Why does six monitors have to be so hard?

E

elindydotcom

Ok - so I had this image in my head of using six 1600x1200 digital monitors for my trading setup. I figured that it wouldn't be so hard to put a few video cards into a computer to power the six screens. Boy, was I wrong. Over the last few weeks, I've tried just about every combination of video cards I could lay my hands on - nothing works the way I wanted them to. I'm hoping that someone out there can suggest something else for me to try:

The Stuff I've Tried

nVidia nvs 400 - This only works in digital mode. But, the digital mode only works at 1280x1024 resolution. The analog mode doesn't work at all - nothing shows up on the screens. The card is rated for substantially higher resolutions but I couldn't get it to work even with tech support's help.

Matrox G450/G550 Combinations - With the G550 in the AGP slot, the computer would not boot at all. With two G450's, the digital output is limited to 800x600.

Multiple ATI Radeon 7500 - More than one card in the same computer is not supported. Of course, there was no way to know untill I tried.

Multiple ATI Radeon 7000 - Same story as the 7500. However, I did get two of them to work for a brief period.

I've tried various combinations of the above.

So, here's where I am - I've got a combination of one G450, one nVidia GeForce2 in the AGP slot, one ATI 7500 and one ATI 7000 cards. This works but barely - if I ever have reason to remove one of the cards, I'll have to start all over since it only works because of the order in which I installed the cards and the drivers.

This combination gives me 5 screens with 1600x1200 resolution and one screen with 800x600 (the digital output of the G450). The output from the ATI 7500 digital port is awesome - I wish there was some way I could get that quality on all the screens.

If anyone knows of a better way to get six digital 1600x1200 screens working (from one computer), please let me know.

Thanks.

-eLindy
 
i utilize mass monitor trees with predator quad cards. there was NO WAY i could get it to work on my own. i hired a consultant and 6 hours later with tech support on the line--- it worked. good luck !

surfer
 
Quote from marketsurfer:

i utilize mass monitor trees with predator quad cards. there was NO WAY i could get it to work on my own. i hired a consultant and 6 hours later with tech support on the line--- it worked. good luck !

surfer
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If you have enough peripherial slots... you could try ATI Xpert2000 Pro AGP card + 5 ATI Xpert 128 PCI cards. (I have that, but only 3 Xpert cards)... They ALL run on the same driver.
:D
 
I'm not a pro in this field - but -

I own / run and very much like ( read = 0 problems ):

APPIAN GRAPHICS ( Sales 800-727-7426 )
.... I use the Jeronimo Pro card - 4 port !

They are a bit more pricy than Matrox & Color Graphics cards -
but the Product and their Tech Support is Top Shelf !

Call em ! - can't cost more than the phone call ! ( he said ).

Good Luck !
 
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I checked out the Matrox and the Appian web sites for the recommended cards. The max resolution stated on the web sites is a little different from what their manuals said - turns out that the digital (DVI) output maxes out at 1280 x 1024. It seems to be the limit across the board for all the multi-port cards regardless of manufacturer. I'm still going to call them on Friday (Matrox is closed on Thursday since they're a Canadian company) to clarify.

Is anyone running multiple monitors off these cards above 1280x1024 resolution in digital mode?

Thanks for all the help so far.

-eLindy.
 
Quote from elindydotcom:

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I checked out the Matrox and the Appian web sites for the recommended cards. The max resolution stated on the web sites is a little different from what their manuals said - turns out that the digital (DVI) output maxes out at 1280 x 1024. It seems to be the limit across the board for all the multi-port cards regardless of manufacturer. I'm still going to call them on Friday (Matrox is closed on Thursday since they're a Canadian company) to clarify.

Is anyone running multiple monitors off these cards above 1280x1024 resolution in digital mode?

Thanks for all the help so far.

-eLindy.
More...
I run eight monitors at different resolutions with two Matrox QUAD 200 MMS and one G550 Dual DVI (supports 10 monitors, but 8 is fine for now.)

You are correct though, none of the monitors are set at a higher resolution than 1280 x 1024 because:

1) I would go blind looking at them
2) My monitors max at 1280 x 1024

nitro
 
Quote from nitro:


1) I would go blind looking at them
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LOL so true...

i get bigtime eyestrain and neck prob's if i go up to 1280x1024 or higher...

1152x1024 is the most my eyes can take...and i'm young with perfect vision...
 
Right...agree re 1280x1024 is max, should be fine.. .remember you can change the font size to compensate for higher resolutions, so you get the benefit of high-res and still get readable, larger fonts.. (right click screen/display properties/appearance/try various schemes in the drop down window like windows standard -large)

a couple of caveats, running win2k:

a) I've had better luck w/Matrox g400 AGP cards than with the G450 .. the G400 seems to work better

b) can't use ATI cards for multiple monitors (wish they'd put that on the box Before I wasted my $150 on the 7500 all-in-wonder, anyone want one cheap?)..

c) P4 motherboards w/the 850e chipset do not support multiple monitors (at least not from my trying w/2 diff m/bs)..

What Does work, is a PIII , win2K, matrox g400 agp and a handful of assorted pci video cards, eg voodoo 3dfx's, etc..


hope that helps.

and hey traders, have a great holiday season -- eggnog and bombay sapphire time here... :p and the movie 'scrooged' w/bill murray, classic ..


aloha,

ken
 
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