what's the smartest way to run 6 1080p monitors?

[MeapO]

I need to run 6 monitors (24" 1080p) and I was wondering whether it's better to run 2 1060's in sli to achieve the amount of display ports I'd need or if there is a smarter way.
fyi money < aesthetics so if your solution makes more economic sense I actually need a solution that achieves my needs and still looks nice

[shadowbyte]

I think gigabyte's cards offer flex display, which allows you to plug 6 monitors into one card

 

[Davidwr80]

The GTX 1060 does not support SLI, but the Cards above it do

[RadiatingLight]

Just get two or three cheap cards like GTX1050 or RX460 and hook everything up to those

 

you could also use displayport hubs, but those are hilariously expensive

[MeapO]

2 minutes ago, Davidwr80 said:

The GTX 1060 does not support SLI, but the Cards above it do

which cards?

[Davidwr80]

1070, 1080, titan x

[MeapO]

1 minute ago, RadiatingLight said:

Just get two or three cheap cards like GTX1050 or RX460 and hook everything up to those

 

you could also use displayport hubs, but those are hilariously expensive

i'm trying to minimalize the amount of cards i throw in this build while still being able to run the 6 monitors and I refuse to use splitters, I want this to be clean

[SenorDonut]

2 minutes ago, MeapO said:

i'm trying to minimalize the amount of cards i throw in this build while still being able to run the 6 monitors and I refuse to use splitters, I want this to be clean

Dual GTX 1070 in SLI is the cheapest option I can think of, unless you want to go for dual RX4x0 series or a previous gen card

[RadiatingLight]

3 minutes ago, MeapO said:

i'm trying to minimalize the amount of cards i throw in this build while still being able to run the 6 monitors and I refuse to use splitters, I want this to be clean

well then you need to get a card with the most outputs.

GTX 1060 has 5 IIRC, and RX480 has 4 on the reference model, and 5 on AIB cards. IIRC

 

Just get two RX480s in CF.

[0ld_Chicken]

I could be wrong, but I believe you have to have all displays plugged in to one card while using SLI.  I tried using my 2nd gtx 980 for one of my 3 monitors because it was easier to get to the DP latch and I could not enable SLI and had to change it back to the first gtx 980.  It said all connectors have to be on a single card or maybe even the first card.  It was a while ago, sorry.

I believe adding another card and not having it in SLI (doesn't have to be the same) will allow you to use the connectors from both cards.  

[MeapO]

1 minute ago, 0ld_Chicken said:

I could be wrong, but I believe you have to have all displays plugged in to one card while using SLI.  I tried using my 2nd gtx 980 for one of my 3 monitors because it was easier to get to the DP latch and I could not enable SLI and had to change it back to the first gtx 980.  It said all connectors have to be on a single card or maybe even the first card.  It was a while ago, sorry.

I believe adding another card and not having it in SLI (doesn't have to be the same) will allow you to use the connectors from both cards.  

is it the same for crossfire?

[RadiatingLight]

2 minutes ago, MeapO said:

is it the same for crossfire?

Yes

 

http://support.amd.com/en-us/search/faq/173

[MeapO]

1 minute ago, RadiatingLight said:

Yes

 

http://support.amd.com/en-us/search/faq/173

this might be a stupid question, but do I need to put the monitors in crossfire/sli or am I able to just run them without those and use them separately (this machine will not be running any games)

[RadiatingLight]

How about using the connector on your motherboard, plus the five outputs from your GPU (GTX 1060 or RX480)

[RadiatingLight]

1 minute ago, MeapO said:

this might be a stupid question, but do I need to put the monitors in crossfire/sli or am I able to just run them without those and use them separately (this machine will not be running any games)

It's not a stupid question at all.

Honestly, IDK

[MeapO]

1 minute ago, RadiatingLight said:

How about using the connector on your motherboard, plus the five outputs from your GPU (GTX 1060 or RX480)

but it's dvi, isn't it a bit odd to have 5 dp or hdmi and then 1 dvi?

 

[RadiatingLight]

1 minute ago, MeapO said:

but it's dvi, isn't it a bit odd to have 5 dp or hdmi and then 1 dvi?

 

it might be odd, but there's no difference in viewing quality (provided you're using DVI-D)

[MeapO]

1 minute ago, RadiatingLight said:

it might be odd, but there's no difference in viewing quality (provided you're using DVI-D)

If you could look over my build I'd appreciate that
what I'm thinking so far http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/user/MeapO/saved/4wzHxr

[0ld_Chicken]

5 minutes ago, MeapO said:

this might be a stupid question, but do I need to put the monitors in crossfire/sli or am I able to just run them without those and use them separately (this machine will not be running any games)

I'm pretty sure you can.  That is basically what happened to me, all the monitors worked but it wouldn't let me enable SLI till I moved the connector back.  In theory you should be able to use a cheap pair of cards but I'm not sure how old you can go with that same idea.  

 

And yeah, DVI-d is good for 1080p@144hz

[RadiatingLight]

2 minutes ago, MeapO said:

If you could look over my build I'd appreciate that
what I'm thinking so far http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/user/MeapO/saved/4wzHxr

Get a Z-series motherboard if you're getting an overclockable CPU.

Get an SSD

If you only want display outputs, then that GPU is fine, but if you want to game, then you should get a 6GB model of the 1060

[SansVarnic]

Depends on your use case, Matrox makes great multi-monitor card.

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/graphics_cards/c-series/

 

If your looking to game on these then your looking at getting multiple high end cards ...

[MeapO]

2 minutes ago, RadiatingLight said:

Get a Z-series motherboard if you're getting an overclockable CPU.

Get an SSD

If you only want display outputs, then that GPU is fine, but if you want to game, then you should get a 6GB model of the 1060

I won't be overclocking it, it's just cheaper than the non-K version

[RadiatingLight]

1 minute ago, MeapO said:

I won't be overclocking it, it's just cheaper than the non-K version

Really?!

Strange.

You might want to get a 6700 if it doesn't cost so much more.

[ProjectBox153]

5 minutes ago, SansVarnic said:

Depends on your use case, Matrox makes great multi-monitor card.

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/graphics_cards/c-series/

 

If your looking to game on these then your looking at getting multiple high end cards ...

Wow, forgot Matrox still exists! OP, what are you going to be using them for? 

[MeapO]

1 minute ago, Jamiec1130 said:

Wow, forgot Matrox still exists! OP, what are you going to be using them for? 

I'm actually building it for someone else so I'm not exactly sure but I just know he isn't into gaming or video production which are notable the most graphics intensive