Please help with hardware choice

[Arvol]

Could outputting via SDI be an option?
BMD has SDI to HDMI micro converters for $80 each.
And an 8 channel SDI card for about $900

With your 11520x720 resolution, you should only need 6 of those outputs...

[jate]

^^^^ This is bad advice. I can't find the specific thread right now, but Joris and the Resolume devs tried it and wrote up a thorough report on it. The NVS810 throttles the GTX hard.

I was planning to test this, so would really like to read through the thread if you find it!

[Joris]

The NVS doesn't throttle the GTX, not more than a regular secondary card anyway.

The problem is that an NVS and a GTX together in the same machine is undefined behaviour, as far as Nvidia is concerned. So Nvidia Control Panel won't show the GTX as an available card, while the NVS is active. This makes it impossible to run Resolume with the GTX as the main renderer.

The only way we could make it work, was first disabling all the NVS ports (via Windows' own display manager > Disconnect), then the GTX would become available as a renderer, then you can launch Resolume using the GTX as renderer, then you have to re-enable all the NVS outputs.

Those steps are explained in more detail here:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=13015&hilit=gtx+nvs#p53604
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=13015&hilit=gtx+nvs&start=10#p53686

[Arvol]

Would this be due to multiple nVidia drivers installed, one being an CL and one being a GL card?
It was always explained to me that mixing a CL and GL card is bad practice...

[jate]

The only way we could make it work, was first disabling all the NVS ports (via Windows' own display manager > Disconnect), then the GTX would become available as a renderer, then you can launch Resolume using the GTX as renderer, then you have to re-enable all the NVS outputs.

Crazy work around! I love it. Under the understanding that obviously it's falling into the realm of the unsupported, in your personal experience, did the NVS 810 work alright for you after everything was running through the GTX?

To quote the other post,

In the end, Resolume is mostly just pushing simple textured quads around, which a single powerful card is more than capable of. 10x1024x768 is a breeze for even an average card. The hard part is setting up enough outputs to push the pixels out of.

I totally agree - this is my struggle right now. I'd take 30 outputs if I could get them. Based on your experience (again, with the understanding that it's not supported, just looking for your personal opinions here), do you think someone would be able to get 3 NVS 810s to work if they disabled all of the outputs on them first to get the GTX running, then re-enabled them all?

[Joris]

To be honest, I'm not sure about that. I'm hesitant, because aside from the setup process, you also run into limitations of the PCIe architecture when running 4 cards instead of 'just' 2. Since the third and fourth won't be on the fastest PCIe lanes, I can't say if their performance will be comparable to the second card, or if the computer will even recognize them.

You're really doing pioneering work here. The "right", proven and reliable way is to do it with Datapaths. The budget, uncharted and experimental way is to use 3 NVS's. You're looking for advice, but advice just means everybody and their grandma will come in here and quote some datasheet they found online. Nobody has ever really done it. If you want to take the plunge, do it. If you're hesitant, don't.

Do, or do not. There is no try

[jate]

Well, I'm committed now, so I'll just have to make sure to document my success or failure so others can learn from it instead of literally losing sleep over it like I'm doing.

You mention somewhere else on the forums that the Club3D MST Hub can't extend the number of outputs a card is limited by, and I am guessing you've tested one? It's a shame if that's the case.

*Edit*

Also,

To be honest, I'm not sure about that. I'm hesitant, because aside from the setup process, you also run into limitations of the PCIe architecture when running 4 cards instead of 'just' 2. Since the third and fourth won't be on the fastest PCIe lanes, I can't say if their performance will be comparable to the second card, or if the computer will even recognize them.

To that, the number of lanes is dependant on your moba and CPU. I made sure that on both, I have 4 PCIe lanes that will all get 8x, so none of them will have less than the others.

[Joris]

You mention somewhere else on the forums that the Club3D MST Hub can't extend the number of outputs a card is limited by, and I am guessing you've tested one?

Yes, we have: http://resolume.com/blog/10878/onwards- ... e-infinite. To be honest, I vaguely recall someone on Facebook saying it wasn't as simple as the amount of ports, but I'm sure the limit is in the 4-6 output ballpark.

I made sure that on both, I have 4 PCIe lanes that will all get 8x

There you go. This is what I mean with people coming in with theoretical knowledge on forums. In the end, you're the one that will travel into the unknown and tell the rest the awe inspiring tales of the beast with the 24 outputs.

[Oaktown]

Yes, we have: http://resolume.com/blog/10878/onwards- ... e-infinite. To be honest, I vaguely recall someone on Facebook saying it wasn't as simple as the amount of ports, but I'm sure the limit is in the 4-6 output ballpark.

MST technology doesn't expand the number of outputs supported by a card, it just lets the user access them or access them in a different way. More information about MST here.

In a nutshell, most Nvidia GPUs have 5 video ports (typically 3 DP, 1 HDMI and 1 DVI-I) but only support 4 outputs so MST is not something useful unless you want to run a single DP extender or reduce clutter by daisy chaining monitors.

And, most AMD GPUs have 4 video ports (typically 2 DP, 1 HDMI and 1 DVI-I) but support 6 outputs so MST would let the user access the 2 'hidden" outputs via one of the DP ports by using either an MST Hub or MST-enabled displays

[lightbx]

Well, I'm committed now, so I'll just have to make sure to document my success or failure so others can learn from it instead of literally losing sleep over it like I'm doing.

Welcome aboard.