Which graphics card(s?) for 6 x high res monitors, not gaming

[multimonitormaniac]

I want to expand from a four monitor setup to a six monitor setup. Why? Because six is two more than four and therefore obviously better, that's why!

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Displays
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The monitors will be 6 x Dell 27" U2715H with resolution 2560x1440px @ 60hz.

Specs:
http://accessories.ap.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=hk&l=en&s=bsd&cs=hkbsd1&sku=210-adsz

The connection options of the displays are:

- 2 HDMI(MHL) connector
- 1 Mini DisplayPort
- 1 DisplayPort (version 1.2)
- 1 DisplayPort out (MST)

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Motherboard
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My motherboard is Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming 5.
Specs: https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-Z170X-Gaming-5-rev-10#sp

Relevant expansion slots:

- 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16)
- 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8)
- 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4) (blocked by SSD)
- 4 x PCI Express x1 slots

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PC
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The PC runs Intel I7, have 32GB RAM, SSD's etc, so that should check all the boxes.

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Graphics Card??
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What graphics card(s?) should I go for, to feed the 6 monitors at this resolution?

It will not be used for gaming at all, so game performance is irrelevant. Budget is "whatever it takes", but I don't want to spend more than necessary.

Thanks in advance!

 

[pjmssn]

The NVS 810 can drive 8 4K monitors, so it should be fine for your application. It is not cheap though at around $600. There might be other options that I do not know about, hopefully others will chime in.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...32054&cm_re=nvidia_nvs-_-14-132-054-_-Product

 

[Ratman6161]

Your motherboard has a display port for use with built in ntel graphics. Your monitors are display port 1.2 and have display port out. This means you should be able to daisy chain the two monitors on the single display port. I've done this successfully with 2x 24 inch on a surface pro 3 in a docking station. Its also possible to use the Intel graphics and your graphics card at the same time.

So if the integrated gpu is good enough for your purpose - which you didn't mention, you probably don't need to buy anything.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I would consider an "Eyefinity 6" card, an AMD card, with 6 mini-DP outputs on it.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

As already mentioned, you have 6 Displayport monitors with built in MST Hubs. DisplayPort 1.2 has a limit of 2 monitors at 2560x1440, as that uses roughly 70% of your available bandwidth. So you need 3 physical DP ports, and a combination of displayport controllers that can support 6 monitors. This is what usually knocks out a lot of affordable NVIDIA cards, as the vast majority of affordable ones (like the 1060), only have enough support for 4 displays (using an MST Hub does not remove your need for a controller for all available streams).

So you got some options. The iGPU in your CPU (I'm assuming the 630 iGPU) has support for 3 Displays, so if you have a DisplayPort on your motherboard you can run 2 monitors from that. After that, you just need a graphics card with 2 Displayports. Connect each of your 3 Displayports to one of the monitors, and daisy chain each monitor to a partner monitor. You should now be able to run all 6 displays, and may not need any more hardware than you already have.

If you must have all 6 displays connected to one card, then I'd recommend an R7 360 or higher, RX 470 or higher, or RX 560 or higher. As long as it has 3 Displayport outputs, any of the aforementioned GPUs with support 6 1440p displays with the use of MST hubs. The cheapest of those I see on Newegg is an RX 570 with 4 DP Outputs for about $330.

Third option is to run 2 GPUs. Many many GPUs will support 3 displays on each card, so you could get something even a couple generations old and just run 2 cards to get your output needs. DP 1.2 has been around for a while.

 

[multimonitormaniac]

As already mentioned, you have 6 Displayport monitors with built in MST Hubs. DisplayPort 1.2 has a limit of 2 monitors at 2560x1440, as that uses roughly 70% of your available bandwidth. So you need 3 physical DP ports, and a combination of displayport controllers that can support 6 monitors. This is what usually knocks out a lot of affordable NVIDIA cards, as the vast majority of affordable ones (like the 1060), only have enough support for 4 displays (using an MST Hub does not remove your need for a controller for all available streams).

Probably the best advice I have received so far, across the forums where I have asked this question. Thanks for sharing.

I ended up buying a GTX1060 and have attached 2x2 daisy chained monitors to it - and when I add one more, it does not work. I was not aware of this limitation.

However, I do have a displayport on the motherboard, so I will try running two daisy-chained monitors off that. 2x2 on the GTX1060, 1x2 from the motherboard. Hope it works, so I don't need to use another GPU. Looking at specs, it should work.

I am still waiting to receive my 3 last Dell U2715H monitors, so before I do that, I can't properly test it.

 

[iBoMbY]

Matrox C680 or Radeon Pro WX 9100 have 6x miniDP for example, and should work with minDP->DP adapters.

Edit: FirePro W600 should also work.

Edit2: I would probably go for the Matrox C680, which is designed specifically for multi-display solutions, and it should come with the right software for this.

 

[iBoMbY]

[lol, sorry, wrong browser tab.]

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Matrox C680 or Radeon Pro WX 9100 have 6x miniDP for example, and should work with minDP->DP adapters.

Edit: FirePro W600 should also work.

Edit2: I would probably go for the Matrox C680, which is designed specifically for multi-display solutions, and it should come with the right software for this.

Matrox cards are great. They have advanced features like Genlocking to Synchronize multiple cards, and also have multiple audio codecs for multiple audio streams (a C680 has the ability to stream 3 different audio sources over its various Displayports simultaneously). The PowerDesk software also goes well beyond what's built into Windows

It sounds like the OP just wants to lump together 6 monitors for general use, so something like the C680 I'd think would be overkill. Likewise, the WX9100 is a massive card designed to support 6 4K monitors (and can even handle 8K monitors with reduced capacity).

Since the OP is "just" running 1440P monitors, he might as well save the money on the number of DP outputs he needs and leverage Displayport's MST ability with version 1.2, especially since his monitors already have the MST hub built in. If he needed 6, 4K outputs (where there's not enough bandwidth in DP 1.2 to daisy chain), I'd agree with you, a heavy muscle card or multiple cards are his only option. But with MST, he only needs 3 good DP outputs, and enough controllers to drive 6, which many AMD cards do without issue. It's just too bad that mining has made AMD cards so overpriced. Still, the OP should be able to leverage his iGPU, for 2 of the displays, so his 1060 + iGPU combination should be just fine.

 

[iBoMbY]

He said

Budget is "whatever it takes"

I'm not sure if this is a professional or hobbyist solution? The exact application would probably help with the decision/suggestions.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Something like this isn't too much money and would do the job:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIADYY6AB4772

I use the x4 mini display port version at work, it gets it done without issue.

 

[pjmssn]

I use a NVS card at work with 4 displays and I am pretty happy with it. I did not know one could daisy chain monitors, thanks! It's a good thing to learn something new everyday!

 

[multimonitormaniac]

Received the monitors and everything else.

I have attached 2x2 daisy-chained monitors to the GTX1060, and that works. But I cannot hook a third monitor up to the GPU (this was kind of expected), as it will only handle a total of 4 monitors.

I was then expecting to be able to add 1x2 daisy-chained monitors to my IGPU, but it seems I run into some kind of system limitation (??). If I hook up my 24" 1920x1200 monitor, it works. If I hook up another 2560x1440 monitor, it says "entering power-save mode" and does not want to display anything. The monitor works, the cable works - but I hit some kind of wall here.

Question is, if I should get another GPU with displayport for 1x2 daisychained monitors - or if that will not work either...

Damn, this stuff is frustrating.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Does the display show up as soon as you disconnect a different monitor? Have you gone into your display settings and made sure that monitor is actually extended to (and not unconfigured?)

 

[multimonitormaniac]

Well...

If I plug it in, the 4 other connected screens flash black/off for about 20 seconds, then re-appear - sometimes one of them in a weird, laggy interlace-looking mode.

And then the 5th screen kind of shows up in Display Settings, as shown below - but as 640*480 - and nothing displays on the screen.

If I plug the same displayport into my 24" monitor (1920x1200), it works. This is what makes me fear some kind of system-limitation.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

What if you plug the same monitor into one of your displayports hanging off the 1060, thereby ruling out the monitor?

 

[Fallen Kell]

As others have said, you have a couple options, all of which have pro's and con's. Given you have already invested in a 1060, your best option now would be to get either another 1060 or a 1050 to save some money. The reason is to keep something that uses the same display drivers and in the same family. You are simply asking for more problems if you use something that needs different drivers.

This assumes you have a motherboard which can support having 2 8xPCIe connections, that you have the available space, and have a power supply capable of handling the additional card.

Personally I would have recommended bitting the bullet and getting a NVS 810 (alleviating any/all headaches of hoping things would work dealing with multiple graphics cards). I unfortunately do not recommend AMD cards mainly because many of the typical use cases of large numbers of monitors like this are for either video/display walls, or development platforms which may result in using linux as an OS for which the AMD cards have very poor support (I don't want to get into the whole open source driver etc., debate, hands down, the Nvidia driver simply works and does so without hours of debugging or configuration tweaking...).

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Personally I would have recommended bitting the bullet and getting a NVS 810 (alleviating any/all headaches of hoping things would work dealing with multiple graphics cards). I unfortunately do not recommend AMD cards mainly because many of the typical use cases of large numbers of monitors like this are for either video/display walls, or development platforms which may result in using linux as an OS for which the AMD cards have very poor support (I don't want to get into the whole open source driver etc., debate, hands down, the Nvidia driver simply works and does so without hours of debugging or configuration tweaking...).

That's an incredibly limited outlook. I don't know why you would recommend a high-priced NVS 810 based on an old architecture that costs *more* money when something like the Matrox C680 is available that costs less, gives him his 6 display outputs, and has PowerDesk Software, which is *far* better than the multi-monitor capabilities shipped in Windows or Linux. As you would say, it's hands down better.

If you just need a bunch of displays at a low price, AMD has the best solution.
If you need a bunch of displays, and working without hours of debugging or tweaking on Linux is needed, Matrox is the best solution.
About the only niche the NVS 810 fills is needing to drive 4, 4K, 60Hz displays off of one graphics card as cheaply as possible, which isn't at all the use case the OP is asking for, nor is it the best option where you claim it to be.

 

[multimonitormaniac]

Got back from 5 days of vacation, and went back to working on the monitor-solution... And I got there!

I tried all kinds of stuff to make the IGPU work, but it was not a workable solution. I then tried with my old GTX750 GPU, which I added to the PC next to the GTX1060. And then I got there - and it works!

Final setup:
2x2 monitors daisy-chained displayport to GTX1060
1x monitor HDMI to GTX750
1x monitor DVI-D to GTX750

I still have to re-cable everything to make it pretty, but at least it works now. I also think the 7th monitor (TV) will work when attached to the GTX750 - but that is for another day.

A couple of pics:

Big thanks for all the help I have received in here!