaayyyy overkill for a trading rig. Mobo makers limit the number of PCIE "lanes" to save costs... then "share" them with multi video cards, if necessary. A few mobos don't have such limits... as in having 4, x16 slots and all run at x16 speed... but those cost more. (I'm not exactly sure how they do it, but I presume they have to run more wires through the mobo to run more lanes and not have to share.) mgookin... you're the one who has the mobo with 6, x16 lanes (or is that Boli?)... but you can run only 4 video cards? That's a BIOS issue... and a bit strange. I'v'e heard of only one other peripheral that uses an x16 slot besides video cards... some high-power SSD... seems ridiculous to have 6, x16 slots and not have all of them "video-card capable"... unless it's for bragging rights... like, "WE'VE GOT 6, X16 SLOTS ON OUR BOARD"... BFD if 2 of them won't run video cards.
Yeah I have one of those. Motherboard is MSI Bigbang Xpower. While it has 6 x PCIe x16, I couldn't get the fifth dual video card to work. Only 4 of them. I have given up on spending time on it. Right now I use 4 dual card to drive 8 monitors, and added 4 Tritton UV200 USB-to-DVI adapter to drive 4 more monitors to make a total of 12 monitors for one system. They work okay. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130289 For video cards, I use 4 of: http://www.google.com/products/cata...=X&ei=uHHaTrXKAsesiALc8umiCg&ved=0CEoQ8wIwAw# The Tritton UV200 USB-to-DVI adapter: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815275002 Actually on a different computer, I use a couple of SIIG USB-to-VGA Pro (note the "Pro" in the production name - Pro will support 1920 x 1080 resolution. Their other one only support 1680 x 1050.) And it is cheapre than Tritton. Works better. Fry's have them for $59.99. http://www.siig.com/usb-2-0-to-vga-pro.html
kevinqc: Have you determined what processor you want to use? The board I have is only for i7-930/950, socket LGA 1366. If you want to use the faster processors, such as i7-2600k or even i7-2700k, they use different sockets.
Why don't you buy something like a barebones Dell T5500 or better - T7500. Curious to know why you need 4x PCIx16 slots? What could you possibly be putting into the 4th x16 slot that doesn't also come in an x8 or x1 interface? What are you thinking for stands for this monster? Ergotron has a few options that may actually work for you... (this is scary to think about on one ergo stand...lol but it might work) Ergo makes different sets of brackets now - you have to call their customer support to order them but you can get them. They have a standard double and a standard tripple - but they have also started to produce "extra wide" double and triple arms. They also make longer upright extensions (kindof custom to order if you talk nicely to the support people). You **MIGHT** be able to purchase 3x extra wide double arms and 3x extra wide triple extensions and one extra-long upright pole to fit 4x3 monitors. (4 wide 3 high) Or they make a 4-wide solution that's a little more stable - you could just patch that together so it has two bases (much safer IMO). Regarding the PCI form factors - I think you are getting confused There are three factors: Power, Form Factor (size of the slot) and Speed. Look at this link: http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ2jZLXB7sgjnsxxGeNJNmT0vU8_nNZqenpviQX3vnfA_a2pw6NCA that is the "form factor" or size of the slot. you need x16 FORM FACTOR because of the size of the slot & pins on your video card. Your card draws a maximum power of <20W (call it 20W) so if you run three of these that's 60W total (needs to be factored into your PSU selection). Look at this link for 20W reference: http://www.amd.com/us/products/workstation/graphics/ati-firemv-2d/2460-mv/Pages/2460-firemv.aspx Google is your friend on this by the way... Industry standard is 25W on any x16 slot so when it says 4 pcie x16 slots but two at x8 that means you have 4x slots at a max of 25W (which meets your power requirements) but that only two can run at x16 speeds so if you use all four 2 will run at x8 speeds - but still produce the full 25W. Read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express FYI - something like a Dell Precision T5500 or T7500 will do exactly what you need. Also: you should also spend some time on Google looking up the ergonomics of bending your neck that high. With those dell 24" wide-screen monitors you can't fit it all into the over-extended double+triple arms, you are going to need to get the 4-mon solution from Ergotron and then stack them 3-high. What are you looking at to need that many montiors? I stopped at 6 and built another standalone machine with 4x monitors just because it got to be such a pain in the ass moving the mouse from one end to the other.