The charting software I use writes directly to the video card per the developer. They said both Nvidia and ATI are being used successfully. In other words completely bypasses Windows.
Another way could be just to "soft mod" a regular gaming card either (Nvidia or ATI ) so it recognizes itself as a the equivalent (Quadro or FireGL card ) so you can make use of the optimized drivers... Just do your reseach first on which cards same the chip set... That will keep help your costs down ;-)
I'd start with this card... ($50 and decent ratings) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131057 Here's their list of dual DVI's http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...048 1069609641 1069109631&bop=And&Order=PRICE
Thanks! Is there a feature I should be looking for that will improve my full screen avi. viewing? The issue I have with my current card is - when the monitor is set at native resolution fullscreen video is choppy. In order to get full sceen video I must first reduce the monitor resolution. It is quite sucky.
I use two of these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150257 driving 3 dell 2407s (24" 1920*1080) and one 3008 (30" dual-link) on vista home premium, running tradestation, interactivebrokers, ninja trader works like a charm all are driven by the digital dvi ports on the cards
Sorry, I can't say I have much experience with high resolution video. I set all my 20'' monitors at 1024x768 so it's easy on the eyes. But I often watch avi movies on 1 monitor with no problem. Many avi movies actually use very low resolutions.
I see this comes with dual-DVI adapter so you can still run two monitors from a single DVI port. How does this work? Does it reduce quality in some way? Is there any downside?
The DMS-59 plug is just a way of saving space on the back of the card, particularly on the low-profile card. It just combines all the pins of two DVI ports into one port, and the adaptor separates them again. There is no loss in quality as the two video signals are still kept independent from each other - the same as two separate ports.
You could set your monitor to native resolution... then through Display/Appearance you can adjust the fonts and icon sizes to be just about anything you want. That way, you'll get best and sharpest display. Only thing this doesn't work on off hand is toolbars.. changing font sizes has no impact on them.. or at least I don't know how to get it...