6 Monitor Display System, will it Fly or Fry?

[MrMoe]

Hey guys,

I'm new to the multi-display game and somewhat of an amateur regarding PC components so I thought I'd get some help from more knowledgeable folks.

I am setting up a trading work-station, that means lots excel (although not terribly heavy), office docs, etc, as well as a bloomberg system. I don't envision myself playing games at all.

The setup is the following:

Display: 6 ASUS VS239H-P 23-Inch Full-HD LED IPS Monitor mounted on an Ergotech 3x2 stand

Graphics Card: AMD Fire Pro w600 2GB DDR5 connected to the displays via DVI cables w/ DVI-miniDisplayPort adapters

Computer: Asus CM6870-US015S w/ Windows 8

Specs (from the Manufacturer/vague):
Processor: Intel Core i7-3770 3.4GHz 64 bit Quad-Core (LGA 1155)Cache Per Processor: 8MB L3 Cache
Motherboard Chipset: Intel H77
Memory: 16GB DDR3 1600
Hard Drive: 1TB 7200RPM
Optical Drive 1: 24x DVD-RW
Graphics: NVIDIA Geforce GT 620 2GB
Ethernet: Gigabit Ethernet
Power Supply: 350W peak power

All this will be run through a Cyberpower CP1500PFCLCD 1500VA/900w Pure Sine Wave UPS.

Now the question is the following. I'm somewhat scared that the factory PSU wont be able to handle the load. I know that the FirePro w600 card uses 75w max and I'll be switching out the Nvidia card which uses ~40-45w. The thing is that AMD states that 350w of power is the minimum spec for a system with this card installed. From what I've read here and elsewhere, a 350w peak rating isnt going to be anywhere near 350W of true power. Moreover, this machine is going to be outputing to six distinct displays or a combination thereof via eyefinity technology.

Do you guys think that the stock PSU will be able to handle or should I start looking for a replacement even before the whole setup arrives? If so, does anyone know what the stock PSU is on this system or what replacement would play nicely with this system? Also, if you have any additional comments, please share!

Thank you very much in advance!!

-M

 

[Mark R]

That specification looks fine. 350W PSU is adequate for that system (with only one graphics card installed) assuming that it is of decent quality. I would expect such a system to use around 50W at idle, peaking at about 150W under max 3D load (or about 100W under max CPU load)

The UPS is also fine for your setup and displays.

 

[rsutoratosu]

Should be, i have similar 6 screen system, i used nvidia nvs420 and recently swap to firepro v4800.

the dual nvidia can drive 8 screens but they're the older generation card. I was only using a generic 450w psu

 

[rsutoratosu]

You might wanna get an ssd, are you getting open bloomberg or bloomberg anywhere?

Bloomberg sometimes runs slow.. also are you running private line or through the internet ?

 

[Dadofamunky]

I disagree with others on the power. Why cheap out on the PSU? If you're trading during the day, you need that thing to be reliable. I recommend an 80+ PSU of 500w or so, perhaps a Corsair or Silverstone. Generics are nothing but trouble.

 

[_Rick_]

If it's a good OEM 350W, it should be fine.
Power draw is well under 200W, so even the 350 will probably be wasteful, due to the low idle efficiency.

 

[MrMoe]

You might wanna get an ssd, are you getting open bloomberg or bloomberg anywhere?

Bloomberg sometimes runs slow.. also are you running private line or through the internet ?

We'll be running open bloomberg (i.e. a bloomberg terminal) through a private line. I know there might be some lag but given that the bulk of the trading will be in OTC products, not very concerned with this.

As to the ssd suggestion, is it more to reduce the power consumption (eliminate the disk based hard drive) or is it related to something else?

 

[rsutoratosu]

I'm guessing you're running multiple excels, using bloomberg api data? it just makes the pc/excel load faster. Sometimes when you reinstall bloomberg, its a good 10-15 min. Bloomberg install package in 1999 was around 40 megs, today, i think it a good 280-300megs.

When there's down time, ie broken terminal or something, they make you reinstall it, etc, better off with a fast drive. I use to run 10k on the desktops, it was fast but still not fast enough.. sometimes the traders gets bitchy and trying to rush you off.. having ssd might save a few secs.

Also not sure if you know the terminal runs updates on the 7th of every month, sometimes when you boot it up in the morning around that time, it does the update and basically you sit there and wait for it to patch.. having ssd will lower that waiting time.