12 Monitors - Card and Motherboard recommendations

[RobbTronics]

Several years ago I built a game for our Church carnival. It has 10 screens. 9 of them in a 3x3 grid (1280x1024 each) with each monitor outlined with LEDs and the 10th monitor is a 22" touch screen for the operator to run the game. Just think of the game show "Press Your Luck" and "Whammy". The kids walk up, press the big red button, and win the prize the lights land on.
I would like to upgrade the PC that runs the game but I want to make sure the hardware is all going to work together before I buy. When I built this thing it didn't cost a lot because I used junk parts and swapped stuff out until it all worked. I would like to do this right the first time if possible. The current machine is running 4 Matrox G450 cards (1 AGP and 3 PCI) and two external Lenovo USB docking stations with video out. This is running on a Lenovo P4 desktop with 2GB RAM. The .NET development environment runs like a dog but it runs the game OK.
Here's what I need:
Video:
10-12 monitor outputs. I don't need super high end gaming cards. It's a carnival game and will not need a lot of horsepower. All the game grid monitors are VGA. I know I may have to use some HDMI or mini-DP adaptors in here somewhere, that's OK. I was hoping to use as few cards as possible but will trade off number of cards VS price.
Motherboard:
The motherboard needs to be able to support the number of cards but it doesn't need to be a high end supercomputer.
I also plan to use an SSD, that will help things a bit.

OK gang. What are your recommendations?

 

[SolMiester]

With a 3 PCIe slot Z77 motherboard, you get VGA, DVI & HDMI and ability to run 2 ports in conjunction with whatever discrete GPUs you also have running.
7xxx AMD cards will run 3 panels GPU, though not sure on the combos of ports
6xx Kepler will run 4 panels each GPU, once again the ports change depending on high or low end product.
Thats a lot on panels either way you look at it.....

 

[tweakboy]

12 montitor outputs means 3 video cards. What kind of demands does this game have. IF not much.. then grab 3 GTX 460 1GB on black friday. They have 2 DVI ports and one HDMI port. gl

Or 4 9800 GT if you dont play recent games with it.

 

[ViRGE]

All of the monitors are VGA? Humm, that's going to make things a bit harder. You can easily convert DisplayPort to VGA, but you can't easily do HDMI to VGA (it requires an external box), so this means you're going to be driven towards cards with DVI-I/VGA and DisplayPort outputs.

Right off the bat we can rule out NVIDIA cards. Current generation NVIDIA cards only support 1 native VGA output per card (and typically only have 1 DisplayPort output), and previous generation NVIDIA cards only support 2 total displays per card.

That leaves you with AMD cards. I'm assuming you want to do this in as few cards as possible, and while AMD does support 6 displays per card there aren't any cards that are going to be practical (read: cheap) that offer that many outputs. But if we fall back to 4 displays per card this gets easier.

What you need is a card with 2x DVI-I outputs + 2x DisplayPort; that's very rare on 7000 series cards but common on the 6800 series. If you can dig up 3 used 6850s, some DP-to-VGA adapters (~$20/each), and some DVI-to-VGA adapters (dime a dozen), you could pull off 12 monitors. However this will still be around $120 in DP adapters plus the cost of the 6850s; I'd guess you're looking at $350-$400 for the entire setup.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150515

 

[tweakboy]

Exactly what VirGe said. adapters. Wow no kidding..DP adapters...

Remember the 2xx line,, were they 3 outputs ? I never saw one in person and forgot the reviews. I mean like virge said its gonna be a costly situation unfortunetly.... gl

 

[RussianSensation]

$260 motherboard with 5 PCIe and 1 PCI slots.
5x GT210 PCIe GPUs.
6x DVI to VGA adapters.
1x Nvidia PCI VGA card.

So that would be 5 PCIe cards (5x VGA + 5x DVI-to-VGA adapters) = 10 monitors and 1 PCI card (1x VGA + 1x DVI-to-VGA adapter).

1 stick of $17 DDR3 ram, Core i7 3820 CPU, Antec 650W Green PSU for $40.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Maybe, it's time to replace some of those monitors ;-)

 

[RobbTronics]

Thanks for all the great input but the monitors can't be replaced. It's a complete custom setup. They're mounted in the 3x3 grid and I've built custom LED fixtures that fit in the gaps between them so the entire array is is outlined inside and out. 156 individualy addressed groups of 3 LEDs driven by a custom printer port connected controller of my own design.
Here's some pix:

The game: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1qRIhsH-C7BdV9zbmktYm9LRlk
The lights: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1qRIhsH-C7BYXY5S3NaZ1Q2TFk
The back: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1qRIhsH-C7BcEJtZDFrMTFaREE

My budget for the video card portion of this build is around $400 - $500 with another $300 - $400 for the rest of the machine. I'd like to try my best to keep the entire box below $1000 including OS.
Some of the cards you folks are listing are 2 slot cards. It's going to be difficult to fit more than 2 on a motherboard. I was thinking about 3 4-port display port cards with DP to VGA adaptors but am not familiar with card models. I realize that's a lot of hardware hanging off the back of the PC but I think it's the most flexible option. I see a few brands out there I've never heard of before and would like to stay with a more popular brand name to avoid the "they don't make drivers for that anymore" problem, ya know? What do you guys think?

Thanks again for all the input.

 

[RobbTronics]

--

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

OP, I do have quite a few 5830s lying around doing nothing (12x Sapphire Xtreme 1GBs).

 

[N4g4rok]

7xxx AMD cards will run 3 panels GPU, though not sure on the combos of ports

7970/7950 will run four per GPU using HDMI, DVI, and two mini-display port adapters. Not sure about 78xx or 77xx

 

[RobbTronics]

Anybody heard anything either way about the ATI FirePro 2450? Four port DVI/VGA PCI Express 2.0 x16 & x1 Lane with cables and converters for $250. A little outside my budget but it's a start. The biggest question is: "Can you run three of them at a time?"

 

[Jimzz]

You live near a microcenter? The cheapest board/cpu woudl be a 990fx chipset board and the cheapest AM3 cpu since you are not doing anything to heavy.

Most 990 boards have 3PCIe slots. Here is a couple cheap boards that have 3 or 4 PCIe slots...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157281
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128514

You can fit 3 dual slot cards in with a decent size case.


For the cards look for used ones since you don't need the performance but the out puts. If not then find cheaper 6xxx series cards that support 3 outputs.

 

[_Rick_]

How about 2 Club3D 6870 eyefinity edition cards (each takes 6 monitors for less than $250) and a micro-ATX board with crossfire support.

Of course, that will mean 12 active mini-DP to VGA adapters.

Alternatively, some Ivy Bridge boards should support more than one monitor attached, so two cards with only 4 outputs each would be good enough, if you get the on-die gpu to work with two more cards installed.


Can't do more than propose avenues, no experience on those setups.

 

[tynopik]

This is running on a Lenovo P4 desktop with 2GB RAM. The .NET development environment runs like a dog but it runs the game OK.

can you upgrade the ram on the machine? that might be the cheapest solution . . .

alternatively, this motherboard supports 6 PCI slots, allowing you to port your current cards over

there's also 4 vga pci cards like this

 

[tynopik]

$55 - Foxconn H61AP - www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186225 - 6 PCI slots + parallel port

$111 x 3 - JATON VIDEO-558PCI-QLP GeForce 8400 GS 4 VGA PCI (OPEN BOX) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814139049R

$17 - 4GB RAM - www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147094

$49 - Celeron G530 - www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116409

$40 - Windows 8 - http://blogs.windows.com/windows/b/bloggingwindows/archive/2012/07/02/upgrade-to-windows-8-pro-for-39-99.aspx

$494

 

[Jimzz]

^

PCI is not supported in the newwer intel chipsets, its run through a convertor chip (PCI to PCIe). I be worried there be conflicts, esp since the drivers for the video card may not work either through the convertor and back?

 

[Magic Carpet]

^

PCI is not supported in the newwer intel chipsets, its run through a convertor chip (PCI to PCIe). I be worried there be conflicts, esp since the drivers for the video card may not work either through the convertor and back?

H77/B75 chipsets come with PCI native support.

 

[Jimzz]

H77/B75 chipsets come with PCI native support.

Looking at this chart below for newwer chipsets the Q77, Q75, and B75 support PCI. The H77 does not support native PCI.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_chipsets#5.2F6.2F7_Series_chipsets

But with so many boards supporting 3 or 4 PCIe 16x slots I would not mess with PCI myself. Just to much a chance for issues since very few support it anymore.

 

[tynopik]

The H77 does not support native PCI.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_chipsets#5.2F6.2F7_Series_chipsets

This says otherwise:

http://www.intel.com/content/dam/ww.../product-briefs/h77-express-chipset-brief.pdf

 

[EliteRetard]

You can get an Eyefinity6 card for $350. Why not make it simple and just get a system with 2 of those cards? $700 for the GPUs, $300 for the system should be easy.

Or how about an APU system with an Eyefinity6 card and such? Lets see...Edit: Yes you can build a simple 2 GPU system that should have all the outputs you need for under $1,000 easily.

RAIDMAX SMILODON ATX-612WBP Black 1.0mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Foldout MB Computer Case With 500W Power Supply
Model #:ATX-612WBP
Item #:N82E16811156062
Return Policy:Iron Egg Guarantee Return Policy
In Stock
$15 Mail in Rebate
$99.99 -$25.00 Instant $74.99 15% off EMCJJNH47 $63.74

ASUS F1A55-M LE FM1 AMD A55 (Hudson D2) Micro ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
Model #:F1A55-M LE
Item #:N82E16813131796
Return Policy:Standard Return Policy
In Stock
$15 Mail in Rebate
$69.99 -$5.00 Instant $64.99

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 5450 1GB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready Video Card ( 100292DDR3L)
Model #:100292DDR3L
Item #:N82E16814102882
Return Policy:VGA Replacement Only Return Policy
In Stock
$15 Mail in Rebate
$34.99 -$3.00 Instant $31.99

PowerColor AX7870 2GBD5-6D Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support ...
Model #:AX7870 2GBD5-6D
Item #:N82E16814131474
Return Policy:VGA Standard Return Policy
In Stock
$349.99 $349.99 Sell bundled items/game $30 $319.99

AMD A4-3300 Llano 2.5GHz Socket FM1 65W Dual-Core Desktop APU (CPU + GPU) with DirectX 11 Graphic AMD Radeon HD 6410D AD3300OJHXBOX
Model #:AD3300OJHXBOX
Item #:N82E16819106013
Return Policy:CPU Replacement Only Return Policy
In Stock
$48.99 $48.99

AMD Entertainment Edition 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model AE34G1609U2-U
Model #:AE34G1609U2-U
Item #:N82E16820103012
Return Policy:Memory Standard Return Policy
In Stock
$16.99 $16.99

Crucial V4 CT128V4SSD2BAA 2.5" 128GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) with Easy Desktop Install Kit
Model #:CT128V4SSD2BAA
Item #:N82E16820148587
Return Policy:Limited Replacement Only Return Policy
In Stock
$89.99 -$5.00 Instant $84.99 $15 off CRUC112 $69.99

Subtotal: $672.93
After rebates/coupon codes & shipping ($9.66): $581.34

And that should get you 10 outputs with 2 cards...6 DP to VGA, 2 VGA (5450/MOBO) 2 DVI (5450/MOBO). Otherwise you could swap the 5450 for another 7870 Eyefinity6 for 12 DP to VGA (and a DVI/VGA on the MOBO for 14 total outputs) and bump the cost to 884.34.

Choose whichever OS you want...XP, Win7, Win8, they should all add around $100.

Edit: DP to VGA adapters cost about $10. Looks like this 7870 card comes with 1 mini DP to DVI, 1 mini DP to VGA, and 4 mini DP to DP. So you'd need to spend $60-75 on adapters including the 2 DVI to VGA that youd need. Still the complete system cost with OS adapters and everything would be around $750.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

Does 7870 support that many monitors?

 

[ViRGE]

Some of the cards you folks are listing are 2 slot cards. It's going to be difficult to fit more than 2 on a motherboard.

On a full size ATX motherboard it's pretty easy to fit 3 2-slot cards. You won't be able to fit anything else, but that will be enough.

I was thinking about 3 4-port display port cards with DP to VGA adaptors but am not familiar with card models. I realize that's a lot of hardware hanging off the back of the PC but I think it's the most flexible option.

That's certainly an option. The only issue will be that it's very expensive; cards with 4+ DP outputs are expensive on their own, and then you'll need about $250 in adapters.

I see a few brands out there I've never heard of before and would like to stay with a more popular brand name to avoid the "they don't make drivers for that anymore" problem, ya know? What do you guys think?

AMD/NVIDIA are responsible for the drivers, not the card manufacturer. So no matter what brand card you get you'll get the drivers from the GPU manufacturer.

Finally, does anyone know if the 5450 can actually generate 2 VGA signals? If so, then 4 5450s (4x$60 + 4x$20) would be a practical option.

 

[gorobei]

two eyefinity6 cards and adapters would probably put you right up against your 1k price limit but would probably be simplest and more reliable(just overkill as far as gpu power goes).

if you really want to keep the price low, you could take a chance on some refurb eyefinity5 cards.
http://www.aztekcomputers.com/AX57701GBD55DCOR-POWERCOLOR-2493427.html
or
http://www.vgastore.com/p/100379900...sfirex-support-eyefinity-5-edition-video-card
http://www.vgastore.com/p/100378700...sfirex-support-eyefinity-5-edition-video-card

also most of the dp to vga adapters should have a ramdac chip built in so any of the amd cards that support up to 6 dp should be fine.

 

[EliteRetard]

Just found the perfect solution:

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=XFX-677_5D

New not refurb and from a trustworthy seller.
5 mini DP each, put 2 in a basic system for 10 outputs. Using an APU system with VGA/DVI on the MOBO should give you 12 outputs. Something like this:

Case/500w PSU $63.75-$15 rebate = 48.75
Asus FM1 MOBO 2x PCI-E X16 $72.5-$15 rebate = $57.5
AMD A4-3400 2.7GHz dualcore retail = $50
4GB DDR3 1600MHz = $17
128GB SSD (good quality) = $70
2x 1GB 6770 5 DP for 10 monitor out $140x2 = $280
10x mini DP to VGA $10x10 = $100
Win OS (XP, 7, 8) = $100

Should come out to around $725 with just a simple MOBO and 2 GPUs.
If your budget was $1000 you could spend a little extra for a smaller MATX form factor case and better PSU.