point is this: 2x 7600GS : $180 (2x 256MB DDR3; 4x DVI out) passive cooling 1x Matrox Millennium P650: $250 (1x 128MB DDR; 2x DVI out) active cooling
Just how stupid would you have to be to pay retail for a P650 and use it primarily for trading, when you could buy a (2) dualhead G450/G550 for $20?
I thought we were talking about building a new system. When you want to use a new CPU, e.g. Core2Duo you will need a PCIe graphics card (x16 plus maybe x1). The cards you mentioned (probably used on EBay) are AGP only - Nice for older systems.
Not really. If one were building a new rig... *everything* is available. If someone wants a trading machine, he should choose certain video cards. If he wants a gaming machine, he should choose differently. If he wants a gaming/trading rig, then he has to go with gaming card(s) and put up with the warts.
Personally I'm talking about upgrading my Core2Duo system to support 4 monitors. I liked your 2 x 7600GS suggestion but I also see ATI Radeon X1950 TURBO SILENT for not much more expensive. Gnome, I don't need to stoop to $20 ebay cards but thanks for the suggestion .
"STOOP to $20 eBay cards"? What, are you NUTS? There is no better value nor QUALITY for trading than the Quadro NVS 280... (Matrox G450/G550 is not quite as good, but still decent.)