8 flat screens, one computer and a question

[gnome]

Quote from lar:

"... bam, the 24s more than double in price over the 22s..."

The 24s are a LOT more monitor than 22s.

24" have 1920x1200 and likely either a PVA or MVA panel.

22" have 1680x1050 and likely a TN panel.

 

[gnome]

Quote from ProfLogic:

"... Make sure those video cards are at least 256 meg of RAM each or better (That's 64 meg minimum per screen)...."

Not really necessary. 8mb RAM per port is plenty. Years ago I ran multi-card systems with 4MB ram each with no problems.

 

[dinoman]

Quote from gnome:

Easiest way would be to use 2, quadhead video cards from either Matrox or Nvidia Quadro NVS (preferred)... you can pick them up used on eBay.

Just be sure (1) to get the right ones to fit into your available slots and (b) the cards can display the native resolution of the monitors.

I would just add that make sure you have a motherboard and a power supply that can handle this too. If you don't have a high powered of the 2 you will have issues. I can't for sure tell which mother board to consider, but you will definitely need a power supply greater than 850 at bear minimum.

I ran the NVIDIA NVS quadro along with a GeForce FX card running 6 moni's on a Dell Workstation and fried 4 motherboards and 2 power supplies. I had a 650 power supply, but I can't remember what my mother board was.
Sorry.

If you accommodate for these you should be good to go!

If need by request I can try to go into further detail with my research and personal experiences.

Good Luck!

 

[gnome]

Quote from dandxg:

"... 8 screens on 1 CPU. I don't know that any regular CPU has hp to run 8 screens?...

Most modern P4/Athlon CPU and higher computers can handle the charting of 8 screens easily (possible whiplash from following the cursor across that many screens is another matter)... however, certain *applications* can overtax a system.

 

[gnome]

Quote from dinoman:

I would just add that make sure you have a motherboard and a power supply that can handle this too. If you don't have a high powered of the 2 you will have issues. I can't for sure tell which mother board to consider, but you will definitely need a power supply greater than 850 at bear minimum....

Of course you want to have PSU which can handle the load. However, the NVS 280 uses only 12 watts, the 440 (quad, PCIE) uses only 31 watts.

A BIG PSU is not necessary simply because of the NVS cards...

 

[dinoman]

Quote from gnome:

Of course you want to have PSU which can handle the load. However, the NVS 280 uses only 12 watts, the 440 (quad, PCIE) uses only 31 watts.

A BIG PSU is not necessary simply because of the NVS cards...

Of course its not because of the cards its the draw that the Moni's have on the MB and PS.

 

[gnome]

Quote from dinoman:

Of course its not because of the cards its the draw that the Moni's have on the MB and PS.

What are "Moni's"?

 

[dinoman]

Quote from gnome:

What are "Moni's"?

Moni's is short for monitors.

 

[gnome]

Quote from dinoman:

Moni's is short for monitors.

Oh, of course. Not sure about this, but I don't think the number of monitors has any power impact on the mobo and therefore neither the PSU... only the video card impacts the mobo/PSU.

 

[bandit77]

something else to consider. if you're going to buy 8 x 22's @ $300 each = $2400 + tax and shipping.

I would strongly urge you to consider looking at the Dell 30". For the same price, you can buy 1 x 30" and 3 x 22's. The 30" is well worth it. I have a 30 running next to the 22's, and the 30 is so much bigger. It's also much sharper than the 22's. Of course, with the 30", you'll need a video card that can drive it, which will cost you about $90 for a geforce 7600 series at newegg.