WORKSTATION Build - which RAM and Video Card

[gurvesh]

Hi Everyone,
I have built a new system for myself and am confused over what RAM and Video Card should I get to complete my build.

Here I what I have so far
An Intel i7-950 CPU
A MSI X58A-GD-65 Motherboard
I already have 2x Dell 23” LED Monitors with HDMI and DVI inputs (thinking of adding 2 more and a 4 monitor mount)
I plan to plug in the 5x2TB drives I have

I have ordered the following
H80 Corsair cooling system
Crucial 128GB M4 SSD
Corsair Professional Series Gold 1200-Watt 80 Plus PSU
Some cooler master fans and some NZXT cables for power and data
I am yet to order the RAM and Graphics card.

Casing still undecided.

This is not a gaming PC, but just a WORKSTATION and to monitor my systems. The system runs 24/7 and is used for a variety of things.
With WIN 7 Ultimate 64 Bit installed it runs the following:
A VMware vSphere Client runs 24/7
A CCTV program is running, monitoring 42 cameras almost 24/7
An instance of Paessler PRTG Network Monitor is running 24/7 monitoring our network and nodes.
torrent program , Endpoint Protection and Team Viewer running 24x7
And the other standard background programs.
I also have connected with the desktop a 8 Bay E-SATA enclosure running a RAID 50 config.

I am not planning to over Clock the CPU or the GPU, although it would be a shame not to do so.

The dilemma is which Memory and which Video Card to buy?

I have read 100’s of blog and post and have Google’d , there is so much info out there but nothing really helps paint a clear picture. Am thinking of either 12GB or 24GB Ram and 2 units of video cards with 2GB each on them and then bridge them.

I would really appreciate it if all of you can help me out by suggesting which RAM and which Video Cards to get so I don’t create a bottle neck on my system and I want to get the best performance from the parts.
Thank you in advance.
Gurvesh

[rommelrommel]

I don't really know what to suggest, I don't think that you need a lot of power in your video cards since you're not rendering or anything like that, you just need the ability to run 4 monitors, maybe the KFA GTX580 MDT x4 would be good, it can run quad monitor from a single card but not all over DVI, it has 3 mini-HDMI and one displayport that can handle 4 monitors itself. Your other option would be running two cards, and they could likely be pretty midrange.

Do those monitors have displayport inputs?

For RAM I might go 24gb just for the hell of it but if you want to save the money it's easy to add another 12gb after if the first 12 doesn't cut it.

Are you running some hardware RAID solution for all that? Depending on PCIe usage you may find it hard to do dual video cards and a RAID controller.

[gurvesh]

hi Rommel,
thanks for your reply.

................you just need the ability to run 4 monitors, maybe the KFA GTX580 MDT x4 would be good, it can run quad monitor from a single card but not all over DVI, it has 3 mini-HDMI and one displayport that can handle 4 monitors itself. Your other option would be running two cards...........

I don't mind spending on some mid to high range cards,
My monitors give better colour results using the DVI over HDMI, and a DUAL DVI output card would be nice, and getting a pair of them would be a good idea.

budget is not a problem, i don't want to buy 2 cards at 600 - 700$ each either.

Do those monitors have displayport inputs?
the monitors have all three - VGA DVI and HDMI

For RAM I might go 24gb just for the hell of it but if you want to save the money it's easy to add another 12gb after if the first 12 doesn't cut it.
I just ordered 24 GB (6x4) Kit
Corsair 24 GB Vengeance PC3-12800 1600mhz 240-pin Triple Channel DDR3 Memory Kit CMZ24GX3M6A1600C9

Are you running some hardware RAID solution for all that? Depending on PCIe usage you may find it hard to do dual video cards and a RAID controller.

i don't have a RAID card, just the standard built in in SATA ports, been thinking of getting a RAID card but maybe after the rest of the build is complete. i would like your recommendation.

thanks
G

[gurvesh]

hi Rommel
another question, if i was to upgrade this workstation to a new MB and CPU what would you reccomend. lookiing to go high end. no bar on the budget.
thanks
G

[rommelrommel]

Sandy bridge-E and x79 is defintely the way to go, the motherboards are very new and I don't know enough to pick a specific one. I don't see a need there for massive computing power so a single hexacore with HT should be more than enough. Past that you'd get into server boards and multi CPU's which is probably just money wasted.

How many drives do you have, five in the rig and then another 6 in your raid 5+0? That enclosure must have some kind of RAID controller I'm guessing?

There's no reason to go too crazy with dual cards... you could get dual GTX560ti's pretty reasonably and they wouldn't bottleneck anything, or a pair of 6950's would also be pretty reasonable. Or you could go a LOT cheaper to be honest... just feeding video is not demanding at all and really any pair of cards with dual DVI output or maybe even a older quadro card with quad dvi would be lots. Unless you gaming, rendering, or doing something demanding high end cards would just be burning money.

[MARSTG]

for video cards given the thing you don't need gaming I guess you could even get some small video cards but with dual monitor outputs, me for example I have a radeon 4550 with a DMS 59 connector, which splits in dual dvi. that is what you would need. Maybe a couple of these cards should do you job. Or simply a quad dvi output card like Ati Fire MV 2400, in general anything ATI , generation 2000 or newer (older generation does not have Win 7 proper driver support) with dual dvi, in double eventually, will do the trick, something like ebay item 220923180925. RAM is a much easier question.

[SugarJ]

You don't need gaming cards, you need a proper Quadro card with 4 monitor output.

Here's a PNY Quadro NVS which would drive 4 monitors @ 1920x1200 NVIDIA Quadro NVS 450 by PNY 512MB GDDR3 PCI-E Quad Display Port Workstation Video Card - PNY Technologies Inc - VCQ450NVS-X16-PB

[jtktam]

Originally Posted by SugarJ

You don't need gaming cards, you need a proper Quadro card with 4 monitor output.

Here's a PNY Quadro NVS which would drive 4 monitors @ 1920x1200 NVIDIA Quadro NVS 450 by PNY 512MB GDDR3 PCI-E Quad Display Port Workstation Video Card - PNY Technologies Inc - VCQ450NVS-X16-PB

a quad displayport would require either quad adapters or quad dp monitors..

wouldn't a regular ati card with dual dvi + hdmi + dp be a better option?

-joe

[gurvesh]

HI Rommel
Inside the chassis i have
1 x 160 GB WD and 4 x 2TB WD SATA drives - NO RAID
i plan to replace the 160 GB with a 128 SSD which is on its way.

Connected via E-SATA is an enclosure with 8 x 2TB drives that are on RAID 50, the unit has a built in RAID card i gather. This is just used to store backup of MKV files.
i also have a NAS - QNAP RU-809U with 7 x 2TB drives running on RAID 5 + 1 hot spare
this unit hold all the MKV Files and is used for streaming.
I almost lost the QNAP HDD data once hence I keep a backup now

you are right its probably best not to go for a very high end card, i was looking at the

MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

from Newegg @ 269.99 ++
Get 2 units and bridge them together. What do you think?

Currently using the GTX-430-2GB - every time i run the CCTV program,
The GPU usage jumps to 40% and
i7 CPU up to 32% from 8-9% and
the on board RAM up from 25% to 37%
Although the VGA RAM does not change much

Looking at the results, I don’t need the 2 GB either, but doesn’t hurt to get one as the difference between the 1 and 2 GB is hardly $40

G

[gurvesh]

hi Sugar J
is there a quadro card with more memory say 1 gb that is within budget?
G