You could also use team viewer as an alternative, it also allows file transfers and automated updates as well. I like it because it starts up with the pc so if there's ever a power outage I can always access it without any trouble.
But to answer your original question my computer has ~50TB in 8TB Seagate Drives that where pulled out of external cases. The tower does have a monitor just use team viewer or what ever your comfortable with to access it. You will need to plug it into a monitor to set it up first but I recommend your TV. Buying a monitor for a dedicated Burst Mining PC is a waste of money.
As for an optimal setup it depends on how powerful your processor is or if you are using a graphics card. Just make sure your drives are done scanning in less than 40 seconds and that's good enough for 96% of all blocks