Need help with first build, or pre-built options.

[mweis1208]

I am in need of some advice on my first build. I need a new setup mainly used for day trading. The main thing I need is the ability to run at least 4 monitors, possibly 6. I have read several threads but still a little confused on what exactly I need to put this together. I basically just need to be able to run several open chrome tabs that will have exchange charts, youtube, reddit, etc.Excluding the monitors I would like to keep this build around $600. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[justin.m.beauvais]

For the computer itself an i3 8100 or a Ryzen 3 would be a great CPU, with that much multitasking 16 GB of RAM is recommended. You might be able to get away with 8 GB if you want to keep the cost down. An SSD would be a great addition to make it a fast booting and snappy system. The biggest hurdle here is the 6 display requirement. In theory any AMD card that supports Eyefinity can drive 6 monitors, in practice most support a number more like 4. VisionTek makes a Radeon 7750 that supports 6 monitors via display port, but you do require adapters from DisplayPort mini to DisplayPort (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C7EPSVS/ref=as_li_ss_tl?tag=mmcdl-20). Other solutions for the video issue involve more than one video card and a plethora of various adapters... or one video card that is astronomically expensive. All that is left is the PSU to drive it. The video card necessitates something more than 400W so I'd recommend something in the 550W range for later expansion and to maximize efficiency.

Let me know if you have any questions about my recommendation. I hope that helps.

 

[mweis1208]

Awesome, thanks for the reply! Do you have any recommendations for a motherboard with the 16 GB RAM?

 

[justin.m.beauvais]

A motherboard would be dependent on the CPU you'd choose. That said, you'd have no need for a gimicky gamer motherboard, so a basic midrange board with either the B350 chipset for the Ryzen or a lower range 300 series motherboard for the i3 (once they are released) would be fine. Right now the only thing on the market for the i3 8100 motherboard wise is the enthusiast Z370 chipset, which are fairly high end. That should change in a month or so as they are on the cusp of releasing the mainstream products. For RAM, get the cheapest DDR4 stuff you can find from a reputable brand (read reviews on Amazon or Newegg to see if people have problems or not). If you won't be gaming or video editing then the higher speed RAM won't be terribly beneficial to you. In your case quantity is worth more to you.

 

[logainofhades]

The lower range 300 series boards are readily available now. 4 monitors is easy with a dedicated GPU. Ryzen APU, in a B350 Pro4 can run 3 monitors. I am just unsure if the APU can run 3, and a dedicated GPU also be used to run 3. I have not been able to find a definitive answer on that one.

 

[justin.m.beauvais]

The lower range 300 series boards are readily available now. 4 monitors is easy with a dedicated GPU. Ryzen APU, in a B350 Pro4 can run 3 monitors. I am just unsure if the APU can run 3, and a dedicated GPU also be used to run 3. I have not been able to find a definitive answer on that one.

I'm speaking of lower end, mainstream, boards for Intel systems, of which I realized that Newegg's search is slightly flawed. So, yeah. I made a mistake. The B360, H370, and H310 Intel boards are available. So a low cost i3 is on the plate. In fact, the i3 is what I recommend, mostly based on single thread performance. It doesn't seem like you'd be using programs that are heavily multi-threaded, so you should see an advantage from the i3. The 8100 is basically what a last gen i5 was anyways, You'll be more than happy with it.

I do have to say that I simply can't find a better video card for a 6 monitor setup than the one I linked above. If you want to use 6 monitors then that is the best way to go. If you are happier with 4 monitors then the majority of graphics cards would be up to that task. Many cards have at least 4 outputs in a mix of DisplayPort and HDMI.