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Running 7 HDTVs from one machine

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TerranCmdr

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Dec 1, 2011
So, at my workplace we have a bar with 7 40"(or so) 1080p TVs. We want to build a machine that will be able to hook up to all these TVs and run each as a separate monitor. I know this will have to be a beefy system, but just how beefy are we talking?

I figured this would probably be the best place to start, since this whole build is pretty much dependent on the video cards. So my question is...


How many video cards will I need? What video cards will be my best bet for this application?


Thanks in advance for any help and input.


I should probably also mention that we are prepared to spend a pretty large amount of money for this.
 
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I should probably also mention that we are prepared to spend a pretty large amount of money for this.
Then just go crazy with a tri-fire or triple-sli system.

What are you going to be displaying?

And "pretty large" makes me think $3,000+. It's an ambiguous term.
 
$3,000+ is a good ballpark.

Display will be for power point and youtube videos mostly.

Triple sli... sounds sweet. Will one processor be enough to handle 6 cards though? And what kind of mobo would I need to get for that?

EDIT: I was tired when I wrote that.... triple SLi is 3 cards, duh. :p Anyway what's the max one card can handle? 3 monitors? And I'm wondering if i'll need some kind of special software to run them all or will windows 7 handle all 7 monitors just fine?
 
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What are you planning on actually running on these monitors? Videos?

I would say an i7 3930k would be plenty for this job (LGA2011 board) or even a i7 3770k (Ivy bridge - should be out by the end of this month, Z77 boards are already out).

The cards would probably be better working by themself - no need for SLI/CF as you wouldn't benefit from it. You would need at least 2 cards though, a HD7870 can apparently handle 4 monitors (need to use display port outputs though). Also if they are displaying the same video on some/all of these, you can get splitters so that only one card is needed, like this: http://www.play.com/Electronics/Ele...tml?_$ja=tsid:11518|cat:19516208|prd:19516208

If you will use a splitter you won't even need that powerful of a CPU either.
 
We def want to do different things on every monitor, so splitter is not an option.

I didn't realize that the 7870 can do 4 at a time, that makes my life quite a bit easier.


Do you know if say, i had 2x 7870s in Xfire, if I could still run 7 monitors, 4 on one and 3 on the other, or if I have to have them separate?
 
I think they can only be crossfired if the outputs are all on one card, otherwise it is seperate. I can't see any benefit of crossfire in this situation anyway.
 
Yeah, crossfire wouldn't be any use. I'd just go ahead and run them seperated and do it with two cards. 3 if you don't want to use a bunch of adapters. Most cards have 2 DVI/HDMI outs at least.
 
Nice, I'll start looking at cards/mobos in that case. Thanks for the info!
 
One thing to consider might be the separation of the audio to each TV. While I am not expert, I am not sure how you would split the audio to each specific TV depending what is being displayed.
 
Am I missing something?

If he is just running youtube videos and power point then a very simple system would do the trick.

My q6600 runs 4 monitors without a hitch. In fact I just ran 8 instances of youtube, each in its own window and used 2.2GB of RAM and 17-25% cpu usage. This is also while having a TV show on vlc paused and a plethora of background programs running.

Even an i7 and two 7850's are overkill, but could be seen as future-proofing. The end goal can easily be done with spending well under $1200.

-Pinky
 
Cheaper is always better, even with a big budget. Really I just need to figure out what card I can get two of that will run 4 monitors by itself.

The audio thing isn't really a problem since it's in a bar and we'll only be playing sound for one thing at a time. Besides I think only one TV is hooked up to sound.
 
^Yup! I hadn't put any thought into it myself but most of the time we don't even run sound in the bar, too noisy there anyway. ;)


So any suggestions for cards? I hear AMD/ATI is better for multiple monitors but I've always like Nvidia, more reliable in my experience.
 
ati/amd is much better at multiple monitors right now. In fact some of the 7xxx series cards can support 6 monitors. They still only have 4 outputs, but a splitter can be added later if you feel you might add more tv's later.

Here is the cheapest card I can find that supports at least 4 monitors. I am not 100% sure it can support 6. I like this card because its low in cost and comes with two video adapter cables.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131460

as far as processor or motherboard I would say any Gigabyte mother board and intel i3/i5/i7 processor would be great.

I can be more detailed if you want, but I know there are others here on the forum that know more then I do about intel's i processors.
 
I was definitely thinking i7 for a processor. 7xxx is looking great right now, and we do have some cash so I wouldn't mind going high-end for future-proofing.

Thanks for all the info guys!

Also, RE:the electricity bill - the bar is one of the least power-hungry places when you consider the 6-story building I work in and that every single employee has at least one computer.
 
I would suggest 3 of these with rebates only $210. You will be able to run sound to 3 independent displays on each card.

You could get away with 2 cards only if you had 2 displays share an input, for a total of 6 independent outputs.
 
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