Anyone running multiple nVidia GeForce GT120?
  • Peppe
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    Anyone running multiple nVidia GeForce GT120?

    by Peppe » Mon Jan 18, 2010 9:24 pm

    I´m trying to setup a multiple projection screening + 1 monitor for control.

    1x 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon "Nehalem" processor
    6GB (three 2GB) memory
    640GB hard drive 1
    4x NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 with 512MB

    The problem that occurs is that the clips are very jerky and Modul8 tends to get very slow in response.

    We use 4 quite long clips that runs at the same time
    Resolution is 1024x576 in each clip and the codec is P-Jpeg at 90%

    If the setup is runned from only one graphic card and the monitor it runs lika a charm.

    When the setup is runned with advanced output enabled and sent to 4 projectors it just gets jerky and not smooth at all.

    Have anyone runned a project to multiple outs with the GT 120´s?

    I really think it is the GT 120 that´s causing this.

    I´ve been in contact with the great personell at Garagecube but I thought to bring up this issue here as well.

    Peter
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    Valparaiiso
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    by Valparaiiso » Mon Jan 18, 2010 10:31 pm

    I would say :

    1- try to decrease the rate (and the size) of your clips. It depends on what material is in the clip, but in some cases, at 50% p-jpeg, you will notice perhaps a light difference perhaps nothing. And the running of your clips maybe will become more acceptable.
    2- 6 Gb of Ram to play four 1024*576 clips is maybe not enough for pre-loading, then it turns on "Direct to disk" and then your hard disk is too slow. A cheap solution is software O Raid, to combinate two disks in one and increase its speed.

    I think the slow response indicates M8 does not load all clips (verify the size of ram of each clip). I have sometimes (more and more often because everybody wants higher resolution and in fact, it's pretty] this kind of problems, and M8 does not play what it does not play. You touch the limit.
    The solution we try and test successfully was to set 2 mac Pros with great GPUs ! You divide the load, synchonize both Macs with Ethernet module or a midi controller.
    It's quite expensive but does the job.

    I know that M8 can be very very disapointing. Eight outputs, eight clips, go ! Real life is sader. You often got to compose with the medias size and resolution, the number max of outputs, etc...

    I know it's not very helpful.
    We are only a few people to use M8 with MacPros and multiple outputs, knowledge is quite rare.

    PS I forget to apologize for my english, a self-made french one.

    PS2 Three ram modules is not a good number for a macpro as OS X loves his ram modules running by pair.
  • Peppe
    member
    Posts: 11
    Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2004 11:43 am

    by Peppe » Tue Jan 19, 2010 8:46 am

    Thank you for your reply, and don´t care about the language as long as the message go through, we are visualists aren´t we :D

    I saw this in the manual for the new Mac Pro about the memory:

    Quad-Core Memory
    Quad-core computers
    have four memory slots.
    You can install 1 GB or
    2 GB DIMMs for a total of
    up to 8 GB of memory.

    The processor’s memory
    controller has three
    memory channels. DIMM
    slots 1 and 2 have their
    own channels; slots 3 and
    4 share a channel.

    For optimal memory
    bandwidth, all three
    memory channels should
    be used, and memory
    should be balanced across
    the three channels.

    Note: Populating slot 4
    slightly drops maximum
    memory bandwidth,
    but depending on the
    applications used, overall
    system performance may
    benefit from the larger
    amount of memory.


    We also did put in a RAID yesterday without any improvement.

    The thing is that my partner in crime have another installation going on at the moment with even higher resolution clips and runs the setup with 3 outputs and a Matrox Triple Head 2 Go. The machine is a Hackintosh, I don´t really know the specifications of that machine at the moment.

    I also have tried to run the setup from my MacBook Pro with a dual Head 2 Go with the clips as 1024x576 P-Jpeg at 100% but then only two outputs of course and it runs smoothly.

    We are still testing here and I will keep you updated.
  • Peppe
    member
    Posts: 11
    Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2004 11:43 am

    by Peppe » Tue Jan 19, 2010 2:07 pm

    New testing here

    Since I think it´s the graphic cards that causes the problem I tried to connect my dual head 2 go to one of the GT120 cards everything works fine. I get three outputs as one output is from the mini display port on the GT 120.

    Then if I connect an output to the second GT 120 (there are 3 in total in this machine)
    the clips get jerky and it does'nt look good at all.
  • Peppe
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    Posts: 11
    Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2004 11:43 am

    by Peppe » Wed Mar 03, 2010 7:05 pm

    Any new information about this problem?
    I saw another post from a user with the exact problems.

    I was in contact with a person from Apple Finland and he sent me a few programs to test the machine. I could not run the programs due the installation already was set up and in production.

    We ended up in using only one GT120 and a TH2G which wasn´t optimal at all as we now can´t use a control monitor.
  • Peppe
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    Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2004 11:43 am

    by Peppe » Tue Jan 18, 2011 10:43 pm

    I think it´s really sad that no one even care about this issue anymore. The whole thing we did was a disaster in the end because the lack of a control monitor.
  • Jordan
    junior Member
    Posts: 6
    Joined: Wed Oct 01, 2008 2:57 am

    What do you mean by a disaster?

    by Jordan » Thu Jan 20, 2011 12:49 am

    It's one of the most important issues being discussed here.
    When we face a big and complex multiple projection we go automatically for the Hippotizer HD. You can't really beat the engine of this machine - I'm absolutely in love with Modul8 and waiting for the day that I can't run 4 Long 1080p clips at the same time from my modul8.
    Posts like yours emphasize this point. A Mac pro that can compete the Hippo costs about 15,000$, and you'll still won't get the same results.

    On the other hand, the flexibility you get is no way near a full size Grand M.A2, Modul8 wins easily. Our rule: - the most heavy duty stuff - Hippo, Evertyhing else - Modul8.
  • Peppe
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    Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2004 11:43 am

    by Peppe » Fri Jan 21, 2011 12:08 pm

    I did get another opportunity to make a multiscreen setup but this time I really had to say no. I can´t put myself in a situation where I say this setup "should" work and in the end it just does not.

    I will check out the Hippotizer HD for sure, but at the moment I´m so fed up with this whole VJ thing though it´s almost a year ago this problem occured for me.

    In the end the theater that I setup this projection for refused to pay the amount of money I asked for, which is really understandable. I wouldn´t pay for it.

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