Matrox or SLI/CrossFire?

N

notouch

The cheaper and better option for people with a SLI or CrossFire compatible motherboard wanting to run more than 2 monitors seems to be to fit two NVIDIA or ATI graphics cards. Matrox seems a total rip-off in comparison.
 
What? Are you NUTS?

You're declaring which is better... "bean salad" or "a basket of puppies".

Matrox is a WORKSTATION card... suitable for business, trading, etc.... high quality 2D display, comparatively low cost, no heat, no noise, no cheesy fan issues.

SLI is for gaming.
 
I still can't understand what the Matrox hype is all about here on ET. It's overrated if you ask me from my experience with having four monitors going on two nvidia cards. matrox costs too much in comparison... for what benefit?
 
Matrox can't do anything that SLI can't do. So what if it's "for business"? That just means it's overpriced and can't run the latest games. The "for business" thing is just a marketing scam to sell an overpriced and inferior product.
 
Quote from notouch:

Matrox can't do anything that SLI can't do. So what if it's "for business"? That just means it's overpriced and can't run the latest games. The "for business" thing is just a marketing scam to sell an overpriced and inferior product.
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Duh! Don't you get it? Workstation applications and Gaming applications are VERY different.

If you want a high quality, low cost, no noise, no heat issues video display, you go with a Matrox or Nvidia Quadro NVS (my preference).

If you're supporting a GAMING application... with all the cost, heat, noise, fan issues, you go with the latest hot video card.

They are SO FREAKIN' DIFFERENT, comparison of them is moronic.
 
brother gnome, your opinion reflects what was true 10 yrs ago.

it's a fact that use can use SLI boards for building a nice trading workstation.

notouch, you should use 2x Geforce 7600GS cards.
these are available with 2x DVI & non-active cooling (no noise) for $100 each.

you will be able to attach up to 4
24" (1920x1200) screens.

while I am at it, I say more than 4 screens are useless (except showing off)
 
Quote from gnome:

Duh! Don't you get it? Workstation applications and Gaming applications are VERY different.

If you want a high quality, low cost, no noise, no heat issues video display, you go with a Matrox or Nvidia Quadro NVS (my preference).

If you want a GAMING card... with all the cost, noise, heat, fan issues, you go with the latest hot video card.

They are SO FREAKIN' different, comparison of them is moronic.
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Well if you stop getting yourself all wound up and just think about it with a cool head you'll see that you're wrong. You can get a higher quality, lower cost, no noise, no heat issues video display with a SLI set-up. Do you really think a SLI set-up is going to have problems running 2D workstation applications?
 
Quote from local_crusher:

brother gnome, your opinion reflects what was true 10 yrs ago.

it's a fact that use can use SLI boards for building a nice trading workstation.

notouch, you should use 2x Geforce 7600GS cards.
these are available with 2x DVI & non-active cooling (no noise) for $100 each.

you will be able to attach up to 4
24" (1920x1200) screens.

while I am at it, I say more than 4 screens are useless (except showing off)
More...

Thanks. I was thinking I may as well go for two 7900 cards which are not much more expensive.
 
unfortunately, 7900 cards are not available with passive cooling.

plus, they need an extra power source

also, be aware you have to buy 2 identical cards otherwise you will be stuck.

you don't need the SLI bridge if you don't want to play games
 
Quote from local_crusher:

brother gnome, your opinion reflects what was true 10 yrs ago.

it's a fact that use can use SLI boards for building a nice trading workstation.

notouch, you should use 2x Geforce 7600GS cards.
these are available with 2x DVI & non-active cooling (no noise) for $100 each.

you will be able to attach up to 4
24" (1920x1200) screens.

while I am at it, I say more than 4 screens are useless (except showing off)
More...

You can "use" anything. Gaming cards are overkill for trading, so comparison of them to workstation cards is ridiculous... it's like claiming, "I can use my Ferrari to run to Starbucks for a latte". Of course you can, but what's the point?

Anybody can equip a computer for 4-monitor trading for $50, or so in video cards.

Workstation setups are designed to run 8+ hours per day. Who would want to deal with the high heat/noise issues of a high-powered gaming rig all day, every day?

Gaming setups can be acceptably much noisier... (1) they probably are not working for 8+ hours per day, and (2) the audio for games will drown out the computer and video card fan noise.

The comparison of workstation cards and gaming cards is no more valid than comparing a Honda Civic and a Lamborghini.
 
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