"Main" video card vs 2nd video card and SLI?

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Luxcollective
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"Main" video card vs 2nd video card and SLI?

Post by Luxcollective »

I plan to build a Falcon system that will eventually have 2 Titan X's (12gb each). I understand from previous discussions that Resolume can only take advantage of one video card for processing aka the "main" video card. How does Resolume determine which card is the "main" card? I would like to run the UI off of the integrated video card or even a displaylink monitor and leave all the outputs on the Titan dedicated to mapping outputs but I don't want Resolume to presume that the integrated card is the "main" card and ignore the "2nd card".

Also, if the 2 Titan X's were running in SLI would Resolume see that as one card and be able to take advantage of the full 24GB?

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drazkers
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Re: "Main" video card vs 2nd video card and SLI?

Post by drazkers »

Luxcollective wrote:I plan to build a Falcon system that will eventually have 2 Titan X's (12gb each). I understand from previous discussions that Resolume can only take advantage of one video card for processing aka the "main" video card. How does Resolume determine which card is the "main" card? I would like to run the UI off of the integrated video card or even a displaylink monitor and leave all the outputs on the Titan dedicated to mapping outputs but I don't want Resolume to presume that the integrated card is the "main" card and ignore the "2nd card".

Also, if the 2 Titan X's were running in SLI would Resolume see that as one card and be able to take advantage of the full 24GB?
DON"T USE THE MOTHERBOARD OUTPUTS.

The old way was based on what card had the GUI on it, it still may be that. But plugging into the integrated outputs is a one way trip to Crash town.

Luxcollective
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Re: "Main" video card vs 2nd video card and SLI?

Post by Luxcollective »

good to know...

I have never had a Resolume crash on Mac, EVER except that odd "clean aperture DXV file" glitch in 4.1.9 that was immediately fixed. ...so definitely not thrilled about adding PC to the mix but I need a little power box for some 4K projects and a projects with 10 to 12 outputs.

anyone using SLI? Does Resolume see that as one card? does it even help?

Thanks!

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Re: "Main" video card vs 2nd video card and SLI?

Post by Tecno` »

Resolume has always used the graphics card doing the UI as the main card which does the processing.
I am not aware of that changing.

Generally the Resolume guys have recommended using an external splitter (such as the Matrox TH2Go or the Datapath X4) as more efficient than running off two graphics cards.
That said I have used a less powerful graphics card for additional outputs in the past. I am not sure if / how well this works with integrated graphics.

As far as I am aware Resolume doesn't benefit from SLI.

Tim

Luxcollective
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Re: "Main" video card vs 2nd video card and SLI?

Post by Luxcollective »

Thanks! I definitely recommend the Datapath X4's, love mine. Worth the extra money over buggy Matrox GXM's

Luckily the UI would be a tiny spec of sand processing-wise on a Titan X. Just got to add a couple more X4's to the mix I guess. :-)

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Re: "Main" video card vs 2nd video card and SLI?

Post by Joris »

Luckily the UI would be a tiny spec of sand
This is the mistake that a lot of people make. They think that because the main output is connected to a certain card, and the main output shows the final result, that's also where the final result is rendered. It may seem the most intuitive, but it's not how it actually works.

The output monitor you see on the UI *is the actual render of the final result*. It's scaled down, but that's the actual texture that results after all the layers and blend modes and effects have been applied. This exact same resulting texture then gets cut up and passed to the outputs. So the UI is not a tiny spec of sand, it's the whole beach plus the cabins and the fancy chairs with the umbrellas next to them.

The moment you have an output on a different card than the one the UI is on, the computer needs to copy the entire texture over, and then cut it up and output it. This step is always an extra performance hit, and if you want to squeeze the most performance out of a machine, it should be avoided as much as you can.

Luxcollective
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Re: "Main" video card vs 2nd video card and SLI?

Post by Luxcollective »

Thanks Joris! That is super helpful. I consider myself an advanced Resolume user, but did not know that. The UI seems so innocent and light, who knew it was the full beast. :-)

Truth be told, the Titan X 12gb will be more than I need for most setups... just thinking ahead to that inevitable time that a project will hit the limits.

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Re: "Main" video card vs 2nd video card and SLI?

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