From your description, I don't understand exactly what you're getting in the way of video cards. I know Nvidia has Vista drivers for their cards, but I've heard (not verified) that they don't do so well with >1 video card. I've run 3 Quadro NVS cards in a T3400 on XP, however. I just looked on Dell's Outlet site... they have a T3400 with E8400 CPU and an x38 mobo... which is higher end than the P45... for $549... that's a common price for them..
Well the 4 video cards I listed were so I could hook up 8 monitors. Anyways, I must be blind because I did not see that Deal deal. Thank you. I'm just going to purchase that, and put in additional NVS 290s and run with XP.
Well, you DO have to make sure the mobo will support the monitors you intend to run. You can't presume you can run 6-8 monitors on just any old board...
You may consider getting this motherboard and graphics cards: (i) for six monitor set-up - motherboard: Asus P6T6 WS Revolution: http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_geforce_gts_250_us.html (3 x PCIe x16) - GPUs: 3 x NVIDIA GTS 250 http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_geforce_gts_250_us.html (ii) for eight monitor set-up: - motherboard: EVGA X58 SLI Classified: http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=141-BL-E759-A1&family=Motherboard Family (4 x PCIe x16) - GPUs: 4 x NVIDIA GTS 250 http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_geforce_gts_250_us.html With all of the above set-ups you can run 2560 x 1600 resolution monitors. Regards
That kind of graphics horsepower is mostly wasted on trading rigs... too much heat, noise, cost. Better choice would be passively cooled... like Nvidia Quadro NVS series and Matrox... they were designed for trading and finance applications.
Hello gnome, You are right with the heat and noise. Cards with passive cooling are better. GTS 250 is for gaming. But it uses only 150 Watts (1 x 6-PIN) while other higher gaming cards need 2 x 6-PIN or 1 x 6-PIN + 1 x 8-PIN connectors. And it costs only $150. All the reviews I read indicate that this card is very silent and produces low heat when compared to other gaming cards. If anyone needs a trading rig with gaming cards GTS 250 seems to be the only choice at the moment
150 Watts... x 2-3 cards... ? Need a bigger PSU for all that. Nvidia 290s are only 21 Watts each, and you can usually get them on eBay for $60-ish... sometimes less.
That dell quote was a serious rip-off. For the mother boards with 4 pci express slots make sure that they are spaced out enough to get 4 cards in there. With 4 cards and an i7, you are going to want at least 750w power supply. You could probably get all the components and build it yourself for around $1300. Also make sure the graphics cards are SLI and or crossfire supported.
Why should he get SLI on a multi monitor set-up? SLI bridge should be dismatled when multi monitors are used. Regards