I can see it coming... Scataphagos would say Quadro NVS 290 295 all the way to NVS 450. Boli would say EVGA 8400 GS. LOL
OK.. here's the rundown... NVS vs 8400 GS 1. Graphics engine for both cards by Nvidia. 2. 8400 (in all varieties) is a "general computing" card... often put into budget machines to save cost. (That's not a negative, just saying.) The NVS line was originally conceived for the financial industry... with the expectation they would run "several" monitors from one computer. They do. NVS 280/285/290/295 are all compatible. 8400 was likely not designed to work with >2 monitors, but fortunately they work in multi-card rigs.. so long as the cards are the same or compatible. 3. 8400 GS can be found just about everywhere for $30 and often less... NVS cards are $130-ish new, retail. However, they're around $30 on eBay.. new or used. (I've bought some for as little as $7.) Buying them used is OK so long as the seller will work with you if there is a problem. They are very reliable and robust. I'm sure there are lots of NVSs in service which are nearing 10 years old. 4. About half of 8400s have a cooling fan... something else to break or wear out + noise. Almost all NVS have no fan. (I know of an exception, so please... no nit-pickers chiming in with, "You're FOS Scat... there's an NVS with a fan".) 5. Most 8400s have VGA + DVI ports. NVS has both the same... both VGA or both DVI.. and you can have your both choices on each card.. most people prefer DVI. Some 8400s, however, have dual DVI. (There are LOTS of makers offering cards with GeForce 8400 graphics engine... so you need to make sure you're getting what you need.) Passmark score... both slow by performance standards, but adequate for trading and general computing. 8400GS, 124 NVS 295, 201 6. Quadro NVS has on many occasions won Display Mate's "Best in Class" annual award. 7. Boli set up his multi-card with 8400 and it (1) works, and (2) is inexpensive. So, he likes and touts it. I evolved from ATI, to Matrox, to NVS. It works and is inexpensive if you buy right. 8. One of my computers has an 8400 GS (no fan, of course)... I like it and don't notice any difference in performance. However it's on a single monitor computer so can't compare anything about it. I've had it for a few years and it's just fine. There you have it!
I used ATI cards years ago.. when computers were less picky about multi-card and mixed cards. ATI is in the "gamer performance" business primarily. They do have a new-ish line of cards which appears to be a copy of Quadro NVS, but the ATIs are expensive and not widely available.
If you're going to have a trading computer, you should do it right. Start with a proper motherboard and video cards. The rest is non-problematical... you can add whatever you wish.
Thanks to everyone who responded. Looks like I'll continue to use this computer for my options trading and look to purchasing a new one for day trading futures. I noticed that the XPS is cheaper than the precision, with the main difference being that processor i7 vs Xeon and the XPS will give you more bang for your buck form a RAM perspective - any thoughts?
I believe that one of the differences is that the XPS 8300 only supports two monitors. The Precision supports 4 given the two dual graphics cards that it has.
XPS is more of an entertainment PC... has only 1 PCIEx16 slot + 3, x1 slots. Precision is a workstation... 2 or 4 PCIEx16 slots + various x8, x1 slots. If you plan to run 1-2 monitors, either is OK. If you plan to run 3 or 4 monitors for trading... and you don't want to fuss with a quad-port video card, then the Precision T3500 (not T1600) would be a better choice.
Thanks. I already use a quad graphics card and have another one ready to be used. Does that mean I can put a quad graphics card in an xps system? Thanks.