GPU for RedCode and Redcine

[Lucas Wilson]

...support for those external nVidia Quadro Plex GPU boxes, and maybe support for the 4k projector from RED.l

Having done a *lot* of testing with Quadroplex, I can tell you that it is not designed for high-throughput applications. Its internal architecture is not built for that.

What is absolutely amazing with Quadroplex is how it deals with geometry, texturing, and all the other aspects of a typical 3D modeling or animation application. There, it's stunning.

But for the world of 4K requiring huge amounts of throughput? Nope...

Lucas
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ASSIMILATE, Inc.
LA, CA, USA

 

[Curran Giddens]

I know it is meant for 3D modeling and animation, which I would mostly use it for. But I also know you can connect the Sony 4k SXRD projector to it. I just think it would be nice to get extra use out of such an expensive piece of equipment.

One question: How does a 4k projector usually get connected to a computer instead of a standalone 4k media player? I don't think you can get 4k throughput with a normal graphics card....

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

A single X1900XT or FX4500 card will drive the 3840x2400 projector on its own. You need two DVI-DL|TMDS to dual DVI-D adapters, this gives you four DVI-D connectors capable of driving 1920x1200 on each. This will do 8bits/channel for sure, to do 10bpc, two video cards may be needed, giving quad DVI-DL connectors. You can run dual X1900XT cards in a Mac Pro. The primary occupies the x16 slot, the second one occupies the adjacent slot. The adjacent slot can be configured with the PCI-E Lane Utility to be an 8-lane slot. it's half the bandwidth of the primary x16 slot, but still plenty to drive video output of this resolution and most card functions. Don't confuse this with SLI/Crossfire ability where the cards work in unison to build a single image.

 

[MikeCurtis]

Jeff - yeah, but you get HORRIFIC refresh rates. In the Red booth at IBC we had a 3840x2400 res monitor, and it was running at some incredibly lame refresh rate, like in the teens or something. totally killed the usefulness of it, the pointer lag was ridiculous, felt like using a Viewmatic - "(click) there's the pointer, I'm moving the mouse, (click) oops there's the pointer now over there...."

...a total pain. So driving the res is one thing, having an adequate refresh rate is quite another.

-mike, who worked the IBC booth last year but not this (sigh)

 

[laguun]

I know it is meant for 3D modeling and animation, which I would mostly use it for. But I also know you can connect the Sony 4k SXRD projector to it. I just think it would be nice to get extra use out of such an expensive piece of equipment.

One question: How does a 4k projector usually get connected to a computer instead of a standalone 4k media player? I don't think you can get 4k throughput with a normal graphics card....

Our stuff was running from a PC with dvs clipster / hydra when we had the SRX in use the last time.
They have several 4K systems.

http://www.dvs.de/

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Jeff - yeah, but you get HORRIFIC refresh rates.

Heh. I hadn't thought of that. Although, is it really that bad due to the card itself or is it also a monitor issue? The older IBM/ViewSonic 22" 3840x2400 displays had terrible sync rates because they essentially cycled four 1920x1200 inputs through the same 1920x1200 DSP pipeline and sent the info to the appropriate screen quadrant.

Both the FX4500 and the X1900XT can drive dual 2560x1600 displays at 60Hz. That's 8,192,000 pixels. 3840x2400 is 9,216,000.. Sure it's 1.1M more pixels, but I can't believe that the screen refresh rate would fall to less than 1/3rd. Based on a linear comparison, the 9.2Megapixel display should still be able to sustain about 53Hz.

To drive such a display, I still think dual X1900XT cards would be a good way to go when considering current hardware, if a single card really won't do it. It would be a pain to set that up though, the second card would have to be ordered through Apple's parts division by an Apple Store or authorized repair center.

Of course, if we're talking about running such a display from a PC, then we have a lot more config options and this shouldn't be much of a concern at all. Dual 8800GT cards would be fairly economical and provide more performance than needed... Dual 8900GTX w/768MB each would be great if you want to run realtime 3D on such a display.