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Multi-screen computer rig
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Agaetis Byrjun Endalaust
#21 - 2012-11-26 00:55:59 UTC
u mad bro?

that link is pretty famous, dunno what you mean honestly. Did I say it's MY setup?

__________________________ just because you're paranoid it doesn't mean they're not after you
Tarvos Telesto
Blood Fanatics
#22 - 2012-11-26 02:14:09 UTC
Buy cinema and modern projector conected to PC P

EvE isn't game, its style of living.
Shalaan Bedala
Doomheim
#23 - 2012-11-26 02:52:07 UTC
Agaetis Byrjun Endalaust wrote:
u mad bro?

that link is pretty famous, dunno what you mean honestly. Did I say it's MY setup?



Oh, I assumed it was yours. Either way, its a great setup, but just a bit more than what I need, that's all.
Shalaan Bedala
Doomheim
#24 - 2012-11-28 17:54:49 UTC
To get back on topic...any ideas?

1) What kind of GPU will run or support 5x1 portrait settings? (I know ADM's "Eyefinity" software does, but no word on GPUs, and I'd prefer nVidia to be honest)
According to overclock.net , I have to use ATI because Nvidia only supports up to 3 screens. /slit wrists

2) What other components of the computer will need to be upgraded besides the mobo/CPU/RAM to accomodate the new graphic cards?
3) Has anyone done this themselves (6000x1920 ), and if so, was there any compatibility issues or anything to get EVE to run at this resolution?
4) Lastly, any suggestions or concerns would be appreciated. In case its needed, I was hoping to spend less than $1,500 for the hardware (monitors not included).
Baby ChuChu
Ice Cream Asylum
#25 - 2012-11-28 18:23:05 UTC  |  Edited by: Baby ChuChu
1) An AMD/ATI gpu with 5 outputs and a lot of memory. Portrait mode should not be an issue as long as the card can support whatever the resolution is of the monitor when it's in landscape mode.

2) PSU. Depending on the amount of cards you get, you'll obviously want more power. Someone feel free to correct me, but (and this is a very rough estimate without having any info on what cards/other hardware you have in your system)

~750W for most 2 card setups
~1000W for most 3 card setups
~1200W for most quad setups

Again, rough estimate without having any information...

3) Haven't tried it myself so can't really say...

4) Personally, I'd just stick with 3 monitors, but that's just me.
Shalaan Bedala
Doomheim
#26 - 2012-11-29 13:15:56 UTC  |  Edited by: Shalaan Bedala
Baby ChuChu wrote:
~1000W for most 3 card setups


I use a 1000W right now, so good to know that's reusable. How is this for a setup then?

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188070

x2 Processors: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115229

x12 Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145322

x2 Graphics card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202008
OR
x1? x2? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202005

I'm a little over budget, but there's a lot of potential to upgrade in case it doesn't run well or I want to upgrade.

EDIT: would this run EVE 6000x1920 smoothly, or is it too much/too little?
Baby ChuChu
Ice Cream Asylum
#27 - 2012-11-29 14:12:25 UTC  |  Edited by: Baby ChuChu
A dual CPU system is essentially useless for gaming as no games take advantage of a second CPU. That and a single Sandy Bridge, Sandy Bridge-E, or Ivy Bridge would give you much better performance for games than any Xeon processor ever would.

Sandy Bridge-E might be overkill as well and, in many ways, Ivy Bridge still beats it, but, either way, if you want an extreme (or just better-suited in general) system, I say just get one of those 2 options.

RAM seems perfectly okay, but sometimes it's cheaper buying it as a kit. Sometimes not. A lot of options, but can't really go too wrong here.

For the graphics cards, I feel like there might be too much to say and I may not be the right person to say it so here. I'm not even 100% sure about what I said in my previous post specifically regarding graphics cards so I'd just read that or wait for someone better equipped to give you a solid answer.

I can say though that, at that resolution, 3 cards may not be out of the question, but Eve honestly isn't that demanding and if that's all you play then you may be perfectly fine with 2. Again, not 100% about that though.
Caleidascope
Republic Military School
Minmatar Republic
#28 - 2012-11-29 16:11:37 UTC
Shalaan Bedala wrote:
To get back on topic...any ideas?

1) What kind of GPU will run or support 5x1 portrait settings? (I know ADM's "Eyefinity" software does, but no word on GPUs, and I'd prefer nVidia to be honest)
According to overclock.net , I have to use ATI because Nvidia only supports up to 3 screens. /slit wrists

2) What other components of the computer will need to be upgraded besides the mobo/CPU/RAM to accomodate the new graphic cards?
3) Has anyone done this themselves (6000x1920 ), and if so, was there any compatibility issues or anything to get EVE to run at this resolution?
4) Lastly, any suggestions or concerns would be appreciated. In case its needed, I was hoping to spend less than $1,500 for the hardware (monitors not included).

I would probably try to avoid the problems and go with Eyefinity and AMD cards.

Life is short and dinner time is chancy

Eat dessert first!
Shalaan Bedala
Doomheim
#29 - 2012-12-01 07:00:36 UTC
Baby ChuChu wrote:
A dual CPU system is essentially useless for gaming as no games take advantage of a second CPU. That and a single Sandy Bridge, Sandy Bridge-E, or Ivy Bridge would give you much better performance for games than any Xeon processor ever would.


I contacted someone working at AMD, and they said that EVE isn't demanding at all on their cards, and one card like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202005 with 6GB VRAM is more than enough for my needs. So that's great news, and if is doesn't work out, I can always buy a second one and get about 80% increased performance.

Thanks for the recommendations about motherboards/processors. Unfortunately, that is way over my head, so what would you recommend as far as those go? The only real necessities that it would need is 2 PCI 3.0 slot x16, and plenty of room for growth. I'd like to upgrade it down the road, but the mobo would be nice if it lasted 5 years like my last one. I don't know the first thing about processors except that it has to match the "LGA" or whatever number with the mobo, otherwise it won't fit. I umm...learned that the hard way 5 years ago, lol.Big smile
Myfanwy Heimdal
Heimdal Freight and Manufacture Inc
#30 - 2012-12-01 08:19:34 UTC
Please keep us updated with your final rig.

Now, I am utterly baffled by this bit; perhaps because I am old school computing and used to computers from the 70s onwards.

That card has two output connectors; three screens need three inputs. How do you make one card drive three screens and if, as you say you may, need a second card like that then how do you get two cards connected with three monitors?

Do the two cards link together to make a form of video network?


Sorry for these questions; but my forte is mostly with software development and not bunging systems together though my current two monitor rig comes from a video card with two outputs. It's the getting three from two I don't understand and this option of having two video cards I don't follow either.

Pam:  I wonder what my name means in Welsh?Nessa: Why?
Shalaan Bedala
Doomheim
#31 - 2012-12-01 08:46:02 UTC
Actually that's an easy one I can answer. ^_^

This is the video AMD sent me to explain it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf0X0lNFmgw
Caleidascope
Republic Military School
Minmatar Republic
#32 - 2012-12-01 18:34:27 UTC  |  Edited by: Caleidascope
Myfanwy Heimdal wrote:
Please keep us updated with your final rig.

Now, I am utterly baffled by this bit; perhaps because I am old school computing and used to computers from the 70s onwards.

That card has two output connectors; three screens need three inputs. How do you make one card drive three screens and if, as you say you may, need a second card like that then how do you get two cards connected with three monitors?

Do the two cards link together to make a form of video network?


Sorry for these questions; but my forte is mostly with software development and not bunging systems together though my current two monitor rig comes from a video card with two outputs. It's the getting three from two I don't understand and this option of having two video cards I don't follow either.

Newegg says that this card has 1 single link dvi connector and 1 dual link dvi connector. This mean that you connect one monitor to single link dvi connector and you connect 2 monitors to the dual link dvi connector. Total of three monitors.

For the dual link connection on the card you will need dual link dvi splitter cable.

There is one thing I find strange when looking at dual link dvi splitter cable. The single connector that goes into video card is male, no problem. The two connectors that go into two monitors are female and my monitor has female connector, so you will need two dvi cables that have a male connectors on each end to mate the dual link dvi splitter cable to the monitors. The whole thing should look like this: http://i.imgur.com/JzuoE.jpg

Life is short and dinner time is chancy

Eat dessert first!
Shalaan Bedala
Doomheim
#33 - 2012-12-02 03:04:45 UTC
Caleidascope wrote:
For the dual link connection on the card you will need dual link dvi splitter cable.


I will need one Display Port splitter. The card can handle 4 screens by itself as I understand it. (2 dvi, 2 mini-DP). In order for Eyefinity to work, only 2 screens can use old legacy (DVI) inputs. The rest need to use Display Ports.

Or at least, that's how I understand it.
Caleidascope
Republic Military School
Minmatar Republic
#34 - 2012-12-02 05:13:17 UTC
Shalaan Bedala wrote:
Caleidascope wrote:
For the dual link connection on the card you will need dual link dvi splitter cable.


I will need one Display Port splitter. The card can handle 4 screens by itself as I understand it. (2 dvi, 2 mini-DP). In order for Eyefinity to work, only 2 screens can use old legacy (DVI) inputs. The rest need to use Display Ports.

Or at least, that's how I understand it.

If I understand it right, the dual link dvi on the video card will let you use two monitors as if they were one large monitor, so you get one giant monitor.

From looking here: http://www.sapphiretech.com/Flex/FleX_Eng_apply.html
I think you can do dvi1+dvi2+DP1+DP2, one monitor on each, for total of 4. But. Since one of your dvi is dual link dvi, you can stick 2 monitors on that specific dvi, for total of 5 monitors, the two monitors on the dual link dvi will probably not be able to do the angle to provide the surround experience. Still, if you get monitors with really thin bezels, the two monitors on dual link dvi can be your center monitor, then DP1 monitor can be your left, DP2 monitor can be your right, gives you the surround experience.

Life is short and dinner time is chancy

Eat dessert first!
Shalaan Bedala
Doomheim
#35 - 2012-12-02 08:24:33 UTC
Interesting. I understand what you're saying now, and the dual-DVI output is interesting. However, after reading the Sapphire website, and the lack of support with bezel correction, it looks like that's not an option I'd like to consider.

Knowing that, this might be a better card, as it has 4 built in mini DP ports.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127670

My concern is that 3GB VRAM might not be enough, and I've been told VRAM doesn't add up (3+3=6), so I might need to wait for the 8000 series and see if something there works, otherwise I'll need to Crossfire two cards.
digitalwanderer
DW inc
#36 - 2012-12-02 14:08:21 UTC  |  Edited by: digitalwanderer
Shalaan Bedala wrote:
Interesting. I understand what you're saying now, and the dual-DVI output is interesting. However, after reading the Sapphire website, and the lack of support with bezel correction, it looks like that's not an option I'd like to consider.

Knowing that, this might be a better card, as it has 4 built in mini DP ports.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127670

My concern is that 3GB VRAM might not be enough, and I've been told VRAM doesn't add up (3+3=6), so I might need to wait for the 8000 series and see if something there works, otherwise I'll need to Crossfire two cards.




Here's my setup for an example:

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx298/Superfly101_02/P1030522.jpg
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx298/Superfly101_02/P1030513.jpg
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx298/Superfly101_02/P1030512.jpg
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx298/Superfly101_02/P1030506.jpg
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx298/Superfly101_02/P1030500.jpg
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx298/Superfly101_02/P1030488.jpg



Now for a few hints to save you trouble......The monitors i use are samsung SA850's wich support a native resolution of 2560*1440 each, so with bezel compensation enabled in eyefinity, it reaches almost 8000 pixels across and 1440 vertical, and as you can see im one of the pictures, i also use a dual power supply setup with a pair of 1200 watt corsair PSU's where i distributed the power delivery fairly evenly between both as a single power supply won't cut it in the long term, even a 1500 watt one.


The 4 video cards are AMD HD7970's and water cooled with each one easily pulling well over 200 watts under load once they're overclocked, and the amount of heat is handled by 5 radiators across 2 seperate loops( one for the GPU's and the other for the CPU's and motherboard), and 2 pumps for each loop( main and backup) that are fully adjustable from those front mounted koolance pump controlers....There's 20 fans in total and fully adjustable with the 3 front mounted fan controlers, so there a lot of air running around, but the speeds of the fans are so low that you basically have a hard time hearing the system running.


This takes up a lot of room, so a standard tower case will be pretty much impossible, especially with the water cooling gear and the dual PSU setup.....The dual socket motherboard and twin Xeon's are more of a personal choice for a system that goes beyond gaming and apart from the video cards wich are almost 1 year old, the rest of the system is almost 2 years old, has been heavily overclocked from day 1, and still runs anything like a dream.


3GB ram for each card is enough for 4X AA at the resolutions i play on recent games( even battlefield 3), but if you're considering things like synthetic benchmark programs like the heaven demo, the cards will essentially run out of memory if you run the benchmark with 8X AA enabled at 8000*1440......Every frame takes like 10 secs to renderLol.
Caleidascope
Republic Military School
Minmatar Republic
#37 - 2012-12-02 15:35:45 UTC
digitalwanderer wrote:
Shalaan Bedala wrote:
Interesting. I understand what you're saying now, and the dual-DVI output is interesting. However, after reading the Sapphire website, and the lack of support with bezel correction, it looks like that's not an option I'd like to consider.

Knowing that, this might be a better card, as it has 4 built in mini DP ports.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127670

My concern is that 3GB VRAM might not be enough, and I've been told VRAM doesn't add up (3+3=6), so I might need to wait for the 8000 series and see if something there works, otherwise I'll need to Crossfire two cards.




Here's my setup for an example:

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx298/Superfly101_02/P1030522.jpg
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx298/Superfly101_02/P1030513.jpg
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx298/Superfly101_02/P1030512.jpg
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx298/Superfly101_02/P1030506.jpg
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx298/Superfly101_02/P1030500.jpg
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx298/Superfly101_02/P1030488.jpg



Now for a few hints to save you trouble......The monitors i use are samsung SA850's wich support a native resolution of 2560*1440 each, so with bezel compensation enabled in eyefinity, it reaches almost 8000 pixels across and 1440 vertical, and as you can see im one of the pictures, i also use a dual power supply setup with a pair of 1200 watt corsair PSU's where i distributed the power delivery fairly evenly between both as a single power supply won't cut it in the long term, even a 1500 watt one.


The 4 video cards are AMD HD7970's and water cooled with each one easily pulling well over 200 watts under load once they're overclocked, and the amount of heat is handled by 5 radiators across 2 seperate loops( one for the GPU's and the other for the CPU's and motherboard), and 2 pumps for each loop( main and backup) that are fully adjustable from those front mounted koolance pump controlers....There's 20 fans in total and fully adjustable with the 3 front mounted fan controlers, so there a lot of air running around, but the speeds of the fans are so low that you basically have a hard time hearing the system running.


This takes up a lot of room, so a standard tower case will be pretty much impossible, especially with the water cooling gear and the dual PSU setup.....The dual socket motherboard and twin Xeon's are more of a personal choice for a system that goes beyond gaming and apart from the video cards wich are almost 1 year old, the rest of the system is almost 2 years old, has been heavily overclocked from day 1, and still runs anything like a dream.


3GB ram for each card is enough for 4X AA at the resolutions i play on recent games( even battlefield 3), but if you're considering things like synthetic benchmark programs like the heaven demo, the cards will essentially run out of memory if you run the benchmark with 8X AA enabled at 8000*1440......Every frame takes like 10 secs to renderLol.

A sort of tangential question, but something that I have run into before.

How do you use two power supplies? Here is what I mean. A regular computer power supply is designed to work using computer motherboard, it has to be plugged into the mobo to work right. So. Are you using two computer power supplies where one computer power supply works normally (plugged into motherboard) and second computer power supply have been modified (I think you will need to short some lines and/or install some switches)? Or. Do you have one computer power supply and one industrial power supply? The industrial power supply would just plug to wall outlet and provide the voltages that you need, avoiding all the other stuff that a normal computer power supply has for powering motherboard, hd, dvd, floppy disk drive, etc.

I guess you can plug a second computer power supply into second motherboard (mobo+cheap/old cpu+some cheap ram+some cheap/old video card==it will boot which is all you need), but not use that motherboard for anything. This way the second computer power supply will work just fine and you just run the video card power cables to the video cards on the first motherboard.

Life is short and dinner time is chancy

Eat dessert first!
Caleidascope
Republic Military School
Minmatar Republic
#38 - 2012-12-02 15:44:21 UTC
Shalaan Bedala wrote:
Interesting. I understand what you're saying now, and the dual-DVI output is interesting. However, after reading the Sapphire website, and the lack of support with bezel correction, it looks like that's not an option I'd like to consider.

Knowing that, this might be a better card, as it has 4 built in mini DP ports.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127670

My concern is that 3GB VRAM might not be enough, and I've been told VRAM doesn't add up (3+3=6), so I might need to wait for the 8000 series and see if something there works, otherwise I'll need to Crossfire two cards.

Yes, if I understand the dual link dvi right, there is no bezel correction for it because the two monitors that are on the dual link dvi are not seen as two monitors, they are seen as one really big monitor and since it is one monitor, there is no bezel to compensate for from software point of view. If this is right, then you could use the two monitors on the dual link dvi for one of your side views or maybe for the vertical central view (one monitor above the other).

Life is short and dinner time is chancy

Eat dessert first!
digitalwanderer
DW inc
#39 - 2012-12-02 16:17:59 UTC  |  Edited by: digitalwanderer
Caleidascope wrote:

A sort of tangential question, but something that I have run into before.

How do you use two power supplies? Here is what I mean. A regular computer power supply is designed to work using computer motherboard, it has to be plugged into the mobo to work right. So. Are you using two computer power supplies where one computer power supply works normally (plugged into motherboard) and second computer power supply have been modified (I think you will need to short some lines and/or install some switches)? Or. Do you have one computer power supply and one industrial power supply? The industrial power supply would just plug to wall outlet and provide the voltages that you need, avoiding all the other stuff that a normal computer power supply has for powering motherboard, hd, dvd, floppy disk drive, etc.

I guess you can plug a second computer power supply into second motherboard (mobo+cheap/old cpu+some cheap ram+some cheap/old video card==it will boot which is all you need), but not use that motherboard for anything. This way the second computer power supply will work just fine and you just run the video card power cables to the video cards on the first motherboard.




Easier to do than you might think, as the simplest idea is to connect 2 pins together on the ATX power connector using a small wire....There's a single green wire on the ATX connector and you connect that to the closest black wire on the same connector, wich all of them are ground wires anyhow.


The one you use to turn on the PC is a momentary switch, meaning it only completes the circuit while it's being pressed, while the hack on the second power supply could also be done like the above trick, but also adding a switch that has a latching feature ( permanent on and off position basically) and you could place that switch on the front panel after drilling a hole of course:


http://www.lamptron.com/products/view/Stainless_Steel_Vandal_Resistant_Illuminated_Swi


Available in both types...Momentary and latching versions and in various diameters.....Even different ring colors.
Caleidascope
Republic Military School
Minmatar Republic
#40 - 2012-12-02 17:16:11 UTC
digitalwanderer wrote:
Caleidascope wrote:

A sort of tangential question, but something that I have run into before.

How do you use two power supplies? Here is what I mean. A regular computer power supply is designed to work using computer motherboard, it has to be plugged into the mobo to work right. So. Are you using two computer power supplies where one computer power supply works normally (plugged into motherboard) and second computer power supply have been modified (I think you will need to short some lines and/or install some switches)? Or. Do you have one computer power supply and one industrial power supply? The industrial power supply would just plug to wall outlet and provide the voltages that you need, avoiding all the other stuff that a normal computer power supply has for powering motherboard, hd, dvd, floppy disk drive, etc.

I guess you can plug a second computer power supply into second motherboard (mobo+cheap/old cpu+some cheap ram+some cheap/old video card==it will boot which is all you need), but not use that motherboard for anything. This way the second computer power supply will work just fine and you just run the video card power cables to the video cards on the first motherboard.




Easier to do than you might think, as the simplest idea is to connect 2 pins together on the ATX power connector using a small wire....There's a single green wire on the ATX connector and you connect that to the closest black wire on the same connector, wich all of them are ground wires anyhow.


The one you use to turn on the PC is a momentary switch, meaning it only completes the circuit while it's being pressed, while the hack on the second power supply could also be done like the above trick, but also adding a switch that has a latching feature ( permanent on and off position basically) and you could place that switch on the front panel after drilling a hole of course:


http://www.lamptron.com/products/view/Stainless_Steel_Vandal_Resistant_Illuminated_Swi


Available in both types...Momentary and latching versions and in various diameters.....Even different ring colors.

I will try that. I wanted to power my GTX 460 from a second power supply I have laying around from an older build. Thank you for the explanation.

Life is short and dinner time is chancy

Eat dessert first!
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