Multi-seat Workstation and Gaming PC (First PC build)

[slickobamba]

Budget (including currency): 6000 USD

Country: United States

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for:

Games: Star Citizen, No Mans Sky, Battlefield 1, Battlefield 2042, Starwars Battlefront II, Forza Horizon 5, Halo Infinite, Call of Duty, Star Wars: Squadrons, Microsoft flight simulator

Programs: Davinci Resolve, Unreal Engine 5, After Effects, Premiere Pro, Blender, Ableton, Auto CAD

Workloads: Gaming, video editing, music production, sometimes 3D design / rendering, light design programming.

Other details:

Current part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Zzn7cT

Peripherals wanted: Corning Thunderbolt 3 Optical Cables + OWC Thunderbolt 4 Hub

TV for gaming: LG C1 65 inch Class

Want to be able to game at 4k 60hz

 

Both me and my roommate have had this dream to build our own PC that we could use individually at the same time on three monitors and one TV each located at a different spot in our house. We both want to use the computer as a gaming PC that can play the latest games with ease. I work in film production and want to use the computer for video editing/occasional 3d rendering and we are both musicians so we will be using it for home recording projects as well. I have never built a PC before and after posting on r/buildapc a few months ago and watching a few Linus tech tip videos on his virtualized gaming builds ("2 gaming rigs, 1 tower), it seemed that the general consensus is to use Unraid to make a few virtual machines that multiple users can use at the same time. After going down that path for awhile, I realized I really didn't want to allocate resources to virtual machines (CPU Cores especially) without the flexibility to change them on the fly. Not to mention passing through graphics cards seemed overwhelming for my level of experience and prone to troubleshooting.

 

I realized we were looking for something more dynamic that could allow for each user to use 100% of the computers resources at any given time or 50% if we were both using it at the same time. Fortunately I recently stumbled into a multi-seat program called Aster that promises up to six independent users on one instance of Windows. With this program in mind, I've started a part list for what I think would be an ideal PC with the right hardware to cover our needs. However since I've never built a PC before I wanted to share my parts list on here to get some helpful recommendations on where we can save money and what factors I may have overlooked when trying to run display/data to four separate monitors and one TV throughout the house. 

 

One thing I am very eager to try with this build is connecting our displays to the PC with only one Thunderbolt 3 cable per monitor/TV. The placement of the three monitors and TV in our house will be spread throughout four different rooms and we want to place the PC in our basement so I would like to save on the headache of running multiple cables through our walls if at all possible. I understand that normal Thunderbolt cable has a length limit but after watching this LinusTechTips video about optical Thunderbolt 3 cables from Corning, I'm certain we could cover the distance needed between rooms/floors. The cost is very expensive but I am willing to pay if it can achieve what we need with only one cable (plus some Thunderbolt Hubs)

 

I feel confident that my parts list would build a PC that could do what we need it to if it were placed in each room and only used by one user but where I start to get unsure is when I imagine how all the displays will work when they are connected to one PC in the basement. Beneath are some of my questions and concerns...

 

I am still confused if it is even possible to run 4 displays off one graphics card using Thunderbolt 3 or if I will need two graphics cards. As I currently understand it (with the ASUS ProArt B550), I can run Display Port out of my graphics card into the Display Port in of my motherboard which will allow for me to run two Thunderbolt 3 cables out, but nowhere online have I found any concrete information on how many 1080p 60hz screens I can run off one thunderbolt 3 cable. From what I have found "Thunderbolt 3 allows the connection of two 4K monitors, one 5K, or one 4K at 120 Hz per port" but does this mean I can run four 1080p monitors per port since 1080 is half the size of 4k? The TV we want to use for gaming is 4K 120hz and the three remaining monitors are 1080 60hz so what I have envisioned now (using the two thunderbolt ports that come with the ASUS ProArt B550) is running one Corning Thunderbolt 3 optical cable to our TV (via Thunderbolt Hub) and then another to a different Thunderbolt 4 Hub paired with any one of our three monitors which I can then use to daisy chain into the remaining two monitors.

 

I was initially eyeing the i9-12900k for it's core count and the fact that the MSI MEG Z690 ACE motherboard supports two mini Display Port Ins, (which could allow me to attach one graphics card to each Thunderbolt port, I think) but the fact that it only comes with DDR5 memory makes it too expensive to consider.

One final thing I'm still uncertain about is how much storage to include and what type it should be. I've read online about people enjoying faster boots if you install Windows on a M.2 SSD vs SATA. If I was planning on installing Windows 11 would a 1-2TB M.2 SSD be overkill for running Windows and apps off of? In addition would having another 1TB-2TB M.2 be overkill for storing games and active video files for editing? Right now I've just listed two of the most overkill SSD I could find but I recognize we could probably save money here without significant performance loss.

 

If you've read this far thanks for entertaining our crazy idea and we'd certainly appreciate any help or insight you can give into making this dream into a reality!

 

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

Id really suggest just getting separate pc. Much simpler to setup, much easier to manage and worth with, and 

 

then Id forget the long thunderbolt cables and docks, and just have a pc where you need it, esp with this large budget this won't be a issue.

 

 This just feels like a lot of extra hassle and setup for no real benfit to me. 

[slickobamba]

Appreciate your reply and I certainly agree with you about the ease of setup but the multiple displays going back to one PC is what motivated us to build our own PC in the first place so we aren't going to drop that idea

[Electronics Wizardy]

16 minutes ago, slickobamba said:

Appreciate your reply and I certainly agree with you about the ease of setup but the multiple displays going back to one PC is what motivated us to build our own PC in the first place so we aren't going to drop that idea

How about a laptop and docks around the house? Then you don't need to run cables, still have one unified workstation, but no cables.

 

You can also sync files between the systems so while there separate systems, they feel the same using them.

 

I also see this setup having audio issues, as it can be pretty latency sensitive, and these setups can just have weird issues. 

[slickobamba]

So just have four separate laptops for each display? Any suggestions for resources to check out for the audio issues you brought up? I certainly have spent the least amount of time thinking about the audio signal path. Primarily been focused on getting the right hardware to insure the displays all work 

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, slickobamba said:

So just have four separate laptops for each display? Any suggestions for resources to check out for the audio issues you brought up? I certainly have spent the least amount of time thinking about the audio signal path. Primarily been focused on getting the right hardware to insure the displays all work 

Have one laptop per user. Then that user moves the laptop to the display setup you want to use. THen all your data and settings stays with the laptop.

 

I don't have any great sources on audio, but Ive seen a lot of weird issues, and keeping the setup simple will make this much easier to use and work with.

[brob]

People often forget that the "p" in PC is Personal, as in Personal Computer.

 

It would not surprise me to learn that any solution as outlined in the OP will end up costing significantly more than two separate PC.

 

If you really want to stick to a monolithic system, consider a WiFi IP  solution instead of wired Thunderbolt.

[slickobamba]

47 minutes ago, brob said:

People often forget that the "p" in PC is Personal, as in Personal Computer.

 

It would not surprise me to learn that any solution as outlined in the OP will end up costing significantly more than two separate PC.

 

If you really want to stick to a monolithic system, consider a WiFi IP  solution instead of wired Thunderbolt.

I'm aware that there are simpler and cheaper solutions to what we need in terms of what we will be using the computer for but the monolithic system is important to us. When you say WiFi IP solution are you recommending setting up a local network?

[brob]

3 hours ago, slickobamba said:

I'm aware that there are simpler and cheaper solutions to what we need in terms of what we will be using the computer for but the monolithic system is important to us. When you say WiFi IP solution are you recommending setting up a local network?

 

You are creating a network, regardless of the communications method and protocol. You might also explore wireless HDMI. I haven't looked, wireless DP may also exist.