Running 10 x 4K displays

[Anton2k]

Hi,

I am trying to run ten 4K 55 inch TV's, and trying to figure out the most cost effective way to do it.

The 10 screens will all show different images that will fade in and out (no video), like a slide show. I am not looking to span all 10 displays into one big display.

What would be the best approach be to achieve this? So far AMD looks promising (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_Eyefinity) with their Southern Islands, Sea Islands and Volcanic Islands lines of chips, but I'm still not 100% sure if it will be the cheapest. I know if I go down the AMD route that I'll need to cards. I'm not sure if there are any options from NVIDIA that are cost effective or Matrox.

My other idea was to configure 10 raspberry Pi's (found a thread where they have managed to get them displaying 4K @ 20Hz). But this means more wires and mess, not to mentioned the PI wasn't designed to output 4K so more chance things could go wrong, I need something fairly solid I can rely on.

Has anyone else attempted to hookup this many 4K displays using one PC? what GPU's did you use?

Thanks,
Anton

 

[thecoolnessrune]

You're really talking a wide range for "cost effective". If you really want a professional solution, the 2 Matrox C680s + Displayport -> HDMI Active Adapters is really your best bet. It's got a massive amount of flexibility, a high level of support for these exact scenarios, and allows a single administrative point for the whole wall. On the other end, you can use $300 worth of Raspberry Pi's to accomplish similar for far less money. It has 10x the administration and maintenance points, more to fail, and more time to configure and keep going. So the question is really how much is your time worth, and how much might be lost when the solution isn't working?

 

[happy medium]

My old gigabyte gtx960 4gb could display 4 , 4k displays. I think they called it flex view.
Maybe get 3 of them for about $400.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/gigabyte-geforce-gtx-960-g1-gaming-4gb-review,6.html

 

[peterflax]

You're really talking a wide range for "cost effective". If you really want a professional solution, the 2 Matrox C680s + Displayport -> HDMI Active Adapters is really your best bet. It's got a massive amount of flexibility, a high level of support for these exact scenarios, and allows a single administrative point for the whole wall. On the other end, you can use $300 worth of Raspberry Pi's to accomplish similar for far less money. It has 10x the administration and maintenance points, more to fail, and more time to configure and keep going. So the question is really how much is your time worth, and how much might be lost when the solution isn't working?

this is the right solution, 100% agreed

 

[Anton2k]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the replies! sorry for the delay in replying.

I am currently experimenting with a raspberry Pi Zero, thus far I have some basic software developed using java that launches as soon as the Pi boots, nothing else is displayed no logos boot screens etc. So far I am happy with the results, although only tested at 1080p! still working on getting 4k working.

I did look at the Matrox cards and some cheap gaming GPU's but I like the idea of using the Pi with regards to how cheap they are (especially the pi zero).

With regards to time I have plenty of it, I can see where you are coming from with your point about administration. I would argue though that if everything is running of the one system, if that goes down so does everything. Each Pi will work independently of each other each displaying completely different things. Once I have my software developed and one Pi setup, it's just a matter of cloning the SD card and flash it to other cards. As soon as the Pi is powered on after it boots, it loads the custom software and connects to a WiFi network, from there I can VNC or SSH into any Pi if something goes wrong at a software level.

So I think I have made my mind up and going to give the Pi approach a go!

Thanks again for the replies,
-Anton

 

[Chaotic42]

I know you've decided, but 3x Quadro K1200s might be a way to go if you or anyone else considering this wants one system:

http://www.pny.com/nvidia-quadro-k1200-displayport

 

[Alienware Gamer ALX]

Hi,

I am trying to run ten 4K 55 inch TV's, and trying to figure out the most cost effective way to do it.

The 10 screens will all show different images that will fade in and out (no video), like a slide show. I am not looking to span all 10 displays into one big display.

What would be the best approach be to achieve this? So far AMD looks promising (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_Eyefinity) with their Southern Islands, Sea Islands and Volcanic Islands lines of chips, but I'm still not 100% sure if it will be the cheapest. I know if I go down the AMD route that I'll need to cards. I'm not sure if there are any options from NVIDIA that are cost effective or Matrox.

My other idea was to configure 10 raspberry Pi's (found a thread where they have managed to get them displaying 4K @ 20Hz). But this means more wires and mess, not to mentioned the PI wasn't designed to output 4K so more chance things could go wrong, I need something fairly solid I can rely on.

Has anyone else attempted to hookup this many 4K displays using one PC? what GPU's did you use?

Thanks,
Anton

you can buy 10 usb pen drive and use the built-in img reader. (about 20$ all inclusive if you buy from HK, double if yu buy in us/eu )

 

[Hans Gruber]

Running anything 4k requires serious graphics power. 1080p and 1440p are easy for a graphics card. 4K is a different ball game. Until they include a 4k on-board decoder in graphics cards. The current generation graphics cards really have to work when running games @ 4k.

 

[ZGR]

I find 4k to be very easy on a GPU as long as I do not game. My HD 4000 graphics from 2012 playback 4k60 130mbps video and my old Galaxy Note 4 does as well. The oldest GPU I have used for 4k60 video is my GT 240M which can do it at 66% speed.

 

[Hans Gruber]

I find 4k to be very easy on a GPU as long as I do not game. My HD 4000 graphics from 2012 playback 4k60 130mbps video and my old Galaxy Note 4 does as well. The oldest GPU I have used for 4k60 video is my GT 240M which can do it at 66% speed.

I was referring to 4k gaming and not desktop 4k. I should have put that in my post. My GTX 970 runs 110% guns ablazing running even CS:GO 4K.

 

[Alienware Gamer ALX]

I was referring to 4k gaming and not desktop 4k. I should have put that in my post. My GTX 970 runs 110% guns ablazing running even CS:GO 4K.

read before post pls

 

[Midwayman]

FWIW some of the off brand Pis are specifically designed for 4k. The orange pi plus I have at home apparently run a lot of 4k TVs in the asian market for example. Bonus is they are even cheaper than R Pi's and have a faster CPU.

I think the big question is if you need the displays to be coordinated?