Help with multiple monitors

Originally posted by syd697
Would it be better to buy 2 Matrox G450 Dual cards instead of 1 G200 MMS Quad? Seems to make more sense financially. Do I want to use PCI or AGP?

Thanks all.
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Here is my setup:

http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6319&perpage=6&pagenumber=3

(I have one more monitor connected now for a total of 6, but it is not pictured.)

This is connected to a computer with a Matrox G200 MMS QUAD digital, plus in the same computer, a G550 DUAL DVI. There are Universal drivers that work for both cards, so I have one driver for both - works great.

BTW, people refer to Digital Flat Panel Monitors. All flat panel LCD panels are inherantly digital - it is whether they have a DIGITAL CONNECTOR that matters - usually this will be stated as DVI-D or DVI-I (Macs have their own proprietary connectors.)

FWIW, the monitor is the most subjective thing about a computer. I love my Philips 180P's, someone else may love something else equally good. But there are some things that stay realively constant. The brighter the better in terms of candellinas Cm/d, the higher the contrast ratio the better - 350 to 1 for 18" or bigger, and 400:1 at least for the smaller ones, and the greater the dot pitch the better, no worse than .28. Finally, the responsiveness to the monitor when the image is still is always good - but scroll the image to see what it will look like with moving images - you may be surprised.

nitro
 
Originally posted by nitro



BTW, people refer to Digital Flat Panel Monitors. All flat panel LCD panels are inherantly digital - it is whether they have a DIGITAL CONNECTOR that matters - usually this will be stated as DVI-D or DVI-I (Macs have their own proprietary connectors.)

nitro
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Yes, to clarify my earlier post, we use digital monitors with DVI connectors, the difference is very noticeable than analog connectors!

Thanks Nitro for pointing that out!

FYI, just the digital connector cables for the Matrox will cost you another 60 bucks or so....no one said the good stuff was cheap!
 
Originally posted by syd697
Would it be better to buy 2 Matrox G450 Dual cards instead of 1 G200 MMS Quad? Seems to make more sense financially. Do I want to use PCI or AGP?

Thanks all.
More...

The G200 is PCI and I recommend it instead of 2 dual cards. You can get some good deals on eBay...that's where I bought mine.

I have 2 15" Samsung analog lcds connected to a G550 and 2 17.4" Planar digital lcds connected to the G200. I can't tell the difference between the digital and analog monitors, but I realize that it's not an apples to apples comparison.

IMO, I would never go back to a crt monitor. The eyestrain, heat, and size is too much to save a few bucks vs. lcds.
 
Originally posted by JWKirkland

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Thanks Nitro for pointing that out!

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JW,

Going to check out your rig in Chicago - going to visit Ed Winter this coming week.

nitro
 
Originally posted by JWKirkland
Her is a recent photo of a typical setup in San Diego.

BTW - that is our visiting star trader Martin from Philly!
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That looks like a very nice environment.

BTW, of those four monitor, are some shared with the trader in the chair next to you?

nitro
 
Originally posted by syd697
Thanks for the replies so far. It seems that the Matrox brand has some good options for me. I'd like to stick with win98 as they have cards compatible with win98. Any thoughts on the Matrox Millenium G450 series? Unfortunately there are different levels to the G450, so I still need to sift through what I actually need.

After I decide on a card and install it, is it usually smooth sailing at that point or is there more internal configuratons to do?

Thanks again everyone.
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A few have suggested that you switch to Win2000. None mentioned whether they actually used W98 in a trading system before or got started with Win2000.

I did... ran my trading sytem on W98 for 3 years. I had to defrag EVERY day, got 2-3 hangs requing reboot per week on average. Got 1-2 BSOD's per week. Once, even had to reboot and defrag 3 times in one day.

Do yourself a favor. Start from scratch with Win2000. Buy new cards if necessary (I had to, as Win2000 didn't support my W98 system cards). If you insist on running with W98, it will drive you to drink.... (considering the aggravation of trading, might not be all bad... but then, that's another story.)
 
windows 2000 was the single best upgrade i ever made to the pc .. much better memory management and almost no crashes

re multiple monitors, I have six total .. I run 2 off a Matrox G400 AGP dual head card, and 4 off of various single-output pci cards .. I chose a m/b with many slots so I could do this (tyan i think) and hand-built my system .. works great..

pretty easy to put together..
 
same experience over here gnome!!!!

I was reluctant to change over, but I am glad I did. Right now I am testing the ProXP on my laptop, not my trading computer yet, to see how it runs...

JK
 
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