# How to Run Multiple Monitors



## SevenFX (20 November 2007)

I currently a few LCD monitors running from 1 PC, and thought I'd share the benefits with you.

However there are few requirements:

Windows XP Home or Professional or newer (best running SP2 (service pack2))
More than 1 video card or multiple head Video card(s)
Multiple Monitors & assoc cables
Decent Spec PC to Support configuration (Pentium 4, PCI(E) motherboard plenty of memory & above)

Rather than writing a detailed post, hence reinventing the wheel, I found a few good links that have plenty of information and could answer questions from there, wherever I can.

http://www.geeks.com/techtips/2005/techtips-AUG18-05.htm
http://www.cnet.com.au/desktops/monitors/0,239029422,240053704,00.htm

Cheers
SevenFX


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## Timmy (20 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

SevenFX,
You are a mind reader, I was going to start a thread about this topic myself.
I am no computer expert, unlike your good self, but I managed to set up a dual monitor arrangement on my PC and was amazed at how easy (and cheap) it was.  For those thinking of doing so, here is my experience.
I bought a dual head video card on eBay.  These come in a variety of price ranges, newer ones seem to cost $100+ (and I mean PLUS, some are over $600!!!!), but these expensive cards are to allow PC gamers to get good images with 3D computer games.  I don’t play computer games (not that there’s anything wrong with that) so didn’t need one of these expensive cards.  All I needed was one to show 2D graphics (that’s charts to you and me!); $25 on eBay!  Matrox Dual Head G450 was the name, quite an “old tech” card but that was all that was needed.  
I installed it myself.  I had some experience with taking the side off my PC box; I have upgraded RAM, installed a network card, and installed a second hard drive in the past.  There are plenty of guides on the net, just Google what you want to do and follow the instructions.  The card went into a “slot” on the motherboard, an AGP slot.  Apparently the absolute latest cards are PCIe cards that go into PCI slots (PCI and AGP slots are different shapes/colours so easy to differentiate).  No installation problems at all.
I had a spare monitor, in fact I had 2 spare monitors, these things seem to accumulate (I had 1 monitor, then 2, now 3 – Fibonacci take note…).  My PC runs WinXP SP2 as SevenFX recommends, 750 odd MB RAM, nothing special about it at all, buts its not bad.
The computer recognised the card and did everything to get it running, a bit of setting the display properties and I then had 2 monitors!  Getting instructions from the net was great, a lot of the guides have photos showing the whole process.
Next challenge is to add another monitor (the other spare one, may as well its doing nothing)…stay tuned.  
Thanks for starting this thread SevenFX, I think it is going to be of value to a lot of people.  Anyone who has a spare monitor at home and has thought about a dual monitor arrangement, if I can do it….


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## SevenFX (20 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

Sounds like your doing fine there timmy, yell out if I you get stuck.

XP will support easily 6-8 monitors, so keep filling the pci slots. :

Also IMO a trader may want 3 or more monitors greater than 19" running higher resolutions, which is where the faster technology & more resources comes into it, however using most existing equiptment (3yr or newer) will work fine, just slower & sometimes clunkier.

p.s PCIE (PCIExpress) is the fastest, latest and most favourable video card slots, and PCI are the older slots.


EDIT: you don't reliase how useful 2-3 (4,5,6 ) monitors can be during the trading day till you've tried it. Highly recommend it.

Cheers
SevenFX


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## nomore4s (20 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

I already run dual screens at home, but I did it the easy way and had the computer custom built (or modified) about 6 months ago. Needed a new computer at the time so thought I'd get dual screens when I found out it wasn't that much more expensive, cost of an extra screen really. I'll be looking at adding a 3rd screen shortly too, so Timmy's info will come in handy as I'm not very good with computers, lol.

Didn't think I'd use the dual screens as much as I have, very handy, even for things other then trading, like having 2 spread sheets open or a spreadsheet and the internet/charts etc. Worth the small extra cost imo.


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## Stan 101 (20 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

I took a different path for more monitors. I use a 37 inch lcd tv and use an Nvidia card. This allows one to use "Nvidia Grids."


Nvidia grids allow you to break up the screen into sections, so you can maximise a window to the contraints set by the grids you make up.

I have the left hand side of the screen with my main page and have the right side split horizontally so I have 2 quarter sized screens on top of each other.

Youy can now get a 32 inch lcd that will 1920x1080 res fro under $1000. Starts to make good sense..


Only a standard Nvidia card with dvi or even vga output is required and that can be had for about $60. a dual dvi output card is less than $100 so one could have a 32 inch monitor with 3 windows and your current monitor set up for very easily..


cheers,


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## RichardE (20 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

As SevenFX mentioned you can run quite a number of monitors. At work I have 3 on my desk  I can work on 2 and just use one for monitoring; that setup would translate well to trading I think. 

If you are purchasing a new monitor consider getting a widescreen. Running at 1680x1050 this gives plenty of screen real estate. 2 x 24" widescreens would give the equivalent of 4 x 17" monitors I reckon in terms of screen real estate.

You can also get software that will give you 4 virtual desktops. I use such software at work but the name of it escapes me (it is freeware though). This gives me 12 monitors in effect (4x3) and it is a cinch to swap between desktops. So if you do paid work and trade at the same time you might have one 'work' desktop and one 'trading' desktop.

Hopefully that gives some other ideas!

Cheers,

Richard.


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## IFocus (20 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

Anyone else have have much of a different between screens? 

Each setup of multipliable screens I have used I can never get the screens absolutely the same no matter the software / hardware / knobs tweeked or am I being to pedantic?


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## Timmy (20 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

This is good stuff - some great options for multiple monitor set ups - love the TV screen/grids idea...can I get The Simpsons on part of the screen?

RichardE, when you are next at work can you get the name of that software for the virtual desktops?  

Well done SevenFX, I knew this would be a good thread!


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## Timmy (20 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



IFocus said:


> Anyone else have have much of a different between screens?
> 
> Each setup of multipliable screens I have used I can never get the screens absolutely the same no matter the software / hardware / knobs tweeked or am I being to pedantic?




Do you mean screen colours/contrast/ brightness etc?  I reckon someone will be along soon with a solution for this.


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## RichardE (20 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

Hi IFocus,

I have made sure that each monitor I run supports the same resolution at least. They all get run at that resolution. At work I have 2 19" monitors and a 17". They have all been set so that the bottom of each screen is at the same height. Because I run in the same resolution as I drag windows from one to the other I know they will fit and not need to be resized.

At home I have a 15.4" widescreen laptop and a 20" widescreen LCD. I have the 20" sitting above my laptop screen and find this very easy to use. Again they run the same resolution.

Last week we bought a new home desktop for the kids and that came with a 24" widescreen. Very nice! I might need to test it further myself before I let the kids use it 

Cheers

Richard.


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## Stan 101 (20 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



Timmy said:


> love the TV screen/grids idea...can I get The Simpsons on part of the screen?
> 
> thread!





Probably, depend on the tv you get. Most have picture in picture. Just check you can have an AV input as part of your Picture in Picture..

Alternatively, just get a tv card for your PC and you can use your PC as a PVR to boot!


cheers,


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## RichardE (21 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

G'Day Timmy,

I missed your post last night, must have been entering mine at the same time. VirtuaWin is the name of the piece of software; just checking this morning, you can actually run 160 different desktops!

Here is the link http://virtuawin.sourceforge.net/

Cheers

Richard.


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## Timmy (21 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

Thanks Richard will check that out.

And SevenFX - time for me to yell HELP!

Re the 3 monitor set up - I have gone down the route of buying a Matrox G200 card, it enables running of up to 4 monitors.

How do I install this card?  I bought the card on eBay and it did not come with drivers, however I have got the drivers via the Matrox site on the web.  How do I install the drivers?  Is it right that I need to install the drivers first so that my PC recognises the card when I install it?  I have already tried to install the new card but there is no display at all when I turn on the PC - the screens (all 3 of them now!) stay blank.  So I switched back to the dual head card and took the new one out.  So back to where I started!

So how do I set it up so that when I insert the new card my PC will fire up as normal except with 3 screens?  Do I need to go into the BIOS - what is that and how do I get in?  I tried to install the new driver but it recognised the existing dual head card and wanted to install drivers for that, can I tell it somehow to install drivers for the new card even though that new card is not in the PC?

I hope this is a clear explanation.


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## Scuba (21 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

Hi all, there are other solutions to these things also for instance the Matrox TripleHead2Go Digital Edition  which are connected to a DVI (of a fairly decent graphics card) and allows spanning or cloning of monitor real estate (BUT) the monitors need the same resolution (and at present can only support 4:3 formats)... Or purchase nearly any graphics card nowadays with dualhead capability and run any mix of format and resolution... FWIW I run LHS 4:3 @ 1280x1024 x32bit & RHS 16:9 (primary monitor) @ 1680x1050 x16bit which is nothing special at all nowadays but the difference in use was really something when upgrading from a single 4:3 monitor!
Regards,
Dave


BTW Timmy, Google Matrox 200


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## SevenFX (21 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



Timmy said:


> Re the 3 monitor set up - I have gone down the route of buying a Matrox G200 card, it enables running of up to 4 monitors.
> 
> How do I install this card?  .




Timmy, what was your old card...??? did you have a pci dual head card or was it a agp dual head like your g200 matrox like in this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrox_G200

Also what is your motherboard & model as it has to support the card and the speed the card runs at.

Also the bios is usually accessed by pressing the del or f1 key when the computer starts from cold (completely switched off) but be careful..... 

SevenFX


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## Timmy (21 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



SevenFX said:


> Timmy, what was your old card...??? did you have a pci dual head card or was it a agp dual head like your g200 matrox like in this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrox_G200
> 
> Also what is your motherboard & model as it has to support the card and the speed the card runs at.
> 
> ...




Hi SevenFX - old card is a Matrox G450 AGP dual head

This new card is a Matrox G200 Quad 32 MB PCI.

The mother board is an Asus a7m266 

Any of that help?


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## SevenFX (21 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



Timmy said:


> Hi SevenFX - old card is a Matrox G450 *AGP* dual head
> 
> This new card is a Matrox G200 Quad 32 MB *PCI*.
> 
> ...




*EDITED:*
You must have a AGP slot if using the AGP version of the G450, and must configure the motherboard bios to use the PCI slot *now*(G200 card), B4 shutting it down and installing the pci card in pci slot (also removing the AGP card (G450))

You prob know to always shutdown everything b4 removing cards, and beware of static damage to cards.

SevenFX


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## Timmy (21 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



SevenFX said:


> *EDITED:*
> You must have a AGP slot if using the AGP version of the G450, and must configure the motherboard bios to use the PCI slot *now*(G200 card), B4 shutting it down and installing the pci slot (removing the AGP card (G450))
> 
> You prob know to always shutdown everything b4 removing cards, and beware of static damage to cards.
> ...




OK, can I just check I have the procedure correct - 

1. Configure the BIOS to use the PCI slot - my understanding is I enter the BIOS at the start-up stage right?

2. Turn the pc off

3. remove the agp card, install the pci card

4. reboot computer


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## SevenFX (21 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



Timmy said:


> OK, can I just check I have the procedure correct -
> 
> 1. Configure the BIOS to use the PCI slot - my understanding is I enter the BIOS at the start-up stage right?
> 
> ...




Yes correct.

I was supprised you had the pci version. but if it's going into the (gererally) white slots, along side of other white slots the it's pci.


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## Timmy (21 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

OK - will give it a try now....I may be some time....


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## SevenFX (21 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

Is this your board, as should work in all white slots(33/66mhz), but will def work in far 3 right slots (33mhz)

*EDIT:*
Also is this the card you have, as it doesn't seem to support 3/4monitors unless you have a cable that fans out into 4 monitors ports...????
http://cgi.ebay.com/MATROX-MGA-G200...oryZ3762QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


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## SevenFX (21 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

Ahhh found your beast... I think.

I'm sure they used to be worth heaps...


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## Timmy (21 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

So I looked up "genius" in the dictionary and it just said "see SevenFX".

All working!

Yep, thats the card - dual head & also came with cables that fan out allowing to connect 4 monitors.  

Thanks SevenFX - I really appreciate it.  I am off to have a play around with these 3 screens now!


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## Timmy (21 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

Yes, the picture you have of the card and cables - that's mine.  And yes I think you are right about them once being worth heaps, but not anymore.  Technology has moved on and I bought these for $US50 on eBay (plus postage).


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## SevenFX (21 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

No worries Timmy...

You must be smiling at all those screens and will in the next few days see the benefits...

Maybe check you have the latest drivers they released for that card...

Win 98 Win Me Win NT4 Win
2000 *Win XP *Win XP 64-bit Linux Linux 64-bit Win Server 2003 
http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/corpo/support/drivers/latest/home.php


p.s how much did it cost you as they used to be close to 1k or more

Enjoy
Cheers
SevenFX


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## Timmy (21 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

SevenFX, the card including the cables was $US50 - it is a used card but if I get a couple of years out of it I will be happy.  The card itself without cables is $US25, so I suppose if the card does stop working it is a cheap replacement.  I bought it from a seller in the UK - I was expecting it next week sometime but it arrived today, I only ordered it on Thursday last week - 6 days from Edinburgh to Sydney.


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## SevenFX (21 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



Timmy said:


> SevenFX, the card including the cables was $US50 - it is a used card but if I get a couple of years out of it I will be happy.  The card itself without cables is $US25, so I suppose if the card does stop working it is a cheap replacement.  I bought it from a seller in the UK - I was expecting it next week sometime but it arrived today, I only ordered it on Thursday last week - 6 days from Edinburgh to Sydney.




Good find, as they are quality built and should last many years...

Worth noting if your using the drivers that comes with WindowsXP, they may be slow (clunky) So the right drivers will change that.

Here a link if anyone else wants the same card(sssssssss) and their are a few US/UK buyers to choose from...so be choosy... but bare in mind that they a older card and priced accordingly.

http://search.ebay.com/search/searc...ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&fsop=1&fsoo=1


Cheers
SevenFX


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## Timmy (22 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



Scuba said:


> Hi all, there are other solutions to these things also for instance the Matrox TripleHead2Go Digital Edition  which are connected to a DVI (of a fairly decent graphics card) and allows spanning or cloning of monitor real estate (BUT) the monitors need the same resolution (and at present can only support 4:3 formats)... Or purchase nearly any graphics card nowadays with dualhead capability and run any mix of format and resolution... FWIW I run LHS 4:3 @ 1280x1024 x32bit & RHS 16:9 (primary monitor) @ 1680x1050 x16bit which is nothing special at all nowadays but the difference in use was really something when upgrading from a single 4:3 monitor!
> Regards,
> Dave
> 
> ...




Thanks Dave - Googling the card was a good idea.  Sorry, I missed your post in my rush to get the card installed.  That dual/triplehead2go is apparently a really good solution and very simple, comes at a pretty hefty price though compared to installing a card.


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## Timmy (22 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



SevenFX said:


> Good find, as they are quality built and should last many years...
> 
> Worth noting if your using the drivers that comes with WindowsXP, they may be slow (clunky) So the right drivers will change that.
> 
> ...




Thanks Tek - I went to the Matrox site and downloaded the latest drivers, screens are working great.  That ebay link has the seller I bought from in the UK, I read a lot of his feedback and was very impressive so I bought from him - and very happy.  Yes, older card, and a lot of the offerings are second hand, but fingers crossed mine lasts a while....


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## Snakey (22 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

Hi Guys
Im running three laptops and two LCD screens, Thats five screens, on two broadband connections. On the screens i run dynamic depth, dynamic ticker set a minimum of 25000 volume, Live announcements, commodity prices and one for scanning around.


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## Wysiwyg (22 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



Snakey said:


> Hi Guys
> Im running three laptops and two LCD screens, Thats five screens, on two broadband connections. On the screens i run dynamic depth, dynamic ticker set a minimum of 25000 volume, Live announcements, commodity prices and one for scanning around.





Snakey mate, you`re back. and dropped the d.t. tag too.


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## professor_frink (23 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

Hi, have a computer question, which isn't entirely about multiple monitors, but thought I would stick it in here anyway.

Thinking of doing an upgrade of my trading rig after christmas and was after a couple of opinions-

Processors-  Dual core? Quad core? Is the extra cost of a quad core processor going to be worthwhile for running trading apps

RAM- was probably going to go for 2 gig of ram- my current rig only has 1, and copes(barely). Or should I get as much as I can??

graphics card- currently have one graphics card that runs 2 monitors. Would it be better to just get a second graphics card that will run another 2, or should I be looking for one card that will run 4 monitors.

which follows on to the next question- a stand that will hold 4 monitors- I really don't want to have 4 monitors side by side on my desk, it would be like spending a day at a tennis match, and would much prefer to have 2 of them stacked on top of two on the desk. Anyone have any experience with stands at all? Where would I get one from? Are they worth the cost? Or should I look at some other way of setting them up that is cheaper?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated


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## doctorj (23 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

Just quickly on the ram front, unless you're willing to go to Vista 64, there's not much point getting more than 2 gig of ram. Vista 32, xp etc are limited to 32bit of address space so your computer won't be able to see much more.

I'm running vista 64 at the moment and its a constant battle.  Several of my older peripherals and several different apps that i'd use regularly simply don't work.


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## professor_frink (23 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



doctorj said:


> Just quickly on the ram front, unless you're willing to go to Vista 64, there's not much point getting more than 2 gig of ram. Vista 32, xp etc are limited to 32bit of address space so your computer won't be able to see much more.
> 
> I'm running vista 64 at the moment and its a constant battle.  Several of my older peripherals and several different apps that i'd use regularly simply don't work.




It will be running XP. Don't think I will to upgrade to Vista until I absolutely have to. Thanks for that


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## SevenFX (23 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



professor_frink said:


> Processors-  Dual core? Quad core? Is the extra cost of a quad core processor going to be worthwhile for running trading apps




Morning Professor.

Here's my take on Things.

Processor, I just recently went for a Higher clock speed core2 Duo processor (E6850 3.00Ghz) than the Quad Core (2.4Ghz) purely because the most (if not all) applications today (other than newest games) wont use the quad processor technology. and the E6850 @ 3.00Ghz will do  a better job without
breaking out into a sweat. (While there are faster processors available in both varieties, Both of these are currently good value, while Intels pfights off AMD ().



professor_frink said:


> RAM- was probably going to go for 2 gig of ram- my current rig only has 1, and copes(barely). Or should I get as much as I can??




While I generally agree with DJ, my experience in running multiple monitors (& multiple cards), hence multiple apps under XP, has seen all all 2gb of memory exhausted where apps shut down, and a example where a 2gb ram is installed and swap file switch off, will highlight this issue (swap file is only used when real physical memory runs out.) 

Some older or poorly written apps (incredible charts sorry colin) often doesn't release memory or copoperate with other apps or XP for that matter to manage memory pools well, hence another reason for more memory.

Lastly on Ram, of the 4gb of quality ram (Kingston) and which is DDR2 @1066mhz speed, I can say a large portion (1.4gb) is reservered for system resource tasks when you run multiple video cards & general misc motherboard system requirements



professor_frink said:


> graphics card- currently have one graphics card that runs 2 monitors. Would it be better to just get a second graphics card that will run another 2, or should I be looking for one card that will run 4 monitors.




It would be cheaper to get a OLDER quad processor card and the Martrox at $50 is cheap, but you get what you pay for.. and if that one card fails you loose all monitors.

Cards also have come leaps n bounds, and today you can run dual or tripe DVI card each of them having 2 heads giving you (4 or 6 monitors) if your motherboard supports it. Preference is given to PCIE cards for best throughput & latest technology overall.

Also if you choose the Nvidia cards (called SLI)you can parallel them up to combine your video processor power which your motherboard must support.

There are great stands that support 6 monitors with flexijoints at $600 or you can build your own if your that way inclined.

Lastely your motherboard must support all the above and more, so choose wisely or can advise further. I use a higher end Gigabyte board.

Above is a short summary on such a long story, can flesh out more

Cheers
SevenFX


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## professor_frink (23 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



SevenFX said:


> Morning Professor.
> 
> Here's my take on Things.
> 
> ...





Cheers tekmann,

that's given me plenty to think about for the time being

Will be getting the local computer guy to do it for me, so he will be making sure all the parts will work together- I possibly could figure out how to do it myself, but would prefer to get it done by someone that really knows what they are doing- at least I know the job will be done well, and done quickly.

Have you got any links to somewhere that sells the monitor stands?


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## SevenFX (23 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



professor_frink said:


> Cheers tekmann,
> 
> that's given me plenty to think about for the time being
> 
> ...




Suggestion, tell him what feature n functions you want first, see what you get for a cheaper quote and then see how much extra to for quality brand name stuff rated at higher speeds with quality components in mind. IMO

Also not sure what state your in and assuming you mean LCD as opposed to CRT tube monitors right...

Here some ideas, but I have another one in mind which will find.

http://www.esis.com.au/LCD-Monitors/MonitorArms.htm

Also consider maximun size of monitors are limitation on some of these stands...

SevenFX


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## professor_frink (23 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



SevenFX said:


> Suggestion, tell him what feature n functions you want first, see what you get for a cheaper quote and then see how much extra to for quality brand name stuff rated at higher speeds with quality components in mind. IMO




Good idea, thanks for that



SevenFX said:


> Also not sure what state your in and assuming you mean LCD as opposed to CRT tube monitors right...
> 
> Here some ideas, but I have another one in mind which will find.
> 
> ...




In NSW, and yes, LCD's.

Thanks for the link, will check it out


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## Stan 101 (23 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

XP can't cope with more than 3 GB ram. You *MAY* start to run into trouble if you try add more..


Running RAM on a dual channel motherboard is a good option. Not all motherboards around run in dual channel still...



Cheers,


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## SevenFX (23 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



Stan 101 said:


> XP can't cope with more than 3 GB ram. You *MAY* start to run into trouble if you try add more..




Well someone better tell my machine that, as it being running 4GB for over a year now...

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/PAEmem.mspx




Stan 101 said:


> Running RAM on a dual channel motherboard is a good option. Not all motherboards around run in dual channel still...




Not sure what you mean here...???? Can you explain further...???

SevenFX


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## professor_frink (23 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

I quite like the look of this







Quick question on it- 1 of my monitors is a chimei 22' widescreen, and it doesn't have the 4 screws on the back like my other monitor has(it's a benq). Does that mean I wouldn't be able to use it on a stand??


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## SevenFX (23 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

Don't you want to turn the monitors around Professor, or are you trading blindly...???? 

The industry standard is VESA which means they all mount up to a retangular 75mm (generally =<19") or 100mm (generally =>19") plate supported by 4x8mm(think) screws

The bottom of this page explains VESA
http://www.esis.com.au/LCD-Monitors/MonitorArms.htm#VESAMountExplained

*EDIT:* May want to check base can expand out to accomindate greater than 19" as 22" 24" and wopping 28/30" are out, but suggest most would be happy with 19" to 24" as other problems arise greater than that.

SevenFX


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## professor_frink (23 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



SevenFX said:


> Don't you want to turn the monitors around Professor, or are you trading blindly...????




So that's what I've been doing wrong! And here I was thinking you had to look at the back. No wonder my trading is going so badly



SevenFX said:


> The industry standard is VESA which means they all mount up to a retangular 75mm (generally =<19") or 100mm (generally =>19") plate supported by 4x8mm(think) screws
> 
> The bottom of this page explains VESA
> http://www.esis.com.au/LCD-Monitors/MonitorArms.htm#VESAMountExplained
> ...




Will do.

And scratch the question from my last post- I just figured out that the plastic bit on the back of the chimei monitor comes off, magically revealing the area it would mount onto a stand. I'm not the smartest guy in the room. Probably why I couldn't get a job with enron


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## SevenFX (23 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

That stand you pick out wouldn't be complex to make if your handy, but guessing that would come in at under $400 so making it yourself may cost you $70-$80 in material...if you have the time to waste on making things the old fashion way.

Again whichever way you consider you maximum monitor(s) size & wieight for the future.

Cheers
SevenFX


----------



## prawn_86 (23 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

A mate has a 19" widescreen he no longer wants. 

I have a 256MB graphics card with TV out. This would support another screen wouldnt it? And also, would it be enough for gaming, or would you tech heads reccomend an upgrade? I have 1 gig of ram.

I just cant check today as it means taking all the cables out as its in a confined space 

Im am fairly handy with the software side of things, but have not done much with hardware in the past


----------



## professor_frink (23 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



SevenFX said:


> That stand you pick out wouldn't be complex to make if your handy, but guessing that would come in at under $400 so making it yourself may cost you $70-$80 in material...if you have the time to waste on making things the old fashion way.
> 
> Again whichever way you consider you maximum monitor(s) size & wieight for the future.
> 
> ...




I wouldn't. I can barely nail 2 bits of wood together

Girlfriend's dad is a metal worker though, so he could probably pinch the material required from work**, and knock it together for a carton of beer

** I don't condone such actions- stealing is against the law, and I would never encourage anyone to do that


----------



## prawn_86 (23 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

Also is there any way to tell what slots you have on your mother board without taking the cover off?

thanks guys


----------



## SevenFX (23 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



prawn_86 said:


> A mate has a 19" widescreen he no longer wants.
> 
> I have a 256MB graphics card with TV out.
> 
> I have 1 gig of ram.




Whats your mates phone no, I will give him a call... LOL

All jokes aside, depending on the card the TV out won't do what weve been talking about, and is more for lower quality output to TV.

Some cards also let you display one OR the or and not both at the same time.

1gb of ram is ok, but depends on what your doing on there, and also depend on the the rest of the system 2.

As far as knowing what you have inside, this free program is brilliant, as it give you much much more than basic hardware, software & security configations. (though no card slot information)
http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

*EDIT:* Once you get the motherboard info, you can then go to thier website and check out the specs.

Cheers


----------



## SevenFX (23 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



SevenFX said:


> Good find, as they are quality built and should last many years...
> 
> Worth noting if your using the drivers that comes with WindowsXP, they may be slow (clunky) So the right drivers will change that.
> 
> ...





Prawn.

You may also want to consider one of these QUAD VGA (not DVI and only 32mb, but work still well) cards above, as they USED to be $1000+ cards and can be had for perhaps $100 landed

This is offcourse if you don't want a full upgrade, and want to do it on a budget.

Damm good card for the Money.
SevenFX


----------



## prawn_86 (23 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

basically i only want to set up another screen because i can, not for any real reason. Maybe games more so than trading.

The motherboard below is what i currently have and i have a 256 video card, which has the dual ports(i just checked), but i am looking at upgrading to a 512mb card for games.

what does anyone know about this one?
http://ati.amd.com/products/mobilityradeonx1600/specs.html


----------



## SevenFX (23 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



prawn_86 said:


> Maybe games more so than trading.
> 
> i have a 256 video card, which has the dual ports(i just checked), but i am looking at upgrading to a 512mb card for games.
> 
> ...




Most intense graphics games require as much as you can throw at them, so decent card would be best, not just memory, but video processor speed, archititure & bus type (PCIE better,) but think yours is a AGP being the older type.

The card you've chosen is a lower end model and is PCIE, so it wond fit your board, and it supports software paralleling not that that would matter given you don't have dual PCIE or AGP.


----------



## prawn_86 (23 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

Sorry wrong link. There is one exactly the same, which is an AGP card. Same specs though.

I like my games but dont want to spend a fortune on a card, so i know the trade off. Most of my current games run well on this comp, although Call of Duty 3 frame rate dropped at certain stages, hence why i want to upgrade.

EDIT - this card seems a bit better, but is of course more expensive
http://ati.amd.com/products/radeonx1650/radeonx1650pro/specs.html


----------



## SevenFX (23 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



prawn_86 said:


> Sorry wrong link. There is one exactly the same, which is an AGP card. Same specs though.
> 
> I like my games but dont want to spend a fortune on a card, so i know the trade off. Most of my current games run well on this comp, although Call of Duty 3 frame rate dropped at certain stages, hence why i want to upgrade.




Ok it's a matter of what your paying for what your getting then. but you may have a bottleneck elsewhere and also worth finding out what agp bus speed you have(1X 2X 4X or 8X) on your motherboard, and what the new agp card speed is.

Have you tried the dual vga/dvi ports on your existing card..???


----------



## prawn_86 (23 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

I havnt tried the dual ports yet, as i havnt got the other screen just yet.

I just thought that while im at it i might as well upgrade my graphics card.

But this is where the hardware gets too confusing for me. Bus speeds etc, i have no idea about any of that sort of stuff . i just want to plug something in lol


----------



## SevenFX (23 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

Video cards can get quiet tricky. and best just buying a reasonable priced card that is big brand named, with reasonable amount of memory, the rest generally matches the price & memory onboard.

* Bus speeds are like the speed limit on freeways.
* Bus Archetiture is like the no of lanes travenlling in a direction on freeways
* Video Processor Speed is like a mulcher, and how quick it can process what you throw at it...???
* Video card memory is the ability for the card to store information before it's ready to be displayed

Anyway better stop there, as my analagies are getting worse n worse.

SevenFX


----------



## austek (24 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

Their is enough info on this thread for an old splaw footed computer operator like me to build this set up.  Can manage the 2 or 4 monitor stand no probs.

However being a bit old fashioned & only trading shares in the ASX300 and nothing else, I find it hard to justify a need.

Perhaps have one monitor with Metastock charts, another with Comsec's site and a third with the ASF forum is about all I can think of.

Just wondering if TEK or others can share details of any more valuable use of a multi monitor system that helps traders.   

Replaced my old 15 inch screen with a lovely wide 19 inch MAG monitor and 2 of them would fit nicely on my trading desk, but finding it hard to justify four.

I notice some of the top traders around the country have a row of monitors but I presume they trade globally, Forex, Futures and a multitude of other styles.

Appreciate any comments


----------



## Timmy (24 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



austek said:


> I find it hard to justify a need.
> 
> Just wondering if TEK or others can share details of any more valuable use of a multi monitor system that helps traders.
> 
> Replaced my old 15 inch screen




Hi austek, since no-one has responded yet I hope you don't mind hearing from me on this thread (again).  Regarding the points in the quote box...

Hard to justify a need...The move from one monitor to two for me was of immediate and enormous benefit.  Not just for trading, but just generally.  I am a big user of multiple programs simultaneously, might be a charting application, Paint and Word - where I am copying charts into paint then into Word for my note-taking purposes, or copying from an internet browser to Word, or having more than one chart up and flicking between the two.  Having two monitors meant a big reduction in the "Alt Tab" shuffle.  Once I had the two I could not imagine the loss in productivity and general ease of use were I to go back to 1 monitor.  (I have 3 monitors now, but I am still getting used to it and the gain in utility from 2 to 3 has not been as great as the jump from 1 to 2 - diminishing marginal returns I believe the economists call it).

I think regarding using multiple monitors to help traders ,it is going to be very relevant to ask the sort of trading you do.  I think the longer the time-frame being traded then probably the less utility is gained from having multiple (>2) monitors.  This is not meant to be a sweeping statement applicable to everyone, but I think generally the greater utility will be for shorter time-frame traders.  One screen can have a "trend" time-frame chart up, say daily or hourly, the next screen a shorter period  intra-day chart for trade location pinpointing, and then the third screen the broker interface for trade execution.  All this could be achieved with one or two screens too, it just means less "Alt - Tab" work with 3 or more screens

Do you still have the 15-inch screen?  I ask for 2 reasons.  Firstly you could use this 15" screen as the second screen to see if having two screens was of value to you before going for the second 19" screen.  Secondly, and I actually would have preferred this solution for myself - the 15" screen, I believe, is ideal for use as a third screen to purely display the broker interface.  Again, this is not for everyone, but for me I only want the bare minimum on my broker interface and a 15" screen, set to the right resolution (800*600 would do) would display the information while taking up less space.

I hope this helps.


----------



## austek (26 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

Sorry for late reply Timmy, getting over a snapper fishing comp Sat, getting up at 2am gives me some sort of jetlag for a couple of days to get over it.

Gave the small screen to my  Daughter which I will probably get back, but now I think of it, it may have been only 14 inch and was extremely bulky and old hat compared to the mag.   But either way I like the idea of setting one screen on Comsec with the order already typed out, a 2nd screen following the Comsec price.  Could even look at daily & weekly charts on 2 other screens.

I trade a SMSF and a private account, and while I would prefer to trade longer term, I fall more into a short term to mid term time frame.

Thanks again


----------



## Happy (27 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

Could multi screen set up be tax deductible, if it is work related?


----------



## finnsk (27 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



Happy said:


> Could multi screen set up be tax deductible, if it is work related?




Yes


----------



## SevenFX (27 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



Happy said:


> Could multi screen set up be tax deductible, if it is work related?




I'm not a Tax accountant or can't give you finance advice Whatsoever, but IMO and what I claim is the Tools of the Trade, whatever gives you the edge to profit from.

I would be supprised if they questioned a scanner, printer, office desk, chair, interstate conference, seminar, course, etc, etc if your intvesting/trading business needs to operate effeciently or is in the name of education.

I could say even internet camera, if your video communicating across the net Primarly for business.

SevenFX


----------



## Timmy (27 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

So far on this thread there have been quite a few suggestions on how to run multiple monitors - various video card options, & dual and triplehead2go.  There is also a software option for those with an old spare computer - maxivista.com: "Use any spare PC as a dual monitor screen for your primary PC".  I don't know anything about the product but thought I would bring it up as another option.  

Also, apparently there are now products where you can run a monitor through a USB connection; again, might be an option for some?  Anyone know anything about this?


----------



## SevenFX (27 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



Timmy said:


> Also, apparently there are now products where you can run a monitor through a USB connection; again, might be an option for some?  Anyone know anything about this?




Yes there's a few different brands, but I would use these as a last option for desktop pc or as a lower cost option for notebook only.

They're can be slow and definetly wouldn't recommend if your machine is USB1 as max speeds are around 10mbps only, whereas USB2 is up to 480mbps

Still think Card option inside desktop machine would be better choice, as these USB boxes are not cheaper or faster than internal card. (Video data transfer rate much faster)

Cheers
SevenFX


----------



## prawn_86 (28 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

I was wondering if any of you tech heads might be able to help me.

I am tossing up between 2 different graphics cards, and as i dont know much about hardware its pretty confusing 

I can get this one for $280
http://www.powercolor.com/eng/products_features.asp?ProductID=531

Or this one for $300 (which is the maximum im willing to spend):
http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=proddesc&prod_no=1259&maincat_no=130&cat2_no=136


Any help appreciated as there's too many numbers that i dont undestand 


EDIT - My motherboard is 18monthhs old so i can only support agp cards not pcie


----------



## SevenFX (28 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



prawn_86 said:


> I was wondering if any of you tech heads might be able to help me




Hi P86.

B4 looking into these, details on your overall system specs would be better.(whereever possible)

Processor Model
Motherboard & AGP slot speed (1x 2x 4x 8x)
Memory & Speed
Monitor(s) (VGA or DVI) (& resolution you intend to run)
Operating System

And most important of all, what you hoping this new card will do for you, that your old card is not doing....???? (what application, assuming games)

EDIT: While some of the above specs are not as important, it will give an overall view of how siuted the card matches the system.


----------



## prawn_86 (28 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

Im running a 3.2gh pentium 4.

1gb ram

19inch lcd monitor. its a smallish blue connection that says "D-sub".  im presuiming dvi

Pretty average motherboard: http://www.asus.com.au/search.aspx?searchitem=1&searchkey=P5S800-VM
I cant restart at the moment as im in the process of burning a dvd so i cant tell you what agp speed.

Windows XP Sp2


Looking at running games. It currently does fine but i just want an upgrade so i can get a few of the latest games.


----------



## SevenFX (28 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

Both those cards are DVI (better choice) so you will have to run adaptors ($5ea) to convert the connectors back to DSUB (VGA) which I'm assuming you were describing small blue connectors (15pin in d formation)

The AGP slot is a AGPII which seems to be faster than 8X, so a 8X card should be compatible.

Your motherbaord runs a max speed of ddr400 memory and if you have 1slot of 2 occupied (single 1gb chip), would recommend getting another matching 1gb chip to occupy the second slot, as most games can use a lot of memory, otherwise this may become a bottleneck, hindering the new card.

XPSP2 is good and should have DirectX9c installed (check at the RUN prompt  in menu by typing dxdiag.exe)

*EDIT:* Now to eval the cards... But lunch first, as cant work on empty stomach


----------



## prawn_86 (28 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

Cheers for the help tek.

I have 2x 512 mb ram, but i was thinking of getting another 1gb ram so that would take me to 1.5gb. Depends on my cash scenario after xmas really


----------



## SevenFX (28 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



prawn_86 said:


> Cheers for the help tek.
> 
> I have 2x 512 mb ram, but i was thinking of getting another 1gb ram so that would take me to 1.5gb. Depends on my cash scenario after xmas really




I'd be putting a matchin pair of 1gb's as opposed to mixing brands, speeds and hoping they match well.... as memory is cheap by comparison.

*EDIT:* But comes down to cash, and try getting kingston brand if you want quality.

*EDIT EDIT:* You could try 1gb chip first, and see, but make sure you could get second 1gb in same brand, speed if problems arise.


----------



## prawn_86 (28 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

ok will do.

damn hardware, why cant it all be compatible.


----------



## SevenFX (28 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

P86.

The MSI card you picked is much better in many ways, BUT it is a PCIExpress card which your motherboard doesn't support.

Actually all the GeForce 8600GTS series cards are PCIE type...
http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=prodpage2&maincat_no=130&cat2_no=136

Got another choice...????

*EDIT:* I'd also consider how much $$$ your gonna pour into a older machine, as opposed to upgrading to new motherboard, memory & PCIE video card standard.  Processor, will go into new motherboard

SevenFX


----------



## prawn_86 (28 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

really appreciate the advice tek.

I have thought about a total upgrade, but at this stage i can get 4gb of ram (2x 2gb) for $100 and then one of those cards for $300. (and yes i can get them in AGP, it is just the site lists them as the main type). so $400 total

And if i did upgrade then i would have to pay for someone to put the processor into the new board as i wouldnt be confident doing that and all the BIOS sort of stuff, so that would add to the costs.

Approx what do you think i would be looking at for a new board with a card about those specs also?


----------



## SevenFX (28 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

Memory 2 x 184-pin DIMM Sockets *support max. 2GB *PC3200/2700/2100 non-ECC DDR SDRAM memory  

From that link you sent, your board only supports 2gb *total* so 2 X 1GB

Maybe Ghost (complete back) your hard drive to another drive, and walk the whole box in to a shop to upgrade decent motherboard, memory, vid card which retail prices should be around $700-$750 ($200/$100/$300) and find some shop to do it all free as part of buying the parts from him.

But backup /backup/ backup and keep your old bits to sell on ebay or something.


----------



## prawn_86 (28 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

an old college buddy is a bit of a tech head and says he will install it all and do all the required stuff if he gets to keep the old board and card, so i guess that is alright, as i wont be needing them.

I can get:

1 x Gigabyte VM900M s775 Main board $96.00

1 x Gigabyte nVidia 8600GT PCI-E $200.00

2 x Elixir 1GB DDR-2 667MHz $100.00


So for an extra $100 to wat i was going to spend i get a decent upgrade (imo). 

Sorry to bug you tek, but does this look like an alrite deal?


----------



## SevenFX (28 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



prawn_86 said:


> I can get:
> 
> 1 x Gigabyte VM900M s775 Main board $96.00
> 
> ...





Motherboard better of a ATX (more pci slots, etc)(full size board) as opposed to Micro Atx board. and this whilst has PCIE has onbaord video as well so one generally gets disabled. (don't need onboard video if going for decent video card. (Gigabyte is Good) and Intel chipset is better than Via chipset imo

The other card was a 8600GTS which is better than a 8600GT. but either way PCIE is much better than AGP.

Memory also comes in DDR2 800 and 2gb capicity for new board and Kingston is a good brand for few dollars more. (but make sure board supports DDR2 800

Cheers
SevenFX


----------



## Timmy (28 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



Snakey said:


> Hi Guys
> Im running three laptops and two LCD screens, Thats five screens, on two broadband connections. On the screens i run dynamic depth, dynamic ticker set a minimum of 25000 volume, Live announcements, commodity prices and one for scanning around.




Snakey...realise you probably have your hands full, what with Schoolies week on the Gold Coast etc... But when you get a moment could you fill us in on how you have set up the extra monitors etc. - a lot of info on this thread about desktops but not about laptops, be interesting.


----------



## Stan 101 (28 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



SevenFX said:


> Well someone better tell my machine that, as it being running 4GB for over a year now...
> 
> http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/PAEmem.mspx
> 
> ...





Hi SevenFX, 

It was poor posting on my part. I was too broad in my statement.

in the link you posted from the MS site, it notes the 2gb switch in the boot.ini. In a nutshell, no single program can make use of more than 2gb of physical ram address. Using the 3gb switch will allow a single program to access 3 gb of available space. Every system I have seen that have utilised this 3gb switch has taken an overall slowdown as an offset.

In standard mode (2gb switch) XP will utilise excess ram in the operating system only.

So yes, your motherboard will accept your 4gb ram, your operating system acknowledges the 4 gb of ram, though it simply will not use it.

I'm yet so see any mainstream programs running concurrently  in XP requiring more than 2gb ram and being forced to utilise the swap file. Intense video editing may push this boundary as might massive 3d rendering. XP sees no real speed up using more than 1gb ram. 
There is no way any of the stock market software will even come close to utilising 2gb ram, therefore your extra 1GB and potentially 2.5gb ram is redundant.

The error I spoke of is when a single program tries to access more than 3gb of ram for execution..

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;316739

That link might give more info for you.


For dual channel mode, ram modules work in tandem effectively doubling the throughput of data transfer in a nutshell. Not all motherboard utilise this option and some motherboards need to have identical ram in certain slots to implement dual channel. 
For instance, 2 sticks of cas 2 512mb ram may in fact run a system faster in dual channel mode than those two ram chips + a single ram stick of 1gb forcing the cas latency to run at 3.5. The speed of the ram is often more important than the quantity of ram..

A crude analogy is this: You have a truck that can hold 50 tonnes of cargo and has a maximum speed of 80km an hour due to it only being able to run on a single lane highway. This is single channel with slow ram.
It may be faster to run two trucks with 30 tonne capacity and a new dual lane highway at a speed of 100km an hour. This is dual channel.

The through put of the two trucks is greater than the single truck and in a pc you are not paying for the extra overhead of running the two trucks..



Cheers, 






cheers,


----------



## Timmy (30 November 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

SevenFX, Stan 101 - all this techie talk is a bit daunting, but I have taken the time to read your recent posts and am learning a lot thank-you!  

--- 

My next humble contribution...

Using 3 monitors now raises the question of increased power consumption.  The increased use of electricity probably adds a few cents or dollars to the power bill, not much at all really, and hardly makes one think twice.

But looking at it from the environmental perspective makes more sense.  If SevenFX is successful with this thread and the world switches over to using multiple monitors (!) then it behooves us users to consider the environmental impact.  

I now switch off the monitors immediately if I am going to be away from the computer for more than a few minutes, rather than relying on the “Power Options” in XP that will switch the monitors off in a defined number of minutes.  Rather than physically switching each monitor off I found a little program (at http://www.koding.co.uk/index.php?page=monoff) that turns off all 3 monitors with a single click of the mouse – very handy and lets me think I am doing at least a little bit to help the environment!


----------



## Trembling Hand (21 December 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

Dual monitors...... that’s so 2007

I just bought myself a new system with 4, one being a monster 30" Dell.

I decided to go for one big monitor as I found from using multi monitor systems for some time that you spend 90% of the time looking at the screen right in front of you. The other ones are just for the odd glance but still very helpful.


----------



## wayneL (21 December 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



trembling Hand said:


> Dual monitors...... that’s so 2007
> 
> I just bought myself a new system with 4, one being a monster 30" Dell.
> 
> I decided to go for one big monitor as I found from using multi monitor systems for some time that you spend 90% of the time looking at the screen right in front of you. The other ones are just for the odd glance but still very helpful.



Noice!

I'm thinking of going the big screen too.


----------



## Trembling Hand (21 December 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



wayneL said:


> Noice!
> 
> I'm thinking of going the big screen too.




Yep its pretty good. I had to make my own screen stand to keep it all neat. Just be warned. I’m now the third largest contributor to global warming. I going to have to put an individual air-con in my office. This system is putting out some serious heat. Although that maybe an advantage in Cheltenham.


----------



## wayneL (21 December 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



trembling Hand said:


> Yep its pretty good. I had to make my own screen stand to keep it all neat. Just be warned. I’m now the third largest contributor to global warming. I going to have to put an individual air-con in my office. This system is putting out some serious heat. Although that maybe an advantage in Cheltenham.



Well that's clinched it then!  Did not get above 0 all day here.


----------



## Timmy (21 December 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

Hi TH - looks good.  

Either side of the big screen it appears you have a wide screen oriented so the width is actually height. I like this idea, was it difficult to do?  How do you instruct the PC to send the picture to the screen on its side, if you know what I mean?  Sorry if this is a really dumb question...

Oh, and how did you make your own screen stand, just a quick idea if you can?

P.S. I have 3 screens (soooo 2006) and to keep my carbon footprint just under that of China I switch off the screens if I am going to be away for more than a minute or so using MonOff freeware application.


----------



## Trembling Hand (21 December 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



Timmy said:


> Hi TH - looks good.
> 
> Either side of the big screen it appears you have a wide screen oriented so the width is actually height. I like this idea, was it difficult to do?  How do you instruct the PC to send the picture to the screen on its side, if you know what I mean?  Sorry if this is a really dumb question...
> 
> ...




If you use a reasonably new graphics card it will have the option of setting up each monitor in landscape (normal) or portrait mode. I put the two outer screens like that because of two reasons  
1. it matched the dell 30" height and 
2. They would of been 1.8 meters from edge to edge. Just to wide to be of any use. 

To make the stand I just ordered some pivoting monitor wall mounts. (PM me if you want the supplier) and welded and bolted them together. I'm pretty happy with the result but will not be going into an engineer’s career if I blow up trading. 

Oh I'm supposedly connected to 100% "green" energy to make me feel better about consuming the equivalent of a small towns energy supply.


----------



## Timmy (21 December 2007)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

Thanks for that TH, I like the "high" screen as opposed to the "wide" too because putting an indicator or whatever under the price chart is not going to squash the price chart up too much.  And 1.8 m edge-to-edge - good practice for going to watch the tennis.

Thanks for the info.


----------



## Snakey (22 January 2008)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



Timmy said:


> Snakey...realise you probably have your hands full, what with Schoolies week on the Gold Coast etc... But when you get a moment could you fill us in on how you have set up the extra monitors etc. - a lot of info on this thread about desktops but not about laptops, be interesting.




Laptops have a monitor plug on the back, just shut down the computer, plug in a monitor into the back, start up the computer, go to display in control panel, select "settings", right click on monitor 2 select "attached", then apply the settings. now you have two monitors just move mouse into the new screen and you can see it is now part of your desktop. Simple.

P.s. hibernate is not a shutdown.


----------



## njc.corp (13 May 2008)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

lucky i searched-

very very informative -


Thanks for everyones input

Nick--


----------



## njc.corp (13 May 2008)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

A ? for the computer guru's-would a gaming console be the best sytem to use if i have access to it-

it contains a decent video card-

here are some of the features it has-

1.Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (2.4GHz, 4MB x 2)

2.4GB DDR2 800MHz Dual Channel RAM (2 x 2GB Sticks) 

3.1TeraByte /1000GB (2 x 500GB) SATA 32MB Cache Hard Disk Drive! 

4.Gigabyte GeForce OR EVGA 9800GX2 PCI Express 2.0 DX 10Dual-Link DVI / HDMI 1GB GDDR3 2x256-bit memory 

is the above good enough or overkill-

does anyone see a weakness in the above parts-

i have a clue by i am not a expert-

Thanks

Nick--


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## professor_frink (13 May 2008)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



njc.corp said:


> A ? for the computer guru's-would a gaming console be the best sytem to use if i have access to it-
> 
> it contains a decent video card-
> 
> ...




I'm far from a computer geek myself, but from the discussions I've had with official geeks in the past, a graphics card that a gamer would put in their system would be overkill for a trader. Personally I'd go for 2 cheaper cards so I could run more monitors, compared with splashing out on 1 really nice one. Trading apps generally won't need a top of the range card.

1TB hard drive is most definitely overkill if it's going to be a trading only computer.

Techbuy have a stock/share trading computer you can buy on their website, and is customisable too - 

http://www.techbuy.com.au/p/79513/SYSTEMS_SMALL__HOME_OFFICE/Techbuy/TBOS79513.asp

That might give you an idea of roughly what kind of specs they think a trading rig should have.


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## wabbit (13 May 2008)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

If you are looking to get absolute performance out of your system to things like scanning downloaded stock market data etc, this requires performance from the hard disks.  CPU controls running programs.  RAM is where running data gets stored, but this data has to be collected up from the physical storage first.

My next system will have good CPU and RAM capacities, but I shall be taking a leaf out of a tech-head-at-Uni's book.  He has 5 x 200GB SATA harddrives and an awesome RAID controller.  His operating system is on a RAID0 section across two drives, so is blindingly fast.  His data is stored in a RAID5 configuration across all the drives, which for him is very secure.  (The slack space is striped for gaming)

For my system, where I am looking for HD performance as higher priority than security (I have external data storage to keep backups on) I am considering 3 x 500GB drives, two drives in RAID0, one for other data to supplement external storage.  You can get RAID controllers with 'triplers' that allow configure for RAID0 across three drives.

Of course, the better disks you buy, the better the performance.  15K RPM disks are a bit overpriced for me...

If you aren't sure what RAID is check out : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redundant_array_of_independent_disks
(yes, I know.  It's wiki and we should be careful of info there... but its a good intro to RAID concepts)

You really need to consider exactly what you want to use the computer for.

...anyway, something to consider.



wabbit


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## Slingsh0t (13 May 2008)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*

Nice thread, some very handy info here.


At my work at the moment I'm actually running 2 PC's (one laptop and one desktop) with a total of 3 Monitors (2 on the laptop and 1 on the desktop).  I connect them all together with an open source application called Synergy http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/.  The application lets you 'share' one computers keyboard and mouse with another computer over a network connection: one great aspect being that you can run any OS on any PC and still have them all connected together.  One of my colleagues is currently running Synergy across a PC and MAC and is loving it.

Overall it's handy as I get the benefit of 2 independent computers so if one is under load the other is still quite responsive for other tasks.  Having said this, in a trading environment, multiple monitors on the same PC is still probably a better way to go, but if you do have another PC lying around it could be put to some use with synergy.


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## njc.corp (13 May 2008)

*Re: How to Run Multiple Monitors....*



professor_frink said:


> I'm far from a computer geek myself, but from the discussions I've had with official geeks in the past, a graphics card that a gamer would put in their system would be overkill for a trader. Personally I'd go for 2 cheaper cards so I could run more monitors, compared with splashing out on 1 really nice one. Trading apps generally won't need a top of the range card.
> 
> 1TB hard drive is most definitely overkill if it's going to be a trading only computer.
> 
> ...




Prof-thanks for the info and thanks for the link-

will look into a bit more once i get home-

Thanks

Nick--


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