What would I need to power 9 screens

[highfive]

Hi,

Currently have a solution in place that uses a bespoke server that draws a transparent overlay onto 9 screens, a connected (bridged) desktop machine then runs 9 different browser Windows on top of the overlay.

I think this is a dated solution and no longer needed so I need some help pricing up a pc system that can support 9 screens+ with minimal effort.

Looking for;

Case, Motherboard, Card, Memory, PSU, Cables needed. Basically a full build.

The only issue is that the 9 screens currently in use have VGA output. We are thinking of replacing these screens with some that may support other outputs.

One solution I have been looking at is two Eyedefinity cards bridged so I can DisplayPort > daisychain to the 9 screens. Is this an option?

Anything you can spec up is appreciated. Thanks

Note: The screens will only run browser windows not games etc.

 

[Armageus]

Is this for business use or home project, because that is going to have the biggest impact with how you go about it.

For business use I would be looking at any of the following:
AMD FirePro (e.g. pair of W600 6 screen cards - http://www.amd.com/en-us/products/graphics/workstation/firepro-display-wall/w600)
Nvidia Quadro (e.g. 8 Display Quadro NVS810 and any other Quadro NVS card - http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/nvs-graphics-card-specs-uk.html )
Matrox cards (e.g. C900 - 9 display card - http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/graphics_cards/c-series/c900/ )

with any of the above though, you will be looking at new monitors (Displayport for AMD or NVIDIA, HDMI for Matrox)


The budget solution would be to pick up some older/used professional cards (e.g. older dual or quad head Quadro NVS, or Matrox G series or MMS cards), which are available in a mixture of PCI-E 16x, PCI-E 1x and conventional PCI formats, and can directly support VGA monitors via DMS-59 to VGA Cables.


Edit:

Whilst in theory can daisy chain displayport, I've not really seen or heard much of it actually being used in practice.

Also, don't be tempted to use consumer graphics cards e.g. Radeon or Geforce for this, as even on current graphics cards, getting 3 or more Screens to run can be hit and miss if you don't use the right cables and adapters.

 

[highfive]

This is a budget business build, £1000 region for the actual machine and cables needed. The screens we have are 32inch, but maybe 4 60" monitors works out cheaper?

Thanks,

What about something like;

VisionTek 7750 Eye 6 2GB DDR5 PCI Express Graphics Card

I can then connect 9 mini displayport > vga adapters or whatever video output my monitors have and it should in theory work.