Video Walls!

Greyrhubarb · 05-01-2009, 12:28 PM

Got a question for you guys!

I want to put together a fancy display for work to advertise to customers while they are already in my store. We brain stormed and decided to go with a "Video Wall" (multiple screens with one image spanning all of them).

As far as the screens go I will probably go with 4 of these. The reason is because the black border around the screen is the same thickness all the way around so when they get stacked in a 2x2 configuration it will look fine. On top of that, they are very inexpensive. If anyone has a better suggestion for monitors let me know.

To run the 4 screens there are products out there called "Video Wall Controllers" and they are typically more than $3,000. I found one product for around $900 but to run it I would need a to hook it to a computer or some kind of "Digital Signage Media Player" anyway so I decided to just build a computer that can run 4 screens.

This is where I need help. What kind of MoBo and video cards can handle 4 screens. There will be no gaming on this machine. All it will really be doing is playing whatever video we come up with.

I have seen a GPU or 2 that has 4 out-puts, would that be all I need? Or would 2x 9600's be all I need? Would they need to be SLI? What MoBo would you recommend?

One more thing that I would like (not necessary though) is the case to be as small as possible. The screens are going to be on the wall and I would the computer to be easily hidden away.

Let me know if there are some pitfall here that I did not think of. And if I come up with anything else I'll post it.

Thanks for reading.

Edit: Found this case, think it would work?

Fozzik · 05-01-2009, 12:45 PM

I know nothing about this, sadly. I know back in the day when you wanted multiple-monitor setups you went with a Matrox product (or at least that was a place to start) because they were all about supporting two or three monitors really before anyone else got into the game.

Lately (the last few years) I think most multi-monitor stuff is handled by software...I think even the typical Nvidia and ATI drivers will handle as many monitors as you can plug in. Someone else with more knowledge will have to say for sure, but I think most Nvidia and ATI video cards are only set up (hardware-wise) to handle two monitors max. I don't think SLI / Crossfire would work for that, but possibly two separate cards would work (just letting the software deal with stretching the image and working with both cards).

This is all speculation.
Here's a product that will handle four monitors (I think), but it seems kind of a high price. =\
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814106015

Greyrhubarb · 05-01-2009, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fozzik

Here's a product that will handle four monitors (I think), but it seems kind of a high price. =\
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814106015

Eesh that is expensive! Well one thing I know about this stuff is that there are many programs out there that do all the stretching of the images. (got my eye on a couple already) I guess the real question is can I just get any NVidia 9xxx and put 2 of those splitters (the splitters that come with the GPU Foz posted) on it? Or do I need 2 video cards so I have a total of 4 DVI out-puts?

Edit: That GPU you linked Foz is AGP!! lol

Fozzik · 05-01-2009, 02:16 PM

Yep...as I said Matrox was a few years ago.

Unless the video card's hardware is set up for it, you can't just plug in splitters and four monitors to one card. You could get two video cards and then you'd have enough ports...it would just be a matter of whether the software / drivers would handle the two card properly to display a single image.

Also, with two cards you are likely going to run into space / airflow issues if you want to use one of the small form factor cases. Most of those just barely fit a single video card... two cards in one of those might a splode.

I think there are a few SFF cases that are made for SLI / crossfire... and that might work. Still the software is the big question. It's possible the regular Nvidia / ATI drivers would handle it fine, I just haven't ever tried it.

Greyrhubarb · 05-01-2009, 02:52 PM

Thanks for the replies Foz!

After further research I have found that all I need is 2 vid cards and of course a MoBo that can handle 2 vid cards. Actually if I wanted I could get 6 screens using 3 vid cards!

Also I found out that that there are plenty of software programs that will do what I want. Many of them with bells and whistles like making the image not be distorted when it is bridged between the gaps in the monitors (they call it "Masking").

So now that I know that it is totally doable I need to decide on hardware. Like I said earlier I will not be doing any gaming on it so 2x 9600's should be plenty. I was thinking I would get 2 of this, or maybe even this because it is cheaper.

The case: So one of those small cases like what Shuttle makes does not seem to be an option. What about a smaller tower (forget what they are called, Micro ATX?) Any suggestions?

Other suggestions?
CPU: Could probably get away with a cheap DC right?
PSU: Would need a lot of power on the 12v rails but how much?
MoBo: Would need more than one PCIe slot, but does not need to be SLI. And if I get a smaller-ish tower I guess I would need a smaller-ish MoBo.

Anyone got any good links for me?

Fozzik · 05-01-2009, 06:34 PM

For cases, that's going to be tough. It's probably best to think carefully about the space where you want the jumbo-tron (hehe), and where a computer could fit. Then start looking for a case that will go there. Obviously, the ideal would be a way to fit a normal ATX mid-tower without it being conspicuous, because that's going to be easy to build in and upgrade.

I'll give suggestions for other parts later on this evening... have to go out for a bit. Pretty much the cheapest reasonable quality components are likely going to work great.

Greyrhubarb · 05-04-2009, 12:41 PM

I came up with a build, not sure how good it is. Would like some feedback please.

Screens x4-These are really cheap! And they have an even border on all 4 sides. Wall Mounts? I have a full fabrication shop, I'll just have one of my guys make one.

Case-This one is cheap, seems to big enough, and it has plenty of places for more fans if I feel the system is running a little hot.

PSU-I usually go a little overkill on PSUs but this might be TOO overkill, anyone have a better suggestion.

MoBo-One of the cheaper ones that I could find that has 2 PCIe slots (it actually has 3 in case I want to go with 6 screens some day)

CPU-Should have plenty of power and low cost.

GPU x2-Ok I know these are old. I was just looking for cheap. If you have a suggestion (prefer Nvidia) on something better please let me know.

RAM-Cheap, should be plenty of it.

HD-Cheap, should have more than enough space.

Optical Drive-Dime-a-Dozen.

Keyboard/Mouse-Pretty cheap. I like that the receiver/dongle is on a cord in case I need to have the system tucked far away from the screens I can just rout the receiver close to the mouse and keyboard.

Newegg.com says this will cost $1266.86 before shipping. That seams like a smoking deal considering I'm getting four 22" monitors.

Well what did I forget? Where did I completely miss the boat? I'm really unsure about my PSU and GPU choices so either a better suggestion or some re-assurance on my choices would be awesome. All suggestions/criticism is welcome!

rabb1t · 05-05-2009, 12:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greyrhubarb

All suggestions/criticism is welcome!

teh rabb1t brain thinks it's all crazy talk compared to simply getting a 46" LCD and hooking it up to a Blu-ray player.

Greyrhubarb · 05-05-2009, 01:12 AM

silly rabb1t, blue ray players are for home theaters

I want to use 4 screens to show the capabilities of "Digital Signage". Also I do not own a production company to make super high quality commercials for us. What I do have is a REALLY talented designer that can make awesome flash commercials.

Fozzik · 05-05-2009, 08:09 AM

Everything looks fine, except I think you're paying way too much for the CPU+motherboard. In this type of system, Intel doesn't really compete very well with AMD as far as price / performance. What we would call the "very low end", or general use computing category, it's hard to beat AMD right now.

Check this out -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157139

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103234

The monitors come with the standard screw holes that all monitors are equipped with - called the VESA standard. Shouldn't be hard at all to find normal wall mounts if you don't feel like making them.

I might go with a different brand power supply, like maybe this or this. Always good to have a bit of overkill on the power supply, I agree, but with two video cards I think you're in the right ballpark.

Sorry I didn't get back to the thread when I said I would. =(

Anyway, as I said, the rest of the choices look great.

mparisi2000 · 05-05-2009, 11:06 AM

You need to post some photos of this setup once you have it running.

Greyrhubarb · 05-05-2009, 11:25 AM

That CPU/Motherboard combo is a lot cheaper. I have never used AMD before so this will be a little new to me. (I typically find brands that I like and stick with them, almost everything in my house is Samsung.) But I'll take the plunge and give AMD a shot.

The PSU I was looking at was a BFG and I REALLY like the GPU's they make so I figure that PSU's would good be as well. I'm going to pick the first one you linked. Looks like I will be ordering stuff today, once I put it together I will take some pictures and figure out how to post them (never did that before either but heard it is easy.)

Thanks for all your help Foz. Make sure you check back once in a while to see if I get stuck anywhere.

Fozzik · 05-05-2009, 11:56 AM

I check every day unless something weird is going on (like hanging drywall all day Sunday).

Definitely keep us posted and take lots of pictures.

I think you'll like the AMD from a build standpoint...their cooler retention mechanism is much better than the current Intel stock coolers. The 65W power envelope is very nice, too (although that's certainly not unique to AMD). It makes for a nice quiet and cool-running system.

Most people that "make" power supplies really just put their logo and colors on power supplies made by only a few true power supply manufacturers. There are a LOT of bad power supplies out there, made with the cheapest available parts, which can not only fail, but literally take the rest of the system with them. I honestly don't know who actually makes BFG's power supplies, and it might actually be a good quality manufacturer...but without doing some research I can't be sure.

PC Power & Cooling makes their own power supplies (although they were bought out in the last year or so, some things might be changing with them), and they have always been top of the line and very well tested. Corsair gets their power supplies made by Seasonic, which is another very reputable power supply manufacturer that I would feel very comfortable with. Either one would serve you well, I believe.

Greyrhubarb · 05-08-2009, 11:34 AM

So I should know this but. I have no idea how to post pictures here. Can anyone fill me in?

Fozzik · 05-08-2009, 01:11 PM

You can upload photos on your own site or maybe even in our gallery (if you need rights to do that, let me know). Once they are hosted, you can link them in the body of your post using [..img][/img..] tags (without the dots).

Anyway, I think that's how it works...been a long time since I did that.

Greyrhubarb · 05-08-2009, 03:31 PM

So got most of my components in. Here is a picture of them. I will probably do the build over the weekend. I'll post here if I run into any problems so if any of you guru's would check from time to time that would be great.

Fozzik · 05-08-2009, 05:57 PM

testing -

Greyrhubarb · 05-13-2009, 01:12 PM

Ok so I got the computer built. Got windows on it. Loaded a bit of software. Everything was going awesome. Then I plugged a second monitor. I have no idea what I did wrong but for some reason my the darn machine though that the second monitor was analog and not digital. Nothing would show on the second screen. I could drag stuff over to the other screen but there would be nothing but blackness over there. To make things even weirder I have absolutely no idea how I fixed it. After a LOT of mouse clicking and setting tweaking and a few re-boots it just started working.

I eventually got all 4 screens hooked up and it looked awesome but I did not get any pics of it like that.

Recently we have been wrapping a lot of cars so I though: "If we can wrap a car, it should be no problem to wrap a computer!"

Little cheesy I know, will probably come up with something better for it in the future but this was more of a test.

So the next step is making a mounting bracket (we have a full fabrication shop) for the 4 screens and making some content to display on those screens. I'll get some pics of that when we get around to making it.

Edit: all the edits was me trying to figure out how to do the thumbnail thing. Finally figured it out.

Fozzik · 05-13-2009, 02:18 PM

hehe

Gratz on the build... you wouldn't appreciate it nearly as much if their weren't some kind of weirdness to fight through.

Can't wait to see the finished product. The wrap is really cool... you could probably sell "customized" cases for a decent profit if you felt like it.

Greyrhubarb · 05-13-2009, 03:15 PM

I've actually tried to sell them. I mean how cool would it be if your computer case looked like it was made out of ice?!? Or steel!?! Or Marble!?!?

Lots of people say it's a cool idea and wanted one but nobody ever ordered one. Probably shouldn't give up on the idea though.

I'll make one for you if you want Foz. Just a payback for all the help you have given me over the years. If interested just let me know what you want it to look like.