Fifteen Displays - One PC - Planning

[EvelynX]

TLDR: I need a build to accommodate for around 15 displays.

 

You know when your boss asks you to spec against one of those bespoke system builders and you are asked to plan for a 15 display PC to fit in a blade?

Yeah, happens to all of us I'm sure.

Well it's damn hard finding people on the internet that have already done it to verify the process. The internet has nothing except random abstract concepts like this guy who runs 7 monitors off of USB3. I wish it where that easy for me but it all needs to be fresh out of a GPU with no untested elements to complicate things seeing as how the business relies on consistency in the tech

See replacing the current setup of four cheap PCs cobbled together via the input director software is a logical step for the business (private CCTV monitoring)

To be quite frank though, I have no idea where to start. While it seems straightforward, it simply isn't.

Caveat #1

Output =/= Display
For the current PCs, it was a matter of buying cheap GPUs like GT610s or HD5450s to just add to the setup and populate the spare PCIE lanes. Each PC having six screens each. The first complication is that with a lot of older graphics cards, while having three display outputs, only support two. Something that literally nobody on here was able to verify last time I asked because believe it or not, very few people want this many screens and pair them up with crappy cards like that.
Your logical assumption that there is "no reason why it wouldn't work" may not apply here and certainly isn't helpful. If any of you fine folks have source links to examples it would be great, no half baked soldering or manipulation of wires either. It all has to be above board and pass any inspection.

It looks like I will certainly be using more modern GPUs for this.

Caveat #2

Virtual Machines
Due to software limitations, the system will need to run four Virtual Machines at once to accommodate this many screens.

The software we are bound to use for monitoring CCTV has a limit of four instances per system meaning four screens each. This will be significantly cheaper than paying upwards of £10000 for the bespoke systems and software available. not only does my PC need to be capable of that with ease, but I'd also like recommendations on VM software for this very project. I have only used VMware so some insight would be nice.

Caveat #3

Budget

The worst issue of all when building a system. I haven't been issued with a budget. I've been issued with "Plan it and tell me how much that will cost."
My boss doesnt give a monkeys pile what's in it or how it works. All he wants to know is what it is going to cost him to have one PC that can handle everything we have running right now. All 200ish cameras.
 

The business is growing alarmingly quickly due to the diversity of services we provide and now is the time to move forward on a technical level.
Care to help a fellow enthusiast out and throw in your ideas? My knowledge starts and stops at Gaming PC.

What you can help with!

Reliable Gigabit LAN.

The company I work for is the second highest user of Data in my city on my ISP, second only to our competitor. 24/7 CCTV coverage has that effect.
We currently have 300Mbps down to the property but that will be Gigabit when the data rate requires it. The PC needs to be ready for that for sure.

 

The Build.

The software and system will decode feeds using the GPU and CPU but the workload and VRAM usage is relatively small.
The real issue here is getting the displays hooked up. Is there a common modern GPU that will allow me to use all of its display outputs without being a ludicrously expensive quadro? or am i going to need a motherboard with 8 PCIE slots and GPUs to match? Are workstation/high end cards my only option? If not/so what can i do? 

Again, validation here is important. I can tell you my own 970s are not big fans of having too many displays thrown at them.

Do you have a single GPU that has four working displays plugged into it? What is it?

Great I'll have 3/4 of those!

Server Blades.
There's plenty of rackspace, any good recommendations for server blades while you are here? The old systems will also need moving to this form type of case so anyone got any good ATX server cases in mind?

I'll keep you updated with what i come up with on the build.

I have an idea of the partlist but it's all irrelevant without being sure it will all work. I know we are mostly gamers here but all experiences are helpful experiences.

Thanks for taking the time to read. Thanks even more for taking the time to share your experiences with multi monitor setups.

-D

[brob]

Are you looking to build a "video wall"?

[EvelynX]

Effectively, yes. built with consumer parts rather than a system specifically tailored for CCTV.
That kind of kit is bought prebuilt and far, far too expensive. 

[brob]

9 minutes ago, ChocoROID said:

Effectively, yes. built with consumer parts rather than a system specifically tailored for CCTV.
That kind of kit is bought prebuilt and far, far too expensive. 

Something like http://www.samsung.com/uk/business/business-products/smart-signage/video-wall/LH46UEDPLGC/EN (~£1,200 VAT in per panel) from Samsung doesn't seem that expensive to me. Especially when one considers the true costs and reliability of a cobbled together custom system made from consumer parts.

 

[EvelynX]

Thanks but like I said, I do not need panels.
Just the computer required to drive them.

[brob]

Just now, ChocoROID said:

Thanks but like I said, I do not need panels.
Just the computer required to drive them.

These types of panels can take a feed from a laptop or even a dvd player. 

[brob]

If you really want to use a pc and consumer parts, perhaps one can run multiple daisy chains of DP 1.2 monitors. One chain of four 1080 monitors per gpu should be possible.

[EvelynX]

Thanks but I am not in need of screens at all.
I'm looking at nine 40" screens and four 23" screens right now and have another four 40" coming in a few weeks.
We need a PC to drive these displays, not a replacement for the displays. 

[Xineas]

My two cents:

 

Rack mounted case

Graphics card with 4 minidisplay ports (you'd need 4 and dedicate one to each VM, each can run 4x 4K via Mini DisplayPort 1.2 as per the specification page) <- No personal experience, most screens I've ran simultaniously is 3x 1080p off of a FirePro card.

X99 motherboard with 4 PCI-E x16 slots

Some bog standard DDR4-2133 RAM, get 4x4GB or something, to give each VM at least 3GB.

A Xeon E5-2609 v4 1.7GHz 8 core (you don't need extreme GHz, you do want multiple cores, plus Intel VT-d support to passthrough GPUs to the VMs)

VMware will be able to do what you need, take a look at Puget Systems' website for some more information

Bunch of drives, maybe two mirrored drives for fail safety. Or give each VM it's own small drive and back it up to another.

[EvelynX]

4 mini display-ports on one card? Interesting I have seen something like that before.
If four displays will work off of each GPU then I have an ideal situation.

Thanks for the advice, this is exactly the kind of thing I need to keep me on the right track!
Especially with the links! 

[brob]

2 hours ago, ChocoROID said:

4 mini display-ports on one card? Interesting I have seen something like that before.
If four displays will work off of each GPU then I have an ideal situation.

Thanks for the advice, this is exactly the kind of thing I need to keep me on the right track!
Especially with the links! 

One can actually drive multiple monitors from one displayport, http://www.displayport.org/cables/driving-multiple-displays-from-a-single-displayport-output/. 

[EvelynX]

Ah, that would be ideal but I don't have the budget to buy entirely new displays. They are all HDMI outputs.

[brob]

6 hours ago, ChocoROID said:

Ah, that would be ideal but I don't have the budget to buy entirely new displays. They are all HDMI outputs.

Wrote it before I realized the monitors were fixed.

Perhaps startech.com has something that will help. These are just two examples of their offerings.

https://www.startech.com/uk/AV/Displayport-Converters/DisplayPort-to-HDMI-Adapter-Converter~DP2HDMIADAP

https://www.startech.com/uk/AV/Displayport-Converters/DisplayPort-to-HDMI-Triple-Head-Multi-Monitor-MST-Hub~MSTDP123HD