6 monitors use display port hub or 2 GPUs

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DBell02

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Jan 27, 2014
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I am finishing up my build for a daytrading computer. I am trying to find the best solution for six monitor display (not one large screen), I was recommended to use the EVGA display port hub.

http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=200-DP-1301-L1

Then I read this: The Display Port Hub cannot grant additional monitors per card. A GTX 780 Ti, for example, can run a maximum of 4 monitors. With the Hub, you can still only run up to 4 monitors, not 6. The Hub is simply an easier way to port out 3 monitors on a single hub, rather than try to use multiple cable types from the card.

I would like some expert advice. The platform requires 512mb per screen they also mentioned accelerated calculations. Would two GPUs work better or would the EVGA hub be the best solution?
Thank you for you time.
 
Solution
giantbucket
well, you don't need as many cards as I have 😛 but yeah, a GT640-2G will be fine. I personally like the Asus one since it has 2 DVI, 1 HDMI, and 1 VGA, so there's no DisplayPort converters ever needed - they're just basic common monitor interfaces (and HDMI converts to DVI with just a cable)

you could do the GTX660s if you want as well.

oops - the i7-4xxx won't work with a Z77 board. you could use an i7-3xxx processor with it, or use a Z87 Extreme3 board if you want i7-4xxx processor. here's a sampling of ASRock boards for an i7-4770K that let you run dual graphics cards as 8x/8x

Click here, it's a long link
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aah, I thought you were going to plug the new graphics card into your old Mac (hey, I don't use Macs, so no idea if that was even possible). if you're doing a whole new build then my bad.

as to the one-card or two-cards thing, my personal forex setup is: i5-3570k / asrock z77 extreme3 mobo / one gt610 / two gt640s / 8 screens / win8.1 / java-based trading platform / wd black 2.5" OS drive. so, i'm currently running 8 screens using 3 cards (plus CPU's own graphics capability) and it's perfectly stable. so, I can say that it is possible to have 2 cards without issues. in theory, my setup has output capability to run up to 12 monitors, but currently with 8 i'm quite happy. I only run one chart per monitor though (6 charts), and my CPU and GPU loads are very low, like 10% or less. never had mouse lags/delays. once I log into my forex platform, I expect it to stay online and working for 120 hours straight (Sun 5pm until Fri 5pm), which it does.

as to mobo running 8x/8x instead of 16x/4x, i'm talking about the PCIe slots into which your graphics cards go. since you're going to be running similar content across many screens, it would make sense that - if you are going to use dual cards - that each is running at a similar bandwidth, rather than one running at a much lower bandwidth. with most current processors, they can only support 16 PCIe lanes, so you can do one card at 16x or two cards at 8x each (hence 8x/8x). some motherboards use a 4x graphics card slot that's controlled by another chipset separate from the CPU, so in those cases you get 16x/4x (16 from CPU, 4 from other), which is fine for some things but may not be ideal in your case.

LGA2011 on the other hand can handle 40 PCIe lanes (instead of 16), so if you run two cards then each can run at the full 16x bandwidth. but the CPU and motherboards are $$$, and you lose onboard graphics capability (which is fine if you're at this level anyways). the AMD AM3+ CPU with 990FX chipset does the same thing for less money (no onboard graphics, 40 PCIe lanes). this AMD solution is a fair bit cheaper.

(( I actually had the AMD build for about 3 weeks but ditched it cuz while it worked great for trading, it sucked for playing a movie spanned across 6 screens and my machine is kinda dual-purpose. I had the Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 board, FX-6350 processor, and dual Asus HD7790 1GB cards, each running 3 screens so had to disable crossfire ))

as to the "software knows funky processing" bit, it's just a note to check if the trading platform will use both GPUs for whatever processing it needs to do IF you use dual graphics cards (or if it'll only use the first card for processing, but then send the results to both cards to output to all your monitors). that might be a question for the ThinkOrSwim tech guy. I notice that on my 3-card setup, the first card tends to get loaded a bit more than #2 or #3 even if the content spans across the other cards too.
 
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I meant AMD for the graphics cards.. But to be perfectly honest it might make sense to go AMD all the way, I won't be doing ANYTHING else on this computer besides trading.. The imac will be my computer.. This is 100% a day trading rig. That being said I will start to research AMD for the best items. As long as AMD is stable for trading I'm happy. Any input on parts would be appreciated. I will start to "build" one later tonight. It's seems the price is a big difference and seeing how I will only trade if it's significantly cheaper why not.
 
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Hey Giantbucket I got a response from the tech guys at thinkorswim

My QA with thinkorswim tech:

Does the trading platform use both GPUs for whatever processing it needs to do IF you use dual graphics cards (or if it'll only use the first card for processing, but then send the results to both cards to output to all your monitors
RIV409: Yes, the benifit with multi gpu will be greatly felt when you have multi monitors. You would want to build your computer twards a gaming pc. Even if you do not game.

Does TOS use multithread task?
10:38 RIV409: Yes, we have codes that we can put in the vmoptions folder to take advantage of this.
10:39 RIV409: when you have your new computer. Please give us a call and we can add them for you.

okay and How many cores?
RIV409: dual core and soon quad

Having read that how do i obtain multithreading? with the i7-4770?
And i will for sure go with dual GPUs

Any thoughts will be appreciated...
 
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it sounds like they (TOS) are writing specific code for specific hardware, so might be best to bounce things off of them. it surely sounds like an i5 would be sufficient, but maybe their specific code would work better on an FX-series processor. it might be best to ask TOS what hardware they use to test their code, and use that for your own build (be it i5 or FX series, and nVid or AMD), and specifically which level of card (ie what's the lowest card that would work, a GT620 or 660, an HD7750 or 7850)

they might come back and say that their code seems to work best with an AMD processor and nVid graphics cards - so if you build an i5 with AMD GPU, you'll be doing the total opposite 😛
 
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Hey giantbucket this is what TOS told me for power users

Processor Multi-core processor 2.5GHz or better

Ram 4GB Windows 7 / 2GB XP (Widows 8.1 can be used)

Video: DirectX 11 graphics card with 512mb or better and an additional 256mb per additional monitor: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT256 or greater; ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (Radeon X800 Pro 256MB for Vista) or greater

HD Free Space 1GB

Display Resolution 1024 x 768

Internet: 3mbps or faster broadband connection with 100ms ping or better

Its funny i couldn't find much info when i googled those video card recommendations.
Thanks again
 
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haha! wow, those are quite different than what originally was indicated. quite low specs, which is more in line with what I would expect. and not surprisingly more emphasis on the processor than the graphics cards, since not only does it have to do at least some of the indicator calculations, it also has to manage your separate monitors.

I guess you can do just about any build using an i7 and be quite good. so, you want to run dual cards, or one card? easier to run duals at least as far as the connections go (all DVI/HDMI/VGA). but if you have DisplayPort inputs on all your monitors, then it's really easy with just one card (VisionTek makes a 7870 Eyefinity 6-output card for this)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129262

if you want, you can replicate my i5 setup (way up above) and just swap in an i7 and be done.
 
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well, you don't need as many cards as I have 😛 but yeah, a GT640-2G will be fine. I personally like the Asus one since it has 2 DVI, 1 HDMI, and 1 VGA, so there's no DisplayPort converters ever needed - they're just basic common monitor interfaces (and HDMI converts to DVI with just a cable)

you could do the GTX660s if you want as well.

oops - the i7-4xxx won't work with a Z77 board. you could use an i7-3xxx processor with it, or use a Z87 Extreme3 board if you want i7-4xxx processor. here's a sampling of ASRock boards for an i7-4770K that let you run dual graphics cards as 8x/8x

Click here, it's a long link
 
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Solution
After all said and done this is the setup I'm going with unless you have any other changes.. the GPUs are 2 of these Asus GTX650ti and no converters 😉

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($294.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus Z87-PRO ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($164.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($169.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($121.99 @ B&H)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 650 Ti 2GB Video Card (Quantity 2)($139.99 @ Microcenter)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($88.98 @ Newegg)
Case Fan: Cougar Vortex PWM 70.5 CFM 120mm Fan ($13.99 @ Mwave)
Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 750W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Asus DVD-E818AAT/BLK/B/GEN DVD/CD Drive ($21.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 - 64-bit - OEM (64-bit) ($99.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Acer G246HLAbd 60Hz 24.0" Monitor ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Acer G246HLAbd 60Hz 24.0" Monitor ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Acer G246HLAbd 60Hz 24.0" Monitor ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Acer G246HLAbd 60Hz 24.0" Monitor ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Acer G246HLAbd 60Hz 24.0" Monitor ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Logitech K120 Wired Standard Keyboard ($10.29 @ B&H)
Mouse: Kensington K64325 Wired Trackball ($85.99 @ Staples)
Other: 6 monitor stand ($109.00)

you have been very helpful i don't even know which "Pick a solution" to pick haha
 
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i assume you already have one such monitor cuz you only list 5, but yeah that looks like a very good build (overkill, but it's yours to be happy with!)

ok, the ONLY THING that I would change is the processor - if you're gonna go for an i7 and a Z87 board, at least get the 4770K version for an extra $40 or so.

oh, and maybe add a 22-24" touchscreen and run that from the onboard graphics. I use the touch to host all of my BUY/SELL control buttons. a nice alternative to holding an idiotic mouse constantly. plus I work better when I stand, so the touch makes even more sense for me.
 
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Ya, I prefer trackballs too but the only one I found comfy was the Logitech that uses the thumb to control the ball. I might buy one again (my last one started glitching too much so I recycled it).

Anyhoo, have fun building and trading! See ya at the Porsche dealership!
 
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the GTX660 would only take around 150W each, so with two of them you're at 300W, plus around 85W for your i7-4770K, plus around 50W for mobo/ram/other junk, and maybe 10W for a HDD (5W for SSD). so, um, 300+85+50+10 puts you at 450W or so, add 20% for PSU inefficiency and you're at 540W or so. even if you OC your processor to double its power use, that puts you at 650W or thereabout, so a 750W is perfectly good.

I use a 550W for my i5/gt610/gt640/gt640/5HDD setup, but I don't OC.
 
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Hey giantbucket, so my parts are almost all in. I have been reading about installing drivers etc. Shohld I update mob bios first some people say just leave it alone? If I don't update the bios do I still need to install the asus disk?
For the GPU should I use the disk or get the drivers from website usb and load it that way...
Thanks again.. This is my first build and I'm not sure the process for all the loading etc...
 
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mobo bios - I don't bother changing it unless i'm 3-4 versions behind and I have at least half a reason to do an update

I don't typically use the CD media that's included anymore - as long as Windows has the network driver on its own I get the latest drivers online. in Win8, I didn't need the CD. in Win7, I did need it just to install the network drivers, but everything else I got online from Gigabyte/AMD/etc.

the ONLY thing I had to manually find and install was my mobo's Intel Smart Connect drivers. it took a whopping 5 minutes to figure out what I needed, download it, and install it.

one suggestion - if you have a spare hard drive (and you should, ideally an external one), then as soon as you do your initial OS install and activate Windows and load the drivers and do basic Windows updates - grab a system image and save it on your spare hard drive. this way if you EVER need to go back to a clean slate, you can just restore that system image and save a lot of install work.

also - make sure that the system restore points feature is turned ON. it usually is, but for some reason I once came across a Win8.1 install that had it turned OFF. the restore points are VERY handy if you just need to undo one or two recent installs.

Google search can likely bring up a few guides with pics to show these things.
 
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Thanks for the input, I will go directly to the websites and download the drives. I'm installing 8.1 so it should have the network driver so get me on the web. Yea I hard with the mob bios if it's not broke don't fix it. It doesn't make the PC preform better
 
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