Since I started using the other thread as a 'build thread', figured I'd move my progress to the correct forum.
At work, we had 15-20 old monitors, mostly Dell 15", just laying around. I always wanted to do something with them, and only recently did I decide what I actually wanted to do. I figured, why can't I chain these all together and make something out of them? I initially figured it would be pretty expensive as I figured I'd need a huge eyefinity setup or similar. I decided to ask on here, and a few members informed me about the Nvidia Quadro cards and others that use the DMS-59 connectors. My only other fear was that a system would conflict using video cards in parallel in a non-SLI/Crossfire setup. Well, they didn't, in Windows 7 or XP. So I decided to go through with it completely. And here we are thus far.
One of the monitors de-bezeled...they all are similar but slightly different. These I will have to use a Dremel and cut off the part where the monitor buttons hang, and move them to the rear. The other ones I will have to cut off the part where the VESA mount dock connects and two other small tabs to get them as flush as possible.
First video card, after going through 2 not fully working ones. Setup in my kitchen because why not:
Second video card. One full PCI-e and the other a 1x. I decided to however go full for the rest and depending on how they work switch the fourth one to a full as well.
Took the cards to work (one of these was the non fully working one) since I had a machine there with one full PCI-e and then a 1x slot and tested them. Wes is a coworker.
De-bezzeled the rest of the monitors at work besides the 4 I have at home.
I decided screw it, I've got nothing else to do today. Measured up and went to go get a piece of wood. 5/4 x 6 x 8' works great...except the one I got, which I didn't notice until I got home, has a crack at one end of it so I feel like that side isn't gonna be able to be used. Oh well. But I can basically cut them to 4' pieces and I can cut them in half to get two of them, now I'll need two instead of one to finish though.
I will be putting holes for the vesa mounts all the way through the wood and using a longer screw to screw where the vesa mounts are. I am then going to use a heavier bolt to bring the boards all together in a 4x4 configuration, with 16 monitors total. There will be 4 pieces of wood holding 4 monitors each, then 3 in the middle holding all the 16 together.
My crappy workspace outside in my 1 car garage..my Trans Am isn't in there right now because I've been driving it to work so I have a bit of space.
I should have all the parts below Thursday to finish this, and basically all that will be stopping me then is the mounting of them. I have all these parts to make the PC:
GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3
AMD Phenom II X2 555 BE
4gb DDR3
Corsair TX 750w
120gb OCZ SSD
4x Nvidia Quadro 440 NVS video cards (3x PCI-e 16x, 1x PCI-e 1x right now)
Crappy old case I have laying around
That is it so far! I will hopefully be getting into this by next weekend. The first step will be making sure all the monitors work together. When I get the first monitors all mounted up, the last three rows should come easily. Then it will just be bolting them together which won't be that hard. I just need to line them all up, and since I'm pretty anal that's going to be a big PITA I fear. We shall see!
At work, we had 15-20 old monitors, mostly Dell 15", just laying around. I always wanted to do something with them, and only recently did I decide what I actually wanted to do. I figured, why can't I chain these all together and make something out of them? I initially figured it would be pretty expensive as I figured I'd need a huge eyefinity setup or similar. I decided to ask on here, and a few members informed me about the Nvidia Quadro cards and others that use the DMS-59 connectors. My only other fear was that a system would conflict using video cards in parallel in a non-SLI/Crossfire setup. Well, they didn't, in Windows 7 or XP. So I decided to go through with it completely. And here we are thus far.
One of the monitors de-bezeled...they all are similar but slightly different. These I will have to use a Dremel and cut off the part where the monitor buttons hang, and move them to the rear. The other ones I will have to cut off the part where the VESA mount dock connects and two other small tabs to get them as flush as possible.
First video card, after going through 2 not fully working ones. Setup in my kitchen because why not:
Second video card. One full PCI-e and the other a 1x. I decided to however go full for the rest and depending on how they work switch the fourth one to a full as well.
Took the cards to work (one of these was the non fully working one) since I had a machine there with one full PCI-e and then a 1x slot and tested them. Wes is a coworker.
De-bezzeled the rest of the monitors at work besides the 4 I have at home.
I decided screw it, I've got nothing else to do today. Measured up and went to go get a piece of wood. 5/4 x 6 x 8' works great...except the one I got, which I didn't notice until I got home, has a crack at one end of it so I feel like that side isn't gonna be able to be used. Oh well. But I can basically cut them to 4' pieces and I can cut them in half to get two of them, now I'll need two instead of one to finish though.
I will be putting holes for the vesa mounts all the way through the wood and using a longer screw to screw where the vesa mounts are. I am then going to use a heavier bolt to bring the boards all together in a 4x4 configuration, with 16 monitors total. There will be 4 pieces of wood holding 4 monitors each, then 3 in the middle holding all the 16 together.
My crappy workspace outside in my 1 car garage..my Trans Am isn't in there right now because I've been driving it to work so I have a bit of space.
I should have all the parts below Thursday to finish this, and basically all that will be stopping me then is the mounting of them. I have all these parts to make the PC:
GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3
AMD Phenom II X2 555 BE
4gb DDR3
Corsair TX 750w
120gb OCZ SSD
4x Nvidia Quadro 440 NVS video cards (3x PCI-e 16x, 1x PCI-e 1x right now)
Crappy old case I have laying around
That is it so far! I will hopefully be getting into this by next weekend. The first step will be making sure all the monitors work together. When I get the first monitors all mounted up, the last three rows should come easily. Then it will just be bolting them together which won't be that hard. I just need to line them all up, and since I'm pretty anal that's going to be a big PITA I fear. We shall see!