Desktop advice

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Beaker1987

New Member
I am in the market for a new computer.

1. My ultimate goal is to run 3 monitors. 2 monitors will be used for office work, and the third for whatever I deem necessary (tv, office work, etc.). Do I need to ensure I have a certain graphics chip for this? I want everything to run smoothly and seamlessly. What would everyone recommend as options?

2. For work I do alot of document creating, editing, and combining in Adobe. Also converting to pdf and printing to pdf and Alot of uploading and download of 100MB files or better, and finally, alot of excel work (all simultaneously). I need something fast that can process all this quickly, as well as run multiple screens.

I was thinking about only buying a tower because I already have two screens, keyboard and mouse. I just need to pick up another to complete my vision. I just need some guidance on what is the best platform for this.... Prcessor?, ram?, graphics chip? Drive?
Any help is greatly appreciated.
 
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Cisco001

Well-Known Member
Here are the key spec you could consider

CPU: i5 8400/ i7 8700/ Ryzen 5 1600/2600 or Ryzen 7 1700/ 2700
RAM: 8 - 16GB
SSD: optional, but best to have 250GB
Video card: GT1030/ GTX 1050/ GTX 1050ti
 
Darren

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
I'd suggest 16GB of RAM. The first one Cisco mentioned bumped to 16GB would do you well. Really any of them.
 
OmniDyne

OmniDyne

Active Member
Beaker1987 said:
My ultimate goal is to run 3 monitors.
Click to expand...

Cisco001 said:
GT1030
Click to expand...

I'm fairly certain the GT 1030 doesn't support 3 monitors, from what I could find.

A 1050 might, but he'll have to use three different cables (HDMI, Display Port, and DVI, maybe even VGA depending on the manufacturer that supplies the video card.)

Also, I would avoid a stock i7-8700 machine. The stock Intel cooler provided won't allow the chip to run to its full capability due to temperature.
 
Darren

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
OmniDyne said:
I'm fairly certain the GT 1030 doesn't support 3 monitors, from what I could find.

A 1050 might, but he'll have to use three different cables (HDMI, Display Port, and DVI, maybe even VGA depending on the manufacturer that supplies the video card.)

Also, I would avoid a stock i7-8700 machine. The stock Intel cooler provided won't allow the chip to run to its full capability due to temperature.
Click to expand...

Actually yeah you're right. Not sure about the 1030's capabilities. I know a 1050 can support up to 4. I'm actually running a 1050 on my work machine with 4 monitors right now, but I'm able to run 2 thru the onboard video outputs and 2 thru the 1050. Something I didn't think was possible until I set this up. Used to be you could only use outputs off the GPU if it was installed. Now I guess you can run it thru both.
 
OmniDyne

OmniDyne

Active Member
Darren said:
Actually yeah you're right. Not sure about the 1030's capabilities. I know a 1050 can support up to 4. I'm actually running a 1050 on my work machine with 4 monitors right now, but I'm able to run 2 thru the onboard video outputs and 2 thru the 1050. Something I didn't think was possible until I set this up. Used to be you could only use outputs off the GPU if it was installed. Now I guess you can run it thru both.
Click to expand...

That's a good point. Unless he has to go through the BIOS to enable onboard video, it should be plug and play.

I know with my 8400 I had to enable onboard video through the BIOS though, and I can use dedicated and internal at the same time. That's actually what I'm doing currently.

With Ryzen though, he'd want to make sure the motherboard has onboard video, I'd assume.
 
Jiniix

Jiniix

Well-Known Member
Be very vary of the 1030. NVIDIA has silently introduced an SDDR4 version, as opposed to the standard GDDR5, which is effectively only half the performance.
 
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Beaker1987

New Member
Thanks. I want to stick to name brand. I have an HP now that I am not happy with, but is also lower on the performance spec scale.

While alot of the previous posts look like a foreign language to me, I was actually looking at that Dell mentioned by Margrave. Is the gt1050 a good graphics/chip? I could upgrade to the 1060. I was looking the ports... will I be able to use 3 screens adequately with 1050?

Also can someone explain the difference between Microsoft pro and Microsoft home?
 
Darren

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
Beaker1987 said:
Thanks. I want to stick to name brand. I have an HP now that I am not happy with, but is also lower on the performance spec scale.

While alot of the previous posts look like a foreign language to me, I was actually looking at that Dell mentioned by Margrave. Is the gt1050 a good graphics/chip? I could upgrade to the 1060. I was looking the ports... will I be able to use 3 screens adequately with 1050?

Also can someone explain the difference between Microsoft pro and Microsoft home?
Click to expand...

Pro gives you a bit more control over the OS, including Updates. Also has some more business oriented features like Remote Desktop.

I'm on one of the lower level 1050's and typing on one of my 4 monitors right now. 2 running through the onboard video ports but pretty sure the 1050 handles all of it. If you're not gaming 1050 is fine.
 
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