Just bought 20

[Datawiz]

LED monitors.

ViewSonic VX3276-4K-MHD 32" Ultra HD 3840 x 2160 4K Resolution

3 6-port video cards are next. :datawiz:

Time to upgrade the old girl.

[Thunder22]

I like soup.

[gs568]

Imagine how many genres of porn you could play at the same time.

[Thunder22]

there's only 1 genre - hot naked chick.

unless i'm missing something.

[Datawiz]

Imagine how many genres of porn you could play at the same time.

No porn on business computer....only iPad. :rofl:

I protect my major tech assets. No nefarious browsing. :yesnod:

[Datawiz]

there's only 1 genre - hot naked chick.

unless i'm missing something.

2 hot nakid chicks?

[Vegas]

What is it that you do? None of my business of course

[Datawiz]

What is it that you do? None of my business of course

35 year programmer, 35 year data architect, now in the Salesforce ecosystem as a very high-level technical architect, and about to start a new chapter in my life in a senior management position. Think of me as the ultimate computer geek, who uses technology to maximize his productivity. I had this existing setup in 2018 when I was the number one biller in the world at IBM (1300+ consultants). At the time, I was billing 12-14 hours a day, and this setup gave me a return on investment of approximately 2.5 hours per day. I actually did a time-motion study to come up with that number. :yesnod:

I have zero problem making huge investments in the tech that makes me huge gains in income. :cert:

[Thunder22]

2 hot nakid chicks?

that's just 2x the same genre....

:dance:

[Thunder22]

What is it that you do? None of my business of course

he spends his money and then comes here to tell people about it.... try to keep up.

[Datawiz]

he spends his money and then comes here to tell people about it.... try to keep up.

somebody has to generate new content on this forum. :lol:

[snide]

LED monitors.

ViewSonic VX3276-4K-MHD 32" Ultra HD 3840 x 2160 4K Resolution

3 6-port video cards are next. :datawiz:

Time to upgrade the old girl.
https://www.thevettebarn.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=55827&d=1618962948

On LinkedIn the other day, someone that I'm linked to posted an image of their new workspace. I think the guy had 4 (!) monitors of various sizes that he was proud of. :funnier::funnier::funnier:

[simpleman68]

Damn... I've already got A.D.D.

That many screens and I'd look like one of Daryl's victims from the movie Scanners.
Scott

[ratflinger]

35 year programmer, 35 year data architect, now in the Salesforce ecosystem as a very high-level technical architect


The company (Philips) I just retired from moved to Salesforce a couple of years ago. What a POS, so I assume you didn't implement it for them. :lol:

[NotSlo]

35 year programmer, 35 year data architect, now in the Salesforce ecosystem as a very high-level technical architect, and about to start a new chapter in my life in a senior management position. Think of me as the ultimate computer geek, who uses technology to maximize his productivity. I had this existing setup in 2018 when I was the number one biller in the world at IBM (1300+ consultants). At the time, I was billing 12-14 hours a day, and this setup gave me a return on investment of approximately 2.5 hours per day. I actually did a time-motion study to come up with that number. :yesnod:

I have zero problem making huge investments in the tech that makes me huge gains in income. :cert:

My company is a customer. Good utility just frustrating dealing with account access issues but that is our issue not yours.

[Chuck A]

wow just wow
very nice/insane indeed:seasix:

[Norm]

Oh lord, I have problems with just one..........

[BayouCountry]

Looking at that photo reinforces my decision to retire from IT four years ago. I always needed two monitors, but daaammmmmn...

It was a little weird making good money playing with expensive toys, but someone has to do it.

[dvarapala]

LED monitors.

ViewSonic VX3276-4K-MHD 32" Ultra HD 3840 x 2160 4K Resolution

3 6-port video cards are next. :datawiz:



I'm curious: why many smaller monitors instead of fewer larger ones? :popcorns:

[dvarapala]

Imagine how many genres of gay porn Strats can PhotoChop into that picture.

FIXTo

[Torqaholic]

That's some world class monitoring you got there. Never used more than 4 or 5 at once myself. You do know a monitor can host more than one application at a time? :rofl:

[Datawiz]

I'm curious: why many smaller monitors instead of fewer larger ones? :popcorns:

PIXELS

Let's assume you had two 60" 4k monitors, your screen resolution would have a screen resolution of 9680 x 2160.

In contrast, my array of 18 monitors will give me a working desktop size of 23,040 x 6480.

Just because the huge monitors are bigger, they have the same resolution as each of my 32" monitors. That's a HUGE difference in total desktop size.

[DAB]

how do even keep track of what is on each screen?

[Datawiz]

how do even keep track of what is on each screen?

Everything is in the same place day after day. I have 3-4 email clients alone, and they are all in the same place. Get a family chat alert, simply turn your head and read it. No need to hunt and peck for everything. :yesnod:

[dvarapala]

PIXELS

Let's assume you had two 60" 4k monitors, your screen resolution would have a screen resolution of 9680 x 2160.

In contrast, my array of 18 monitors will give me a working desktop size of 23,040 x 6480.

Just because the huge monitors are bigger, they have the same resolution as each of my 32" monitors. That's a HUGE difference in total desktop size.

My assumption was that the larger monitors would be at least 8K (7680 × 4320). For example, a mere 3x3 array of 8K monitors would give you even MOAR pixels (23040 x 12960) than your 18 4K monitors - and probably consume less power and need fewer graphics cards.

Were 8K monitors considered? If so, why did you decide against them? :popcorns:

[the new me]

How many computers are connected to those monitors?

[Datawiz]

How many computers are connected to those monitors?

1 :yesnod:

Monitor #7 (https://www.thevettebarn.com/forums/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=7) illustrates why I'm buying 20 (2 spares). You can no longer buy the 1920x1200 monitors and when that bottom left died, I had to put a 1920x1080.

[Datawiz]

My assumption was that the larger monitors would be at least 8K (7680 × 4320). For example, a mere 3 8K monitors would give you even MOAR pixels (23040 x 12960) than your 18 4K monitors - and probably consume less power and need fewer graphics cards.

Were 8K monitors considered? If so, why did you decide against them? :popcorns:

WITH ONE HUGE PROBLEM. Video card availability and cost. The 3 I'm about to buy hold 6 monitors each, and cost just shy of $2,000 each. And the ones I'm buying are world-class engineering type workstation video card workhorses.

I also personally like this solution, because even though it's one desktop, each monitor can work as it's own, meaning when I double click on an app, it maximizes only on that screen. I definitely like that level of compartmentalization. One thing I'm very much looking forward to is the slimline bezel. On the current setup, the gap between 2 monitors due to the old wider bezels is 2+ inches. The new setup will look very much like a monitor wall that you'd see in an airport.

[the new me]

I understand buying a couple of spare monitors. I buy lots of spares. It's great when you can grab a replacement off the shelf for whatever without having to order it. I keep spare laptops. Usually I buy a spec I like new (and they're usually expensive), then when used ones become available for cheap I buy a few spares to keep things going for a bit longer. Just swap the SSD and RAM and I'm up and running again in a few minutes.

Since you only have one computer running all those monitors, I feel obliged to ask what kind of computer you're running? Is it off the shelf? Did you build it? What specs? What OS?

[dvarapala]

WITH ONE HUGE PROBLEM. Video card availability and cost.

A Baller like you should be able to find 3 scalped RTX3080s on eBay for less than the cost of one bottle of Scotch. :D

[DAB]

1 :yesnod:

Monitor #7 (https://www.thevettebarn.com/forums/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=7) illustrates why I'm buying 20 (2 spares). You can no longer buy the 1920x1280 monitors and when that bottom left died, I had to put a 1920x1080.

an OCD type would freak at your numbering order. :willy:

[Datawiz]

Since you only have one computer running all those monitors, I feel obliged to ask what kind of computer you're running? Is it off the shelf? Did you build it? What specs? What OS?

This thing is a monster (yes, I built it. Been building computers since 1986). It has 9 total internal drives with over 100 TB of internal storage. It has 3 nvidia GTX 1070 video cards with 4 ports each. The remaining 6 monitors run off of J5 Create USB to HDMI adapters. My new cards have 6 ports each, so I'll need no adapters, just the cards.

[Datawiz]

A Baller like you should be able to find 3 scalped RTX3080s on eBay for less than the cost of one bottle of Scotch. :D

Those cards only have 4 ports each. I need a total of 18 ports, and 4 cards "does" fit, but it prevents me from using a lot of cables that are necessary to the tower's overall functionality, like having working USB ports and lights (and 4 would only be 16 monitors). I MUST have 3 cards with 6 ports each.

[Thunder22]

I like cake.

(providing site content)

:leaving:

[Datawiz]

I like cake.

(providing site content)

:leaving:

:rofl::rofl::rofl:

[Datawiz]

My assumption was that the larger monitors would be at least 8K (7680 × 4320). For example, a mere 3 8K monitors would give you even MOAR pixels (23040 x 12960) than your 18 4K monitors - and probably consume less power and need fewer graphics cards.

Were 8K monitors considered? If so, why did you decide against them? :popcorns:

BTW, you "mathed" wrong. Using only 3 monitors will not expand the y-axis pixels from 4320 to 12960. ;) My setup is additive because 3 rows of 6. Yours is only additive on the x-axis. :cert:

[NotSlo]

J5 Create

[dvarapala]

This thing is a monster (yes, I built it.

Single point of failure - I'm surprised you don't have a cluster of machines each with RAID arrays. :D

[dvarapala]

BTW, you "mathed" wrong. Using only 3 monitors will not expand the y-axis pixels from 4320 to 12960. ;)

You are correct - you would need 9 8K monitors to achieve the pixel area I quoted.

But the ability to double-click and expand to only a single monitor is a big plus. :yesnod:

[Datawiz]

Single point of failure - I'm surprised you don't have a cluster of machines each with RAID arrays. :D

More machines means more heat in the office. I went from what you suggested, to what I have many years ago and it's worked out great. All of those retired machines now live on my moster as fully working VM's. I have working copies of my last 3 laptops in VMWare. :yesnod:

I routinely swap out the storage drives on a regular basis. Every time, I get bigger and bigger drives, and the fully functioning drives to be replaced go on a shelf. Capacity keeps getting larger and larger, and I don't really store much on the OS drive. I only need my programs on it, and it's imaged nightly via Acronis True Image. :yesnod:

I also use a shit ton of VM's, in particular the one I do all of my programming with. It's portable and frequently moves back and forth between the tower and the mobile workstation. If the computer fails for any reason, I'm perfectly capable of working from the laptop. :yesnod:

This is just a backup directory from 1 of the 9 drives. Clearly one drive is the OS drive, but I have a VMWare backups folder on the other 8 drives. I routinely back up my primary vm machines. In this screenshot, each copy of the highlighted backup is 500GB. :yesnod:

And yes, that 500 GB easily fits on my mobile workstation, because it has 3 hard drives all by itself. :lol:

[Datawiz]

The company (Philips) I just retired from moved to Salesforce a couple of years ago. What a POS, so I assume you didn't implement it for them. :lol:

Salesforce is only as good as the asshats who implement it. There are a LOT of non-talented people in this ecosystem building solutions for clients. Case in point the project I'm currently on, and now leaving by proxy because I gave my notice at my employer. WORST SCOPED project ever, and I thought Panasonic was bad.

[DAB]

for us primitive type, what is Salesforce? is it like Space Force, but with credit cards?

never heard of it outside your mentions.

[Datawiz]

for us primitive type, what is Salesforce? is it like Space Force, but with credit cards?

never heard of it outside your mentions.

Salesforce is the 800# gorilla in the cloud software space for extremely large clients. Mostly like Fortune 500 companies. It's expensive, but it's a platform that allows you to build custom solutions for clients, around starting points, like CRM, or Financial Services, or CPQ. There are nearly 77k certified professionals worldwide currently.

[MadInNc]

More machines means more heat in the office. I went from what you suggested, to what I have many years ago and it's worked out great. All of those retired machines now live on my moster as fully working VM's. I have working copies of my last 3 laptops in VMWare. :yesnod:

I routinely swap out the storage drives on a regular basis. Every time, I get bigger and bigger drives, and the fully functioning drives to be replaced go on a shelf. Capacity keeps getting larger and larger, and I don't really store much on the OS drive. I only need my programs on it, and it's imaged nightly via Acronis True Image. :yesnod:

I also use a shit ton of VM's, in particular the one I do all of my programming with. It's portable and frequently moves back and forth between the tower and the mobile workstation. If the computer fails for any reason, I'm perfectly capable of working from the laptop. :yesnod:

This is just a backup directory from 1 of the 9 drives. Clearly one drive is the OS drive, but I have a VMWare backups folder on the other 8 drives. I routinely back up my primary vm machines. In this screenshot, each copy of the highlighted backup is 500GB. :yesnod:

And yes, that 500 GB easily fits on my mobile workstation, because it has 3 hard drives all by itself. :lol:



I'll bet your internet connection is 1Mb/s DSL and your email is hosted by AOL:leaving:

[the new me]

More machines means more heat in the office. I went from what you suggested, to what I have many years ago and it's worked out great. All of those retired machines now live on my moster as fully working VM's. I have working copies of my last 3 laptops in VMWare. :yesnod:

I routinely swap out the storage drives on a regular basis. Every time, I get bigger and bigger drives, and the fully functioning drives to be replaced go on a shelf. Capacity keeps getting larger and larger, and I don't really store much on the OS drive. I only need my programs on it, and it's imaged nightly via Acronis True Image. :yesnod:

I also use a shit ton of VM's, in particular the one I do all of my programming with. It's portable and frequently moves back and forth between the tower and the mobile workstation. If the computer fails for any reason, I'm perfectly capable of working from the laptop. :yesnod:

This is just a backup directory from 1 of the 9 drives. Clearly one drive is the OS drive, but I have a VMWare backups folder on the other 8 drives. I routinely back up my primary vm machines. In this screenshot, each copy of the highlighted backup is 500GB. :yesnod:

And yes, that 500 GB easily fits on my mobile workstation, because it has 3 hard drives all by itself. :lol:

Thanks for all the great info.

Is your host OS Windows 10? Or Server 2019? Or?

Is each VM assigned to one monitor or more than one monitor? Are your old laptop OS's still in use as VMs or are they purely archival?

And would you mind providing more info on your mobile workstation?


Part of my own strategy in addition to having redundant physical servers is that all of the "real" servers are virtual. It's such a hassle to set up the complicated environments that I need, that my plan is to eliminate obsolescence by using VM servers. For the day when the hardware needs to be replaced, it would seem that for the foreseeable future any Windows Server OS will support Server 2019 VMs, so all I have to do when getting new hardware is load the host OS, copy the exported VMs to the new machine and voila I'm back in business.

[Datawiz]

Thanks for all the great info.

Is your host OS Windows 10? Or Server 2019? Or?

Is each VM assigned to one monitor or more than one monitor? Are your old laptop OS's still in use as VMs or are they purely archival?

And would you mind providing more info on your mobile workstation?


Part of my own strategy in addition to having redundant physical servers is that all of the "real" servers are virtual. It's such a hassle to set up the complicated environments that I need, that my plan is to eliminate obsolescence by using VM servers. For the day when the hardware needs to be replaced, it would seem that for the foreseeable future any Windows Server OS will support Server 2019 VMs, so all I have to do when getting new hardware is load the host OS, copy the exported VMs to the new machine and voila I'm back in business.

Windows 10 Pro. I have multiple Windows Server VM's on my equipment. :yesnod: I don't have to be a server to host a server. My notebook is a Xeon processor with 64GB of ERROR CORRECTING memory. My tower is a consumer processor with 128GB of NON error correcting memory. That was a mistake. In the next 12 months I'll likely gut and rebuild the tower with the latest and greatest, and likely 256GB+, all error correcting.

Already priced what I'd do, and when you factor in the 14k for the monitor/video card setup, the new investment in this box will be close to $40k for a single computer. :yesnod:

Again, this is not bragging rights. Yes, to lay people it seems so over the top, but to a true techie, and more specifically to ME, these types of investments have made my situation where I can command the amount of compensation I make. 40K on a computer is nothing compared to where I'm at now, and more importantly where I'm going in the next 15 years.

I share this crap because I get the same reaction to every single person who joins a zoom conference and sees this setup on camera. It's fascinating for the uninitiated, and makes for a great ice breaker....and interesting content for VBOT.

I'll reply about the mobile workstation more in a bit. Cocktail hour with the wife, and cooking dinner.

And yes, the old notebook clone VM's are still in use. Windows keeps moving forward, and those old programs won't run on Windows 10, but they DO run on their original operating systems, just fine on a VM. Hell, I have DOS, Linux, and a bunch of other VM's. Virtualization is the way of the future. :yesnod: Hence my gorilla in a tuxedo computer. :cert:

[DAB]

Salesforce is the 800# gorilla in the cloud software space for extremely large clients. Mostly like Fortune 500 companies. It's expensive, but it's a platform that allows you to build custom solutions for clients, around starting points, like CRM, or Financial Services, or CPQ. There are nearly 77k certified professionals worldwide currently.

:toetap:

solutions to what problems?
CRM?
CPQ?

what does it do? is this why my bill from Century Link always shows up on time in my inbox each month, and for the correct amount?

[Datawiz]

:toetap:

solutions to what problems?
CRM?
CPQ?

what does it do? is this why my bill from Century Link always shows up on time in my inbox each month, and for the correct amount?

I was told there would be no acronyms. :leaving:

[Datawiz]

:toetap:

solutions to what problems?
CRM?
CPQ?

what does it do? is this why my bill from Century Link always shows up on time in my inbox each month, and for the correct amount?

On a different platform, with the identical paradigm to Salesforce, I built an information system that runs a $30 million concrete company. It performs the very first business task, down to the very last task, and makes people obsolete. 2022, they will have been a client of mine for 30 years. ;) I perfect businesses through software. Nowadays, I perfect business through Salesforce software. Same concept, just different platform. There is no limit to what you can improve for a company on this platform.

BUT, give two different people a box of 64 crayons, and a blank piece of paper, you'll end up with vastly different pictures. Some will be masterpieces, and others will be stick figures.

[04 commemorative]

Do you control the world :confused5:

[DAB]

On a different platform, with the identical paradigm to Salesforce, I built an information system that runs a $30 million concrete company. It performs the very first business task, down to the very last task, and makes people obsolete. 2022, they will have been a client of mine for 30 years. ;) I perfect businesses through software. Nowadays, I perfect business through Salesforce software. Same concept, just different platform. There is no limit to what you can improve for a company on this platform.

BUT, give two different people a box of 64 crayons, and a blank piece of paper, you'll end up with vastly different pictures. Some will be masterpieces, and others will be stick figures.

:skep:

so basically, this is the precursor to SkyNet.

I'll be back....

[Datawiz]

I'll bet your internet connection is 1Mb/s DSL and your email is hosted by AOL:leaving:

My internet bill is $300/mo. Pro-grade with fixed IP's. :leaving:

[DAB]

i still don't understand what you do, but i'm glad you do it well and are paid well for doing it.

i'm going to raise butterflies and train them to fly in formation and spell out words. i'm patient..... :dance:

[DAB]

on a related note, don't spend all day at the office/computer working for money

https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/man-says-heart-attack-was-wake-up-call-in-viral-linkedin-post

[Datawiz]

Thanks for all the great info.

Is your host OS Windows 10? Or Server 2019? Or?

Is each VM assigned to one monitor or more than one monitor? Are your old laptop OS's still in use as VMs or are they purely archival?

And would you mind providing more info on your mobile workstation?


Part of my own strategy in addition to having redundant physical servers is that all of the "real" servers are virtual. It's such a hassle to set up the complicated environments that I need, that my plan is to eliminate obsolescence by using VM servers. For the day when the hardware needs to be replaced, it would seem that for the foreseeable future any Windows Server OS will support Server 2019 VMs, so all I have to do when getting new hardware is load the host OS, copy the exported VMs to the new machine and voila I'm back in business.

OK, I have time to answer each question individually, even though I've answered a few in prior responses.


Yes, the host is Windows 10 Pro on an 8 physical (16 virtual) core Intel chip. Tower is already over 4 years old and still is a beast.
Yes, when I run more than one VM, each gets its own monitor, and in some cases, I assign more than 1 monitor to a single VM. My programming language VM will oftentimes take 6 contiguous screens. Inside of that VM, I'll be running SQL Server managment Studio, Visual Studio, Google Postman, MuleSoft developer studio, Salesforce, Delphi, and Excel, all at the same time, hence the need to spread out.
I also remote desktop my laptop computer and a client's server most days, and each of those get a separate screen.
The mobile workstation is a Dell Precision Mobile Workstation, an M7720. The last one they sold with interchangeable batteries. I have 3 batteries and can go over 8 hours without charge. I bought it about 18 months ago, it has a 5 year bumper-to-bumper warranty, next day onsite warranty. As stated, it's the fastest Xeon processor they sold at the time, 64 GB of the fastest error correcting ram they sold then, the most powerful video card, 4k display, and 3 hard drives. Drives 1 and 2 are the highest class M.2 chip drives, both 1 TB, and the 3rd drive is a 2 TB SATA drive. I will be upgrading that drive soon for more capacity. Out of the box, this machine was VR ready. It's a beast.
As for your environment, the best thing in the world about VM's is the ability to snapshot them at different points in time, hence my robust backup schedule. They are portable, and if a physical machine fails, you can move vm's around and use a different host. Like I said, I can host any server operating system on my Windows 10 machine. The days of physical machines are long gone.


And DAB, yes, I understand not a single word of the above makes any sense to you, but that's OK. It went over the heads of a large majority of the people here, but if a techie wants to talk shop, I don't mind sharing the gory details. :lol:

[Datawiz]

on a related note, don't spend all day at the office/computer working for money

https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/man-says-heart-attack-was-wake-up-call-in-viral-linkedin-post

I would die if I didn't work. My brain doesn't know what to do with down time. Creating, inventing, and working at light speed is all my brain knows. You've heard the stories of people who die shortly after they retire. I don't want to be that guy. GWiz is the same person. She cannot not be going all of the time. It's in her DNA.

Having these qualities is what it is, but being able to enjoy the financial spoils that come with being this person, is not a bad deal either. There are worse problems to have.

[dvarapala]

I would die if I didn't work. My brain doesn't know what to do with down time.

Hobbies? :shrug:

[Datawiz]

Hobbies? :shrug:

Cars, cars, and more cars. Racing, racing, and more racing. 2021 C8 here in about 6 weeks. New 700 HP engine for the '08Z here for fall installation. (too hot to do now that we are entering summer).

I'm the epitome of work hard, play hard. :yesnod:

But, also being the wiser, older me, my level of play (and spending on computers) is tempered. Yes, spending $14k on monitors and video cards is still tempered. ;) Cash, Cash, Cash and savings is #1 (https://www.thevettebarn.com/forums/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=1) in my household now. While I would never retire, I wish to ensure that my cash, via passive income, gives me the ability to wake up one morning and say "I'm gonna sleep all day today." I'm in that mode where everything is about establishing that financial independence.

Then I can choose what to create or invent, and whether to get paid for said inventions, or to give it away just to keep myself busy. I will go to my grave creating something new.

[snide]

You are correct - you would need 9 8K monitors to achieve the pixel area I quoted.

But the ability to double-click and expand to only a single monitor is a big plus. :yesnod:

I NEVER run any application full screen, unless it is a video. And it pisses me off when a help desk wanker gets on my computer, grabs an open application, maximizes it, then closes it. :cuss::cuss::cuss:

Don't know how many times these wankers have maximized my open Explorer window, closed it, then selected "My Computer" to find something. Idiots.

[snide]

Do you control the world :confused5:

No, but that monster computer set up is in his mom's basement. :yesnod:

[snide]

OK, I have time to answer each question individually, even though I've answered a few in prior responses.


Yes, the host is Windows 10 Pro on an 8 physical (16 virtual) core Intel chip. Tower is already over 4 years old and still is a beast.
Yes, when I run more than one VM, each gets its own monitor, and in some cases, I assign more than 1 monitor to a single VM. My programming language VM will oftentimes take 6 contiguous screens. Inside of that VM, I'll be running SQL Server managment Studio, Visual Studio, Google Postman, MuleSoft developer studio, Salesforce, Delphi, and Excel, all at the same time, hence the need to spread out.
I also remote desktop my laptop computer and a client's server most days, and each of those get a separate screen.
The mobile workstation is a Dell Precision Mobile Workstation, an M7720. The last one they sold with interchangeable batteries. I have 3 batteries and can go over 8 hours without charge. I bought it about 18 months ago, it has a 5 year bumper-to-bumper warranty, next day onsite warranty. As stated, it's the fastest Xeon processor they sold at the time, 64 GB of the fastest error correcting ram they sold then, the most powerful video card, 4k display, and 3 hard drives. Drives 1 and 2 are the highest class M.2 chip drives, both 1 TB, and the 3rd drive is a 2 TB SATA drive. I will be upgrading that drive soon for more capacity. Out of the box, this machine was VR ready. It's a beast.
As for your environment, the best thing in the world about VM's is the ability to snapshot them at different points in time, hence my robust backup schedule. They are portable, and if a physical machine fails, you can move vm's around and use a different host. Like I said, I can host any server operating system on my Windows 10 machine. The days of physical machines are long gone.


And DAB, yes, I understand not a single word of the above makes any sense to you, but that's OK. It went over the heads of a large majority of the people here, but if a techie wants to talk shop, I don't mind sharing the gory details. :lol:

To translate to DAB-speak, you take a chunk of wood and remove everything that is not bowl. :thumbs::thumbs:

:cheers:

[cptlo306]

OK, I have time to answer each question individually, even though I've answered a few in prior responses.


Yes, the host is Windows 10 Pro on an 8 physical (16 virtual) core Intel chip. Tower is already over 4 years old and still is a beast.
Yes, when I run more than one VM, each gets its own monitor, and in some cases, I assign more than 1 monitor to a single VM. My programming language VM will oftentimes take 6 contiguous screens. Inside of that VM, I'll be running SQL Server managment Studio, Visual Studio, Google Postman, MuleSoft developer studio, Salesforce, Delphi, and Excel, all at the same time, hence the need to spread out.
I also remote desktop my laptop computer and a client's server most days, and each of those get a separate screen.
The mobile workstation is a Dell Precision Mobile Workstation, an M7720. The last one they sold with interchangeable batteries. I have 3 batteries and can go over 8 hours without charge. I bought it about 18 months ago, it has a 5 year bumper-to-bumper warranty, next day onsite warranty. As stated, it's the fastest Xeon processor they sold at the time, 64 GB of the fastest error correcting ram they sold then, the most powerful video card, 4k display, and 3 hard drives. Drives 1 and 2 are the highest class M.2 chip drives, both 1 TB, and the 3rd drive is a 2 TB SATA drive. I will be upgrading that drive soon for more capacity. Out of the box, this machine was VR ready. It's a beast.
As for your environment, the best thing in the world about VM's is the ability to snapshot them at different points in time, hence my robust backup schedule. They are portable, and if a physical machine fails, you can move vm's around and use a different host. Like I said, I can host any server operating system on my Windows 10 machine. The days of physical machines are long gone.


And DAB, yes, I understand not a single word of the above makes any sense to you, but that's OK. It went over the heads of a large majority of the people here, but if a techie wants to talk shop, I don't mind sharing the gory details. :lol:


Nice setup!

[the new me]

OK, I have time to answer each question individually, even though I've answered a few in prior responses.


Yes, the host is Windows 10 Pro on an 8 physical (16 virtual) core Intel chip. Tower is already over 4 years old and still is a beast.
Yes, when I run more than one VM, each gets its own monitor, and in some cases, I assign more than 1 monitor to a single VM. My programming language VM will oftentimes take 6 contiguous screens. Inside of that VM, I'll be running SQL Server managment Studio, Visual Studio, Google Postman, MuleSoft developer studio, Salesforce, Delphi, and Excel, all at the same time, hence the need to spread out.
I also remote desktop my laptop computer and a client's server most days, and each of those get a separate screen.
The mobile workstation is a Dell Precision Mobile Workstation, an M7720. The last one they sold with interchangeable batteries. I have 3 batteries and can go over 8 hours without charge. I bought it about 18 months ago, it has a 5 year bumper-to-bumper warranty, next day onsite warranty. As stated, it's the fastest Xeon processor they sold at the time, 64 GB of the fastest error correcting ram they sold then, the most powerful video card, 4k display, and 3 hard drives. Drives 1 and 2 are the highest class M.2 chip drives, both 1 TB, and the 3rd drive is a 2 TB SATA drive. I will be upgrading that drive soon for more capacity. Out of the box, this machine was VR ready. It's a beast.
As for your environment, the best thing in the world about VM's is the ability to snapshot them at different points in time, hence my robust backup schedule. They are portable, and if a physical machine fails, you can move vm's around and use a different host. Like I said, I can host any server operating system on my Windows 10 machine. The days of physical machines are long gone.


And DAB, yes, I understand not a single word of the above makes any sense to you, but that's OK. It went over the heads of a large majority of the people here, but if a techie wants to talk shop, I don't mind sharing the gory details. :lol:

Thanks for taking the time to provide that detail. A lot of food for thought. I definitely get what you're doing. I'm a little torn about whether I would follow your exact strategy, but I appreciate it and could consider it. Normally, I'm using many machines remotely at a time, rather than one monster machine like you have. I like the "only have to turn my head" way you're using the monitors. I'm not particularly unhappy with my largish single-monitor strategy, but you've made a good case for multiple/many monitors.

Are your monitors displaying objects on a single desktop? Or are you displaying multiple virtual desktops?

Re your tower being 4 years old and going strong: Yes, though I don't tend to buy cutting edge, I buy performance that's just before the price spikes sharply, where you get very little extra performance for the very much more money it costs. That strategy typically keeps my machines useful for quite a while before I have to consider more modern equipment. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Do you really like Windows 10 Pro? Its constant-update hassles kind of drive me nuts. That's why I'm starting to contemplate going to Server 2019 as the host/hypervisor OS everywhere and only running W10Pro as a VM for when I have to have W10 at all. Server 2019 seems much more stable. Is there a reason you prefer W10Pro as the host OS, rather than, for instance, Server 2019? Have you conquered the constant-update issue? I've messed with all the settings but it's still more annoying than I can stand. Tried blocking it at Windows firewall and at the router, but they seem to use a lot of IPs and ports and they seem to shift those around.

Certainly W10Pro's ability to act as hypervisor is great. But for me it's the only thing I like about it. Why am I wrong?

I wasn't aware of the class of laptop you're using. I tend not to stay at the cutting edge of equipment so don't usually pay attention to that stuff, but now that you've pointed it out, it's interesting. A little big and heavy for my usual portability needs, but maybe I'll rethink that.

Am I overlooking anything about your equipment and related strategies that I should ask you about?

[dvarapala]

I NEVER run any application full screen, unless it is a video.

I have 2 monitors. My main one is a 43" 4K, and my secondary is a 24" 1920x1280. I generally run my video surveillance app full screen on the secondary. On the primary I run certain apps like Adobe Premiere in full screen, but the majority are run in windows.

And it pisses me off when a help desk wanker gets on my computer, grabs an open application, maximizes it, then closes it. :cuss::cuss::cuss: Don't know how many times these wankers have maximized my open Explorer window, closed it, then selected "My Computer" to find something. Idiots.

That one's easy to solve: don't let wankers use your PC. :D

[snide]

Do you really like Windows 10 Pro? Its constant-update hassles kind of drive me nuts. That's why I'm starting to contemplate going to Server 2019 as the host/hypervisor OS everywhere and only running W10Pro as a VM for when I have to have W10 at all. Server 2019 seems much more stable. Is there a reason you prefer W10Pro as the host OS, rather than, for instance, Server 2019? Have you conquered the constant-update issue? I've messed with all the settings but it's still more annoying than I can stand. Tried blocking it at Windows firewall and at the router, but they seem to use a lot of IPs and ports and they seem to shift those around.


What I'm hearing you say is that Win10Pro is just one big, ugly virus. :shrug:

[Ronins2ndCuzzin]

35 year programmer, 35 year data architect, now in the Salesforce ecosystem as a very high-level technical architect, and about to start a new chapter in my life in a senior management position. Think of me as the ultimate computer geek, who uses technology to maximize his productivity. I had this existing setup in 2018 when I was the number one biller in the world at IBM (1300+ consultants). At the time, I was billing 12-14 hours a day, and this setup gave me a return on investment of approximately 2.5 hours per day. I actually did a time-motion study to come up with that number. :yesnod:

I have zero problem making huge investments in the tech that makes me huge gains in income. :cert:

Salesforce stuff...not a fan. I despise passive collection. But hey...you do you boo-boo.

[the new me]

What I'm hearing you say is that Win10Pro is just one big, ugly virus. :shrug:

That's a fair-to-excellent interpretation.

It might also be good to think of it as spyware that can surf the internet and do file management.

[ratflinger]

He just develops it, what the clients do with it is their business

[ratflinger]

That's a fair-to-excellent interpretation.

It might also be good to think of it as spyware that can surf the internet and do file management.




Oh just shut up and go down and get your MS virus update shot (aka covid) :lol:

[Burro (He/Haw)]

I NEVER run any application full screen,
Really? I'm just the opposite. I've only two monitors but whatever it is I have open is full screen.

[snide]

Really? I'm just the opposite. I've only two monitors but whatever it is I have open is full screen.

Nope, can't do it. I've got several applications open at any given time, and they're all somewhat tiled. A simple click or Command+Tab to cycle through to switch applications. Works for me. :shrug:

[Aerovette]

Three monitors in my office.

One for Netsuite
One for email
One for Vettebarn

:D

[the new me]

Really? I'm just the opposite. I've only two monitors but whatever it is I have open is full screen.

I like full-screen, too, unless the screen is too large, which is often the case with my office screen. I only tile stuff when I need to see multiple things at once. But dataviz' solution seems pretty good, even if I doubt I need 18 screens. I don't doubt that he needs them, though.

[snide]

I like full-screen, too, unless the screen is too large, which is often the case with my office screen. I only tile stuff when I need to see multiple things at once. But dataviz' solution seems pretty good, even if I doubt I need 18 screens. I don't doubt that he needs them, though.

My desktop consists of a MacBookPro with a 15" 4k screen. I have a 27" 4K monitor attached, which is my main monitor. Do I need 18 screens? Of course not. Would I like another 27" screen? Yes, but I would need additional hardware for my Altwork Station (https://altwork.com/). Right now, that is a want, not a need.

:cheers:

[Datawiz]

Small setback in the video card department. In the industry, getting video cards is not easy. The 3 engineering class monsters that I plan on buying at $2k each are not able to be sourced.

I have one (non powerful 6-port card) identical to the two that GWiz has in her tower, currently running 10 monitors (of possible) 12, so I just bought 2 more ($1,200), giving me 3, to achieve the 18 monitors. These cards are not powerful, but will render 18 monitors useful. The 20 new monitors will be here Saturday. :yesnod: I will be retiring these cards when I get the ones I need. Sucks to throw away that money, but it is what it is.

[Knooger]

No way I can fap enough to justify that bad boy.

[Datawiz]

No way I can fap enough to justify that bad boy.

That is the most ultimate compliment that could be given to me for this rig. :yesnod::lol:

[the new me]

My desktop consists of a MacBookPro with a 15" 4k screen. I have a 27" 4K monitor attached, which is my main monitor. Do I need 18 screens? Of course not. Would I like another 27" screen? Yes, but I would need additional hardware for my Altwork Station (https://altwork.com/). Right now, that is a want, not a need.

:cheers:

I wish they had that Altwork Station at my dentist's office. I could keep working while getting my teeth cleaned.

[snide]

I wish they had that Altwork Station at my dentist's office. I could keep working while getting my teeth cleaned.

Request it next time you're there.

[Grey Ghost]

I started in IT around '86. Gave it up 20 yrs., ago.

How do you power all those things?

I guess it's like a mechanic with a giant toolbox of drawers. A drawer for each and everything vs dumping all the tools into one tool box.

[Datawiz]

:dance:

[snide]

:dance:

Looks like you're issing one. :shrug:

[Datawiz]

Looks like you're issing one. :shrug:

Count again. You can't math. ;P

[JRD77VET]

Count again. You can't math. ;P

I see 19, you suck taking pictures :D

:leaving:

[dvarapala]

I see 19, you suck taking pictures :D

:leaving:

I think I see a sliver of the 20th hiding behind that largest stack.

[JRD77VET]

I see 19, you suck taking pictures :D

:leaving:

I think I see a sliver of the 20th hiding behind that largest stack.

I see 19, you suck taking pictures :D

:leaving:

:iagree:

[SnikPlosskin]

I’d like to get four 23” monitors for my Mac Pro tower. I have two Apple cinema monitors now. My graphics card has two outputs (hdmi, mini dv) do I need another card?

Also what mount for four?

I’m tired of absolute chaos with so many windows open. It is literally exhausting.

[snide]

I’d like to get four 23” monitors for my Mac Pro tower. I have two Apple cinema monitors now. My graphics card has two outputs (hdmi, mini dv) do I need another card?

Also what mount for four?

I’m tired of absolute chaos with so many windows open. It is literally exhausting.

If you want four displays, you'll need 4 video outputs. If your card has 2 outputs, you'll need another card.

https://www.amazon.com/ECHOGEAR-Triple-Monitor-Mount-Screens/dp/B079NNC2YQ/

[SnikPlosskin]

If you want four displays, you'll need 4 video outputs. If your card has 2 outputs, you'll need another card.

https://www.amazon.com/ECHOGEAR-Triple-Monitor-Mount-Screens/dp/B079NNC2YQ/

I have another Mac Pro tower with a big card in it. I need to see if I can fit two cards in there. I have some interface cards for external RAID taking up slots. I might move the storage to one machine, then install two cards. I’m going to find an old Apple cinema monitor to match my other ones (that are going on 20 years old and work great.)

[Datawiz]

God these monitors are AWESOME!!! I won't get to enjoy their full benefit until I tear the office apart and put the new video cards in, but I have 4 in place on the first row of monitors so far and I was able to experience the 4k full resolution. Perfect size, and perfect readability. Brightness and contrast are very strong. :yesnod:

For now I'm going to be running a sub-optimal resolution on this row, otherwise it totally borks navigating around the desktop.

Monitors 7, 4, and 3 are the new ones, but at sub-optimal resolution. 1 is 4k and it's flipping stunning! It also illustrates how much more desktop space I get when this project is done. :yesnod:

[DAB]

God these monitors are AWESOME!!! I won't get to enjoy their full benefit until I tear the office apart and put the new video cards in, but I have 4 in place on the first row of monitors so far and I was able to experience the 4k full resolution. Perfect size, and perfect readability. Brightness and contrast are very strong. :yesnod:

For now I'm going to be running a sub-optimal resolution on this row, otherwise it totally borks navigating around the desktop.

Monitors 7, 4, and 3 are the new ones, but at sub-optimal resolution. 1 is 4k and it's flipping stunning! It also illustrates how much more desktop space I get when this project is done. :yesnod:

:toetap:

your numbering system is not in any order!!! :willy:

[Datawiz]

:toetap:

your numbering system is not in any order!!! :willy:

Thanks Microsoft. I have no control over the numbering order.

OCD much? :lol:

[JRD77VET]

Thanks Microsoft. I have no control over the numbering order.

OCD much? :lol:

It's CDO ( as they have to be in the correct order :leaving: )


I'll just leave this here ......

[snide]

:toetap:

your numbering system is not in any order!!! :willy:

Perfect example of how genius is misunderstood. :yesnod:

[snide]

Thanks Microsoft. I have no control over the numbering order.

OCD much? :lol:

Actually, you do. :yesnod:

[dvarapala]

Thanks Microsoft. I have no control over the numbering order.

Actually, you do. :yesnod:

Sure, you can drag and drop and rearrange your monitors in the control panel, but then you'd have to physically rearrange the monitors themselves to match where you'd dragged and dropped them. PITA, but I'm sure UniqueDoug would come over and do it for the OP. :D

[Datawiz]

Sure, you can drag and drop and rearrange your monitors in the control panel, but then you'd have to physically rearrange the monitors themselves to match where you'd dragged and dropped them. PITA, but I'm sure UniqueDoug would come over and do it for the OP. :D

Aware of this fact....however, given how MANY monitors I have, and the distance from the tower, and the TYPE of cables (2 HDMI, 1 display port, and 1 older style DVI per video card), the length of cable plays a huge role on that. The older cables are only so long, so I'm forced to connect to monitors proximate to the tower. Additionally, not every monitor has the same connectors. It was a huge puzzle to get all 18 working as one perfect desktop.

Moving forward to the new setup, I should be able to overcome the OCD issue, because all 18 will use the same cable style and I have a TON of really long HDMI cables. :yesnod: The video cards only support mini hdmi, but come with adapters to the regular size. All monitors support 2 hdmi, 1 mini hdmi, and 1 display port. Considering the massive investment I have in just quality hdmi cables, I'll go that route, but If I have connectivity issues, I'll just go buy 18 15 foot mini hdmi cables and call it a day. :cert: