I have come into a good sum of money and am looking to build my first computing rig. I have everything picked out EXCEPT the graphics card. Here is what I am looking at:

3 monitors, 2 at 1600x1200, and 1 at 2560x1600. In a PLP layout, this totals to 4960x1600. All monitors run solely on DVI-D input, but active DP->DVI converters can/will be used.

I will not be gaming, just heavy programming/Exelling/social media

I was thinking about the GTX 980 Ti, but it says the max res is 4096x2160. Would this run the monitors I have? Or do I need 2 cards?
If you're not planning on doing heavy gaming or GPU computation, a GTX 980 Ti is extreme overkill.

The max resolution figure is for an individual monitor; as long as you've got three or more outputs from the card, you should be good.
That clears a lot of things up, Runer. Thanks!

For some reason (probably back when I tried to hook an HDTV to the VGA port on my old laptop), I was under the impression that each graphics card had a certain pixel "box" that everything had to fit in.

Does this mean that the 980 Ti could run four 4K monitors? Shock (Probably not enough memory in the card for that)

Once I purchase the parts, I'll add some pics and list out all the specs.
NoahK wrote:
For some reason (probably back when I tried to hook an HDTV to the VGA port on my old laptop), I was under the impression that each graphics card had a certain pixel "box" that everything had to fit in.


Nope. Not to start a rivalry war but look at the Retina MacBook Pro. That's from 2012 but it can power 3 external displays: 2 at 2560 x 1440 over DisplayPort and 1 at 1920 x 1200 over HDMI. Then of course the Retina MacBook Pro display itself for a grand total of 4 displays. If a MacBook Pro can do all those displays, any moderate GPU should most likely do it too Wink

Don't go overkill on your GPU unless you really want/have to. It doesn't hurt anything in case you want to pick up gaming or even VR but it'd be a sin to purchase a 980 TI and not use it.
Well, kudos to Apple!

And yes, I do see how sinful it could be. But I am looking at buying a flight sim, so it may be of some use after all.
NoahK wrote:
it says the max res is 4096x2160. Would this run the monitors I have? Or do I need 2 cards?
That's per-output.

Odds are good nvidia will have new cards at Computex (at the beginning of June), dropping the price of current ones and bringing newer/better cards at the current price points. In order to compete, AMD will doubtless be forced to lower prices on their current cards as well. Given the graphics market has been basically stagnant for about two years at this point (on the AMD side since I know it better, the R9 300 series are the same chips as the R9 200 just tweaked a little, disregarding the Fury and Nano which are novel because they have HBM), I'd say it's worth waiting about a month.

For your stated purposes, basically any GPU will work provided enough display bandwidth. Given you need three outputs you won't be able to go extremely low (under $100 or so), but something like an R7 370 (again, just AMD because that's my preference) would probably do the job fine.

You might also look at THG's "best GPUs for the money" roundup which is updated with good regularity.
Uh, get one big nice monitor rather than 3 crappy ones.
thanks.
Quote:
Get [a card with...] at least 8GB of VRAM. ... 3 monitors use alot of memory.


You are so wrong. The Apple Retina MacBook Pro (2015) only comes with a max of 2GB of RAM yet it can power 4 monitors, 3 externally. My Mac Mini without a GPU, can support 3 external monitors with a resolution of at least 1080p; I have 512MB of video memory on my integrated Intel HD3000.

Just to include a non-Apple example a GTI 750, which has 2GB or RAM as well, comes with 3 video outputs: DVI, HDMI and, Display Port. So it can support 3 monitors. Plus, the mother board likely has a video out so a computer with the 750 could likely support 4 monitors as well.
NoahK wrote:
3 monitors, 2 at 1600x1200, and 1 at 2560x1600. In a PLP layout, this totals to 4960x1600. All monitors run solely on DVI-D input, but active DP->DVI converters can/will be used.


I would recommend using DisplayPort without adapters if possible. It is also good to note that DisplayPort 1.2 supports daisy-chaining monitors with DisplayPort input and output together. We used a setup like this in our motion capture lab, and it has worked flawlessly. Dell UltraSharp monitors, such as the U2415 support this.
Wow, that is a lot of information all at once. It is interesting to hear everyone's opinions and experiences. I have taken into consideration most everyone's input, and have made a decision. The card I finally picked may be (to some that have posted on this thread) a bit over-powered, but the price did not dip that deep into my budget and the extra capabilities won't hurt in the long run Razz . The card I chose is:

XFX Radeon R9 390

My monitor setup has 2 DVI-D monitors and one DP monitor, so not adapters are needed Very Happy . And the 8 gigs of memory, along with the whole crossfire and eyefinity support, should make sure I don't run into many problems playing games if I want to. I think I will be very happy with my purchase.

[Update]

I have now purchased all the parts for my build, and here is what all I got:

Intel Core i7-6700K 8M Skylake
XFX Radeon R9 390
GIGABYTE GA-Z170X-UD5
CORSAIR RMx RM1000X 1000W
SanDisk Ultra II 2.5" 960GB SATA III Internal SSD
SAMSUNG 950 PRO M.2 512GB PCI-Express 3.0 x4 Internal SSD
CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4
CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin DDR4
TP-LINK Archer T6E PCI Express AC1300 Wireless
Rosewill RC-508 USB 3.0 PCI-E Express Card
Cooler Master Hyper 212X
SAMSUNG 24X Internal DVD Writer
LG Electronics WH14NS40 14X Blu-ray Internal Rewriter

All in an LIAN LI PC-B16B Black Aluminum Tower Running Windows 10 Home.

I also have 3 x Dell 2007FP 20.1 Inch Ultrasharp 1600x1200. I had to get rid of my 30 incher because I don't have the space on my desk Razz. But I'll have the three 20's in portrait-portrait-portrait, which should be an interesting setup. (This also means all three monitors will use DVI-D input, so I'll have to use one adapter.)
NoahK wrote:
I also have 3 x Dell 2007FP 20.1 Inch Ultrasharp 1600x1200. I had to get rid of my 30 incher because I don't have the space on my desk Razz. But I'll have the three 20's in portrait-portrait-portrait, which should be an interesting setup. (This also means all three monitors will use DVI-D input, so I'll have to use one adapter.)


If you have all three monitors in portrait orientation, you will only be able to have a window at most 12" wide before needing to stretch it across multiple screens, which can be moderately annoying for things that involve text. I would recommend two larger monitors instead of three smaller ones. In my setup, I usually have the primary display directly in front of me, and the secondary display off to the right at a slight angle. This allows me to work on the primary display while showing reference material on the secondary display.

Alternately, you could consider a single wide monitor (like the U2913WM), possibly curved. This could be used in conjunction with a smaller portrait monitor for reference material. If you are not gaming, you should be wary of the amount of desk space consumed by three monitors in relation to the benefit of the third monitor. If you plan on working on any physical projects, or with paper at some point, you will most likely want some place other than the floor to put it.
Are you planning to edit 4k video on this system or something? Because you've built a massively overpowered system for simply "heavy programming/Exelling/social media."
NoahK wrote:

I have now purchased all the parts for my build, and here is what all I got:

What is the final cost?
I do realize my monitor setup will be a bit awkward, but I currently only have a laptop that has a 13ish inch 1200ish by 800ish display, so this new 3 portrait monitor thing would translate to 6x that in a 2x3 layout. I think I'll like it.

It is a bit overpowered, but money was of very little object for this rig, so having options and extras doesn't hurt.

The total came out to right under 3K, and I had a 5K budget. I still haven't bought any software (except the OS), though I don't really know what software I would get. I now have some spare $ to get a new laptop and save the rest for later.
Disregarding the part where this doesn't agree with what your stated goal was, there are plenty of things here that bewilder me and seem like particularly pointless decisions.
Quote:
CORSAIR RMx RM1000X 1000W
This is about twice as much capacity as you need.
Quote:
SanDisk Ultra II 2.5" 960GB SATA III Internal SSD
SAMSUNG 950 PRO M.2 512GB PCI-Express 3.0 x4 Internal SSD
Why two SSDs, when spinning rust is fine for most workloads and is appreciably cheaper?
Quote:
CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4
CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin DDR4
Wat.
Quote:
Rosewill RC-508 USB 3.0 PCI-E Express Card
..why?



Since I'm just building a system with what ends up being a similar configuration, compare: ("purchased for $0" means it's a part being migrated from the old system)
CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (Purchased For $319.99)
CPU Cooler: Scythe Kotetsu 79.0 CFM CPU Cooler (Purchased For $48.02)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (Purchased For $109.97)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (Purchased For $99.99)
Storage: Seagate 600 Pro 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Green 1.5TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 390X 8GB Tri-X OC Video Card ($399.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define Mini MicroATX Mini Tower Case (Purchased For $95.99)
Power Supply: Corsair RM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (Purchased For $106.42)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHOS104-06 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Optical Drive: LG HL-DT-ST GSA-H62N (Purchased)
Monitor: 3 x Dell U2412M 60Hz 24.0" Monitor (Purchased For $0.00)
Total: $1180.37
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-25 00:41 EDT-0400

The video card here is what I'd go with if there weren't new cards on the horizon; that's not yet purchased for the reasons I outlined in my earlier post.
  
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