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Another video card question

  #1 (permalink)
 dnkhoward2 
Dover, Fl
 
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I have a computer with 3 Nvidia NVS 285 video cards. The computer came with windows 7 32 bit and was only utilizing 25% of my 8 gb ram. It was freezing with too many windows open and I would have to restart it with the start button. I finally had to upgrade to a 64 bit operating system to utilize more ram and hopefully stop the computer from freezing. I updated with Win 8.1 64 bit. I am running a Win 7 64 bit driver for the video cards since there is not one yet for win 8.1. Since Jan 6 when I installed win 8.1, my video cards have shut down over 50 times. Do I just have to upgrade my video cards? I am using splitter cables on the 3 cards to have a 6 monitor setup. I would appreciate any suggestions since I have limited knowledge in this area.
Thanks

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  #3 (permalink)
 tulanch 
Salt Lake City, UT
 
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I did not go the video card route for the exact issues you are talking about which I would say is related to the video drivers with respect to the OS your using.

I went with USB/VGA converters as my monitors are not HDMI. They do make these converters for HDMI monitors as well. ( google displaylink usb vga adapter) I run 2 monitors using these 2 USB/VGA devices and 1 monitor using the VGA card in my laptop. I extend the display with the monitors in a T shape with 3 on top and one on bottom. I use NinjaTrader which is up-to-date version. I have 4-5 indicators per chart and scalp with lowest time frame of 10 seconds. I have 5-6 charts and the DOM up, but solely focus on the 6E. I also have other browser windows open, applications, etc.. even winamp. All works just fine. I have a 17in duel core Dell Insperion running Vista 32bit with 4 GB RAM (only 3 are accessible due to 32bit). I also have a solid state drive - the solid state drive made a world of difference.

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  #4 (permalink)
 dnkhoward2 
Dover, Fl
 
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tulanch View Post
I did not go the video card route for the exact issues you are talking about which I would say is related to the video drivers with respect to the OS your using.

I went with USB/VGA converters as my monitors are not HDMI. They do make these converters for HDMI monitors as well. ( google displaylink usb vga adapter) I run 2 monitors using these 2 USB/VGA devices and 1 monitor using the VGA card in my laptop. I extend the display with the monitors in a T shape with 3 on top and one on bottom. I use NinjaTrader which is up-to-date version. I have 4-5 indicators per chart and scalp with lowest time frame of 10 seconds. I have 5-6 charts and the DOM up, but solely focus on the 6E. I also have other browser windows open, applications, etc.. even winamp. All works just fine. I have a 17in duel core Dell Insperion running Vista 32bit with 4 GB RAM (only 3 are accessible due to 32bit). I also have a solid state drive - the solid state drive made a world of difference.

Thank you @tulanch for taking the time to post. I will look into this tonight and see if this will help me with the problem I am having. I am not quite sure that it will though.
Thanks again

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  #5 (permalink)
 
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 paps 
SF Bay Area + CA/US
 
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dnkhoward2 View Post
I have a computer with 3 Nvidia NVS 285 video cards. The computer came with windows 7 32 bit and was only utilizing 25% of my 8 gb ram. It was freezing with too many windows open and I would have to restart it with the start button. I finally had to upgrade to a 64 bit operating system to utilize more ram and hopefully stop the computer from freezing. I updated with Win 8.1 64 bit. I am running a Win 7 64 bit driver for the video cards since there is not one yet for win 8.1. Since Jan 6 when I installed win 8.1, my video cards have shut down over 50 times. Do I just have to upgrade my video cards? I am using splitter cables on the 3 cards to have a 6 monitor setup. I would appreciate any suggestions since I have limited knowledge in this area.
Thanks

Hey...you may have to check this yourself as it could be various issues. You may want to be sure if 8GB if enough for the kind of stuff you may be running. You may also want to check your CPU util rather than just RAM since you mentioned only 25% of RAM is used. If it is a RAM function I would like to see the RAM constantly depleted. Also Win7 should give you 64-bit.

I had a setup which had 6monitors with 8GB. Had RAM issues which clearly showed RAM was less(i.e getting depleted) with the kind of stuff I do. Getting it to 24GB i saw the max RAM util was 12GB...leaving enough for my Apps. CPU was never a problem nor was Cache for my case.

Well hope you figure this....it must be definitely irritation with the freezes.

goodluck
s

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  #6 (permalink)
 dnkhoward2 
Dover, Fl
 
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paps View Post
Hey...you may have to check this yourself as it could be various issues. You may want to be sure if 8GB if enough for the kind of stuff you may be running. You may also want to check your CPU util rather than just RAM since you mentioned only 25% of RAM is used. If it is a RAM function I would like to see the RAM constantly depleted. Also Win7 should give you 64-bit.

I had a setup which had 6monitors with 8GB. Had RAM issues which clearly showed RAM was less(i.e getting depleted) with the kind of stuff I do. Getting it to 24GB i saw the max RAM util was 12GB...leaving enough for my Apps. CPU was never a problem nor was Cache for my case.

Well hope you figure this....it must be definitely irritation with the freezes.

goodluck
s

Thanks @paps. I knew I had to get to a 64 bit OS to bump up my ram usage. 64 bit helped a little but it didn't solve the problem I was having with the freezing and locking up. Win 7 64 bit wasn't readily available for me like 8.1 was. What I didn't realize was is that 8.1 wouldn't have a driver for my video cards. I am learning through this that the video cards take a lot of ram. Between what you said (bumping up my ram) and installing some video cards that have more ram available I am hoping that this will solve the problem. It's not like I have a ton of windows up to get it to freeze. I was just watching a youtube video a while ago and it locked up on me. The weird thing is that when I first bought it (about mid 2013) it didn't do this. It just started happening about 2 months ago.
Thanks for your time and suggestion

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  #7 (permalink)
 
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 paps 
SF Bay Area + CA/US
 
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Hi..this at times can also be clash of certain display drivers or something installed creating IRQ issues. Maybe you could try checking with nvdia support to see if there are any driver updates or any known issue with workarounds.

Thnx
S

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

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  #8 (permalink)
 
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 Beljevina 
Toronto, Canada
 
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dnkhoward2 View Post
... I updated with Win 8.1 64 bit. I am running a Win 7 64 bit driver for the video cards since there is not one yet for win 8.1. Since Jan 6 when I installed win 8.1, my video cards have shut down over 50 times. Do I just have to upgrade my video cards? I am using splitter cables on the 3 cards to have a 6 monitor setup. I would appreciate any suggestions since I have limited knowledge in this area.
Thanks


dnkhoward2 View Post
... I am learning through this that the video cards take a lot of ram. Between what you said (bumping up my ram) and installing some video cards that have more ram available I am hoping that this will solve the problem. It's not like I have a ton of windows up to get it to freeze. I was just watching a youtube video a while ago and it locked up on me. The weird thing is that when I first bought it (about mid 2013) it didn't do this. It just started happening about 2 months ago.

Since those video cards are crusty old, it's highly unlikely they will ever receive proper Windows 8.1 driver support. If the cards themselves are the PCIE x16 or PCIE x1 cards there can be unknown issues with the motherboard, which, when communicating with a very new OS, including the layers of video drive and hardware acceleration "mish mash" that is presents, just clogs up somewhere along the way.

I had looked towards purchasing these cards some years ago, and even by then, they were of incredibly limited speed and capacity. They have an onboard 128MB of DDR2, which combined with a 350Mhz is quite low end by today's standards. It's possible to pick up a NVidia GT610 for ~$30 when they go on sale (after rebate), which allows for 4 monitors to be hooked up directly from it; this card is one of the most cost effective solutions for this. In theory, 2 of them could be used in the same system (as long as you have another PCIE x16 slot, which more than likely will diminish the speed just slightly to x8 for each slot), but overall should be of significantly perceptibly better speed but more importantly should offer system stability and Win 8.1 compatability.

You had mentioned previously that your "video cards have shut down over 50 times" - video cards don't really shut down, and by implication allow the rest of your PC to remain working - I assume you meant to state here that they froze your entire system or gave a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death).

Also, the now 8GB of system memory you now have installed has nothing to do with the operation of the video cards and their solely (per card) 128MB of RAM. In other words, what the video card is called on to do in no way allocates any of the system's memory, so in theory their operation and reliability will not change whether you have 2GB, 4GB or 8GB of system RAM. The fact that you have youtube videos freezing-up your PC is quite likely due to a driver incompatability where quite old technology video cards are being called upon by Adobe Flash and/or other OS layers of a very new OS, and something clogs up along the way; I realize that's not the most technical explanation, but the events aren't uncommon given the mix of genres in play here. You also mentioned the problems were not occurring ~2 months ago? I can't tell if you had those same 3 video cards installed: if you did, it's possible that since most folks have Microsoft's patch updates freely updating their systems, that the myriad of patches they tend to send along, 'broke' something, that allowed backward compatability. Lastly, as a remote possibility, it's possible for 1 of the video cards to have developed a hardware problem, that only occurs intermittently, or, in certain conditions. (I have been through dozens of video cards in my lifetime, and have seen this a number of times, hence, my next paragraph/suggestion)

I'm not sure if there is any onboard video card to whatever motherboard you are using; if there is, I would test your system's operation by removing the 3 NVS 285 cards, and try to perform all the same tasks running just that onboard video off of 1 monitor. That process of elimination should allow you to pinpoint where the problem is.

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  #9 (permalink)
 dnkhoward2 
Dover, Fl
 
Experience: Intermediate
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Trading: YM, Currencies
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Beljevina View Post
Since those video cards are crusty old, it's highly unlikely they will ever receive proper Windows 8.1 driver support. If the cards themselves are the PCIE x16 or PCIE x1 cards there can be unknown issues with the motherboard, which, when communicating with a very new OS, including the layers of video drive and hardware acceleration "mish mash" that is presents, just clogs up somewhere along the way.

I had looked towards purchasing these cards some years ago, and even by then, they were of incredibly limited speed and capacity. They have an onboard 128MB of DDR2, which combined with a 350Mhz is quite low end by today's standards. It's possible to pick up a NVidia GT610 for ~$30 when they go on sale (after rebate), which allows for 4 monitors to be hooked up directly from it; this card is one of the most cost effective solutions for this. In theory, 2 of them could be used in the same system (as long as you have another PCIE x16 slot, which more than likely will diminish the speed just slightly to x8 for each slot), but overall should be of significantly perceptibly better speed but more importantly should offer system stability and Win 8.1 compatability.

You had mentioned previously that your "video cards have shut down over 50 times" - video cards don't really shut down, and by implication allow the rest of your PC to remain working - I assume you meant to state here that they froze your entire system or gave a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death).

Also, the now 8GB of system memory you now have installed has nothing to do with the operation of the video cards and their solely (per card) 128MB of RAM. In other words, what the video card is called on to do in no way allocates any of the system's memory, so in theory their operation and reliability will not change whether you have 2GB, 4GB or 8GB of system RAM. The fact that you have youtube videos freezing-up your PC is quite likely due to a driver incompatability where quite old technology video cards are being called upon by Adobe Flash and/or other OS layers of a very new OS, and something clogs up along the way; I realize that's not the most technical explanation, but the events aren't uncommon given the mix of genres in play here. You also mentioned the problems were not occurring ~2 months ago? I can't tell if you had those same 3 video cards installed: if you did, it's possible that since most folks have Microsoft's patch updates freely updating their systems, that the myriad of patches they tend to send along, 'broke' something, that allowed backward compatability. Lastly, as a remote possibility, it's possible for 1 of the video cards to have developed a hardware problem, that only occurs intermittently, or, in certain conditions. (I have been through dozens of video cards in my lifetime, and have seen this a number of times, hence, my next paragraph/suggestion)

I'm not sure if there is any onboard video card to whatever motherboard you are using; if there is, I would test your system's operation by removing the 3 NVS 285 cards, and try to perform all the same tasks running just that onboard video off of 1 monitor. That process of elimination should allow you to pinpoint where the problem is.

Thank you @Beljevina for the education of what is going on here and the recommendation of which video card would be good in my situation. I understand much better what is going on. I will have to figure out how many slots I have to see if my motherboard will support 2 cards. If not 4 monitors will be enough. I really appreciate your time and knowledge.

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  #10 (permalink)
 
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 Fat Tails 
Berlin, Europe
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I had used 2 NVS 285 with my old Dell workstation / Windows XP some years ago. The problem of these graphics adapters is that they only come with 128 MB of RAM, and as far as I know they cannot use more than 64 MB of the RAM of the processor. I think that 128 + 64 MB of RAM is pretty low for handling two monitors. In your place I would not hesitate to replace the NVS 285 cards.

If you wish to connect six monitors, you could try to fit your PC with 2 GByte Asus nVidia GT 640 passive adapters. Each card requires 2 (!) slots because of the large passive cooler. The adapter comes with 2 DVI, 1 HDMI and 1 VGA port. The price tag is about $ 110.

Amazon.com: ASUS 2 GB DDR3 Graphics Card GT640-DCSL-2GD3: Computers & Accessories

I use the card myself as a replacement for two Firepro 2270 adapters. It is by far superior and has worked flawlessly since I have installed it. Energy consumption is low (my workstation including three monitors and four hard disks runs at about 95 Watts most of the time), and as a passive adapter it has zero noise emission.

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