Which graphics card for 6 x high res monitors, not gaming

[iwritecode]

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! 😀

--------------------
Displays
--------------------

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)

My guess here is I need to go with DisplayPort or Mini Displayport to have the required bandwidth - is that correct?

--------------------
Motherboard
--------------------

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

--------------------
PC
--------------------

The PC runs Intel I7, has 32GB RAM, SSD's etc, so that should check all the boxes. OS is Win10.

--------------------
Graphics Card??
--------------------

**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 gaming performance is irrelevant. It will be used for software development. Budget is "whatever it takes", but I don't want to spend more than necessary.

I know Matrox make a card with 6 displayports, but that is very expensive.

My guess is I am best off combining two identical cards in PCI-E x16 slots - but I am not sure at all.

Any advice is very welcome - thanks in advance!

 

[Greasy Pommel]

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! 😀

--------------------
Displays
--------------------

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)

My guess here is I need to go with DisplayPort or Mini Displayport to have the required bandwidth - is that correct?

--------------------
Motherboard
--------------------

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

--------------------
PC
--------------------

The PC runs Intel I7, has 32GB RAM, SSD's etc, so that should check all the boxes. OS is Win10.

--------------------
Graphics Card??
--------------------

**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 gaming performance is irrelevant. It will be used for software development. Budget is "whatever it takes", but I don't want to spend more than necessary.

I know Matrox make a card with 6 displayports, but that is very expensive.

My guess is I am best off combining two identical cards in PCI-E x16 slots - but I am not sure at all.

Any advice is very welcome - thanks in advance!

I think that two GTX 1060 3GB's with 3 Displayports on each may be your best bet. If you're in the US, this should cost around $450.

If you had lower resolution monitors (1080p), you'd be able to get away with just one graphics card (3 display port, 1 hdmi, 1 dvi) + 1 hdmi/ dvi from integrated graphics. I'm afraid that 6 1440p monitors is just over the number of cables with sufficient bandwidth that a single graphics card can support. Because DVI can't push 2560x1440p without dual link.

A single GTX 1060 3GB is able to push the number of pixels that you need (7680x4320@60Hz). I just can't think of a better way to connect more monitors to the same graphics card. DisplayPort 1.2 can't provide enough bandwidth for two or more 1440p 60 hz displays, so AFAIK using DisplayPort multi stream won't work.

For anyone else out there, correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[apple_noob]

i agree with him. Since you are not gaming, or editing photos/videos it will be fine. If you did any of these that would be a whole different story but software designing and coding isn't very demanding.

Is this like a full 180* setup or something? It's fucking insane.. only wish I had that budget 😀

 

[Blas]

This would be ideal (seen on reddit):

https://i.redd.it/fpozz65nwomz.png

The card is compliant with DP 1.2, which can happily deal with 2560x1400 resolutions.

There might be newer models, from AMD (Nvidia only supports 4 screens per GPU, AMD does 6, but most cards only have 4 ports).

EDIT: https://www.amazon.com/VisionTek-Radeon-GDDR5-MiniDP-Graphics/dp/B0085O90SQ In stock!

 

[Greasy Pommel]

This would be ideal (seen on reddit):

https://i.redd.it/fpozz65nwomz.png

The card is compliant with DP 1.2, which can happily deal with 2560x1400 resolutions.

There might be newer models, from AMD (Nvidia only supports 4 screens per GPU, AMD does 6, but most cards only have 4 ports).

EDIT: https://www.amazon.com/VisionTek-Radeon-GDDR5-MiniDP-Graphics/dp/B0085O90SQ In stock!

Are you sure that a 7870 can run 6 1440p monitors? That's like running a resolution of 6k.

 

[Blas]

Yes, AMD cards have been able to move 6 monitors since the 5xxx series, some 8 years ago (https://www.anandtech.com/show/2841/9). Not for gaming, naturally, but as independent desktops, with resolutions as high as allowed by the display port protocol. These cards use DP 1.2, which does allow 2560x1400 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayPort). So yes, i'm pretty sure.