Three 24" Widescreens in Portrait Mode

I thought I'd provide an update to my setup or shall I say saga. I purchased a new computer that had two PCI-E x16 slots, bought two NVS 285 cards, and three Dell E248WFP 24-inch Widescreen monitors. Below are the issues I ran into:

1. The motherboard doesn't actually support two independent PCI-E x16 slots. It only works in SLI Mode, which drives only a single monitor. Lesson learned, don't believe what you read when you order the computer. Of course, I read all of the online literature, but the problem was only apparent when I got the manual for the motherboard.
2. As a result of the problem in 1 above, I could not use the 2nd NVS 285 card.
3. The vertical viewing angle for the monitors is vastly inferior to the horizontal viewing angle i.e. they are not really designed to be run in portrait mode, Of course, only a typical viewing angle is specified on the Dell web-site and it doesn't differentiate between horizontal or vertical.
4. When run in the portrait mode, the nVidia software works well, but the graphics rendering is inferior so the text font is somewhat harsh.

Solution: I ended up buying an NVS 440 card, which drives up to four 24" monitors and I DO NOT operate the monitors in portrait mode.

Hopes this helps others avoid relearning my lessons.

Regards,

Slave2Market

 

Slave2Market,

Don’t believe what the manual and TS say. If there’re 2 slots, they gotta working in one way or another.

Let’s assume you have v-card-A on the slot-1 (the premier one) and v-card-B on slot-2. What I did (if my memory services me right ) is going to the BIO, switch the slot-2 for the premier and slot-1 the secondary. Now when the computer boots, it uses the v-card-B on slot-2 for the premier starter and the v-card-A on slot-1 the slavery.

It’s just FWIW though, no guaranty working for every box

 

Yea but you have to water it. Too high maintenance.

 

Just out of curiosity, what brand PC had that motherboard in it? I've never even heard of such a thing. Usually its just a matter of plugging in as many cards as you have slots, and then telling the OS to run all the monitors.

 

It's probably some high-end gamer machine. However, there are mobos now with even 4x PCIEx16 slots. Probably not many ready-built boxes with these boards though... you'd need to build it yourself or have it done.

 

It was an MSI Motherboard:

Quad-Core FSB1333 MSI P6N SLI-FI nForce 650i SLI Chipset LGA775 FSB1333 DDR2 Mainboard

I bought the computer from the site below:

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Intel_Core_2_Duo_SLI_Custom_Build_Configurator/

Scroll down to Motherboards and you'll see several options to choose from. I called their sales department prior to ordering and told them what I wanted to do and they said no problem. This company specializes in gaming computers, so they probably weren't familiar with my needs. They charge too much for RAM so I would recommend buying from ZipZoomFly or a similar place. I have previously purchased all of my computers from Dell, but I really wanted to get a high-performance machine. Overall I'm happy with the computer, and will probably buy from them again. The machine is extremely fast and allows me to implement a trading system that wasn't feasible on my existing machines.

As I mentioned in my prior post, the biggest issue is the poor vertical viewing angle of the Dell monitors. When they are in portrait mode, just the slightest off angle viewing results in severe dimming of the monitors from top to bottom.

Regards,

Slave2Market

 

Likely because those have TN panels. If you want to reduce or eliminate this problem, go with monitors with VA or IPS panels... greater cost, however.

 

You're probably right. On my next buy I'll go with the more expensive monitors. Fortunately, it's not a big deal, I just felt that three 24" monitors would meet the needs for this system, and running them in portrait mode (side by side) is more aesthetically pleasing than a stacked horizontal setup. I consider the whole experience to be further validation of Murphy's Law for trading ... whatever can wrong, will go wrong!

Regards,

Slave2Market

 

the smallest size i will buy today is THREE 30 inchers @ max resolution. but 50" would be way better. i hate the rude interruption of the bezel :|