Help me build a new Station

S

ssblack

Hi all,

Currently i have one 17" Philips LCD widescreen along with my desktop that i built a few years ago. It's still very solid, but i want to upgrade to at least 2 screens, 3 at the most depending on size.

What do i trade:

ES
YM
ER2
GOOG
FX

All are done on intraday/swing timeframes, but mostly intraday.

FX will require its own screen; I can put everything else collectively on the other.

What i'm thinking is to get 2 30" LCD widescreens for the charting and leave my Philips for all order entry. Or the other alternative is to get 3 30" LCD's and find some other use for the current screen.

The PC itself is okay now, but i need to build a new one for memory reasons:

currently is at 2.8 GHZ P4 , 512 MB, i think a 120GB hard drive. The graphics card is crap, an old ATI Radeon Pro 9000 i think... like i said, it's old and needs to be replaced. A consideration is to replace the graphics card and boost the RAM to all that my PC can handle (not sure, I'd have to crack it open and don't feel like doing that right now).

My largest concern is visibility. I was considering using a few 30" LCD TV's as monitors, but i read once or twice that they aren't good for some reason regarding the resolution??? any clarification on this is appreciated.

I don't want to build another PC this time, so i'll likely just order a Dell and boost the RAM and video card if that will suffice. I don't need anything super-extravagant, just something to get the job done with ease that will last a good 3-5 years as this setup has. Or the other alternative would just be to add memory and replace the graphics card on the current PC, along with the monitors, etc.

What suggestions do you all have? Any helpful links that I can research on my own are also appreciated.

TIA
 
Tv is bad because of low resolution, for example 37" Panasonic plasma can have 1024x720 pixel res. About tha same as your 17" monitor.

30" Dell LCD monitor can do 2560x1600, a lot more than the 37" plasma.

You need to know that driving large monitors require a good graphics card.

Single 30" Dell needs dual-link DVI card, about $500.

walter
 
walter,

Yeah i should have mentioned that cost isn't really an issue for this, since i like to do it once and do it right.

Am i running into overkill with 30" ? Would the 24" do just as well?
 
I've been doing some searching and decided to go with 2 24" Dell widescreens. They seem to have very positive reviews across the board and two of them will cost me less than one of the 30" screens. What card will I need to run these?

I also want to mount them on my wall if possible.. is it? Without being a huge pain, that is.

So the setup will be:

2 24" Dell widescreen LCD's
1 17" Philips widescreen LCD (might keep this, might not, so i want to bank on having it around)

With that in mind, what video card would be best? I don't want to skimp on the card so feel free to suggest the real "blinger" of video cards.
 
24"s are cool too, 1920x1200 pixels.

I`m using 24" Dell with decent Quadro FX card, looking to add second screen soon (with even better FX card)

Going with 30" can easily double your cost (for the same amount of pixels). Screens are like 2.5 price of 24"s, not to mention graphics card(s).

Then again, 3-5 years it`s a long time. I would go with decent system esp. if money was no object.

Personal pref. plays the big role here.
You need to go to the big box store and spend some time in front of the 30" screen to see how it feels, how far you need to sit, etc. Also check out 24"s, these screens are in every store now.
_________________________

EDIT.
I see you want the Dell 24". I bought one long time ago for $850 by calling the small biz. dept. Check out the web. I think the`re going for a little over $700 now.

The card needs to support 1920x1200 DVI. (DVI means digital connection, superior to analog, only way to go)

I will refrain from rec. a specific card. The thing is that (supposedly) there is some technical trick that regular (single link) DVI cards are using to get 1920x1200 resolution. Cause technically single link DVI can go only up to 1600x1200. Weird stuff I know.


I did some search and went with a well known card family. It was 1600x1200 DVI card but in specs said it somehow supports 1920x1200 digital. I`m also into CAD/CAM graphic type stuff, so $500-1000 card is a normal thing here.

For regular user it might be an overkill. These type cards are for graphic industry, 3d stuff, etc.

Just make sure you buy current, well known model, with some track record and good reviews on the Web. Stay away from the cheap stuff, buy quality.

Make sure it has two (digital) DVI outputs for 2 monitors and supports at least 1920x1200 for each monitor. That needs to be written on the box, otherwise you never know...


Hope it helps
 
Any nvidia 7800 with dual dvi should be able to handle 2 24" monitors without any problems. most of these cards run for low 200's to $300. If you want cheaper cards than that try the nvidea 6800 series as some of them come with dual dvi's which can handle the high resolution
 
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