fun new project, looking for advice

[goramus]

I have been tasked with building a command center show piece type of thing for monitoring a data center.:yepp::yepp: they want at least 4 30" displays with all sorts of eye candy on them. im thinking this can be accomplished with one machine, here is the very rough parts lists im looking at so far, im not sure it will all work together as I do not have experience working with the large displays that require dual link dvi. let me know what you think of this list and any advice or suggestions on the parts list.

4 - SAMSUNG SyncMaster 305T Black 30"
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001098

4 - GeForce 9600 GT 512MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133216

1 - Skulltrail D5400XS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121330

1 - SILVERSTONE DA1200 1200W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256029

2 - Kingston HyperX 2GB (2 x 1GB)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104021

1 - Intel Core2 Extreme QX9775
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115044

have not decided on the case as just yet, I want to finalize the internal parts first.

[Gunslinger]

You only have one CPU listed, but have a dual socket motherboard listed, kind of a waste running only one CPU on that beast.

[Asgard_thor]

you could probably just save money and get two xeon for that price..

4 30" what are these guys monitoring?

[goramus]

i picked the skull trail for the 4 x16 slots and thier spacing, im not sure if a second proc is needed because there will be no 3d apps running, this machine will be used to dispay various apps that show current stats of esx, network, syslog, some video feeds from a second off-site datacenter, san storage, etc.

[zanzabar]

if u want 4 displays then the skull trail is a wast get the asus 5400 for ocing

and u shouldent do more than a bsel so the qx is worthless in your app, and it requires liquid cooling so get the 1U low watt cpus then bsel

[goramus]

bsel? the machine will be in a air conditioned server room with a raised floor and a vent in front/under the machine. so im not to worried about the heat from the system or noise from high cfm fans.

[zanzabar]

your going to have like 300W+ from the qx, a pair bseled 55W chips will do about 150W

a bsel mod is covering or bridging 3 pins so it changes the fsb from 266/333 to 400

[perkam]

I don't see the point of this rig. What you are describing can be done with 4 9500GTs.

Smells like TRS to me :stick:

Perkam

[Asgard_thor]

I don't see the point of this rig. What you are describing can be done with 4 9500GTs.

Smells like TRS to me :stick:

Perkam

maybe they want alittle extra power?

why not quad SLI :) haha

[goramus]

well i wasnt really sure what to spec for it when it came to power, proc, and board thats why i posted for advice and you guys are most helpfull in getting me going in the right direction and thats just what im looking for.

4 9500gt's make things easier

how about a ASUS P5W64 with a Q9300 and maybe a 400-500 watt ps?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131047

yeah i definitly overkilled the first idea up there. thanks for all the help guys :)

[xMrBunglex]

as much as i hate DisplayPort, why don't you consider that as an option. if you can get two 30" DP monitors, you'll be able to power them with two DisplayPort-enabled video cards instead of four (DisplayPort can handle 2560x1600 through a single cable). or wait... there aren't any video cards with dual DP connectors. shoot. what about HDMI? if you use a DVI-HDMI adapter, can you get 2560x1600 through a single cable?

i only say this because only needing two video cards would simplify your system and possibly make things cheaper.

*warning: DisplayPort is the devil and it will add another layer of DRM to your computer. do not support DisplayPort unless it is absolutely necessary.*

[Bobsama]

What about an X38/X48 board (MSI X48 Platnium) with four PCI Express slots, and four HD3450s (the dual-DVI ones). For a processor a Q9300 should be overkill, as should 4GB DDR2 1066. Add to the list two Raptor 150's in RAID1 and a Zippy/Emacs power supply, and you have a system that can handle that minor load very easily, and include data security.

[EniGmA1987]

If the datacenter ends up upgrading later on to more energy efficient PCs to save them money on electricity, one of the things they will hate is the eye candy monitoring PC. I would try to go with lower power parts for everything possible. Maybe get a 64GB solid state drive for it since that will save some power and be fast, it doesnt look like they care much about the budget anyway. Maybe go with some 9500GTs instead of the 9600GTs since then it will shave $80 off the cost and since they run slower and have lower end parts, they will probably use less power as well (just a thought, not sure on that and the logic isnt great either).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130378


Also, I wouldnt go with what xMrBunglex said since they specifically said FOUR 30" monitors. So knocking it down to two higher res monitors might sound like a good idea to some, it wasnt what they specifically asked for. Just stick with the DVI and get four monitors.


As for the P5W64, I am not sure that it supports the 45nm processors out of the box. It is a much older chipset and might need to have the bios flashed first. There is another version of that board with a much newer x48 chipset that you might think about, but it is kinda pricy. Also, it uses DDR3, not DDR2:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131300
Too bad the intel boards are so limited in their quad x16 slot selections... You would have a huge selection if you were looking at AMD boards, but an AMD processor would probably use more power and would definitely give less performance.


And a quad core processor will probably be overkill for monitoring apps, why not save some money (and power) and get a 45nm dual core?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037