PC build for artnet control

Bro, does your rig even lift?
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Jandrewsld
Met Resolume in a bar the other day
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Joined: Tue Mar 30, 2021 09:06

PC build for artnet control

Post by Jandrewsld »

I’m building a system for use controlling led pixels via artnet. Trying to figure out what specs are important when building out my PC since I won’t be driving video on graphics cards. A few questions come to mind...

Should I be concerned about the network card handling a certain amount of artnet traffic?

Can I send and receive artnet on same card? Hoping to send commands from my lighting console via artnet to resolume.

When running resolume arena is it using more CPU for processing or a graphics card, even if I’m not driving displays with my graphics card?

Anything else to consider?

Thanks in advance!

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Arvol
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Re: PC build for artnet control

Post by Arvol »

Your GPU is rendering the video. I believe the CPU takes that information and converts it to logic. So you will want a descent GPU. I'm you're not outputting to a monitor and your video files are 4k or less, I would think a GTX1070 would even work.

I think having a nice CPU (maybe 6-8 cores) and lots of system memory would be more important for this build. So maybe 64-128GB of ram and a nice i7 or i9?

How much are you pushing?

Most modern MOBO's have a single (if not dual) Gigabit ethernet port on them. Most lighting consoles only have a single ethernet port for artnet so you should be able to keep up with the pixel count.

I'd like to know more on this for sure on what hardware you can boost to optimize pixel output if anyone would like to comment.

AcdNrg
Hasn't felt like this about software in a long time
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Re: PC build for artnet control

Post by AcdNrg »

Adding to that, many artnet receivers still have 100Mbit NICs. As an example: The nebula I´m using in the lab setup delivers 8 DMX universes ie 4096 channels over that kind of connection. And no, it´s not steampowered :D

Looking at the computer, I´d say it´s hard to overwhelm the std Gigabit NIC. However, there is major differences in support of advanced networking features. If, for example, you want to separate artnet traffic from everything else your computer is doing, you can do that via VLANs over a single cable - IF the driver for the NIC supports it.

Given the price for a 1- or 2-port server grade card these days... probably it´s better to just add another NIC with a decent chipset (in case you like overkill as much as I do).

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