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Dear FPI & Group,
I've been running multi-monitor cards since around 1990 (beginning with an STB
4-monitor card with Win 3.11) and am now running two Colorgraphic 4-monitor cards
in a P233 and an Appian 2-monitor card in a P3/500 --- before my switch to
multi-monitor cards, I ran multi-computers (now I run both). Except for the STB
card, which I bought new (retailed for $2K - they were relatively new, so used
ones were largely unavailable --- and have since given to Jim Osborn in gratitude
for his years of service to this newsgroup), I've bought all my other
multi-monitor cards over eBay for no more than $75 each. I wouldn't want to
trade without them. I've had many, many telephone conversations with tech
support at STB, Colorgraphic, and Appian, and have been uniformly pleased with
all their respective service and cards.
I bought a Matrox G400 Dual card new over eBay a year or so ago for around $150,
but during its shipment changed my mind, and when I got it I sold it to Kent
Rollins, on this list, in a wash sale. You might talk with him about his
impressions of the Matrox card.
My subjective impressions re fancy video cards, multi-monitor or not, are that
the weak link in the chain is TradeStation as well as the data feed speed, so
that, at least in my experience, any 4 MB/monitor PCI video card that can display
a 1024 X 768 image in 256 colors will suffice, except if you are running a 20-21
inch monitor, where you can effectively employ a greater resolution than 1024 x
768. For TradeStation, I am unaware of any benefit received from using any
faster or fancier video card. I would appreciate receiving any objective
information to the contrary.
I know that it is very easy for me to get hung up on the hardware/software side
of trading --- I've done that quite often and will undoubtedly continue to do
that in the future until I really learn my lesson. What I am finding, however,
is that when I put energy into trying to obtain the "best", the "fastest", the
"most powerful", the "most robust" whatever for my trading, it is usually a
signal to me that I am avoiding something about my actual trading that needs
attention, and that I need to ground and center myself and get back to what is
important to me, my trading, and not all the outside stuff, like hardware,
software, and the like. All my experience indicates that what works best for me
is simple, simple, simple, together with a multi-monitor card or two.
Sincerely,
Richard
FPI wrote:
> I got such informative responses to my SCSI question, that I'd like to ask
> 2 more.
>
> Both Dell & Gateway have the Matrox G400 32MB 4X ADP Graphics Accelerator
> card for running more than 1 monitor, but that card is limited to 2 monitors.
>
> Is the above card a middle-of-the-road selection, but adequate? I'd like to
> use as much of whichever of the above companies I buy from so that I can
> get tech support when needed, esp at 2AM.
>
> Has anyone tried running a couple of 15" LCD monitors with a dual digital
> monitor card? Like the results?
>
> Lastly, any opinions on whether Dell is superior to Gateway or vice versa?
>
> Again, thanks for the input, it is MUCH appreciated,
>
> FPI
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