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Currently my employer is looking at setting up a video tower display for a trade-show. We are planning on having 4 displays stacked but separated running the same video and only showing 25% of the video in each display starting from the top and working down. The video will be a 30-45 second loop.

My question is: What are the hardware requirements for the PC (video card, processor, hard-drive, memory...etc) that will be running the content to the 4 displays? I am trying to keep this purchase under $2,000. I would prefer to buy something that is already configured to do what I need. Any insight is greatly appreciated.

I prefer a pre-built system. The video will be 1920 x 1080. The displays are 46" 1080p. The video will be produced in After Effects and will most likely be an mp4 file. Most likely running it with VLC. Hope this answers your questions.

Thank you for your help.

Adam Wykes
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user2529658
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  • To answer the question as well as possible, I need to know what resolution each of the four displays will be at, and I need to know what type of video file and video playing software will be used, if possible. If you can't answer that, just let us know and we will be as accurate as possible. – Adam Wykes Jul 20 '16 at 14:04
  • Are you looking for a pre-built system, or are you looking to put it together yourself? – Cfinley Jul 20 '16 at 14:04
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    I prefer a pre-built system. The video will be 1920 x 1080. The displays are 46" 1080p. The video will be produced in After Effects and will most likely be an mp4 file. Most likely running it with VLC.

    Hope this answers your questions. I appreciate any feedback.

     – user2529658 Jul 20 '16 at 17:55
  • I don't know the final goal of your project, but if I understood well, you have a 1920x1080 video that will be splitted (vertically) on each monitors? In that case, you'll have either black strips or a stretched video ? – comicurus Sep 19 '16 at 14:44

1 Answers1

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The fastest solution is a desktop with integrated+dedicated graphics that both support 2+ 1080p monitors, like this. That's around $440.

The other solution is to build your own, of course! A machine capable of doing what you want would look something like this:

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/gYDtgL
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/gYDtgL/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD 5350 2.05Ghz Quad-Core Processor  ($34.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: ASRock AM1B-ITX Mini ITX AM1 Motherboard  ($34.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Memory: PNY Anarchy 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($14.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 80GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($15.95 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: XFX Radeon R5 220 1GB Core Edition Video Card  ($25.99 @ Best Buy) 
Case: HEC Vigilance400 MicroATX Mini Tower Case w/400W Power Supply  ($41.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Total: $168.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-07-20 16:37 EDT-0400

Whether the ~120% savings is worth it to you is a matter of finance and ability, I suppose.

Adam Wykes
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  • I would definitely spend more on the graphics card, at least an r7 something. – cybernard Aug 02 '16 at 02:38
  • This will work just fine. Getting an R7 is overkill (though I agree, not particularly expensive overkill). As long as he sees this is a baseline, he can upgrade the idea from there. – Adam Wykes Aug 02 '16 at 02:53