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Forums -> Multiple monitors -> Optimizing # of graphics on 4 monitors
Ann B.   2005-05-19 10:17
We have a desktop computer with Pentium 4 processor with Windows XP Home edition (2002 with Service Pack), 1500 MHz, 1.5GHz, 512 RAM. We have 4 monitors connected to it with NVIDIA drivers. We use the system to do day trading. We have been limited in the number of charts we can open up - between the 4 monitors we can only open up 61 charts. Will UltraMon help us to have more charts on screen? We have been told our limitation is due to Windows XP, yet I understand you can have up to 10 monitors with this operating system. We have closed all unnecessary applications. The whole purpose of going to 4 screens was to be able to have at least 80 charts available to see at one time. Can anyone help? Thanks.

Ann B.
ECarlson   2005-05-19 11:12
At first perusal, it sounds to me like a limitation of your chart display application, and not a video limitation. What happens when you try to open more than the max charts? Are you opening a new copy of the application for each chart?

- Eric, www.InvisibleRobot.com
Ann B.   2005-05-20 00:53
Thanks, Eric, for the reply. The message that comes up when trying to open the 62nd chart is that the maximum numbers of windows has been reached - Resource Error. We have been told by the trading platform people that the platform doesn't present this problem - that it is probably the limitation of the windows operating system.

Ann B.
Tantalus   2005-05-20 04:26
>>We have been told by the trading platform people that the platform doesn't present this problem - that it is probably the limitation of the windows operating system.

this sounds like a possibly roundabout answer.

when they say that "their platform" doesn't present this problem but that the limitation is with windows then it sounds like they offer their software for other operating systems besides MS windows, ie. linux, solaris, mac OS, etc. is this indeed true?

if their software is only available for windows and they say their software doesn't have a 61 window limit, then how is that determined?

lastly, i notice that your installed memory is only 512mb...which is a bit less than the norm for hardware that supports trading applications (i used to work for a number of financial services companies that had trade desks). this may or may not be significant depending on what your virtual memory settings are and your memory usage when you have that many windows open.
ECarlson   2005-05-20 09:13
As Tantalus said, you might have to move to another OS.

You could also try adding more memory, which is an inexpensive test, but if Windows is running out of resources, that is not directly related to memory, but low memory could cause resource allocation issues.

The video driver could also have an effect on resources, so you could try using different video drivers, to see if some make more effecient use of Windows resources, but the problem is more likely to be with the application itself using up the Windows resources.

Does the application allow you to open multiple charts in a single window? If so, you might want to try opening fewer Windows, and displaying more charts in each window.

It is highly likely that other people have had this same problem, so try searching Google Groups, or if the product has its own newsgroup, try there.

If you know any computer gurus, they could help you run Windows Performance Monitor (PerfMon) to track various Windows resources to narrow down the problem, but it might not help you resolve the problem.

You should also make sure you don't have lots of other stuff running in the background. Check what is running by using Windows System Information. And make sure you have no spyware running, with programs like Microsoft spyware scanner, SpyBotSD, and AdAware.

I'm sure you're already running a good virus scanner, which, of course, is set to check for updates every day, but you might want to temporarilly disable it to see if it is part of the problem, and if so, try another brand virus scanner.

- Eric, www.InvisibleRobot.com
ECarlson   2005-05-20 09:18
And, make sure to keep Windows up to date (Windows Update), and it wouldn't hurt to make sure you have the latest BIOS on your motherboard, but that is not too likely to be part of this particular issue, though I have seen stranger things.

- Eric, www.InvisibleRobot.com
Forums -> Multiple monitors -> Optimizing # of graphics on 4 monitors

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