hey guys, I wanted to ask this here first before going to dell cuz I trust you guys to know more about trading computers I have a dell precision T3400 its 3 yrs old i think. I have 2 x quadro nvs 290 chips running 4 monitors on 32bit windows xp I want to replace the nvs 290s and see if this system can handle 8 monitors. would anyone know which card is the quad version of the 290? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_Quadro I dont know if I need the nvs 400, 420, 440 or 450 I assume 440 as this would be similar in max resolution. another big concern...would I need to replace the fan? if so which kind? thx
if you're using PCIE x16 and/or x1 form factor, you can use any 2 of these for about the price of one NVS quad card I have 2 of these on my XP machine running full time http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...SpeTabStoreType=&AdvancedSearch=1&srchInDesc= or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814195089
For trading... running all day in perhaps a relatively quiet environment, fanless video cards are preferable. Also.. don't know how robust those "combo-port" arrangements are on ATI cards. I do know the DMS-59 cables used on the NVS 290 are not all that reliable. I've had at least a half dozen fail on me.... seems there are too many wired connections crammed into the port... easy for one to come loose or break? I prefer "one port per monitor"... FWIW...
upgrade your memory and your operating system to 64-bit OS. You will run into massive issues if you run 32-bit OS and two modern quad-cards. 32-bit OS can only address 3.2gb of memory (call it 3.2 or 4.0gb or whatever but it can only address <4.0gb). If you install two lower-end quad cards with 512mb or 1GB of onboard RAM EACH you will then be taking between 1 and 2gb away from your system as hardware RAM is addressed before software. But yes - the Dell T3500 will handle 8 monitors.
NVS450, its like 400 bucks a peice. or you can be cheap n go ATi. FirePro 2460, same thing for liek 250
The NVS450 is the latest version (replacing the production of the NVS440). Each card will support 4 monitors each, and I believe it only comes in PCIE so you would need two unused PCIE slots. Each card has it's own 586mb RAM (128 per monitor). This card uses heat sinks (no fans) and "does not" require secondary power plugs. The heat sink gets very, very hot. But after using this setup myself for two years, I have had no problems. You need a well ventilated case and in my situation because I build all my own computers, I just recently decided to rig a $10 fan blowing directly across the heat sinks. Is it required?, no, I just did it for peace of mind because the cards are expensive. I know nothing about your model computer so whichever card(s) you decide to buy, do your research, including the maximum resolution for a given screen size that "any" card can support across "all" it's ports. There is much more information available at each video card mfg's website than I could possibly ever type here. Good Luck. P.S. By chance are you a trader?