6 Monitor Setup - Best setup?

[joedajigalo]

Hello team,

I purchased 6 24" Curved Samsung Monitors.

I am looking to build around this.

Quick thing about me and the build:

1) I am a developer (no gaming specs needed)

2) YouTube will run alongside most of the time

3) Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator will be open

4) Chrome - I usually have about 25-50 tabs open at a time - I don't tend to close tabs / windows.

___

I would like to run the same brand manufacturer for the MB and GC (Gigabyte MB, Gigabyte Graphics Card)

RAM: Crucial Ballistix Tactical (32GB)

SSD: Two SSDs - Samsung 250 SSD
- One for OSX Install
- One for Files / Storage

Bluetooth + Wifi: Apple Broadcom BCM94360CD - 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac with Bluetooth 4.0

Sound: Hopefully something native supported on the MB?
- Unless something additional will also need to be purchased.

Searching for: Motherboard, CPU, Graphics Card, Power.

Motherboard: I am eyeing the Gigabyte GA-Z97X-GAMING series (possibly the Gigabyte GA-Z97X-GAMING 3 - if it can run the setup I would like to build). Else the 5, 7 or GT.
- The MB contains 1 HDMI, and 1 VGA and supports up to 32GB RAM.
- Realtek ALC1150
* - Will this be natively supported?
- 2 PCI Express 3.0: 1 (x16) and 1 (x8)
-- How will using 2 Graphic Cards both PCI Express 3.0 x16 be effected by 1 running x16 and 1 running x8?
*- Will running 2 monitors (1 HDMI and 1 VGA ) from the MB produce difference resolutions / output?
*- Will running the Gigabyte GA-Z97X-GAMING Series be an overkill?

CPU: Would like to run Core i7-4790K

Graphics Card: Looking for 2 Graphics Card that supports 2 HDMI monitors.
- Clueless on what would be able to run 2 monitors each (Either via 2 HDMI or 1 HDMI and 1 VGA)

Case: NZXT H440

TLDR:
- 6 Monitors
- Motherboard?
- Graphics Card? (2 needed *assumed)

Thanks!

 

[Fl0r!an]

Theoretically you could get a AMD "Eyefinity Edition" card and drive all 6 monitors from a single card. Since you don't need much GPU power this would be a quite cheap solution. Only problem: Currently most Radeon setups have sleep problems in El Capitan.

Alternatively you could get a Nvidia card. Starting with Kepler generation, most of them can drive 4 screens at a time. The 2 remaining displays can be driven by the iGPU. But I'd definitely stay away from a VGA connection, that's 90s stuff.

Btw, there's no reason to chose mainboard and graphics card from the same manufacturer.

 

[joedajigalo]

So definitely Radeon setup is out of scope.

For the Graphics Card, I am narrowing it down to the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 960 (Windforce 4GB)
- This has 3 Display Ports, 1 DVI and 1 HDMI.

For the MB, I am eyeing the Gigabyte GA-Z97X-GAMING 3 or the Gaming GA-Z97X-Gaming 7
- Both have 1 HDMI and 1 DVI

Is using straight HDMI still an issue with OSX Support? I've read in multiple threads that OSX support for DPs are much better than HDMI. I mention the DP converters because the screens only have 1 HDMI and 1 VGA connections, no Display Port connections.

Will 1 GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 960 (4GB RAM) Graphics Card and the Gigabyte GA-Z97X-GAMING 3 be great enough to run the 6 monitors smoothly?

CPU: Core i5-4690Kor Core i7-4790K

RAM: Crucial Ballistix Tactical (32GB)

TLDR:
- 6 Samsung 24" Curved Monitors
- RAM: Crucial Ballistix Tactical (32GB)

- Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-GAMING 3 or Gaming GA-Z97X-Gaming 7
- Graphics Card: 1 GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 960
- CPU: Core i5-4690Kor Core i7-4790K

Main reason why I list both end of the spectrums for the CPU and the Motherboard is because I don't want to building something that is an overkill with features I won't use.

Any opinions are appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Going Bald]

Dual GTX980s will run 8 displays from the Display Port ports + either the HDMI or the DVI port.
You will not get all 5 working at once - I tried it and with 5 displays connected, it cycles between 4 of them alternately and all screens flicker. If your screens have DP connectors you should have no problems running them all from the DP ports.

 

[joedajigalo]

@goingbald,

I actually just looked up the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 750 Ti

Motherboard: GIGABYTE G1 Gaming GA-Z97X-Gaming 3
- One DVI (Will need a DVI to HDMI for the Monitor)
- One HDMI
-- Supports 2 Screens

Video Card: GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 750 Ti
- 4GB Version
- Two DVI Connections (Will need a DVI to HDMI for the Monitors)
- Two HDMI Connections
-- Supports 4 Screens.

So - 4 Screens on the 750, and 2 Screens on the Mobo. What do you think of this approac?

 

[Going Bald]

@goingbald,

I actually just looked up the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 750 Ti

Motherboard: GIGABYTE G1 Gaming GA-Z97X-Gaming 3
- One DVI (Will need a DVI to HDMI for the Monitor)
- One HDMI
-- Supports 2 Screens

Video Card: GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 750 Ti
- 4GB Version
- Two DVI Connections (Will need a DVI to HDMI for the Monitors)
- Two HDMI Connections
-- Supports 4 Screens.

So - 4 Screens on the 750, and 2 Screens on the Mobo. What do you think of this approac?

Might work, depending on the resolution you need. 1080p probably no problem, but better resolution might or might not be possible for all displays at once.