Resolume media server with 3+ Gpu's

[Grimm90]

Hi ,

Im sorry if this has been asked already , couldnt find answers via search and ive read all "do you want a lot of outputs" documentations.

For a client we are looking at a lot of servers, each servers will have to handle one or two independent facades with 6-12 projectors blended per facade. No need for a framelocked system for most surfaces.

I got access to about 30x RTX3080 cards, a lot of recent pc components (nvme ssd's, ddr4 16gb ram sticks etc) and a budget for Datapaths and or other IT gear.

1- Would it be possible to use 3 or 4 gpu's on one motherboard ? 1 gpu doing the texture rendering and sending it to the other cards ?

2- To take off a part of the load i would have the content composition running on a seperate machine and sending the output via ndi / capture card to this "mapping server"
Any recommendations for 4k or even 8k capture cards ?

3- Could i run into general bandwith issues with 1 capture card processing a 4k30 input and 3 gpu's with a total 11 outputs ? I would think the motherboard can handle all this traffic if its designed for so many slots ? https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/WR ... -rev-10#kf

4- How about if i add one or two datapaths to the main GPU and in total increase to 17 outputs ? Im putting a heavier load on everyhing but theoretically it should work ? Are the outputs from a datapath in sync with the other 3 outputs of the card its connected to ?

5- For one location im thinking to use 3x servers , each with 2x RTX3080 (instead of more datapaths as i got the cards already). Each of these servers would output to 4 projectors on one card and have a GUI output on the second card (could use remote access for the GUI and not use the output but rather not..).
I would then have one "composition server" that feeds each of these mapping servers via capture card, their portion of the output texture to map it to assigned surfaces.
Anyone experienced with such a "distributed system ?"

6- Just theoretically, if i would make 3x media servers , each with 2x quadro p4000 card, capture card and a quadro sync II card, can i use these servers as a framelocked distributed system , each capable of handling their part or a large, 20+ pj blended canvas ? Could i even add datapaths to these p4000's ?

Thanks alot in advance !

[Grimm90]

Anyone ?

[Zoltán]

Quadro sync cards + SMPTE could work.

What's the resolution you're looking to get out to a blend?

[Grimm90]

So using smpte to keep the servers in sync, each with their own composition and media files loaded and not using a capture card or NDI and then framelocked with the quadro cards ?

Output on the blends will mostly be 1920 x 1920 from 4 projectors

[Zoltán]

NDI won't give you frame locking, but if you want to project and NDI input, that should be doable.

1920x1920 fits into 4k pretty good, so you could drive 3x Datapath fx4-s from a single Quadro GPU, and have 12 frame synced 1080p projectors.
One 4k split to 4x 1080p would be synced, so if you don't need the separate blends synced, the consumer GPU line would be also good then.

Single GPU would be a lot better performance than using multiple GPUs in a system.

[Grimm90]

Allright that makes sense , so 3x datapath fx4 on a single quadro gpu would still gve me 12 frame synced outs + 1 left for GUI

And if i would add a second quadro gpu card (and accept the performance hit) , i could do the same on this gpu and frame sync them with the first gpu without the need for a quadro sync II card ?
Giving me a total of 2 gpus , 6 datapaths and 24+2 outputs ?

Would also work frame synced with regular RTX cards ?

[Arvol]

Quadro card with FX4's. A6000 card can do (3) 4K outputs (4th is for UI) and that equals (12) SYNC'd 1080p outputs. If you get the SDI flavor of the FX4 and if your projectors have 3G SDI inputs, this will alleviate the need for converters. Be sure to link the FX4's together via sync port.

[Grimm90]

Thakns for that insight Arvol , 12 synced projectors would be great already.
If i add a second quadro a6000 card on the same mobo , are these outputs synced with the first quadro card or do i need to add a quadro sync II card just for that ? Thanks

[Arvol]

You'll need a sync card for for multiple Quadro GPU's
However only 1 card will be doing your rendering, and you would need to match cards. A600's aren't cheap and that's a lot of wasted $$ for those cards to do nothing more than be glorified extra outputs. I'd use a separate machine for each area.

Since the GPU is doing the heavy lifting, you might be able to get by with a micro build (cheaper machines) and just swap out the case to allow for a PCIe card.

It was just 8-12 PJ's per mosaic right?

Also multiple machines is great so if your main one dies, your entire site isn't dead.

[Grimm90]

Well biggest setup we had so far was 40 pjs , but those were running on D3's. We also had one setup with 30pjs on watchout, so im looking at my options to stretch my amount of synced outputs to play with resolume.

It isn't possible to combine an A6000 card with lets say for example a P620 or P4000 , start resolume on a monitor on the A6000 and just use the other card for its outputs ?

It's anyway gonna be an expensive rack with the quadros and the datapaths if we build it, then again still gonna be way cheaper than a d3 4x4 ...