I'd like to build a computer to use for trading/multi monitors..any advice please?

U

uraceulose

New Member
Guys,

I'm fairly new on the forum and decent working on a computer but have no idea what the "connections/specs" mean and which parts are compatible with which when custom building..

Anyway, I trade currencies online and need between 4-6 monitors running at once. I may run 4 monitors on 1 tower and 2 on another tower/connection as a back-up if needed.

First off just the 4 monitor setup. I obviously don't need crazy graphics power because I will be playing almost zero games. Sound may be a little important because I may watch a blue-ray on one screen if that is possible..

The Matrox graphics cards or the "triplehead2go" seem to be quite a deal. The G450 card is one that I've been looking at or the analog/digital triplehead?? Would these run a blue ray video do you think?

I would also like to stay with an Intel processor, it is just personal preference but I've ran them in my store bought laptops/PC's and they're run flawlessly. I would like somewhere around 2.8 or above GHZ. at least 3 mb cache ram as that's what I've heard that I need to run the trading platforms that I use..
HDD space isn't too important 500-750 GB's 7200 rpm is planned.

I should be able to figure out the power supply, wireless card, sound card, fan, case, ram, hard drive and disc drive/CD rom...

I just need some help with a motherboard, CPU and graphics card.

Would it be best to run a say "Invidia" card and then a Matrox "triplehead2go" and add 3 monitors??
Those tripleheads can be had for about 150-200 on fleabay...maybe 100 for the matrox g450 card but I don't really know how to "rate" a graphics card and if it will work for what I'm trying to do..
Here's a link to a triplehead and G450
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...693148&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_716wt_1135

http://cgi.ebay.com/Matrox-G45X4QUA...deo_TV_Cards&hash=item1c1287d121#ht_500wt_928

Any advice would be greatly appreciated,

Thank you and happy Memorial day to all.

Donnie
 
Then I also as I said have see this option...I noticed that down in the features of these triplehead things..

You can actually hook up more than one and run 6 monitors off of one computer???

How would this be done? Just get a graphics card with 2 vga/dvi outputs or hook one triplehead into another triplehead?

Thank you and would those work with the intel/asus pkg?
 
If you want a good rig for this, you're going to want to build it yourself. (it's easy)

OEM brands (dell, hp, gateway, etc) use inferior parts for most of their hardware, and actually go out of their way to remove several functions of the BIOS. Not only that, but the power supplies they use are usually terrible...not suitable for dual graphics cards, or even one very powerful one. They also often use lots of proprietary parts and the BTX form factor, both of which make upgrading very difficult.

If you're not comfortable with building it, sites like iBuypower and CyberpowerPC will build one for you, to your specs, using the very same high-quality parts you'd get if you built it yourself.
 
thank you for the reply.

I feel totally comfortable building it myself.. i just need to know a mobo/cpu combo that will work well with what I'm trying to do with multimonitor graphics cards(s)>
 
Well the i3 should be fine for that. When they listed the specs, they were probably referring to Core 2 processors. The i3, clock for clock, will outperform any core 2 duo by quite a bit. I'd grab this mobo: (ignore the 1-star review...the guy's an idiot)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130271

Or this one if you want a fairly significant upgrade:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131624


Personally, though, I'd go with an AMD Athlon II x4 setup. They're ~$100 quad cores that, IMO, are a value that cannot be beaten for an office-type computer. This would be a good combo:

CPU- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103702
Mobo- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128445
The motherboard's chipset is an 880G, which has native SATA 6GB/s and USB 3.0. Good stuff.


For the GPU, I'm pretty sure a couple of Radeon 5450's will be just fine for you. This would work as long as you have a well-ventilated case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102877

It has passive cooling, so it's totally silent.
 
No problem man. :)

I wouldn't say that either one is more reliable than the others, but if you're on a budget, AMD typically is the way to go. You can get a lot more power and features for what you pay. With the possible exception of the i3-530, intel really isn't competitive in price/performance until you get to the i5 750, their cheapest quad core. Even then, for the price, AMD's motherboards are still far better.

Plus, all of AMD's current processors (Sempron 140/Athlon II/Phenom II), and the first of their next generation of processors (Bulldozer), will work on the current AM3 platform, which makes upgrading a much simpler ordeal. They change sockets much less frequently than Intel, and don't separate their high and low end systems. They do, however, have a wide range of motherboard chipsets for various applications.
 
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^ I don't mean to put you down, but:

1- Those quad cards are too expensive for how old they are. Dual 5450's will not only perform better, but will provide much more functionality. They have much better support for GPGPU technology, which will be good for watching blu-ray.

2- If he's going to get triple graphics cards, an AMD 790FX/890FX motherboard and three ATI cards would provide MUCH better performance for the price. The Radeon HD 5xxx series pretty much blows anything Nvidia has away until you get into the monster Fermi cards, where it becomes a debate.
 
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no put downs taken, im here to learn too ^^. was just suggesting something rather close to what he specified earlier. along with going intel/nvidia. but i do agree with you. budget wise amd+ati is on point.
 
I see...

Why triple GTS 250's, though? That's a bit overkill for this, haha. He's only using four monitors and won't need SLI/Xfire for this, so dropping to two fairly low-power GPU's on a H55/57 or P55 motherboard would cut the cost by a while lot.
 
Drenlin said:
Well the i3 should be fine for that. When they listed the specs, they were probably referring to Core 2 processors. The i3, clock for clock, will outperform any core 2 duo by quite a bit. I'd grab this mobo: (ignore the 1-star review...the guy's an idiot)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130271

Or this one if you want a fairly significant upgrade:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131624


Personally, though, I'd go with an AMD Athlon II x4 setup. They're ~$100 quad cores that, IMO, are a value that cannot be beaten for an office-type computer. This would be a good combo:

CPU- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103702
Mobo- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128445
The motherboard's chipset is an 880G, which has native SATA 6GB/s and USB 3.0. Good stuff.


For the GPU, I'm pretty sure a couple of Radeon 5450's will be just fine for you. This would work as long as you have a well-ventilated case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102877




It has passive cooling, so it's totally silent.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much guys, this little package actually looks really good. I'm not completely set on Intel, I've just basically heard/been told that they are better and more reliable. You guys know more than me so I'll take your word for it.

For those radeon 5450's..can I split each one of those VGA connections into two? Giving me dual monitors running on each card?

The only other thing that I'm not to clear on is my cache ram that I'll need??

What I run are called "metatrader 4" trading platforms for currencies, stocks, indices, commodities etc. One of the platforms is also Java based. I will need to run about 3-4 trading terminal/platforms open plus the java plus an internet brower such as chrome going w/o issues..

I'm sure between 4-6 gbs of ram will be fine but what about cache ram? Is it the same thing or what is the difference? (again, this is just what I'm told) i need 3 mb of L2 cache ram?
 
I think that the mobo/cpu in that listing supports L2 cache with 2 or 3 mbs?? will that be enough you guys think?

Also, I see that the mobo itself has a dvi/vga port, then I will also have the 2 gpu's with there own too?

How many monitors could I run off of this setup maximum?

Thank you,

Donnie
 
Intel's technologies are better for sure. AMD has no answer to hyper-threading, and clock-speed for clock-speed Intel typically beats them by quite a bit. But, Intels are more expensive as well. Price for price, AMD usually wins. :good:

Reliability on a CPU typically isn't a big issue. AMD's current processors have proved their mettle, though.


Cache is the amount of memory that's actually on your processor. Its function is similar to RAM, but it's much smaller and functions at a MUCH higher speed. More cache helps a CPU work faster by minimizing the data that it has to find somewhere else. For the most part, the larger the cache, the slower it goes.

When the specs for that were written, I'm fairly sure that it was talking about a Core 2 Duo, which is by far the most common type of CPU right now. The Athlon II X4 is a quad core, with a high clock speed to boot, so even with less cache, it should outperform any Core 2 Duo by quite a bit.

However, if for some reason you're still worried about it, you could always grab a Phenom II x4 instead. They're basically the same thing as the Athlon II, but with a 6MB L3 cache. The 945 would be plenty:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103809



For the 5450's, you can run two monitors off of each one. Assuming you've got newer monitors with DVI ports, you can run one monitor from each DVI port, and one from each HDMI port using an adapter or HDMI->DVI cable. Both are cheap.

If your monitors have the older D-SUB/VGA port, then you can run one monitor from each VGA port, and one from each DVI port using an adapter or a DVI->VGA cable. Again, both are cheap.

Of course, if your monitors have the right connections, it's possible that you won't need any adapters at all.
 
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