Mac pro with 8 displays?

[yachtman]

I am into trading stocks and have been trying to get a multi-screen setup to watch the market. I need lots of screen real estate.... (have to have the apple chart on one). Currently, my setup is a mac G5 - 2 x 20inch displays

Here are the possibilities. Any other ideas?

My current G5 = 2 screens
My current G5 won't due it with its PCIe (few video cards have PCIe) and limited slots.

Mac Pro = 8 screens
The Mac Pro seems to provide for adding in 4 - geforce 7300's, which have 2-dvi connections, which should give me 8 screens! The cards seem "reasonable"--adding 4 cards costs an additional $450 ($150 per card) over the basic configuration.

Linux - Questionable drivers
Looked into setting up a Linux box, which seems like the second best solution.....

Windows - no thanks
I've worked hard at eliminating windows from my toolbox and all I use it for now is to access a Sling box (mac version coming shortly!).

Anyone out there looking at a multi-screen setup and/or am I missing anything?

yachtman

 

[Killyp]

You could technically run 4x30" ACD on a MacPro...

 

[furious]

i think the max screen real-estate you could get is 4 30-inch displays or 8 23-inch displays

The GeForce 7300 GT comes with one dual-link DVI and one single-link DVI port, allowing you to connect one 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Display to the dual-link DVI port and one 20-inch or 23-inch

from here

 

[gauchogolfer]

You could technically run 4x30" ACD on a MacPro...

You could actually run up to 8 30" ACDs on a MacPro, with 4 X1900s installed. Is this possible?

Edit: thanks to Chundles for the clarification on slot assignments

 

[Sun Baked]

There are a several multi-monitor vendors around ...

I keep posting one of the companies to try to explain why someone would want a 4x 7300GT Mac Pro -- but yes the Mac Pro really makes it easy for a Mac user to run these displays.

And those 3 30" units.

 

[Chundles]

i think the max screen real-estate you could get is 4 30-inch displays or 8 23-inch displays



from here

The following PCIe profile is available but would it work?

Slot 4, 8x - 7300GT: One 30" ACD and one 23" ACD.
Slot 3, 1x - Vacant, taken up by X1900 below it.
Slot 2, 8x - X1900: Two 30" Displays.
Slot 1, 8x - X1900: Two 30" Displays - slot 1 is double wide.

So, from what I can tell you can get 5x30" ACDs and one 23" ACD in a Mac Pro. Or you could load up the slots with 7300GTs and run 4x23" and 4x30". Either way that's a lot of real estate.

 

[Chundles]

You could actually run up to 8 30" ACDs on a MacPro, with 4 X1900s installed. Is this possible?

No, the X1900 is double-wide so you can't fit 4 of them in.

 

[Sun Baked]

You could actually run up to 8 30" ACDs on a MacPro, with 4 X1900s installed. Is this possible?

No the x1900 is too big a card and a second x1900 requires use of slot 2, and a reconfig of the PCIe bus to x8 x8 on slot 1 and 2 -- since slot 2 is generally a x1 slot, even though it is the 2nd slot capable of high power.

But the combined power of all slots is 300w and the x1900 is around 130w ...

2 Possible -- cutting it close.

The low power of the 7300 GT allows use in all slots including the 2 40W slots.

 

[cube]

You can run 4x30 + 4x24.

 

[KingYaba]

You could save yourself the money of buying 8 apple cinema displays and just upgrade the graphic card in your G5 and buy a screen from Zenview. They have multi-moniter displays that are better than Apple's and they are less expensive.

http://www.digitaltigers.com/multi-monitor.shtml

At least look at them.

 

[macdaddy121]

I am into trading stocks and have been trying to get a multi-screen setup to watch the market. I need lots of screen real estate.... (have to have the apple chart on one). Currently, my setup is a mac G5 - 2 x 20inch displays

yachtman

My yacht is bigger than your yacht. I don't know anyone, even my broker (who is "into" stocks for a living) that has 8 screens. He has 3. Then again, I don't give him much money so maybe the guy that you give a lot of money to has more screens. Technically you should be able to have 8 displays but in my opinion it seems excesive. Now I'm all for people being able to do what ever they want to do with there money....Maybe you could buy me a monitor. I'm a struggling college student just trying to get my architecture degree. Trying doing autocad on a 13" screen. It's hard.

 

[yachtman]

Great replies--thanks to all of you. It's a topic that I could find little written about.

Zenview does look like the best (or at least the most comprehensive multi-display vendor), but my conclusion was that they are charging a lot extra for the rack and software. For example..

has:
# 30" arena panel: 2560x1600 resolution X 1
# 20.1" panels: 1200x1600 portrait resolution X 5

For a total price of $7,500.

Buying the similar displays from Apple..
# 30" arena panel: 2560x1600 resolution = $2000 X 1
# 20.1" panels: 1200x1600 portrait resolution = $700 X 5

For a total price of $5,500.

I imagine I can find a rack mount for less than $2000. I think multidisplay support should be fine in OSX so I don't need any special software.

Conclusion: Buy Apple solution...

yachtman

 

[cube]

Dell: $3735 and better (without any coupons).

 

[Macnoviz]

Have you considered this setup ?

 

[KingYaba]

Ah the HIPerWall, but didn't they have a bizzilion quads to go with those bizzilions of acds?

 

[NYmacAttack]

Have you considered this setup ?

WOW Thats a sweet setup

 

[MustardMan]

The zenview monitors sure look sweet... but for that price, I could buy a bunch of Dell monitors and pay a welder to build me a custom rack for them...

 

[revenuee]

I am into trading stocks and have been trying to get a multi-screen setup to watch the market.

hey ... are you set up with a direct access level II system on you're mac?

i've found a good brokerage firm for direct access web based trading, but if i want all the goodies i need to run the .exe

my question is ... how have you gotten around on a mac with the windows centric systems around?

i would love to know cause i'm running out of ideas short of getting an intel mac and still running windows when doing my trades.

thanks in advance

 

[Macnoviz]

Ah the HIPerWall, but didn't they have a bizzilion quads to go with those bizzilions of acds?

25 quads to power 50 ACD and one Quad to rule them all (no, really)

something like that