Dual 4k 40inch monitor PC build!

[bingolong]

HI all, would any of you be so kind as to read this post and offer a way forward for me?
I have two Philiips BDM4065uc (40 inch 4k monitors).

I am about to have a pc built to run them from this one PC.
At the moment , my friend and I are trying to decide upon the best specification to run these together, smoothly without any issues!

As such, these following questions have occured to us.

1)Solution 1 might be to choose a gpraphics card that supports two or more DP ( display ports). ( This is assuming that the maximum pixel area is per monitor and not total area for all ports together.

2) Soltion 2 might be ( given that solution one is not practical or even too costly compared to a better solution)
two graphics cards installed on the same motherboard, each running one of the monitors.


I think from past ecperience, i would like the cards to be of gaming standard.

background and context.

we have so far identified as a possible CPU the i7-5820K (6 core haswell)

this is because the use of the pc will be more suited to multithreading, multimedia applications, rather than single threading.

Motherboard: Asus X99-A/USB 3.1 Socket 2011-v3

this motherbaord i think supports more than one graphics card .

Ram so far identified as appropriate is :
HyperX Savage Black 8GB DDR4 2666MHz Memory


I would really appreciate any guidance that can be offered, on this, as well as any other suggestions for componentry to complete the strong pc build.
All the best,
Bingo

 

[Janus67]

What do you plan to do with the machine and what is your budget

 

[bingolong]

What do you plan to do with the machine and what is your budget

Well first please let me say thankyou for your fast response. That is really appreciated.
I am going to use them to replace my 1080 monitors for my day trading job. I have used one on its own and vastly prefer the bdm over my older 1080 24 inch monitors. However, I need to run two as I have many charts open at once ( using fxpro ctrader) and can easily use the extra space. At the same time, I have several browsers open, an eye on Cubase and possibly other control software (singer embroidery software open).At the end of the day, when i have finished my work,ii would like to be able to use the the monitors to their full potential and watch movies in 4k across the whole of one screen while fettling on the other. Skype, Gtalk and other chat boxes will also be running as I lead others in their trading too, sometimes with typed text and other times with a microphone. At the same time,I may also be recording a television programme off Windows Media Player.My budget will be around 2300 British Pounds. Thanks again for this help!!!

 

[Audioaficionado]

You could also use a 4k in the center and two vertical 1080P monitors as the wings of a 3 monitor system.

 

[bingolong]

Thankyou for your response Audioaficionado.
Actually, I have already tried that solution but would like the extra real estate afforded by an extra BDM4065UC 40 inch 4k monitor.

 

[t1nm4n]

You could also use a 4k in the center and two vertical 1080P monitors as the wings of a 3 monitor system.

That would be an awesome set-up. That give you almost the same pixel area over 3 monitors, probably be easier to do with one good GPU.

 

[bingolong]

Thankyou for having a heart T1nm4n! Im reallly looking forward to getting this set up

 

[Janus67]

With that sort of setup (nothing that is 3d intensive) anything that will support multiple 4k displays at 60hz (assuming they run at that at 4k - I would verify this before buying, by the way) would likely be fine for movies and the day trading charts.

 

[t1nm4n]

either set-up would be about he same real estate unless you need the space under the monitors for speakers and such. but this is close to scale.



This is what Audio was referring to in the vertical 1080's

Edit: Added thought: running different programs and such, wouldn't you want more than 8gig of ram, not sure how intensive those programs are, I know from doing a lot research and what-not that 8gig on a 64bit OS and running say 3 instances of IE and several windows in each was a huge drag on the system, once I went to 16 it just all smoothed out. I'm guessing your trading apps are constantly updating so those are probably more memory intensive than say Spider Solitaire, lol.

 

[bingolong]

With that sort of setup (nothing that is 3d intensive) anything that will support multiple 4k displays at 60hz (assuming they run at that at 4k - I would verify this before buying, by the way) would likely be fine for movies and the day trading charts.

Hi Janus. The trick with these monitors to get 60hz is to go into settings and choose displayport 1.2 setting.
Also, from other threads on the monitors that i have read, a good certified dp cable is a must.
I have bought and tried some cables from the Lindy website and have verified that each will get 60hz no problem. Im glad they do work as they were quite dear compared to some.

 

[bingolong]

Hi again t1nm4n.
thankyou very much for that picture, so tha nkful you have spent your time going to that length for me! However, I have had a similar setup in the past. I dont have the 24 inch 1080 monitors anymore, as getting the extra 40 inch will effective give me the equivalent of 8 1080 p 24inch monitors.

I made a mistake with the 8gig and have currently specced for 32g ram, four of those sticks mentioned in post one.

 

[bingolong]

Hello all. just thought i would update with my GPU research.
am beginning to favour a 980 ti or a Titan X ( although so far the performance gap between the two does not seem as wide as the price gap is!

 

[t1nm4n]

I have no clue about NVidia cards, I know my 290X can handle one 4k monitor and 1 1080P without issues for normal web browsing and whatnot, but I don't think a 290X has enough Vram to handle 2. Since your most likely gonna be using DP1.2 it appears that only the 980Ti has two DP1.2 outs on it. Which might making your choice easier. I could only find a couple of 980Ti's with 2 DP1.2 ports on them, seems like everyone has 2 hdmi 1 dp and 1-2 dvi ports.

Another thing I noticed with 4k, if your not using it at 60hz your mouse movement is really choppy, it jumps across the screen, probably something to do with how many pixels it's moving in a given time, but with 60hz the mouse is nice and smooth at any optical resolution your mouse might be set to. I like about 4200dpi for nice smooth mouse transitions when viewing webpages, but to each their own.

I sorta figured you'd already ditched the 1080's but it was no problem, was more a simple test for myself if I could get the scaling right with MS Paint, lol.

 

[bingolong]

I have no clue about NVidia cards, I know my 290X can handle one 4k monitor and 1 1080P without issues for normal web browsing and whatnot, but I don't think a 290X has enough Vram to handle 2. Since your most likely gonna be using DP1.2 it appears that only the 980Ti has two DP1.2 outs on it. Which might making your choice easier. I could only find a couple of 980Ti's with 2 DP1.2 ports on them, seems like everyone has 2 hdmi 1 dp and 1-2 dvi ports.

Another thing I noticed with 4k, if your not using it at 60hz your mouse movement is really choppy, it jumps across the screen, probably something to do with how many pixels it's moving in a given time, but with 60hz the mouse is nice and smooth at any optical resolution your mouse might be set to. I like about 4200dpi for nice smooth mouse transitions when viewing webpages, but to each their own.

I sorta figured you'd already ditched the 1080's but it was no problem, was more a simple test for myself if I could get the scaling right with MS Paint, lol.

HI t1nm4n and thanks for yourreply. I've got some amazing help on the gpu front from another place and indeed am settling on one 980Ti variant that has two dp ports. If that is not enough, im gong to add another Nvidia card to support the first, and i think the second addition could be less powerful than the first, ( which would be alot cheaper than two 980ti!), having done a vram test on a different machine to simulate all my vram needs! will keep the thread posted on the build! any other advice is always welcome of course! I really appreciate the fact that forums exist and people can be so charitable with their time in helping other less informed people. Being an educator in the past ( and now doing that that in a different form) I appreciate being the one being helped for a change!

- - - Updated - - -

ps have also changed the ram that i speeced in post one to ram 3200mhz as that is what the chosen motherboard can cope with.