New trading screen build

Noughtboy · 17 Nov 2011 at 10:13

Good morning all,

I am looking to upgrade my home trading setup which will also land up being a sometimes gaming computer (when the whole family has gone to bed perhaps) and to occasionally encode family videos from the digital camera. This is likely to be used for a while so went for quadcore over dual core and hyperthreading.

Apologise for the following links as I am not able to attach images it seems. I am looking at putting together:
Intel i5 2500K £170
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-360-IN

MSI Z68A G43 G3 £95
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-198-MS

8Gb Corsair Vengeneance Ram £40
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-300-CS

3x 23" Screens £495
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-096-LG

Samsung Spinpoint 2TB F4 EcoGreen free
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-097-SA

Total about £800

The HDD I am already using as my storage drive and this will be transplanted. I have three partitions and have left the first one unused for a new installation of Win7 Professional. I hope it will be 64bit (therefore 8Gb RAM) but may land up being 32 bit which is a trading software issue I will not be able to get around.

I will be transplanting my Powercolor (sic) Radeon 5850 1Gb and my current 500w PSU :eek:

. It does have dual 12v rails with 17A/16A a piece and has worked faultlessly in the 4.5 years I've had it. I may be tempted to get another 600w at a later date as I may initially undervolt the processor seeing as I am online about 15 hours a day.

As for budget, not looking to get the cheapest stuff out but don't feel the need to spend on things I will not need/use. DVD writer/mouse/keyboard/camera/soundcard etc coming from old machine. Most important things are reliability, power usage (sits mostly at idle after bootup) and then ability to encode/play games etc for a four year cycle

Sorry for long winded background. Now the questions.

QUESTIONS
1. Can I assume these are all Ok together?
2. Can I connect the three monitors as an extended screen using the 2 DVI connections on the 5850 and the third on the Intel's IGP?
3. If I decide to get an SSD at a later date, how difficult will it be to use this as my boot drive? Will it just simply be a case of ghosting the HDD image onto the SSD after changing come settings in the BIOS (I remember reading something about TRIM and AHCI) and setting it as the first one in boot order?

Thanks for your responses.

NB

olivier renault · 17 Nov 2011 at 10:28

For triple screen goodness, you need two DVI port and a displayport, so your monitor has to support it, or be prepare to use an active display port adapter (not sure if these will work) that will convert to DVI. YOu also have FLEX cards that can output to three DVI.

For installing on SSD, I'd recommend a full install. I never transfer installs that way so can't say if it will work or not, especially if you start messing around with BIOS options (expect BSODs).

LucidVirtu is useful for keeping the power consumption down at idle, so yeah, a Z68.

Reaper 392 · 17 Nov 2011 at 10:40

everything should be fine together.
looking at reviews the PSU will do just fine:
http://www.kitguru.net/components/p...powercolor-gaming-600w-power-supply-review/5/

i'm not sure if you will be able to use the 3rd monitor as an extended screen as you are intending to, but as olivier said you will need an active adapter for the 3rd monitor if you plan on gaming over all three screens. the cable olivier has linked will NOT work, it has to be active. here is a link to all the cables that AMD have tested:
http://support.amd.com/us/eyefinity/Pages/eyefinity-dongles.aspx

overclockers do not sell any active adapters so you will have to source one from elsewhere

i would also change the RAM to this kingston stuff: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-094-KS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517
it is the same size, the same speed but it will not interfere with any custom cooler, unlike the vengeance RAM you have, which will not fit under the majority of decent heatsinks

also, just a quick note, if you order before the 21st you will get the VAT taken off the price of the motherboard

(look in the news and deals section for more info)

Noughtboy · 17 Nov 2011 at 13:59

Reaper 392 said:
everything should be fine together.
looking at reviews the PSU will do just fine:
http://www.kitguru.net/components/p...powercolor-gaming-600w-power-supply-review/5/

That is not my PSU. Powercolor is the 5850 graphics card. Done a little research and the PSU is this:
Xpro Silent 500w Specs as follows. I could give a link as it is a Kiwi based distributor (that is Pro with Cases) but uncertain if this would still be classed as a competitor

Model: MPT5012P 500W

Intel AMD ATX 12V test passed
PS/2 size,ATX Ver 2.2

500W ATX12V power supply

Low noise and temperature control

20/24 connector, SATA connector x 2 and PCI-Express 6pin x 1 , 8pin x 1

12cm cooling fan with low noise design & high reliability

500W MAX, 230V, 50Hz, +5V/40A, +12V1/16A, +12V2/17A, -12V/0.8A, +3.3V/34A, +5 VSB/2.5A, P.G. GND.

Operating temperature: 10~50 degree Celsius; Operating humidity: up to 85%; Storage temperature: -40 ~ +70 degree Celsius; Storage humidity: up to 95%

Over-voltage protection on +5V, +12V, +3.3V, over-power protection, short circuit protection

Safety and Quality approvals:UL, CSA, FCC, CE, TUV, CB, NEMKO, BSM

i'm not sure if you will be able to use the 3rd monitor as an extended screen as you are intending to, but as olivier said you will need an active adapter for the 3rd monitor if you plan on gaming over all three screens. the cable olivier has linked will NOT work, it has to be active. here is a link to all the cables that AMD have tested:
http://support.amd.com/us/eyefinity/Pages/eyefinity-dongles.aspx

overclockers do not sell any active adapters so you will have to source one from elsewhere

I've done a brief look around the net since reading both the posts and will need to investigate this a little more then. I figured that plug 2 into GPU and 1 into iGPU because everything flows through the Intel HD3000 in i Virtu mode. Similar to the last post on this thread http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/298580-12-three-monitors-1155-igpu-discrete-wide-screen-mode

Otherwise worst case I stick with 2 monitors but move up from 1280*1024 to 1920*1080. A win either way

i would also change the RAM to this kingston stuff: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-094-KS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517
it is the same size, the same speed but it will not interfere with any custom cooler, unlike the vengeance RAM you have, which will not fit under the majority of decent heatsinks

Will take a look at this RAM. Thanks

also, just a quick note, if you order before the 21st you will get the VAT taken off the price of the motherboard (look in the news and deals section for more info)

Already seen that which swung my choice from ASUS/Gigabyte (both of which I use on current home and office setups) to the MSI.

Thanks for the feedback so far.