How much part does a GPU Play in Chart ?

[qqq]

You've got a lot of hardware there. I'm rooting for it all to work for you. I'd like to know whether or not it does.

Scat you will be the first one to know. I am as curious as you are hoping for the best but ready for the worst. It will cost me 15% if I want to return & go back to 5820. It is dispatched & estimated day of delivery they gave me is tomorrow Saturday, July 2nd. What an irony on 4th of July weekend. I requested the basic installation to make sure that there are two T-600 in there to start with & how they have managed it. They will open it & do just basic installation meaning plugging in & connecting to net to make sure it works.
Despite several request they did not tell me how they are going to install 2 GPUs & whether I will be able to run at least 8 monitors. But at least I am on record just in case.

Any suggestions what should I look for & have their tech guy do when he arrives next week ?

Many Thanks

 

[Scataphagos]

Scat you will be the first one to know. I am as curious as you are hoping for the best but ready for the worst. It will cost me 15% if I want to return & go back to 5820. It is dispatched & estimated day of delivery they gave me is tomorrow Saturday, July 2nd. What an irony on 4th of July weekend. I requested the basic installation to make sure that there are two T-600 in there to start with & how they have managed it. They will open it & do just basic installation meaning plugging in & connecting to net to make sure it works.
Despite several request they did not tell me how they are going to install 2 GPUs & whether I will be able to run at least 8 monitors. But at least I am on record just in case.

Any suggestions what should I look for & have their tech guy do when he arrives next week ?

Many Thanks

I'm surprised about the 15%. In the past when I bought, there was a 21 day return, "no questions asked" policy. Can you return for a full refund and NOT go to a 5820? (Not go with Dell, anyway...) When a unit is returned it goes to the "Outlet" site... Dell doesn't normally make any changes to it... just sells "as is". I suspect your "15% return fee" is because your rig is so specialized, likely they will have a hard time selling it "as is" and will need to offer a special low price to move it to someone else... just a guess.

A Dell tech guy is going to do something with your rig when it arrives? That's a new one on me too. I'd think they would set it up when filling the order and test it before sending it out... ??

Only thing I can think of is to verify operating 8 monitors and that the NVME drives work. (The sum of PCIE lanes that CPU supports is less than it would appear your rig will require. ??)

Your other drives will be OK... they're running from SATA.

Anecdote...

When W10 arrived, its Extended Desktop function was programmed to run up to 10 monitors. However there is specialized software that will manage the Extended Desktop to run more than 10. How many more? Somebody ran 72 monitors! They did it with a special mobo with 6, x16 slots... each wired with 8 lanes... then ran 6x, 12-port AMD cards. Xeon CPU obviously.

 

[qqq]

Can you return for a full refund and NOT go to a 5820?

Looks like they changed the policy. Only 15 day trial & 15% restocking fee if you return for a refund. But if those 2 video cards don't run 8 monitors I think they might give full credit towards purchase of 5820 that is just the guess.

A Dell tech guy is going to do something with your rig when it arrives?

I think I did not make it clear. I was asking you what kind of other tasks should I ask him to carry out to make sure they have given me exactly what I asked for.
I definitely would ask him to hook up 8 monitors & make sure they all have extended desktops. But I have doubts that he will do that.

This was their reply :
As this is a basic installation engineer will follow the below scope of work.

Scope of work

• Unpack the new system and plug network patch cables into the new product and existing customer-certified network jacks
• Plug all power cords into electrical sources
• Verify the service tags for each system
• Boot the new product and verify network connection for connected devices
• Connect new peripherals which came with the new system: mouse, keyboard, display
• Map network drives or printers and connects to the internet
• Notify DTS of any MWD regarding the shipment of the Dell equipment
• ( I don't know what DTS & MWD means )
  

  Only thing I can think of is to verify operating 8 monitors and that the NVME drives work.

  Windows 11 will be on one NVME so if he powers up that would suggest one NVME.
• The good news is that system arrived Saturday & they are going to install it on Wednesday. I have not opened the box to avoid any excuses from them.

 

[Scataphagos]

Looks like they changed the policy. Only 15 day trial & 15% restocking fee if you return for a refund. But if those 2 video cards don't run 8 monitors I think they might give full credit towards purchase of 5820 that is just the guess.


I think I did not make it clear. I was asking you what kind of other tasks should I ask him to carry out to make sure they have given me exactly what I asked for.
I definitely would ask him to hook up 8 monitors & make sure they all have extended desktops. But I have doubts that he will do that.

This was their reply :
As this is a basic installation engineer will follow the below scope of work.

Scope of work

• Unpack the new system and plug network patch cables into the new product and existing customer-certified network jacks
• Plug all power cords into electrical sources
• Verify the service tags for each system
• Boot the new product and verify network connection for connected devices
• Connect new peripherals which came with the new system: mouse, keyboard, display
• Map network drives or printers and connects to the internet
• Notify DTS of any MWD regarding the shipment of the Dell equipment
• ( I don't know what DTS & MWD means )
  
  Windows 11 will be on one NVME so if he powers up that would suggest one NVME.
• The good news is that system arrived Saturday & they are going to install it on Wednesday. I have not opened the box to avoid any excuses from them.

No other tasks. Just verify Extended Desktop can run 8 monitors* properly and that all drives will read/write when all connected. That is, to use one NVME drive, you shouldn't have to "avoid" or be locked out from using using another at the same time. Same with SATA drives. (This isn't something I'd normally suggest checking out... but I still have concerns that your video cards and NVME drives require more PCIE lanes than your CPU will support.... or so says Intel specs. I don't know if the mobo/CPU would/could change lane allocations if you've got too much mounted onto your mobo. That is, with 20 lanes used by video cards... and you also have NVME to run but no lanes for them.. would the OS "reallocate" some the video card lanes so that there would be some available to run the NVME? I don't know if it's that flexible. ??)

*If I were you, I'd have 8 monitors all lined up to verify it will run 8. After all, Intel spec says it will run only 4. So either Dell or Intel has the info wrong.

Did Dell throw in the set-up as a freebie or did you have to pay for that??

 

[qqq]

Did Dell throw in the set-up as a freebie or did you have to pay for that??

You mean all the things that they said their engineer will do ?
Then yes, they charged me for it & I did insist on them setting it up so that they couldn't blame me if things don't work as you laid out above. If it doesn't work as you laid out, I will have a case for full refund. I am also going to try to run an extra monitor using a DP because I have ordered an extra DP to DVI Cable with the system. Is that a possibility ?

 

[Scataphagos]

You mean all the things that they said their engineer will do ?
Then yes, they charged me for it & I did insist on them setting it up so that they couldn't blame me if things don't work as you laid out above. If it doesn't work as you laid out, I will have a case for full refund. I am also going to try to run an extra monitor using a DP because I have ordered an extra DP to DVI Cable with the system. Is that a possibility ?

I guess you're planning to run the extra monitor(s) from the onboard video chip? I don't know if that will be a problem. As a general rule, Extended Desktop is going to "like it better" if all the video output is the same... especially when running as many monitors as you plan. I always suggest that all monitors be run from the same model video card.... even though Nvidia's are all claimed to be "backwards compatible" with other Nvidia cards in the same line.

Good Luck!

 

[qqq]

Scat & All,

Finally tech guy came from Dell ( Not really as he said Dell outsourced to another tech company & that company outsourced to another & finally the guy I got had never seen a system with more than two monitors so I ended up doing most of the work. )

He first opened the box & system & I asked him to open the cover to see where they installed two NVIDIA T-600 & as we guessed one in full length x16 slot & 2nd one in X4 slot & there is one more empty X4 slot. Then I checked if all Three NVMe & Three 4TB SATA were there & that checked out.

Then I connected 8 Monitors & fired up the system & yes, all 8 are working. Then as you mentioned I transferred few files ( Video, audio, word etc ) from a pen drive to all NVME & SATA drives & they do read & write. So far so good. I have not installed any Market apps or other apps yet. But Win-11 is really a PIA. Still bugs after almost 9 months.

But as I had mentioned that I wanted to make sure everything works so I paid them to install & my concern or as we say my gut feeling was right. So sound is the problem. Speakers work but Microphone does not. He spent almost two hours talking to Dell for assistance but they could not make it work.

So installation guy had to go & asked me to sign the papers & I said no. Then Dell support guy also asked me to sign with a remark that microphone is not working & they will send some senior guy in couple of days & fix it. But I insisted that I paid for installation & I am not going to sign any papers until the whole system is working so I did not sign anything. So that is where it stands now.

Please advice.

Thank you Scat & everyone.

 

[Scataphagos]

Scat & All,

Finally tech guy came from Dell ( Not really as he said Dell outsourced to another tech company & that company outsourced to another & finally the guy I got had never seen a system with more than two monitors so I ended up doing most of the work. )

He first opened the box & system & I asked him to open the cover to see where they installed two NVIDIA T-600 & as we guessed one in full length x16 slot & 2nd one in X4 slot & there is one more empty X4 slot. Then I checked if all Three NVMe & Three 4TB SATA were there & that checked out.

Then I connected 8 Monitors & fired up the system & yes, all 8 are working. Then as you mentioned I transferred few files ( Video, audio, word etc ) from a pen drive to all NVME & SATA drives & they do read & write. So far so good. I have not installed any Market apps or other apps yet. But Win-11 is really a PIA. Still bugs after almost 9 months.

But as I had mentioned that I wanted to make sure everything works so I paid them to install & my concern or as we say my gut feeling was right. So sound is the problem. Speakers work but Microphone does not. He spent almost two hours talking to Dell for assistance but they could not make it work.

So installation guy had to go & asked me to sign the papers & I said no. Then Dell support guy also asked me to sign with a remark that microphone is not working & they will send some senior guy in couple of days & fix it. But I insisted that I paid for installation & I am not going to sign any papers until the whole system is working so I did not sign anything. So that is where it stands now.

Please advice.

Thank you Scat & everyone.

Good to hear.

Looks like Intel's spec about "Core iX CPU supports only 4 monitors" is wrong.

 

[qqq]

Scat,
As I work on this system, you are right. This is not as good as 5820 although I haven't worked on 5820 but I know T7500.

To start with one of the display on one monitor looks really large. Whether is a webpage or file explorer page. If I bring that web page to other monitors, it looks normal as other monitors. Could this be related to faulty Video Card or as you always said not enough PCIe lanes ?

Next I always use larger Text size due to the distance I have to stay away to keep an eye on 12 Monitors so in this system If I enlarge Text size, fonts get clipped as shown in attachment.

And I haven't even started installing the real market apps.

it looks like a really cheap desktop, material wise as well as design. Ports are too close where I can not plug two USB pen drive side by side.. I can not insert my own SATA drives in the new SARA trays they have designed so I can not plug it in & transfer data.

Looks like lot more to come Scat. Will keep you posted.

 

[Scataphagos]

Scat,
As I work on this system, you are right. This is not as good as 5820 although I haven't worked on 5820 but I know T7500.

To start with one of the display on one monitor looks really large. Whether is a webpage or file explorer page. If I bring that web page to other monitors, it looks normal as other monitors. Could this be related to faulty Video Card or as you always said not enough PCIe lanes ?

Next I always use larger Text size due to the distance I have to stay away to keep an eye on 12 Monitors so in this system If I enlarge Text size, fonts get clipped as shown in attachment.

And I haven't even started installing the real market apps.

it looks like a really cheap desktop, material wise as well as design. Ports are too close where I can not plug two USB pen drive side by side.. I can not insert my own SATA drives in the new SARA trays they have designed so I can not plug it in & transfer data.

Looks like lot more to come Scat. Will keep you posted.

1. I don't know about your text and monitor issues. Could be any of a few things, but I wouldn't know which... just have to troubleshoot. You're using "DVI-DP" adapters, are you not? That could be the issue.

2. As far as SATA ports.. you can buy extension cords (some as short as 6") to plug into the ports. That's better than doing thumb drives directly into the ports as the extension cables are more robust than the connections of the thumb drives.

3. I don't mount my SATA drives into the trays... just leave them sitting on the bottom of the case or even just "dangling". Easier to change them out as necessary.