Assistance required from the computer scientists amongst us?

[TheMoneyMachine]

If a PC system currently has 2 dual head graphics cards with 4 monitors connected and providing their is adequate PCI slots available what would be the limiting factors in the PC infrastructure for 2 additional graphics cards and 4 monitors?

Any advice greatly appreciated!

Regards

TMM

 

[flyingeagle]

not sure of all limiting factors but more power will generate more heat and more current
flow therefore you may need a bigger or additional fan for cooling and a bigger power
supply unit.

happy trading

 

[dcraig1]

I don't think you need a computer scientist to answer this.

As previously pointed out, you need to be aware of power consumption and cooling.

I have a machine with 6 screens, using 2 x NVidia NVS285 PCI-E cards and one NVS280 PCI card. Power supply is 430W. There is no problem with power or cooling, but the machine does have 120mm front and back fans.

The NVS28* are a good choice for this - each card is about 21W, fanless and you can pick them up on eBAY cheaply.

If you use a number of gaming type 3D graphics cards you might end up with power supply and cooling problems plus the extra noise from the card fans.

I think there is some limit in windows (maybe 16 screens ?). I use Linux, and there is no such software limit.

 

[zambuck]

What resolution are these screen running at....?

 

[TheMoneyMachine]

Thanks for the replies.

not sure of all limiting factors but more power will generate more heat and more current
flow therefore you may need a bigger or additional fan for cooling and a bigger power
supply unit.

happy trading

flyingeagle

Thanks for the information but i am already aware of these factors. I am more interested in the limitations surrounding the machine hardware for example the RAM or the processor.

I don't think you need a computer scientist to answer this.

As previously pointed out, you need to be aware of power consumption and cooling.

I have a machine with 6 screens, using 2 x NVidia NVS285 PCI-E cards and one NVS280 PCI card. Power supply is 430W. There is no problem with power or cooling, but the machine does have 120mm front and back fans.

The NVS28* are a good choice for this - each card is about 21W, fanless and you can pick them up on eBAY cheaply.

If you use a number of gaming type 3D graphics cards you might end up with power supply and cooling problems plus the extra noise from the card fans.

I think there is some limit in windows (maybe 16 screens ?). I use Linux, and there is no such software limit.

dcraig1

I am aware of the extra consumption and heat that would be created from addtional graphics cards. I would like to know what extra load is put on the remaining hardware i.e. is the extra load on the hardware negligible for each addtional grahics card or is it significant?

What resolution are these screen running at....?

zambuck

I believe the resolution is 1280 x 1024.


Regards

TMM

 

[zambuck]

I may be wrong in saying this but rather than adding the screens also consider the type of screens you are going to use....

A 1920×1200 (WUXGA) 17" in Xblack double lamp technology will give you a bigger area than 1280 X 1024 screen......

If you have two screens at 1920 X 1200 resolution as above it will cover same viewing area you will get with 3.5 screens (almost 4 screens) running at 1280 X 1024 resolution....or 5.8 (almost 6 screens) screens running at 1024 X 768 resolution....

It's not only numbers of screens but also the resolution that matters...

LCD Resolution: When Bigger Is Actually Smaller - Featured Article - Digital Trends

 

[Glenn]

If a PC system currently has 2 dual head graphics cards with 4 monitors connected and providing their is adequate PCI slots available what would be the limiting factors in the PC infrastructure for 2 additional graphics cards and 4 monitors?

Any advice greatly appreciated!

Regards

TMM

In general terms:-
Additional graphics cards contain the memory and processing power needed to run the additional screen displays.
It is only if you add additional software, windows, charts etc. to your cpu that you will experience some degredation.
To test this before you upgrade, run all the things you would run on 6 screens and see how your cpu and memory cope. So long as that gives you good or adequate performance then I don't anticipate extra screens causing a problem.

Glenn
Glenn

 

[TheMoneyMachine]

I may be wrong in saying this but rather than adding the screens also consider the type of screens you are going to use....

A 1920×1200 (WUXGA) 17" in Xblack double lamp technology will give you a bigger area than 1280 X 1024 screen......

If you have two screens at 1920 X 1200 resolution as above it will cover same viewing area you will get with 3.5 screens (almost 4 screens) running at 1280 X 1024 resolution....or 5.8 (almost 6 screens) screens running at 1024 X 768 resolution....

It's not only numbers of screens but also the resolution that matters...

LCD Resolution: When Bigger Is Actually Smaller - Featured Article - Digital Trends

zambuck

Thanks for pointing this out. In this case though the addtional screen setup in required as opposed to the same space on lesser screens.

In general terms:-
Additional graphics cards contain the memory and processing power needed to run the additional screen displays.
It is only if you add additional software, windows, charts etc. to your cpu that you will experience some degredation.
To test this before you upgrade, run all the things you would run on 6 screens and see how your cpu and memory cope. So long as that gives you good or adequate performance then I don't anticipate extra screens causing a problem.

Glenn
Glenn

Thanks Glenn, this answers my query.

Regards

TMM

 

[km24519847]

A simpler approach is to have 1 pc as a graphics ouptput machine running xp pro or vista and another PC running a linux platform doing the trade calculations an web applications. Peere to peer the two of them with manually configured addresses connected with a cat 5 crossover cable.