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Brenton 2007-06-02 19:14
Hi all,
I’m about to buy a new computer system, including increasing the number of screens for more screen space for sharetrading, and would love your advice.
Currently I use 4 monitors made up of 2 x 21” CRT’s run from my desktop computer and a third 21” CRT run from my 17” laptop. It has been a pretty simple setup and has worked well, but I’m now looking to run 6 monitors from my desktop computer (as well as keep using my laptop). I will keep the 3 x 21” CRT’s and will buy 3 x Dell 22” E228WFP WideScreen LCD’s to run at 1680 x 1050 at 60 Hz (http://www1.ap.dell.com/content/products/compare.aspx/20lcd?c=au&cs=audhs1&l=en&s=dhs) all from the desktop computer.
I’d appreciate some feedback and suggestions on:
1. Graphics Cards - from what I’ve read in the forums my most cost effective solution is to use 3 graphics cards, each with dual DVI, so as to run 6 monitors. I don’t do any gaming so don’t have a requirement for high-end cards, but some of the sharetrading software if fairly memory intensive. I also need to span at least 2 monitors for some trading programs, but 3 or 4 monitors would be great if you could drag the application. What cards would be best suited and in what combination? My current graphics cards are Nvidia, so that’s just the software I’m used to, but I don’t have much of an idea of (for example only) how a Geforce 6600 128MB PCI-E would perform differently from a Geforce 7300 GT 256MB.
2. MOBO – What board would best for a number of graphics cards and how much does the board depend on which graphics cards you want to use? ie. compatibilitiy issues. Also I don’t understand much about the types of PCIe cards (ie. x16, x8, x1 etc.) if someone was able to simplify it.
3. Processor and RAM – I was thinking 4GB RAM – would this be plenty to run 5 lots of trading software simultaneously which are all taking dynamic market data (ie. continually updating)? Processor – I don’t have anything in mind.
4. Cooling system – would it be a good idea to have an additional cooling system in the case because of the number of graphics cards, and if so, what would be best? Types of cases?
5. Other – are there any other variables that I should look at when setting this up? I’m not actually going to put it together but will be getting a computer shop to do it to make sure it all works ok, but after speaking to a couple of stores who hadn’t dealt with such a multi-monitor setup, I thought it would be best if I came armed with all the best information and just got them to put it all together - and this site is certainly the best for it! I’m living in Canberra, Australia if that makes any difference, or if anyone has suggestions for where to get gear from.
Thanks for your help and I’ll look forward to posting a picture of the setup in the next month or so when it’s all put together.
Cheers, Brenton.
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Phil 2007-06-25 21:18
I would consider looking at a Mac Pro for this and running it with 3 x 7300 GT Graphics cards.
Now that Boot Camp is out Windows works Great.
Just and Idea and the machine runs Very cool becuase of the case.
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Brenton 2007-07-10 00:54
Hi again,
The silence was almost deafening to my first post, so I thought I’d update with what I’ve learnt in the last month or so. What I’m looking at putting together is a motherboard with 4 x PCIE slots to take 4 graphics cards, each dual head, so that I can run up to 8 monitors. This would be combined with a 2.4GHz dual core processor, 4MB RAM, a 650W power supply, 2 x 500GB drives and Win XP SP2. Specifically these would be:
* Processor: Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 2.4GHz 1.06GHz FSB 4MB LGA 775 Dual Core
* Hard Drive: 2 x 500GB SEAGATE SATAII-3gb/s NCQ HDD (16MB, 7200.10 ) - ST3500630AS
* Motherboard: ASUS P5W64 WS Professional M/board - i975X, 1066MHz FSB, Dual Channel DDR2-800, Quad PCI-E x16, SATA 300 RAID, Dual Gb LAN, 8-Ch Audio, USB
* Graphics Card: 2 x Inno3D GF 8600GT 256MB 128-bit DDR3, Dual Link DVI, VGA, HDTV, PCI-E x16, Fan, 540MHz Core Clock, 1400MHz Memory Clock
2 x Inno3D GF 8500GT 256MB 128-bit DDR2, 460/800MHz, PCI-E x16, DirectX 10, Max. Res.2560 x 1600, Dual-Link DVI, VGA, HDTV, Fan IV-8500GT-D2
* Memory: Corsair TWIN2X4096-6400C5DHX 4GB (2x XMS2 2GB) PC-6400 (800MHz) DDR2 RAM, 2x240-pin DIMMs, Non ECC Unbuffered, 5-5-5-15 T2X4096-64C5DHX
* Burner: PIONEER DVR-212D BLACK 18X DUAL LAYER DVD-RW DRIVE, Burner (OEM) SATA interface. Or equivalent burner.
* Power Supply: 650W "Antec" TruePower Trio ATX Power Supply, 120mm fan, Dual PCI-E Graphics Card Connector, 4 SATA Connectors, Antec Q (TP3-650)
* Case: Antec P180B "Performance One" BLACK ATX Mid Tower - NO PSU, 11 Drive Bays, up to 5 Configurable Fans, Front USB/IEEE1394/Audio
* Operating System: Windows XP Pro SP2
If anyone has some comments on this system I'd certainly appreciate it :)
Cheers,
Brenton.
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Brandon Harvey 2007-07-10 09:53
If you want a better system for around the same price use the money you're putting into your RAM into your CPU instead.
Unless your running a 64 bit OS 4GB in that machine will be useless! Your computer will only address and utilize 2GB to Windows.
Wait a few weeks and the entry level Intel Quad Core chip will be very affordable.
If your software supports it and your only really running it for day-trading software I would consider running a 64-Bit OS (Vista) That system will fly.
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ecarlson 2007-07-11 15:58
You list 4 video cards, and the cards you list aren't dual-DVI, and they're not all the same. Why not use 3 identical dual-DVI video cards?
Also, I've been seeing some posts that the Antec TruePower series might not be the most reliable. You might want to go with a better brand, like Seasonic, or another higher-end brand. And pay attention to power supply efficiency (the one you mention seems okay on that regard), since more efficiency means less heat (and lower power bills), and less heat can mean less noise too. This Seasonic looks good if you need 650W.
Are you running the hard drives RAID 1 for redundancy?
- Eric, www.InvisibleRobot.com
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redfoxert 2007-07-19 17:27
Windows XP 32bit can address to around 3.5GB of internal memory effectively and 4GB with some tricks (Physical Address Extention).
Windows XP 64bit however can address more then current systems can provide, memory wise. So above 4GB of memory, use 64bit operating systems.
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Brenton 2007-07-23 15:40
Thanks for the replies :)
Brandon - you're right, the quad-cores have now come down and they're almost the same price as the dual core I was considering, so I'm going with the Q6600. Not sure you're quite so right about 4GB and XP though. My understanding is the same as Redfoxert - I should be able to get at least 3.5GB benefit from the 4GB making it quite worthwhile. And I have considered using XP Pro 64 bit or Vista 64-bit, but neither has 100% support from all the trading software that i use. Vista in particular creates difficulties with quite a few programs, so I might wait a year or so until these are all sorted out, and use XP Pro in the meantime - which i know works.
Eric - I had chosen 2 dual head DVI-I cards and 2 cards that had 1 x DVI-I and 1 x Analogue and this was because I had 3 CRT's and 3 LCD's - so I didn't need them all to be DVI. SInce then however I've decided to go with 4 x 8600GT's and upgrade my power supply to the Thermaltake Toughpower 850W which should supply a nice stable system, with ample opportunity to add more HD's etc.
I've actually decided to make some other changes too. I'm going with a different 4 PCIe slot motherboard, the MSI P6 Diamond, and also I'm going to have a 150GB WD Raptor 10,000 rpm as my boot drive, with a 500GB drive for storage.
So it looks like it'll cost just under $3,500 all up.
Anyone had personal experience with 4 graphics cards on the MSI P6 Diamond? From the reviews it looks like the best there is (which is probably why it's so expensive).
Cheers,
Brenton.
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ecarlson 2007-07-24 02:09
You do realize that your computer is probably going to be way more powerful than necessary for running a bunch of trading apps -- not that there's anything wrong with that, except perhaps unnecessary AC power usage and heat generation, and possibly noise.
Also, I'd still recommend getting all your video cards with dual DVI's, that way you can hook your LCD's and CRT's to the cards in any combination you want, not having to put one LCD and one CRT on the same card, and if you ever want to replace those power and space hungry CRT's with power and space efficient LCD's, you can.
- Eric, www.InvisibleRobot.com
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