Penultimate gaming setup

[Delta6326]

You should check out this card W1zz just reviewed its $600, but can do 6 screens and is only 38% slower than GTX 690, so if you crossfire these you are set for power house.

 

[3870x2]

So... What business are you in?

Money usually isn't an issue until you realize that you've spent it all.

 

[cadaveca]

I agree that the projectors seem to be pricey, given that no consumer projectors have DVI-D 120hz input and 1080p output. Places like christiedigital.com have pricey products.

But for a while, I'll have room for monitors only, so that takes care of that. I'll start by building one, then another. The 3rd one can probably wait until we move and set up in the actual home theater room. I mean, we do have a gaming PC in the living room, which I guess we COULD replace with such a beast of a machine, but I think it might be big, a bit loud, and maybe too hot. I think building a room with lots of great ventilation would be ideal if I'm going to fire up 3 powerhouse PCs in it. Especially with all them projectors, obviously. Then again, maybe the new tech doesn't create that much heat? So many questions.

Yeah, the display tech is what's gonna eat the most of the 50K. I was quite serious about that number.

 

[3870x2]

Penultimate = next to last. It does sound badass I guess.

This is going to be really hard to do, as Apple takes the cake in shitty computers.

 

[Horrux]

You should check out this card W1zz just reviewed its $600, but can do 6 screens and is only 38% slower than GTX 690, so if you crossfire these you are set for power house.

I love HIS Radeons, too. Fantastic coolers and top-notch overclocking. However, this would mean no 3D Vision, and I think 3D with AMD cards is still limited to one GPU? On a 6k x 2x resolution, there's no way one GPU is enough, especially for 120hz or 3D gaming...

 

[3870x2]

I love HIS Radeons, too. Fantastic coolers and top-notch overclocking. However, this would mean no 3D Vision, and I think 3D with AMD cards is still limited to one GPU? On a 6k x 2x resolution, there's no way one GPU is enough, especially for 120hz or 3D gaming...

How much overhead is there to 3d gaming? I wouldn't figure it would be that much.

I would also recommend more than 1 card for the number of screens.

 

[SaltyFish]

I will admit that I do have a water-cooling setup in my garage, that I removed from my PC. Too complicated, need to check on the water level, blah. I like to USE my system, not tinker around in it. Would a phase change be simpler? First time I hear of such a thing for everyday use.

Anything above air cooling is complicated.

Some informative links on phase-change cooling:
http://www.pcpitstop.com/news/maxpc/cooling.asp
http://www.overclockers.com/an-introduction-to-extreme-cooling/

In short, it's the most viable long-term form of sub-ambient cooling. Unlike thermoelectric cooling (Peltier), condensation doesn't seem to be a complaint. Noise is likely the biggest issue as it's functionally a refrigerator/air conditioner. Good parts or isolating headphones can take care of the noise.

LD Cooling and FrozenCPU sell such units, but you could also build one yourself.

 

[Horrux]

How much overhead is there to 3d gaming? I wouldn't figure it would be that much.

I would also recommend more than 1 card for the number of screens.

Sadly the overhead is huge: double each frame. One for the left eye, one for the right. Ideally, you want to hit 120 fps so that each eye has 60 fps. Anything less and the rhythm of the fps fluctuates, and you're wearing shutter glasses, which blink at variable rates... Guaranteed migraine in no time at all. So performance is EXTREMELY important in 3D gaming.

I want a setup that can get me 120fps ALL THE TIME at 5760 x 2160 in any game. It is certainly a tall order, I realize that.

EDIT: Actually, it looks like the projectors do 1920 x 1200 so the full resolution will actually be 5760 x 2400.

Anything above air cooling is complicated.

Some informative links on phase-change cooling:
http://www.pcpitstop.com/news/maxpc/cooling.asp
http://www.overclockers.com/an-introduction-to-extreme-cooling/

In short, it's the most viable long-term form of sub-ambient cooling. Unlike thermoelectric cooling (Peltier), condensation doesn't seem to be a complaint. Noise is likely the biggest issue as it's functionally a refrigerator/air conditioner. Good parts or isolating headphones can take care of the noise.

LD Cooling and FrozenCPU sell such units, but you could also build one yourself.

For sure I'm getting a pre-built. Thanks for the info!

EDIT: I might stick with air... These things have only 2 sockets per fridge unit, which means I would need 2.5 (3) per PC. That is just insane, I can't imagine the clutter.

 

[Frag_Maniac]

Sorry, but English is my second language. We speak French where I'm from. I meant to say "completely extreme" or somesuch.

In searching for the right word, a lot of people use one's they are mistaken about the meaning of, and it's quite common with that particular word because it has "ultimate" built into it.

In this case though ultimate is neither the root nor has anything to do with the word. It's derived from the root penult, which means the next to the last syllable in a word.

 

[erocker]

Don't AMD cards perform better in high resolution situations or has something changed?

 

[cadaveca]

Don't AMD cards perform better in high resolution situations or has something changed?

No 3D Vision, he said. He wants 3D, and not to have to muck around too much to get it working.

 

[Horrux]

No 3D Vision, he said. He wants 3D, and not to have to muck around too much to get it working.

Yep, that's the whole point of this setup. The ultimate 3D gaming station. Huge viewing angle, extreme resolution, very high FPS... And 3D.

But I am still not clear on whether or not I can run 6 monitors in Surround? If so, do I need to use more video cards? What's the max with nVidia cards? Where's that info? I tried searching the nvidia website, but they talk about "using multiple monitors on the same card"... Yeah, OK, but HOW MANY?

Anyone got that info? I'm in no super-duper hurry, I'll be going on vacation during the holidays, but right after that I'm assembling these beasts.

 

[cadaveca]

Honestly, this is so high-end, I'd talk to Nvidia directly. I do not think just cobbling whatever parts together would be best, and they probably have recommended configurations depending on what you want to use the cards for. Multi-monitor 3D is going to take some serious grunt. Just gaming at 2560x1600 with 4xaa is a lot of work for 2 cards, and I dunno that 120 FPS is possible as the res you want. Like dual GTX690 seems the best choice...4x GTX680 is the most powerful config, but I dunno ,it just seems like the dula sticks would have better drivers, since such configs are more likely. 4xGPU is gonna cost about the same anyway, but GTX690 is going to be far easir both to cool, and to power. SDingle monitor performance today is very very good..but multimonitor, to me still leaves a lot to be desired, never mind throwing 3D into the mix as well.

Some people can't handle the 3D well either, so if you haven't tried it, I suggest you find a way to do so first.

 

[Horrux]

I currently have a 3D Vision setup and a Samsung monitor that does its own 3D and is HD3D and DDD compatible. So I am experienced with the 3D technology, and my conclusion with it is that you NEED 120fps (60 3D-fps) for it to work out. Otherwise, headaches. With my current 2600k @ 4.2 Ghz and SLI GTX 570, I have to turn down some setting on some games in order to achieve such a framerate that 120 fps is pretty much the minimum. I figure a quad-channel, more powerful CPU and GPUs would let me achieve that at extreme resolution, with the possibility of reducing settings. That's almost a given, although I obviously would rather not. However, it may not be possible to keep all settings maxed on most games at such resolution, no matter what 2012-2013 rig you might have.

That's fine by me.

DLP projectors are great for 3D because they don't ghost. I think my ballpark cost for these machines is going to be somewhere between $6k and $10k including everything except the projectors, meaning 8xSSD, 4xGTX 680 4Gb, Socket 2011, etc. I want to stick with stock parts and build them EXACTLY alike. That way I can keep spare parts around, and troubleshoot anything using the other machines. Custom things can bring so many troubles. Not for me. Plus, they would make the whole thing more expensive, and the goal here isn't to spend the maximum possible, but rather to have the maximum amount of PC for my 3D gaming room / home cinema room.

 

[Relayer]

nVidia does 4 screens max with 3x surround +1extended desktop. No Mars III. nVidia put the kibosh on it. AIB's aren't allowed any designs faster than the reference 690. Plus it would still be voltage locked. So, what would be the point?

A few 6gig 7970 Sapphire Vapor-X's would be the weapon of choice for such a rig. HD3D Eyefinity might not be working yet. I'm not sure. The other choice is 680 4Gig cards. You are limited to 3 screen surround, though.

Face it, gaming isn't ready for you yet. You need to wait for holodeck technology.

 

[Horrux]

nVidia does 4 screens max with 3x surround +1extended desktop. No Mars III. nVidia put the kibosh on it. AIB's aren't allowed any designs faster than the reference 690. Plus it would still be voltage locked. So, what would be the point?

A few 6gig 7970 Sapphire Vapor-X's would be the weapon of choice for such a rig. HD3D Eyefinity might not be working yet. I'm not sure. The other choice is 680 4Gig cards. You are limited to 3 screen surround, though.

Face it, gaming isn't ready for you yet. You need to wait for holodeck technology.

Damn that sucks. 3 screens only. Wow. Way to go nVidia. And way to go AMD with breaking crossfire HD3D. Even though HD3D halves the resolution which is crappy in and of itself. Sigh.

So it's either extreme resolution with AMD cards or triple-res 3D with nVidias. Things just got complicated. I like my 3D but there's no way I'm getting the kind of immersion I'm aiming at with just 3 monitors or projectors.

Talking about movies, can I expect my video cards to scale 1080p video up to my 5760 x 2160 resolution in a smart way, or will it simply scale up the pixels, giving me nice colored boxes when seen up close?

Any idea about this?

 

[Horrux]

I think the larger projection screen will have 5760 x 2160 via 6 x 120hz projectors on AMD videocards, and the two smaller screens on the sides of the room will each have only 3 projectors, which will let me use 3D Vision on the smaller displays.

The bigger one will also be used for movies.

I still wonder about scaling 1080p up for 4k style resolution though?