Posted by
CmdrTaco
on from the hardware-to-lust-after dept.
BlackHat linked us to IBMs
Deep View, a
research system for rendering and other advanced applications (Q3A). The
PC is 8 Linux boxes in a rack, which is needed to generate the content for the
T221 display which operates at 3840x2400.
Quoth the article: since no single graphics adapter has the necessary horsepower and bandwidth to feed a 9.2 million pixel display (at 41Hz using 24 bits per pixel)
Hmm, doing the math: 3840*2400 pixels = 9216000 Pixels per Frame 9216000*3 (3=24/8) = 27648000 Bytes per Frame 27648000*8 = 221184000 Bits Per Frame 221184000 (bpf) * 41 (fps) = 9068544000 Bits per Second 9068544000/1024 = 8856000 KiloBits per Second (approx) 8856000/1024 = 8648 MegaBits per Second (approx) 8648/1024 = Just over 8 GigaBits per Second
Now, with newer DX9-type graphics Adapters, and AGP 8x, we can do about 2.5 to 3 Gigabits per second just now (over the AGP Bus, haven't calculated Actual Display bitrates!)... Applying Moore's law, (theorum, whatever!), we can safely say that this kind of horsepower will be common in a single, average, desktop PC inside of two to three years.
Sure, this may be a boost to Hollywood today - but soon enough, it will be pretty commonplace technology. (Though I'm betting the most expensive item in that bunch of kit is the actual LCD Display, not the kit driving it!).
-- Disclaimer: I meant what I thought, not what I wrote! What? You can't read my Mind? Oh dear!
Great game engine
by
johnlcallaway
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
Quake III: Using the Chromium software, we can play Quake III Arena at a resolution of 3840x2400 pixels.
Now, where is that money I was setting aside for my kids college education....
-- I rarely read replies, it's my opinion and if you thought about your opinion a little more, I'm OK with that.
Re:This is a software solution
by
You're+All+Wrong
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
No need to retract, Linux isn't the most important part of the set-up at all.
I did't see anywhere where it said what processor it's using though. A 866MHz what?
Chips at that speed include PIII and Alpha 21264, but not as far as I know a Power or PPC speed (or HPPA, MIPS, or Sparc).
I know Alphas are popular in render-farms, but have gone 'out of fashion' now. Are IBM _embarassed_ by their choice of processor?
YAWIAR.
--
Your head of state is a corrupt weasel, I hope you're happy.
The death of the zoom tool
by
HawaiianMayan
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
IBM brought one of these screens by Alias|Wavefront to show. The image detail is unbelievable.
In fact, you don't need a zoom tool on your paint program anymore,.. you just need a real magnifying glass sitting next to the monitor (IBM brought one), because it's showing much more detail than you can really see!
One thing it shows, though, is the need for vector-bases scalable interfaces... the default Windows UI was so tiny on that screen it was really hard to use!
Ummm and Sony have announced that IBM and Toshiba will be joining up to develop the architecture and processors for the Playstation 3.
The odds on these two pieces of work not being related have to be pretty slim. Its a pretty clear gameplan, XBOX2 is a "Windows Home Gateway", PS3 is a "Multimedia Home Gateway" that happens to be running linux.
-- An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
Chromium, the software that makes it all possible
by
thatguymike
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Chromium is a project at Stanford. There was a paper published at this years SIGGRAPH which discusses how the T221 is driven by a cluster and the SGE, as well as other applications including a parallel volume renderer. (http://graphics.stanford.edu/papers/cr/)
Chromium is an open source project and you can get it from http://chromium.sourceforge.net. Chromium is designed to enable people to harness the power of a "graphics cluster" and/or use multiple displays. You don't have to buy a T221 and an SGE to render Quake at high resolution, you can use multiple monitors/projectors instead.
-Mike
Re:Sounds Like
by
YeeHarr
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I have seen this display driven by one Octane2.
http://www.sgi.com/workstations/octane2/
Not one rack of 8 PCs and one half rack of some graphics engine.
It was drawing the full display at about 30fps.
It was as easy to use as any other workstation rather than the 'interesting' mix of 8 pcs in a rack and some other half rack of graphics stuff.
The hardest thing was to read the tiny little fonts on the screen (the display is 200dpi IIRC) - you need a magnifying glass (or of course you could increase the font size).
The Octane2 can do this because you can install two V12 graphics engines each with a dual channel adapter.
http://www.sgi.com/workstations/octane2/dual_cha nn el.html
SGI software stiches the cards together transparently.
It is a beautiful display.
The amuzing/annoying thing about these sorts of announcements is that customers have been using SGI stuff to do this for the last 8 years or so.
If you were on the leading edge of this kind of work would you wait that long for some kludged together solution which might work if you have enough Duct tape to stick it together?
Or would you pay the extra cash for a solution that works and gives you a huge jump on your competition.
The sort of software layer that can be used to make these four channels (two channels from each graphics card) into one display is stuff like:
http://www.sgi.com/software/multipipe/sdk/
Oh yeah - and re your 'every table comment'. The Octane2 fits on one table - it doesn't surround the table like the IBM stuff.
Slashdot Mirror
Quoth the article:
since no single graphics adapter has the necessary horsepower and bandwidth to feed a 9.2 million pixel display (at 41Hz using 24 bits per pixel)
Hmm, doing the math:
3840*2400 pixels = 9216000 Pixels per Frame
9216000*3 (3=24/8) = 27648000 Bytes per Frame
27648000*8 = 221184000 Bits Per Frame
221184000 (bpf) * 41 (fps) = 9068544000 Bits per Second
9068544000/1024 = 8856000 KiloBits per Second (approx)
8856000/1024 = 8648 MegaBits per Second (approx)
8648/1024 = Just over 8 GigaBits per Second
Now, with newer DX9-type graphics Adapters, and AGP 8x, we can do about 2.5 to 3 Gigabits per second just now (over the AGP Bus, haven't calculated Actual Display bitrates!)... Applying Moore's law, (theorum, whatever!), we can safely say that this kind of horsepower will be common in a single, average, desktop PC inside of two to three years.
Sure, this may be a boost to Hollywood today - but soon enough, it will be pretty commonplace technology. (Though I'm betting the most expensive item in that bunch of kit is the actual LCD Display, not the kit driving it!).
Disclaimer: I meant what I thought, not what I wrote! What? You can't read my Mind? Oh dear!
I rarely read replies, it's my opinion and if you thought about your opinion a little more, I'm OK with that.
No need to retract, Linux isn't the most important part of the set-up at all.
I did't see anywhere where it said what processor it's using though. A 866MHz what?
Chips at that speed include PIII and Alpha 21264, but not as far as I know a Power or PPC speed (or HPPA, MIPS, or Sparc).
I know Alphas are popular in render-farms, but have gone 'out of fashion' now. Are IBM _embarassed_ by their choice of processor?
YAWIAR.
Your head of state is a corrupt weasel, I hope you're happy.
IBM brought one of these screens by Alias|Wavefront to show. The image detail is unbelievable.
In fact, you don't need a zoom tool on your paint program anymore,.. you just need a real magnifying glass sitting next to the monitor (IBM brought one), because it's showing much more detail than you can really see!
One thing it shows, though, is the need for vector-bases scalable interfaces... the default Windows UI was so tiny on that screen it was really hard to use!
Ummm and Sony have announced that IBM and Toshiba will be joining up to develop the architecture and processors for the Playstation 3.
The odds on these two pieces of work not being related have to be pretty slim. Its a pretty clear gameplan, XBOX2 is a "Windows Home Gateway", PS3 is a "Multimedia Home Gateway" that happens to be running linux.
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
Chromium is a project at Stanford. There was a paper published at this years SIGGRAPH which discusses how the T221 is driven by a cluster and the SGE, as well as other applications including a parallel volume renderer. (http://graphics.stanford.edu/papers/cr/) Chromium is an open source project and you can get it from http://chromium.sourceforge.net. Chromium is designed to enable people to harness the power of a "graphics cluster" and/or use multiple displays. You don't have to buy a T221 and an SGE to render Quake at high resolution, you can use multiple monitors/projectors instead. -Mike
I have seen this display driven by one Octane2.
a nn el.html
http://www.sgi.com/workstations/octane2/
Not one rack of 8 PCs and one half rack of some graphics engine.
It was drawing the full display at about 30fps.
It was as easy to use as any other workstation rather than the 'interesting' mix of 8 pcs in a rack and some other half rack of graphics stuff.
The hardest thing was to read the tiny little fonts on the screen (the display is 200dpi IIRC) - you need a magnifying glass (or of course you could increase the font size).
The Octane2 can do this because you can install two V12 graphics engines each with a dual channel adapter.
http://www.sgi.com/workstations/octane2/dual_ch
SGI software stiches the cards together transparently.
It is a beautiful display.
The amuzing/annoying thing about these sorts of announcements is that customers have been using SGI stuff to do this for the last 8 years or so.
If you were on the leading edge of this kind of work would you wait that long for some kludged together solution which might work if you have enough Duct tape to stick it together?
Or would you pay the extra cash for a solution that works and gives you a huge jump on your competition.
The sort of software layer that can be used to make these four channels (two channels from each graphics card) into one display is stuff like:
http://www.sgi.com/software/multipipe/sdk/
Oh yeah - and re your 'every table comment'. The Octane2 fits on one table - it doesn't surround the table like the IBM stuff.