i'm thinking about adding 2 more monitors to my current dual monitor setup and i realized that the first part of this process is finding a good video card for a reasonable price. however, i'm not much of a "techy" and i don't really know where to begin the hunt. i don't exactly know what constitutes a good card vs. a fair card, and i'm also uneducated in what some may consider the "must haves" of any card. i know that you can find cheap cards all over the place, but my problem is that i simply don't have a foundation to compare, and without that it can be quite overwhelming. can anyone provide me with some assistance and/or direction about where to begin this process, or even list some of the "must haves" so that i have an idea of what to look for? any help would be greatly appreciated. jon edit: if you need any more specifics about my current setup just let me know...
What brand of video card do you currently have? It sometimes causes trouble to mix brands. What motherboard slots do you have open (PCI, PCI express, etc.)? This will help narrow the possibilities a bit.
thanks for the response. i currently use the NVIDIA Quadro4 900 XGL. i think that i have 5 available PCI slots remaining on the board, but i'm not entirely sure whether they are "express" or not. i'm trying to find a way of checking this on my sysytem, but i have to reiterate that i'm not much of a "techy". jon edit: my system is a dell precision 530 workstation running dual 1.8Ghz Xeon processors
Trading applications don't tax graphics cards or computers that much anyway. Compared to 3D gaming that requires 60fps+ of changing displays, the amount of pixels that changes per second in trading apps are minimal. So you wouldn't notice much of a difference between the low-end vs. high-end cards. Same for PCI vs AGP vs. PCI-x. Here's a good deal on a PCI card: PNY QUADRO4 NVS200 64mb PCI card You'll might also need the splitter cable: PNY LFH-60 PIN TO 2 DVI
Your system is old enough that your slots are most likely PCI not PCIE. An Nvidia Quadro NVS 280 PCI would be good too. Just be sure you get the correct cable... there are LFH-59 and LFH-60.
Yeah, he's got 3 PCI and 2 PCI-64 slots. The faster throughput of PCI-X over AGP/PCI will never make a difference anyway. Most graphics chips can't even max out AGP-4x.
thanks for the responses... would it make sense just to get another Nvidia Quadro4 900 XGL? http://cgi.ebay.com/NVIDEA-QUADRO4-...6QQihZ004QQcategoryZ40161QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem i can't find any specs on it, but it seems to be the exact same card that i am currently using. thoughts? edit: i'm basically just looking for something that can run 2 19 " flat screens flawlessly. i have seen some horrible setups, and i'm trying to avoid that.
I don't have this card, but it looks good. Read the reviews. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130188