6-Monitor w/P4 motherboard - ideas?

Quote from Ken_DTU:

interesting re how to run multiple pc's off a single keyboard, easily? didn't know you could do that.. how? eg software Fn key etc switch in place w/a splitter or something?
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Ok, go here:

http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatSectionView.process?Section_Id=56

This will give you a nice array of choices and depending on your needs, desires, ego and/or pocketbook you should be able to find your needed item.

The wife is laptop wireless? Cool! I have my own laptops on a wireless setup. I also run my music server that way. The music selection is weather condition/holiday season/time of day adjusted automatically. My HO train layout is also computer controlled for its double-tracked mainline operations. Computers can be awesome assistants! :)
 
I wasn't sure if I should post this question here or if I should start a new thread. I figured I'd do it here first instead of cluttering up the forum with another post on a similar subject:

I just got a Dell Dimension P4 that I plan on adding enough video cards to power 6 LCD displays. However, I keep hearing that I need a 300 watt power supply in order to support most multi-head video cards on the market. With the AGP and PCI slots taken up by the video cards only (all other PCI slots empty), can a 250 watt power supply suffice? The machine will only be used for trading - no other purposes.

I called Dell - they don't have a power supply bigger than 250 watts. And, unfortunately, the power supply connectors are proprietary to dell so I can't just rip out the thing and replace it with a new one.

Thanks for any replies.

-eLindy

PS: The motherboard chipset is an intel 850e so, based on the contents of prior section of this thread, I may have other issues there :( Time for a custom built PC?
 
posted by Elindydotcom
can a 250 watt power supply suffice
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Elindydotcom-- I think you are going to be in deep doodoo with a 250 watt power supply. The retail machines are built by the manufacturer with the smallest power supply they can get away with without adding additional components. I build machines, and the smallest power supply I use these days is 300 watts. With what you want to do, I wouldn't consider anything less than 350 watts. (I run a 4 monitor Athlon system with a 360 watt power supply)
If you decide to get a custom machine, stay away from Intel.
You will need 3 dual head video cards, 1 AGP and 2 PCI. Matrox makes these. Or if you want to splurge, get a quad head AGP card and 1 dual head PCI.
Cheers!

Jerry
 
Hmmm...would an option be to simply fill all the PCI slots with low-end/run-of-the-mill VGA cards? Trading software doesn't require all that fancy high end gaming stuff that contributes to the power requirements of the cards. With six run-of-the-mill VGA cards plus one harddrive, one floppy drive, one cd drive and the P4 power hungry CPU/motherboard, can I get by? (I'll rip out the soundblaster stuff that Dell included - who needs it in a trading machine?)

If that is an option, can someone recommend a brand-name suitable low-end VGA card capable of 1600x1200 resolution?

If this isn't an option, I guess I'm just going to have to pack this Dell up and hope they take it back (I wonder where I put the box?)

Thanks for the input.

-eLindy
 
Quote from Ken_DTU:

subetha, thx too re other info on intel m/b, i believe that's what I have too, that intel m/b..what agp card + pci's are you running?
ken
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I've used many combinations of the following:

The AGP:
Geforce 4 Ti 4600 (dual outputs)
Radeon 8500
Radeon 7800 (dual outputs)

The PCI:
Geforce 4 MX 440
Inno3d Tnt-2 Ultras

For Tradestation, the Tnt's do really well and they are cheap.
I only have one of the Geforce 4 mx PCI cards, so the Tnt's are using 3 and 4 slots on my trading pc's.

-Sub
 
Quote from elindydotcom:

Hmmm...would an option be to simply fill all the PCI slots with low-end/run-of-the-mill VGA cards? Trading software doesn't require all that fancy high end gaming stuff that contributes to the power requirements of the cards. With six run-of-the-mill VGA cards plus one harddrive, one floppy drive, one cd drive and the P4 power hungry CPU/motherboard, can I get by? (I'll rip out the soundblaster stuff that Dell included - who needs it in a trading machine?)

If that is an option, can someone recommend a brand-name suitable low-end VGA card capable of 1600x1200 resolution?

If this isn't an option, I guess I'm just going to have to pack this Dell up and hope they take it back (I wonder where I put the box?)

Thanks for the input.

-eLindy
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Yes, low-end vga pci cards are just fine. In my old PII, ran 4 cards with 4mg ram each. No problems, no graphic "tails".

My current P4 system runs 4 cards... 1 32mg, 3X 16mg (including one video tuner to watch Hee-Haw during the day) + data + real-time charts + email + 3-4 websites... all uses only 10-20% of CPU and only about 400mg of memory. If yours is maxing out, gotta be a software thing.

About that "low-end 1600 X 1200"... don't know about that one.:D
 
What I have (BTO from comp usa):
350 watt power
Asus P4S533 mainboard (onboard NIC)
Intel P4 2.260B 533 processor/512 cache
1024 DDRAM 2100
120 GIG 7200 RPM ATA 100 Harddrive
GeForce4 TI4600 128 DDR AGP card (for 2 monitors only)
XP Pro

1 analog flat panel (working)
2 digital flat panels (only one attached/working)

Problem: How to use the second digital flat panel? Need another card??? Which one??? Suggestions appreciated...:confused:
 
Quote from Slave2MYT$:

Anyone out there running a system with 2 Matrox G200 MMS Quad boards. Would appreciate any info on motherboard, memory and/or monitor selections...

Thanks
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Here is my setup: [4th and 5th post down]
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6319&perpage=6&pagenumber=3

This system contains two G200 MMS quad and a G550 dual DVI for a total suppot of ten monitors.

Pictured is only 5, but I have added three since the picture was taken...

Also, to the original poster, this computer is a dual 2.4 Ghz Xeon computer with 2GB of RAM.

I use Supermicro for everything I do...

http://www.supermicro.com


nitro
 
hey thx guys, looks like you've all got some interesting trading platforms out there... helps to see new ideas from other traders re what types of trading rigs you've got put together..

flat panels, look great, just remember to get extended warranties since I think they don't last as long as crts (right or no?) .. usually extended warranties are a waste of $, but for things like flat panel monitors (and bigscreen tvs etc), should be ok I suppose.

hey it would be good to see some screencaps of other traders' rigs, for ideas, get some thoughts started, ideas. anyone got recent pics?

thx too, canyon re the KVM switches, I didn't even know about those...I'll get one for at least the KM part of two of the pcs ..

and thx nitro re supermicro, will take a look...



ken
 
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