Anyone know computer hardware? Need advice!

[LightHouse]

So I am looking at upgrading my home office to use it again. The machine from there is from 06 and i have 2x 19" screens. Looking at moving to a super PC with 3 screens, possibly 1x 30" and 2x 24/27" screens. Configuring these machines though, I am getting confused.

When going to that size screen i need it for screen RE, meaning i need high resolution, right? So i saw some of the video cards can support multiple display port and multiple DVI. But only dual link DVI will handle high resolution? I need to have 3 screens in high resolution, so should i just go with something that has multiple displayports? I don't really want to buy two expensive graphics cards.

This is one i configured on cyberpower, ( i dont know how it got this expensive, LOL)
http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/saved/1FX6G9

and this is one they have a deal on, however there is no SSD in this one..
http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/March_Madness_Deal_X79


I am kind of lost in all this because i don't know what is what. If i want liquid cooling, should i do 120 or 240. what size power supply do i need for all that?! Can anyone set me straight here?

 

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[LightHouse]

I guess its relevant that i was looking around the $1500~ range for the PC itself if not 1200-1500.

 

[DrkSide]

I can look over this a little bit more when I get home. Just my suggestion but I would stick with the same size monitors. You picked a 32 and 2 24" all with a 1920x1080 display. This means that the picture will be bigger on the 32" but will not show any more information than the 24".

In the past I have built my own to get exactly what I wanted. Currently have a quad-core intel i5 and a video card to push 3 monitors and it is about the size of a shoebox.

You will definitely want the SSD. What are your uses besides RE?

 

[Milkanic]

I'd read over http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc and post your build.

I'm not up to date on the latest video card tech but reddit should point you in the right direction.

 

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[healthstatus]

I run a rig with 3 monitors, you want all the monitors to have the same resolution, other wise you size an app in one window and drag it to the odd size monitor and it either gets huge or half is cut off. I went 1920x200 resolution on 24" monitors, then went with dual NVidia cards to feed them. I am at my computer a lot, so I spent some extra $$$ to get better gear and it is a deductible expense.

 

[Chris R]

Here's one you guys might get a kick out of: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=14721&d=1112298391

Traders are very serious people when it comes to their work stations and there's a ton of info in here:
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=4

that may be considered helpful.

 

[cashis]

I'd definitely go with the SSD, those things are insanely fast. And they're more than affordable nowadays. My PC boots up in about 6 seconds since I got the SSD, and it's not even running at full speed because I don't have SATA3.

As far as I know, you're going to need 2 video cards for a 3 monitor setup, you can get 2 medium/high end cards for about $300. I second healthstatus' advice, get all 3 monitors the same size and resolution. A 32' one with 1920x1080 resolution will have low DPI and look pixelated.

I advise against liquid cooling, it's too much of a hassle, plus all modern hardware is designed to be power efficient and give off little heat. 2 120mm case fans will keep it cool and silent.

As for the power source, it depends on what video cards you're going to decide on, they're the biggest power hogs in a rig. A 750W one should be enough, maybe a 1000W one to be safe and allow for future upgrades.

 

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[DrkSide]

As far as I know, you're going to need 2 video cards for a 3 monitor setup

I run 3 24" 1080 displays with one AMD card. There are a few caveats. The biggest one is that you can only have 2 DVI monitors. The third must be a displayport or a VGA connection. Make sure you look when shopping for monitors that they support this.

I advise against liquid cooling

Unless you are going to be overclocking or running very intensive games I would stay away from liquid cooling as well. It introduces too much headache for the normal computer.

Just for reference the case below is the one I build mine around. Core i5 quad core, 16gb ram, Video card for 3 displays, a 120gb SSD and a 500gb regular drive all in a compact package of 9.84" x 8.27" x 14.72".
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352027

 

[DeletedUser2]

we run 6 monitors 1 card.

SSD are a MUST

 

[Enki]

@zen******* 's is nice but my set up has character

 

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[LightHouse]

Yeah I definitely am going ssd like my laptop. My laptop has a small ssd with a 1tbsp harddrive and Intel express cache. I'm thinking thought that is rather have a full ssd boot drive and a reg HDD for storage because I'd probably be faster then pairing the two.

Thanks for the opinions on liquid is something I didn't know about and now I know I don't need it.

Is two fans suggested though?push-pull?

 

[DrkSide]

Is two fans suggested though?push-pull?

It depends on the case. If it doesn't have any mesh that is what I would do. If it does have mesh I would put in fans with dust filters and have them blowing in the case. That creates positive pressure in the case and keeps it a little cleaner.

 

[cashis]

I'm thinking thought that is rather have a full ssd boot drive and a reg HDD for storage because I'd probably be faster then pairing the two.

Is two fans suggested though?push-pull?

I have my OS and programs on the SSD, and games, projects and other stuff on a 10.000RPM HDD. Rate of transfer between the two is about 120MB/s (again, not at full potential speed).

Yes, 2 fans would be ideal, one in the front to intake, and one in the back to exhaust. But newer cases can have 140mm fans in the side, the top, etc. I like to keep it simple, though.

have them blowing in the case

This is a bad idea, the air in the case needs to be properly circulated to keep everything nice and cool. Having all the fans blowing inward would just recirculate the heated air inside the case.

I have a mesh on the front fan, and very rarely have to clean inside for dust. Most of it gathers on the mesh.

 

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[DrkSide]

This is a bad idea, the air in the case needs to be properly circulated to keep everything nice and cool. Having all the fans blowing inward would just recirculate the heated air inside the case.

The air is properly circulating. If you have adequate ventilation (ie. a large mesh area) Then the fans are pushing cool air into the case directly on the components then the hot air is being force out of the mesh areas.

There are many ways to skin a pig.

 

[DeletedUser2]

I have had a water cooled system for YEARs.

LOVE IT!!

good for quite, I can put the computer in a tighter spot.

but its all about what you do with it.

if your coding in shells, or such. prob not.

if you running hard graphics. probably do need a liquid system.


SSD, absolute must for
BOOT,
Excel,
WORD
OUTLook
Graphics Programs.

everything else goes on the other drives.

we use a NAS to keep all the pictures, family videos, iTUNES, and other big junk stored on. that way every computer in the house can access it.


Z

 

[JAJT]

SSD's - the secret to fast computing IMHO.

I don't know why they don't get more praise than they do. You can take the fastest processor with the most RAM but if you slap a traditional hard drive in there it will still seem much slower than an SSD with a few generations old processor and half the RAM.

If you do a combo, put all program installs onto the SSD (windows, photoshop, office, etc...) and put all storage (music/movies/photos/data) on the hard drive.

My home theater computer uses a combo like that with 2 year old tech inside and it boots from cold to working in like 8 seconds. It actually boots faster than my TV turns on. Programs pop open with zero delay. SSD's are simply a must IMHO.

 

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[GravyBoat]

Looking at moving to a super PC with 3 screens, possibly 1x 30" and 2x 24/27" screens.

Jealous, but I would honestly stick with 3 screens of the same size, as mentioned here already.

Do the SSD, don't do a RAID setup (I've seen too many of them fail, and at that point you're usually SOL as far as data recovery)

SSD's are under $1/GB now, pick up a 128 or 256, put your daily software and OS on it, it will make a lot of difference.

RAM honestly does not make as much difference as people say. The average user won't be able to to tell the difference between 4, 8, 12 gigs of ram. I assume you'll be doing a little more than average so I'd go with 8, 12 if you really think you'll use it. I just see some people add RAM saying "Oh my computer will be so much faster now!", not really knowing what RAM is for.

EDIT: Make sure your motherboard has USB 3.0, should be almost standard these days but haven't checked in a few months.

Post pics of the setup when it's done!

 

[LightHouse]

Jealous, but I would honestly stick with 3 screens of the same size, as mentioned here already.

Do the SSD, don't do a RAID setup (I've seen too many of them fail, and at that point you're usually SOL as far as data recovery)

SSD's are under $1/GB now, pick up a 128 or 256, put your daily software and OS on it, it will make a lot of difference.

RAM honestly does not make as much difference as people say. The average user won't be able to to tell the difference between 4, 8, 12 gigs of ram. I assume you'll be doing a little more than average so I'd go with 8, 12 if you really think you'll use it. I just see some people add RAM saying "Oh my computer will be so much faster now!", not really knowing what RAM is for.

EDIT: Make sure your motherboard has USB 3.0, should be almost standard these days but haven't checked in a few months.

Post pics of the setup when it's done!

When talking to some people last night i was told similar, i originally wanted to go with three very high reso screens, they mentioned it was way over kill. So the thought is to go with three maybe smaller screens that arent super wide screen because panning will kill the purpose. I think a trip to micro center is in order to gauge the screensize and resolution i need.

Def going with a boot drive SSD, no RAID. Good points on not needing more than 8. I have 8 in my laptop and it works well because while i do multitask, i don't go way overboard.

 

[LightHouse]

This is what I have spec'd for right around the $1500 mark. I looked at all the surrounding graphics cards and this one seems to be able to handle 3 screens well...?

Gaming Chasis: Corsair Carbide 300R w/ USB 3.0
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-4820K Quad-Core 3.70 GHz 10MB Intel Smart Cache LGA2011 (All Venom OC Certified)
CPU / Processor Cooling Fan:Corsair Hydro Series H60 High Performance Liquid Cooling System 120MM Radiator & Fan (Single Standard 120MM Fan)
Motherboard: * GIGABYTE X79-UP4 ATX w/ Ultra Durable 5, GblAN, 4 GEn3 PCIe x16, 2 PCIe x1, 1 PCI
RAM / System Memory: 8GB (2GBx4) DDR3/1600MHz Quad Channel Memory (Corsair or Major Brand)
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 2GB GDDR5 16X PCIe 3.0 Video Card (Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA)
Power Supply: 800 Watts - Standard 80 Plus Certified Power Supply - SLI/CrossFireX Ready
Hard Drive: 120GB Samsung 840 EVO Series SATA-III 6.0Gb/s SSD - 540MB/s Read & 410MB/s Write (Single Drive)
Secondary Hard Drive: 1TB Western Digital Caviar Black SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 7200 RPM HDD (Single Drive)
Optical Drive: 24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW Drive (BLACK COLOR)
Sound: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
Internal Network Card: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network

Also can be seen here...

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/saved/1FX99Q

This seem good?

 

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[GravyBoat]

Can't see anything wrong with that setup. Sure you could spend an extra $500 on better internals, but that money would be better spent on screens, ergo chair, or even a nice keyboard/mouse. That setup will still be powerful for years to come.

 

[LightHouse]

I have an Aeron chair already. This is replacing my existing desktop in my home office so I can get back to using it. As long as it seems like this is going to be as fast as possible (ssd, correct PCI ports, usb3.0, correct video card ports, etc.) I think itll work perfect, and hopefully be upgrade-able if ever need be.

 

[Milkanic]

Looks good to me. This thread got me researching building a new PC and I came up with a similar build. You might be able to run OSX/hackintosh with that setup (GIGABYTE mobo and GTX 770) as well if you want to dual boot.

 

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[GravyBoat]

we run 6 monitors 1 card.

Jesus man, teach me the ways!

That could save businesses thousands on hardware. This will be my next suggestion when someone starts an "I can't find a product" thread!

 

[LightHouse]

Going to microcenter today to look at screens, I can't predict this stuff looking at it online, once i figure out what it is im going to get, ill make sure that works with this PC and get it all rolling! Thanks for the help guys, i really appreciate it.

 

[JAJT]

Regarding screens - something I never considered when I bought mine was how reflective it was.

I don't know what genius thought a nearly mirror-finish to a monitor was a great idea but I have to say it's my main complaint with my screens. In the morning when the sun is brightly shining into the room it is very, very distracting.

 

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[GravyBoat]

Thanks for the help guys, i really appreciate it.

Glad my slow-lane job skills could come in handy for someone! Thanks for the rep! Another thing I wanted to mention was that if you plan to remote desktop (Windows MSTSC) to your machine, make sure you get a version of Windows that supports it. I know the new consumer versions of Windows 8 don't allow for this (or many other features). I'm not sure how many people actually use this feature outside the workplace, but I ended up buying a shitty laptop, which I use solely for the purpose of remoting into my desktop (basically so I can use it's power from anywhere and not have to deal with multiple machines).

Regarding screens - something I never considered when I bought mine was how reflective it was.

They do sell films and screen protectors, but I agree. Some monitors do have lots more glare. I ended up just facing mine away from all windows because of this.

 

[LightHouse]

Regarding screens - something I never considered when I bought mine was how reflective it was.

I don't know what genius thought a nearly mirror-finish to a monitor was a great idea but I have to say it's my main complaint with my screens. In the morning when the sun is brightly shining into the room it is very, very distracting.

Yeah my old screens are like that, my office doesn't get much direct natural light so it's not a huge issue, but I've come to like the non glare version on my laptop. Thanks for mentioning it though, i wouldn't have thought about it otherwise until after the fact.

 

[LightHouse]

Glad my slow-lane job skills could come in handy for someone! Thanks for the rep! Another thing I wanted to mention was that if you plan to remote desktop (Windows MSTSC) to your machine, make sure you get a version of Windows that supports it. I know the new consumer versions of Windows 8 don't allow for this (or many other features). I'm not sure how many people actually use this feature outside the workplace, but I ended up buying a shitty laptop, which I use solely for the purpose of remoting into my desktop (basically so I can use it's power from anywhere and not have to deal with multiple machines).


They do sell films and screen protectors, but I agree. Some monitors do have lots more glare. I ended up just facing mine away from all windows because of this.

I am getting it with win7pro, if it came with win8 i would have dumped it and put win7 on it, lol. I do RDP into machine a lot, but i actually use logmein now more then anything. Win8 will not work for me in any aspect.

 

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[LightHouse]

So I went to look at screens and I couldnt figure out the problem i was having with the sizes, i finally figured out it was the aspect ratio.

16:9 is standard for movies and games, there was a 24" there that was 16:10 and it seems big like the 27". It wasnt until i got home and saw this that it made sense...

http://www.displaywars.com/24-inch-16x10-vs-27-inch-16x9

Its hard to find 27" in 16:10 really, and at that size it isnt good for the work i do. So i may end up with 24" 16:10. Very interesting hen you look into it!

 

[FionaS]

If you are still figuring out specs, pcpartpicker.com is a life saver - it really helps when figuring out compatibility between parts and such.