Wirehead, Did you have any trouble installing the new drivers? Did you have to uninstall the existing drivers before installing the new? What's that DualHead PageWrap and PageLog all about? Is it useful? Bucky Lee
sasha1 I built my own PC. I first loaded it with Win98SE, but I had to reboot a dozen times a day so I switched to Win2000. It does not crash hardly, and it is optimized to handle multi vid cards and it is a very stable platform for a trader. My PC has 4 sticks of Crucial 256 megs of RAM, an ASUS P3V4X mobo, and a 550E PIII overclocked to 733. I plan to upgrade the processor to one gig as soon as the prices come down some more. I am operating with a cable modem. So far I have only papertraded for the past 8 months using quote.com Livecharts and Quotetraker for charts. I plan to use IB when I start trading. I have nine monitors and I will soon buy a TV with S-video port to take full advantage of my G450 eTV vid card. My computer runs with the doors of of it all the time as I am always tinkering with it to make it better. IMO a trader has to understand how to trade but must also understand how to get the most out of his trading rig.
Bukey Lee, If you are just adding an additional card you do not have to uninstall the drivers. You are just adding to the existing ones as you now have another piece of hardware (the new vid card) that needs drivers for it to interface with your PC. If you are downloading the most recent drivers from the web site, I believe Matrox tells you to uninstall the old ones first. They will let you know what to do as part of the downloading instructions. I downloaded the PageWrap and Page Log, tested it but I have not used it since. I could not figure out how it would enhance my trading platform. I could think of more ways to use it with multimedia sorts of needs.
Wirehead (or anyone else who might be so kind to offer help), Before reading your posts concerning your running several monitors I posted some questions on another thread concerning multiple monitors that I think you might be able to help with. I currently run just one 3dfx Voodoo 3500 TV AGP card on my system and wanted to add 2 additional monitors. Is it possible to add something like a G450 PCI and have it run well with the other card? Or will I have to scrap the Voodoo card and get 2 Matrox cards (like a G450 eTV & a G450 PCI)? Also, if I do ultimately run 3 or more monitors, is it possible to switch back to using only the primary display easily? For example, I would use the 3 monitors for trading and at other times use only 1 monitor for other tasks. Thanks for any help.
sallyboy I have never worked with a voodoo card so I cannot speak from experience. I hope that someone who has a voodoo card and a G450 replies to this thread. However, I can tell you that in theory it should work. You could add a G450 PCI card and install the new drivers for that card and your dual head should work fine. If you have Win2k, that OS has been enhanced so that it can better support multiple monitors. You should be able to do it with Win98SE also. Worst case is that if you buy a G450 PCI and it doesn't work well with your AGP card then you would have to buy either a G450 AGP or a G450 eTV. The straight G450 AGP would be cheaper. Matrox sells it for around $135.00, vendors at pricewatch.com have it for cheaper. If you do not need the multimedia features of the eTV than the G450 AGP would be ample for trading. Also check the Matrox site and the 3d site as they may have some unified drivers that will enhance the functioning of those two cards in the same computer. As to only using your primary display when you also have two other monitors connected, that is not a problem either. You can either just turn off the other two monitors, or unplug them from the vid card if you want a more permanent solution. I am not familiar with Appian or other brand dualhead cards, but Matrox cards come with software that enables you to place icons only on you primary display if you wish, or on all of your displays, by checking the right box. The software will remember where you placed the icons last and will place them back on the same monitor or area of the desktop you last had them when you rebooted or turned off the computer. In your case you would probably leave them all on your primary display, so when you used only your primary monitor all your shortcuts would be there.
I am currently using the ATI Radeon VE dualhead with win2k and cannot independantly adjust the refresh rates on my monitors. I am limited to using a refresh rate of 60 hz which results in too much flicker. Under win2k, the computer thinks I have 1 wide monitor instead of 2 independant monitors. A question to the guys using the Matrox G450 and win2k. Will the matrox card allow for 2 independant monitors under win2k? I would like to run my monitors at a much higher refresh rates so there is less eye strain.
Chuck, I am currently using the ATI Radeon VE dualhead with win2k and cannot independantly adjust the refresh rates on my monitors. I am limited to using a refresh rate of 60 hz Here's how to adjust the refresh rates. Go into Settings, Advanced, Multi-Monitor tab, with both monitors enabled (it will say ON next to Monitor 1 and Monitor 2) double-click either picture of the monitors in the larger window. That will give you a new dialog box where you can set the refresh rates. Be aware that these settings only apply to multi-monitor mode. If you disable one of the monitors and go back to single monitor mode you will have to reset it's refresh rate (it will not pick up the settings from multi-monitor mode). While the Matrox G450 is a good card (I know because I have it on one of my computers), the Radeon VE also does a fine job (I have it on my second computer). Each has their advantages, each has their disadvantages, each has their quirks.