Not impressed......

Stealth Trader · Feb 13, 2006

Quote from thenewguy:

I really don't think video cards are tested in way that is useful for trading. I assume it's because windows 2D graphics is considered a "dead issue", and it's all about 3D graphics these days. Also, what type of user other than a trader is going to notice a 100ms delay twice a day? When that delay comes at a fed release (which inevitably it does) they are going to notice, but I know of no other user that is going to notice that. 3D rendering is very memory intensive, but usually a constant memory burn, which is much more easily measured and quantified. If your card operates at %20 memory usage %99 of the time, that's considered perfect for most users. For traders, it's how it performs during that %1 slowdown period that really makes the difference.

Stealth trader,

To clarify what you interpreted as me twisting facts around to suite my needs, the installation as I understand it is one monitor on an 8MB card, and three monitors on a 128MB card. If I were installing a new set up for one of our traders at our office I would absolutely go with two monitors on a 256MB card and another two on a seperate 256MB card. It has been my experience that that set up will have a performance advantage over the current set up.

Thanks,

- The New Guy

Once again, what does this have to do with the original posters issue? It's already been established that his current setup is adequate for his needs. What you believe or would do is totally irrelevant.

st

thenewguy · Feb 13, 2006

Quote from Stealth Trader:

IOW, all the engineers and techs who build and test video cards are wrong and you're right for no other reason than you can "see a difference." Thanks for clearing that up!!! And a special thanks for telling us numerous times how smart and experienced you are! I stand humbled before you.

Of course, there are those who also believe that the earth is flat too, even though all evidence proves otherwise. But hey, who am I to judge?

Now that you have educated us on how talented you are, how about explaining what you recent drivel has to do with curing the original posters question as posed.

In summary, me thinks your company is not getting their monies worth, that is, unless you are there for no other reason than the entertainment value.

I'm not sure why, but the following came to mind when I read you posts today:

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Med School

First-year students at Med School were receiving their first Anatomy class with a real dead human body. They all gathered around the surgery table with the body covered with a white sheet. The professor started the class by telling them: "In medicine, it Is necessary to have 2 important qualities as a doctor. The first is That you not be disgusted by anything involving the human body." For an example, the Professor pulled back the sheet, stuck his finger in the butt of the corpse, withdrew it and stuck his finger in his mouth." Go ahead and do the same thing," he told his students. The students freaked out, hesitated for several minutes, but eventually took turns sticking a finger in the butt of the dead body and sucking on it. When everyone had finished, the Professor looked at them and told them, "The second most important quality is observation. I stuck in my Middle finger and sucked on my Index finger. Now learn to pay attention."

-------------------

st

I really don't know how to discuss this with you. I am trying to have an open, honest discussion that could be useful to people, but you just want to attack me.

Is there a way I could write that would be less offensive to you and you could discuss my points with non-aggressive comments?

- The New Guy

thenewguy · Feb 13, 2006

Quote from Stealth Trader:

Once again, what does this have to do with the original posters issue? It's already been established that his current setup is adequate for his needs. What you believe or would do is totally irrelevant.

st

I was trying to contribute to a discussion on video cards/system performance. I believe that is what message boards and ET is all about, but unfortunately they appear to be about ego problems and personal attacks. I am not going to attack you personally, I am not going to be rude and I will keep persisting in trying to make this a useful thread for people. Sorry if I have offended you in some way.

Thanks,

- The New Guy

thenewguy · Feb 13, 2006

Quote from Stealth Trader:

IOW, all the engineers and techs who build and test video cards are wrong and you're right for no other reason than you can "see a difference." Thanks for clearing that up!!! And a special thanks for telling us numerous times how smart and experienced you are! I stand humbled before you.

Nope. I'm sure they know they know what they are doing and are very good at it. I guess what I wrote was unclear. What I meant to say was that I don't think their methods are aimed at the issues I believe traders face. I'm sorry that writing about my experiences makes you think that I am trying to convey how smart and experienced I am, with no other value. I suppose when I feel attacked without cause I tend to want to defend myself.

Of course, there are those who also believe that the earth is flat too, even though all evidence proves otherwise. But hey, who am I to judge?

In my experience, there are some things you have to take on faith, and some things that you have to test for yourself. I have not been around the world, but I believe it is not flat. I have read technical reports about products that I believe to be incorrect, or at the very least, my experiences differ. When I come to a situation where I am not sure what to believe, I prefer to test the solution myself.

Now that you have educated us on how talented you are, how about explaining what you recent drivel has to do with curing the original posters question as posed.

In summary, me thinks your company is not getting their monies worth, that is, unless you are there for no other reason than the entertainment value.

Thank you for your encouraging comments. I assure you, this work place is a very tough environment to work in, and there have been many hard times. I do what I can and I try to share information I have learned with others in this industry, with the hopes that maybe someday, somewhere it will make someone's job easier.

I'm not sure why, but the following came to mind when I read your posts today:

--------------

Med School

First-year students at Med School were receiving their first Anatomy class with a real dead human body. They all gathered around the surgery table with the body covered with a white sheet. The professor started the class by telling them: "In medicine, it Is necessary to have 2 important qualities as a doctor. The first is That you not be disgusted by anything involving the human body." For an example, the Professor pulled back the sheet, stuck his finger in the butt of the corpse, withdrew it and stuck his finger in his mouth." Go ahead and do the same thing," he told his students. The students freaked out, hesitated for several minutes, but eventually took turns sticking a finger in the butt of the dead body and sucking on it. When everyone had finished, the Professor looked at them and told them, "The second most important quality is observation. I stuck in my Middle finger and sucked on my Index finger. Now learn to pay attention."

-------------------

st

Thank you for the amusing story. I'm not sure how it applies, however, but thanks for sharing.

Just out of curiosity, what do you do for a living?

Thanks,

- The New Guy

winter · Mar 22, 2006

Here's a new video card for anyone that wants a lot of video RAM:

ATI Introduces FireGLâ¢ V7350, the Workstation Industry's First One Gigabyte Graphics Accelerator

http://ir.ati.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=105421&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=833362&highlight=

March 20, 2006-- ATI Technologies Inc. today announced the industry's first one gigabyte (1GB) workstation graphics accelerator, the ATI FireGLâ¢ V7350, and also a 512 megabyte configuration, the FireGLâ¢ V7300. Featuring an extremely powerful ultra-threaded parallel processing GPU, and ATI's industry leading Avivoâ¢ video and display technology, these new ultra high-end graphics cards further extend ATI's workstation graphics line, delivering better performance, more advanced features and higher image quality.

cmaxb · Mar 22, 2006

Video card slowness would manifest as a visible delay in moving windows around onscreen. E.g. you drag a window, or maximize a minimized window. If there is a delay with the CPU not being taxed, then you could use a video card upgrade. But honestly I only see this when the video ram is less than the bit depth * resolution. E.g. 1600x1200x32bit = minimum 8 MB required.

winter · Mar 22, 2006

Quote from cmaxb:

Video card slowness would manifest as a visible delay in moving windows around onscreen. E.g. you drag a window, or maximize a minimized window. If there is a delay with the CPU not being taxed, then you could use a video card upgrade. But honestly I only see this when the video ram is less than the bit depth * resolution. E.g. 1600x1200x32bit = minimum 8 MB required.

I agree and stated the same figure (8MB) was just fine for this application earlier in this thread.

But since there were some who felt that 128MB video memory was not enough (!) for a trading setup and use 512MB video cards in their PC's I thought I would provide a new avenue for them to waste their money even more.

Stealth Trader · Mar 22, 2006

Quote from winter:

I agree and stated the same figure (8MB) was just fine for this application earlier in this thread.

But since there were some who felt that 128MB video memory was not enough (!) for a trading setup and use 512MB video cards in their PC's I thought I would provide a new avenue for them to waste their money even more.

LOL!!! Your're bad!!!

I'm always amused when watching these clowns at the store. They'll hone in on the shiniest box on the self and then instantly remark "cool" before they even read the specs. Mental masturbation at its finest!

st

EliteInterest · Mar 22, 2006

Most video card manufacturers are going to populate their higher end (read: faster) cards with more memory. Maybe you don't need the extra memory for financial applications, but the faster GPU will provide increased 2D performance. You can get a nice low-to-mid-range multi-head workstation-class video card with ample memory for such a small amount of money these days that the issue is really irrelevant.

winter · Mar 22, 2006

Quote from EliteInterest:

Most video card manufacturers are going to populate their higher end (read: faster) cards with more memory. Maybe you don't need the extra memory for financial applications, but the faster GPU will provide increased 2D performance. You can get a nice low-to-mid-range multi-head workstation-class video card with ample memory for such a small amount of money these days that the issue is really irrelevant.

Even the lowest end video card should have all the cpu horsepower required to graph 2D charts from eSignal. All of the focus these days is on 3D performance, doing 2D graphics takes minimal cpu.

So while I agree with your overall premise (even reasonable low to mid-range cards have gobs of memory these days so memory is a non-issue) when people like the original poster of this thread says they have a problem with slowness and people start jumping in and suggest that his video card memory is the source of the problem then I think it is necessary to stop him from wasting his money upgrading his 128MB video card to a 512MB model because I seriously doubt that was ever the source of the slowness.