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The number of IRQ's is set at fifteen, period. Go into your System
section under "Control Panel" and list all of your IRQ'S, (and DMA's,
Dynamic Memory Access), and I think you will be truly amazed at how fast
those IRQ's and DMA's have become assigned. You may have seen a system
running four monitors, (maybe), but that was probably at some trade show
where the manufacturer/retailor made damn sure that it worked. Look. it
comes down to cost and performance. Why take that chance with the
current cost of Pentium II's below $1,000 and 17" monitors well below
$300. That is not enough money to worry about. I will say the same
thing here that I used to teach at Amarillo College and Tulsa Jr.
College: DO NOT EVER SPEND $500 TO SAVE $50. Yes, I taught computer
theory and database design. If you want system performance and
reliability at today's prices, run separate systems off of a simple
network.
Andrew wrote:
>
> I have looked in to multi-monitor setups with win98 and
> I would say if you are serious about trading then you need to
> do this. It is so easy in win98 and does not slow your system
> down noticeably. It is also less expensive then you think. I have seen a
> 4 monitor system running TradeStation and it was amazing. but what
> was really amazing is the video cards. They used basic 35 dollar
> video card designed for win98.
>
> All you need are two or more supported video cards. Your
> mother board bios must be designed for more then one
> monitor. You have to have open slots and enough Irq's (interrupts)
> to run the additional video cards.
>
> under win98, each video card will take and manage one portion of the screen
> so in theory your video response time could increase.
>
> The only way to really slow the system down is to run more applications.
> If you run TradeStation on a 4 monitor system, you can put a chart on each
> monitor, but you will still be running one copy of trade station , so the
> CPU will not
> be strained more then it is normally. The video card takes 99 percent of
> the additional
> work load.
>
> I would also recommend that all your video cards are the same. This is not
> required
> but it makes the drivers easier to install.
>
> I am not sure why you would need 256 megs of ram. Each video card will have
> its own ram and will be processing only one portion of the desktop. (which
> is stretched
> across the monitors) The system I saw with four monitors used 64 megs with
> cheapo video cars and it ran great.
>
> So you have to check the following.
> 1.Can your computer mother board use two monitors. Call the manufacture
>
> 2.Which video cards do you want to use? are they compatible. Most
> manufactures have compatible v-cards now.
> Go to manufacture's web sights or call them and find one that suits your
> needs and is compatible with multi-monitor setups.
>
> 3.Do you have open slots and Irq's available? If you don't know, find
> someone to help or take it to a dealer.
>
> 5. Plug in the monitors. Make more money.
>
> The days of 2500 dollar dule monitor cards are history.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Andrew S.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Len Olson <lto@xxxxxxxx>
> To: RealTraders Discussion Group <realtraders@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: Tuesday, February 23, 1999 4:48 PM
> Subject: Re: hardware set up
>
> >Valhalla,
> >
> >You can run dual monitors but at the cost of performance and failure.
> >Maybe the new Pentium III will be able to handle this approach. Apart
> >from splitting the duties of the processor, you have two other BIG
> >problems. The processor assigns and processes the job, i.e. logic,
> >math, and I/O subsections of the processor. But, RAM has to be huge
> >anymore. Perhaps, 256MB would suffice. Second, the onboard memory of
> >the video board(s) has to be equally impressive. Both of these problems
> >WILL result in RAM conflicts which in turn lead to system lockup. (the
> >infamous "serious fault" or "system not responding" prompts from the
> >PC. Worse yet, your screens just lock up, stop displaying updated data,
> >and you do not even know what has happened. No doubt. Buy a second
> >system. I responded to a few posts today regarding use of a cable
> >modem. Here is what you do. Rely upon WIN95, 98, or NT's peer to peer
> >network capabilities. Buy a network hub ($25 to $100). The cable modem
> >will come equipped with a T-base-10 connection which goes into the hub.
> >All, (or both), of your PC's tie into the hub. Instant access from all
> >PC's to the internet via cable modem. Good Luck.
> >
> >Valhalla wrote:
> >>
> >> I have a question for the group about an issue that others might have
> >> tackled by now. Anyone running dual monitors under Win98? Would
> >> appreciate any experience with this, especially as to choice of any
> >> special video card required. The only one I've seen was as expensive as
> >> a 2nd computer.
> >>
> >> Thanks, Mark Scheier
> >
> >
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