Newbie Needs Help Building 6-Monitor System

[6MonitorTrader]

Hi everyone. New member at cf, glad I found you, as I can see from the posts there are lots of smart people here. Any help would be very much appreciated. Here's the context for this new build:

I'm a trader, working from home trading forex, options, and stock. I've been making do on a 17" laptop, with a 19" lcd for an additional screen. It's possible to trade this way, but not optimal. I'm feeling more and more need for screen real estate, and so I decided to make my laptop + 19" lcd be just my backup system in the event my main PC fails, and that I will move to a new 6-monitor desktop system. Tried configuring this new PC with HP, then Velocity Micro, then CyberPower, but none were flexible enough... too many constraints and compromises. So now I'm building it myself, though I'm a first-timer, long on ambition and short on knowledge. My plan is that this be a premium, no compromises, system that I can still be happily using 5 years from now.

My budget is $2000-2800 for the PC (or whatever additional it takes) and $1500 or so for the 6 monitors, desk-clamp stands, and peripherals. I'm not a gamer, so don't need high performance graphics, but at the same time I do not want slow-graphics issues either. Mostly it needs to drive six independent displays (dual-link DVI) at their native 1920x1080. I'll have several trading applications open, each with many windows, and will sometimes have Internet Explorer, iTunes if things get slow, email, and other stuff going on. I plan to use UltraMon software, and want to be rid of the hassle of minimizing and shifting between windows all day.

My other requirements, roughly in order: 1. Cool... don't want highest speed CPU & GPU if that means a hot and noisy PC 2. Quiet (as near silent as possible) 3. Highest quality, reliable components 4. Fast, and expandable/future-proofed to the limited extent I can do that 5. This system will probably run 24x7, with only occasional shutdowns. I'd like to run SETI@home or folding@home in the idle periods. I am interested in liquid cooling but know very little, and need your expertise there. I know zero about overclocking, but want to gradually learn about that, and after 6 months or so with the new PC, start experimenting with some moderate overclocking. So far the main resource I have, other than you guys, is Chambers' "Build Your Own PC, for Dummies" (2009 ed). Pathetic, I know, but that's where I'm at. Everyone has a first build, we don't learn it in the womb. And with you lending your expertise, what could possibly go wrong?


I plan to order my parts no later than Jan 15, and have it in working order by Febr 6. We'll see. Here's the configuration so far:

Case= CoolerMaster Storm Sniper Black Edition $166. This is a mid-tower, with 3 200mm fans on the front, side, and top, and 120mm fan on the rear. Liquid cooling ports/support at rear top, rear bottom, and under the top 200mm fan.
http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product.php?category_id=19&product_id=2950

PSU= Corsair 750HX modular power supply $158 Is 750W the right choice? Each of my 3 graphics cards has a peak draw of I think 45W.
http://www.corsair.com/products/hx750/default.aspx

MB= Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD7 $375 Has 6 PCIe (2 are x16 and 2 are x8, but if more than 2 are populated, all 4 drop to x8 bandwidth... is that a problem given my choice of GPU?) USB3.0, SATA6Gb/s, eSATA among lots of other great stuff. I don't see much said about Gigabyte, mostly people seem to like EVGA and Asus and some others. What's your opinion?
http://www.giga-byte.com/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=3251

CPU= Intel Core i7-920 2.66GHz LGA1366 $290... Consensus seems to be that this has the most potential of any of the i7s for overclocking. I'm still considering the i7-975, but it's hard to find as many users reporting their experience with it. The 975 would give me some of that future-proofing I want, but will it run hotter (and so more system noise) than the 920? Since they all say 130W, can I assume all the i7 cpus will run at the same temperature if given the same clock speed? Can the 975 be overclocked 30-40% as the 920 supposedly can?
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Processor-2-66GHz-LGA1366-BX80601920/dp/B001H5T7LK/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2S3DADT0L1SGD&colid=2LUQKFN99817X

RAM= Corsair Dominator 1600MHz DDR3, 6-12GB, $206-412. Originally was 12Gb, but now I'm wondering. Will the multiple applications use I described in third paragraph above make good use of 12GB, or is 6GB more than I'll ever need and 12GB is just a waste? Also is 1600MHz the right choice, the best match to my mb and cpu and the overclocking I plan to do later, or should I be getting the 1800MHz?
http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-TR3X6G1600C8D-Dominator-PC3-12800-1600MHz/dp/B001L4A76G/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I31JSIULCP9P19&colid=2LUQKFN99817X

CPU Cooler= Zalman CNPS9700LED Ultra Quiet, $40. Here I especially need help, and this probably is not the right choice at all. Bottomline: I want the best cooling performance and lowest-noise cooler for the i7 that money can buy. What would that be in your opinion? I'm willing to use liquid cooling or air cooling, whichever will be the absolute best available solution.
http://www.amazon.com/Zalman-CNPS9700LED-Ultra-Quiet-Cooler/dp/B000JSFZPS/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I3GFC8DRDTJHH6&colid=2LUQKFN99817X

HD= Western Digital 1.5TB Caviar Green SATA 32MB cache, $110. This is not 7200rpm, but is alleged to be lower power, cooler, and quieter than the Black drive. I'm OK with a minor performance drop if it means a quieter PC.
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Intellipower-Desktop-WD15EADS/dp/B0021L9HE6/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=IVB6ENREU1NR5&colid=2LUQKFN99817X

DVD= Samsung Internal Half Height DVD-W Supermulti SATA 22x Lightscribe, $31. This does DVD-RAM which I want because I have lots of the media. Anyone know what DVD-W is? Does anyone know of a better drive you can suggest, which does Lightscribe and DVD-RAM, as well as the usual formats? I have no interest in BluRay for the computer.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Internal-Height-Supermulti-Lightscribe/dp/B002HFWBIA/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I19SXC80A7SLBS&colid=2LUQKFN99817X

GPU= EVGA GeForce 9500GT 1GB DDR2, 3 each, $65 each. This one still feels like just a stab in the dark. Again, I don't need high-end gaming performance at all, although I wouldn't want to preclude the ability to play a game at some point. What I do need: Dual-Link DVI, 2 of them on each card, 1920x1080 res on all 6 monitors, good enough graphics performance that I won't notice any defects or slowness, the ability to get the job done in spite of only x8 bandwidth on the PCIe path, low power, cool, and quiet. Those are the needs I had in mind choosing this GPU. Can you suggest a better alternative? Also I have a question about SLI. My plan is to not use SLI, because as I understand it, SLI would give me graphics acceleration which I don't really want, and I would end up with output to only 1 or 2 monitors? Is that correct?
http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=01G-P3-N959-TR&family=GeForce 9 Series Family

Sound= Onboard 7.1 audio. What do you think? If I went with a sound card, what would it do for me that my on-board hd audio chip won't? If it matters, I'm getting Logitech X540 5.1 speakers. Not great, but a big upgrade from what I had before.

Monitor= ViewSonic VA2223wm 22in 16x9 1080p LCD, 6 each, $159 each. Too late for input on this, already bought 3 of them.
http://www.viewsonic.com/products/desktop-monitors/lcd/value-series/va2223wm.htm

OS= Windows 7 Professional 64bit OEM, $140
http://www.amazon.com/Windows-PRO-Bit-OEM-1pk/dp/B002NGQLIE/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I3OD5CMC7FNG56&colid=2LUQKFN99817X

Sorry about the long-winded post, but I wanted to give you the full picture. Any light you can shed on any of my questions would be very much appreciated. Thanks so much, in advance.

 

[G25r8cer]

Ati 5xxx series cards support upto 3 monitors each. You would be better off using (2) 5770's. They would handle those monitors much better than the 9500gt's. Then you only need 2 pci-e slots, so that should save you some money.

 

[6MonitorTrader]

Great. I'll look into the ATI5770. Up to now, I've been able to find graphics cards offering 2 DVI per card only. Unless you go to something really crazy like the nvidia quadro cards with 4 outputs. 2 cards as you suggest rather than 3 would let the graphics cards run at the full x16 speed.

 

[G25r8cer]

The 5770's have 2 DVI ports and 1 Displayport. The displayport requires a displayport to dvi adapter but, they are cheap.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...0280&cm_re=displayport-_-12-270-280-_-Product

 

[6MonitorTrader]

Doesn't look like the ATI5770 is going to work for me. The third display output from the gpu is a Display Port output, requiring your monitor to have a Display Port input. I have 3 of my 6 monitors already, and I want all 6 to be the same model, so I'm already committed to that model, which has DVI only. Display Port seems to be in very few monitors so far, giving you not much to choose from if it needs to be a Display Port monitor. Good suggestion, though. Thanks.

 

[6MonitorTrader]

Thanks, didn't know the adapter existed. So I should look into the 5770 further because it looks like an awesome gpu, although better than I really need. Does anyone have a 5770?: Would you say it's a quiet card? (Compared let's say to your CPU fan, how much noise?) I've always equated powerful graphics cards with hot and noisy, but have no first-hand experience with them.
Also, can anyone confirm firsthand the video outputs from the 5770? Reading the specs, it looks like you get 1 DVI out, 1 Display Port out, and 1 VGA out. Plus an HDMI out, but that's not a 4th independent display. So I would have 2 monitors running from DVI, 2 from DVI from a Display Port adapter, and 2 from VGA. Does anyone know if there would be any perceptible difference in quality over those 6 monitors?

 

[robina_80]

mate that looks like an awesome setup, great job

 

[2048Megabytes]

Since he wants a quiet system should not he look at a processor that is lower Watt? A Socket 1156 motherboard and a 95 Watt Core i7 Processor?

Intel Core i7 860 Lynnfield Quad-Core (2.8 gigahertz) Processor - $280
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...m_re=core_i7_processor-_-19-115-214-_-Product

 

[robina_80]

well the 920 is quiet its power hungry but who cares if you overclock yeah its gonna be not quite but i agree of i was to build a pc i would get the 860

 

[TrainTrackHack]

I definitely wouldn't even consider OCing a computer that was going to be used for any work or other "serious business".

Also, for a multi-monitor setup, instead of spamming your computer with graphics cards I'd look into Matrox TripleHead2Go, it's a device that lets you plug in three monitors which appear to the graphics card/the system as one monitor with very, very high resolution (the combined horizontal resolution of all three monitors). Seeing as you're not into gaming, I think you'd be far better off with two of these and a single card with dual DVI outputs.

Other thing to consider it, these are professional-grade hardware so it might be a little costly.

As for the CPU, i7 is really for the high-end crunchers, enthusiast and server setups, for your uses I'd much rather go with the i5. Those things still have plenty of power for pretty much anything you care to throw at it, and the power management is superb, for a quiet yet powerful computers those are nearly a must.

 

[robina_80]

I definitely wouldn't even consider OCing a computer that was going to be used for any work or other "serious business".

i didnt say anything about overclocking but just if he did which hes not

also i would get an 860 as its hyperthreading as its got 4 more virtual cores so can open alot more programs and that comes specially usefull in business programs not in games but for business

 

[The Chad]

That was a good suggestions but it sounds like his going to be running lots of apps at the same time, so you might get an advantage of running an i7 instead of i5, so you'll get hyper-threading.

Post a pic of your 6 monitor setup when its all built up and running, going to look awesome!

 

[G25r8cer]

Also, for a multi-monitor setup, instead of spamming your computer with graphics cards I'd look into Matrox TripleHead2Go, it's a device that lets you plug in three monitors which appear to the graphics card/the system as one monitor with very, very high resolution (the combined horizontal resolution of all three monitors). Seeing as you're not into gaming, I think you'd be far better off with two of these and a single card with dual DVI outputs.
.

Consdiering he would still have to buy one powerful enough card to run the triplehead it wouldnt be worth the cost. 2 5770's would give great performance. If he wanted he could game with 6 monitors at 1920x1080 with 2 5770's.

 

[6MonitorTrader]

That was a good suggestions but it sounds like his going to be running lots of apps at the same time, so you might get an advantage of running an i7 instead of i5, so you'll get hyper-threading.

Post a pic of your 6 monitor setup when its all built up and running, going to look awesome!

Yeah, definitely I'll post a pic when it's done, you can look for that in February.

I think I agree, I'm definitely inclined more toward the i7. Nice system you've got there. Would you say your i7-920 at 3.4 GHz is as stable as the stock speed? Must be hotter, have you measured the CPU temperature difference?

Some people are suggesting lower-wattage i7-8xx and i5 processors, but my solution I think if I want to use the i7 is to get a really good cpu cooler in the hope that my case will also then be cooler and quieter. "Bottomline: I want the best cooling performance and lowest-noise cooler for the i7 that money can buy. What would that be in your opinion? I'm willing to use liquid cooling or air cooling, whichever will be the absolute best available solution." So, what do you think of your CoolerMaster V8? Is that the very best I can find?

 

[6MonitorTrader]

Since he wants a quiet system should not he look at a processor that is lower Watt? A Socket 1156 motherboard and a 95 Watt Core i7 Processor?

Intel Core i7 860 Lynnfield Quad-Core (2.8 gigahertz) Processor - $280
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...m_re=core_i7_processor-_-19-115-214-_-Product

Yes that would probably be a more sensible approach. Question is, do I have any sense?

I'd really like to have an i7-920 at least, and the approach I'm leaning toward right now is to put in a really good CPU cooler and system cooling to mitigate the extra heat, and still end up with the "cool and quiet" pc I want.

 

[6MonitorTrader]

I definitely wouldn't even consider OCing a computer that was going to be used for any work or other "serious business".

Also, for a multi-monitor setup, instead of spamming your computer with graphics cards I'd look into Matrox TripleHead2Go, it's a device that lets you plug in three monitors which appear to the graphics card/the system as one monitor with very, very high resolution (the combined horizontal resolution of all three monitors). Seeing as you're not into gaming, I think you'd be far better off with two of these and a single card with dual DVI outputs.

Other thing to consider it, these are professional-grade hardware so it might be a little costly.

As for the CPU, i7 is really for the high-end crunchers, enthusiast and server setups, for your uses I'd much rather go with the i5. Those things still have plenty of power for pretty much anything you care to throw at it, and the power management is superb, for a quiet yet powerful computers those are nearly a must.

Thanks for the warning on overclocking. Will proceed with due caution. And if I were to rule out overclocking, that might lead me to decide on the i7-975. I know, you're thinking ridiculous, over the top. I appreciate the advice I am getting from some to go with i5 or i7-8xx cpu as a more appropriate and cooler processor, and that's probably good advice. But the whole concept of building this pc myself this time is that this will be a "premium, no compromises" system, that I will still be happy with 5 years from now. If the cpu is overkill today, that's OK with me, because I'm also building in some headroom for future needs.

I've glanced at the TripleHead2Go briefly, and don't remember why I didn't do more than glance, so I'll look into that more thoroughly now. Thanks.

 

[The Chad]

Yeah, definitely I'll post a pic when it's done, you can look for that in February.

I think I agree, I'm definitely inclined more toward the i7. Nice system you've got there. Would you say your i7-920 at 3.4 GHz is as stable as the stock speed? Must be hotter, have you measured the CPU temperature difference?

Some people are suggesting lower-wattage i7-8xx and i5 processors, but my solution I think if I want to use the i7 is to get a really good cpu cooler in the hope that my case will also then be cooler and quieter. "Bottomline: I want the best cooling performance and lowest-noise cooler for the i7 that money can buy. What would that be in your opinion? I'm willing to use liquid cooling or air cooling, whichever will be the absolute best available solution." So, what do you think of your CoolerMaster V8? Is that the very best I can find?

The coolermaster V8 isn't the best cooler out there but for what I use my system for (mainly gaming but sometimes heavy apps) it does the job. It's quiet and efficient. I'd recommend it for your needs. It'll handle it even with an overclock

I would say my overclock is as stable as the base clock. I don't really need/want to take it higher as there's no purpose, it's extremely powerful as it is. I think if I go higher anyway I'd have to raise voltages, which I'd rather not toy with.

My temperatures are great. But that's due to my case aswell, it has extremely good air flow and I've added two fans aswell. They idle at around 40-45'c. This may seem high but the i7's can go to 100'C. Where I live to its extremely hot and the room doesn't have anything to keep it cool.

 

[6MonitorTrader]

Perfect. That's exactly the input I needed. Based on your experience with it, I think the i7-920 is the processor for me. And after 6 months or so, I'll try a bit of overclocking. My concern was that OC would give me a hot, noisy, and flaky system, but sounds like that need not be the case.

I believe now I will drop the i7-975 from consideration, and go with the i7-920 with modest overclocking, and invest some of the savings in really good cooling.

The V8 sounds great. I'm going to read all the reviews on it. Thanks.

 

[2048Megabytes]

I believe now I will drop the i7 975 from consideration, and go with the i7 920 with modest overclocking, and invest some of the savings in really good cooling.

I agree. The i7 975 Processor offers only a higher clock speed over the i7 920. Having a 670 megahertz higher clock speed is definitely not worth $690 more in cost.

 

[6MonitorTrader]

CPU Cooler= Zalman CNPS9700LED Ultra Quiet, $40. Here I especially need help, and this probably is not the right choice at all. Bottomline: I want the best cooling performance and lowest-noise cooler for the i7 that money can buy. What would that be in your opinion? I'm willing to use liquid cooling or air cooling, whichever will be the absolute best available solution.

Update: So I believe I have now found the right CPU cooler to meet those requirements... the Noctua NH-D14. It's massive: a 900gram heatsink paired with one 140mm and one 120mm premium fan. Many reviewers are saying it is one of the best air-based CPU coolers they've ever used, and also one of the quietest, ranging from 19.8dB down to 12.6dB.

The only catch is whether its 160mm height will fit in my CoolerMaster Storm Sniper case. This is probably a stretch, but if anyone happens to have that case, it would be a big help if you could measure the motherboard tray to side panel distance. Tomorrow I'll see if CoolerMaster can provide that measurement.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608018