Graphic cards for a 9-screen setup, advice needed!

[pixelshocks]

Hello all,

I am trying to setup a video wall that comprises of 9 x 46" TV screens, powered by a single computer terminal. The screens will be in a 3-by-3 setup and each screen will be running in 1920x1080 screen resolution, this adds up to 5760x3240. I will be generally running videos with light amount of interactions.

So far, I have been advised to use either of the setups:

2 x Matrox 9188 2GB
--OR--
3 x ATI 2450 Firepro 512MB


I will be running the video in 5760x3240 resolution and I am not sure how well it can play the video, wondering if anyone has experiences with these setups and if there are anything I need to watch out for.

Many thanks!

 

[Techhog]

May I ask why? You might have a little trouble getting an answer here though. This setup is unusual, to say the least.

 

[pixelshocks]

Yeap it is unusual indeed, I need to build this setup for work reasons actually, hoping to get some insights

 

[96Firebird]

Are these screens each running an individual video, or are they all running a portion of a larger video?

 

[dacostafilipe]

I would go Matrox because I heard they have great screen management tools.

 

[Lorthreth]

On AMD's site there's a section for display walls.
http://www.amd.com/en-us/products/graphics/workstation/firepro-display-wall/w600
That's recommended there.

 

[Automaticman]

Getting a pair of these Eyefinity 6 cards

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-274-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-262-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-586-_-Product

will probably work just as well and save you some money (esp compared to that Matrox card). I'm just not exactly sure how it would work with the last 3 monitors on teh second card. I think if it's just video you can just extend the display and stretch the video across all 9 monitors, but I don't think that will work for a 3D application. I suspect you will run into this issue with the Firepro and Matrox as well since none of these cards support 9 monitors at once.

I think that with the Eyefinity 6 cards, to get 6 HDMI outputs you will need to use active mini DP->HDMI adpators like these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...bStoreType=131

instead of the passive adaptors it comes with, unless you can find TV's with DP inputs. Not sure if this is an issue with the Matrox.

 

[Automaticman]

On AMD's site there's a section for display walls.
http://www.amd.com/en-us/products/graphics/workstation/firepro-display-wall/w600
That's recommended there.

Nice find, a pair of these might be the winner.

From the site:

Compatible with applications with built-in multi GPU support designed to enable a single large image to be stretched across a display wall configured with 12 or more displays

It still needs the active adapters, but they do make a 6 adapter kit just for this card:

http://www.amazon.com/AMD-Firepro-Di.../dp/B008LR52LG

Since this is Mini DP to DVI, it may still be easier to by 6 DP -> HDMI individualy.

 

[Wild Thing]

Do you already have the TVs or would you be able to buy computer monitors with Display Port native?

 

[pixelshocks]

Hello all,

Thanks for the insights! To clarify a few things:

Are these screens each running an individual video, or are they all running a portion of a larger video?

They will all run a portion a larger video, just imagine them all stitched together to form the video wall. (3x3)

On AMD's site there's a section for display walls.
http://www.amd.com/en-us/products/graphics/workstation/firepro-display-wall/w600
That's recommended there.

Wow this looks promising, this can work if I get 2 of these cards but I wonder how well it can drive the video at 5760x3240 resolution?

Getting a pair of these Eyefinity 6 cards

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-274-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-262-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-586-_-Product

will probably work just as well and save you some money (esp compared to that Matrox card). I'm just not exactly sure how it would work with the last 3 monitors on teh second card. I think if it's just video you can just extend the display and stretch the video across all 9 monitors, but I don't think that will work for a 3D application. I suspect you will run into this issue with the Firepro and Matrox as well since none of these cards support 9 monitors at once.

I think that with the Eyefinity 6 cards, to get 6 HDMI outputs you will need to use active mini DP->HDMI adpators like these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...bStoreType=131

instead of the passive adaptors it comes with, unless you can find TV's with DP inputs. Not sure if this is an issue with the Matrox.

Thanks for the recommendations, I heard that I can't just slot a pair of them to drive the 9 screens in a 3x3 setup, only the Matrox and the FirePro lines can do that, is that true?

You raised a good point on the supporting/combining the final 3 monitors with the 2nd card, I am also puzzled by how it will work, wondering if anyone has any insight on this?

Do you already have the TVs or would you be able to buy computer monitors with Display Port native?

Yes I have the TVs already, they are running HDMI port, I am actually planning to buy converters so it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[h9826790]

Go for Matrox if you only need to power the TVs but not doing any 3D work.

 

[Automaticman]

Thanks for the recommendations, I heard that I can't just slot a pair of them to drive the 9 screens in a 3x3 setup, only the Matrox and the FirePro lines can do that, is that true?

You raised a good point on the supporting/combining the final 3 monitors with the 2nd card, I am also puzzled by how it will work, wondering if anyone has any insight on this?

That firepro W600 was the only one I saw that explicitly said it was designed to link to a second card and create a Single Large Surface display of up to 12 monitors. That sounds like exactly what you are trying to do.

I think with the Eyefinity cards you will be able to run all 9 monitors, you might even get 1 video to stretch across all of them - but you would have to do it in a windowed mode of some kind. The W600 will just treat the monitors as one big display.

I did find one video on youtube of a setup in Brussels airport that used 3 W600s to drive interactive video across 15 screens:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64PzweNMvDM

That's the closest thing I've seen to what I think you're looking for.


The other option I saw was to use a single W600 with DP hubs like the Sapphire VID-2x that splits a single miniDP port into two DVI outputs. I think that's what NASA is doing in this video with a W600:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZx6PrQXfGY

 

[Lorthreth]

http://devgurus.amd.com/thread/169288
There's a 3x3 wall with only single W600 by using TripleHead2Go
That's one way. Or W600 + 3*DualHead2Go

 

[Red Squirrel]

On AMD's site there's a section for display walls.
http://www.amd.com/en-us/products/graphics/workstation/firepro-display-wall/w600
That's recommended there.

Wow that is an awesome card!

I wonder how well it works in Linux. Most video cards I've seen only have 2 outputs, some have 3 but only 2 can work at a time. Linux will go to crap if you try to span displays across multiple cards. But this could maybe be the answer to getting triple+ monitors working.

 

[Automaticman]

http://devgurus.amd.com/thread/169288
There's a 3x3 wall with only single W600 by using TripleHead2Go
That's one way. Or W600 + 3*DualHead2Go

There's some good info in that thread, and this sounds like it might be the most sure-fire way to get it running.

The odd thing is the guy said he used three TripleHead2Go Digital SE with 2 monitors connected to each one, and the other three monitors connected directly to the card (I assume this was for resolution reasons). What I don't get is why he didn't just use 3 DualHead2Go like you were saying if he was only going to hook up 2 screens to each one.