What hardware configuration to run Unigine with 8 displays.

[ivan.cuevas]

Hi all,

We are studying the way to deploy an Unigine application for a videowall that works with a 7680x2160 resolution (4x2 FullHD displays) using a Matrox video card that can't run Unigine 2.

We can replace its old Pc by a new one, the idea is to keep a single computer framework. Making an initial search in internet, we found that a possible solution is to buy a computer with two NVidia graphics cards without SLI.

 

I want to ask you if anyone has already done a similar deployment running an Unigine application.

 

Thanks in advance,

Iván.

[esger.abbink_]

Hi Ivan,

 

yes, we have recently done a project where one computer is equipped with four nvidia graphics cards which drive nine hd projectors in total. Each card is driven by a separate instance of our unigine based application, syncing is done through syncker (this has some issues however). Note that this is on linux, not windows.

 

We do not use SLI, but for a videowall you might consider using SLI in mosaic mode?

[binstream]

Take a look at AppWall: https://developer.unigine.com/en/docs/1.0/principles/render/multi_monitor/appwall/

[ivan.cuevas]

Thanks you two for the help.

 

Take a look at AppWall: https://developer.unigine.com/en/docs/1.0/principles/render/multi_monitor/appwall/

Do you mean with AppWall there is no need to use Syncher? For example, my graphics card (Nvidia GTX 970) supports up to 4 displays, but the videowall requires 8 so another videocard is needed. I never tested a PC (Windows 8.1) with two graphics with same chipset , so I don't known how the OS handles this. It's a single desktop with a bigger resolution?

[esger.abbink_]

I have not played around much with AppWall, but it is limited to a single instance of your application. Syncker can be used to synchronise two or more application instances. Syncker does some stuff that AppWall does as well, but it sets it per slave, so would not really help you here. You can look around in the script files of both, it is not that complex.

 

Here I'd guess you could use two instances that drive 4 screens each using AppWall, and synchronise the two using Syncker. (If you do decide to use syncker consider using syncker from your script instead of as editor script)

 

The handling of two or more graphics cards is OS/driver dependent. For more information you can use search terms 'dual-head' or 'multi-head'. Our experience there is almost exclusively on linux, but I do seem to remember windows (7) recognizing a second nvidia card as well and it being able to be used in a multiscreen desktop just as you would a second or third output from a single card.

 

SLI Mosaic mode is intended for just your application and present itself as a single card to the OS afaik. Nvidia info states it only works with quadro cards, but I am pretty sure I had a (linux) two consumer card sli setup working in mosaic mode during some testing a long while back. Not sure if it actually was working correctly, or just did not report any errors.