Multiple 4k displays, what?

[StargazerFSE]

Hey all,

Does anyone here run multiple 4k (2160p) displays on v4?

If so how well does it perform in terms of FPS and system load (CPU/GPU)?

Any info on this would be greatly appreciated.

[WarpD]

You would need a video card per 4K display... otherwise you'll probably run out of video memory very, very quickly.

[StargazerFSE]

I'm planning to run dual Asus ROG Strix GTX 1080 OC cards which are 11gb each. The thought being they would be able to handle dual output per card. So a total of 4 displays at 4K.

How much of a compromise do you think it would be, I imagine I may have to lower some things like draw distance etc.

I'm hoping someone who is running multiple 4K displays can chime in on this.

Thanks.

[WarpD]

I know that right now on a maxed out 4K display the sim uses about 8GB of video memory. That's just one screen... two could be 16GB, depending on what needs to be duplicated versus what can be shared across images.

[Towerkeeper]

Running this three 4k monitor setup now with P3D V4:

Asus ROG V10 motherboard, 32Gb ram, i7-6850K, two nVidia GTX 1080's (8 Gb/card) with SLI/Surround. Also have a 4th HD monitor for viewing temperatures, core usage, etc.

Flying A2A C172 with Orbx LC, scenery, trees - with most sliders one notch from max get 30-35 FPS. This will drop to 25 FPS or so in heavy scenery regions, e.g. KJFK, KLAX.

[Saldo]

With NVSurround it might work with 2 cards , but with 4 seperate views you need 1 card per monitor. The cards then might pull it off , but your pc won’t show you a good framerate.

Michael ( Mike Mel ) over at Avsim had 3 75” 4K monitors . Each connected to a superfast pc with each a 1080 Ti and he can’t have all sliders to the right...

[StargazerFSE]

All excellent information, it looks like I may have to adjust some of the hardware specs.

Unfortunately I cannot run NVSurround or stretch a single screen for my application, as each display will be mounted in front of a mirror for each view "channel".

The hardware spec I was planning to run is:

Intel Core i9-7900X, overclocked as high as can be stable, temps permitting
Asus Rampage VI Apex
32gb DDR4-3200 CL 14 in quad channel
Dual Asus ROG Strix 1080ti OC 11gb GPUs
Samsung Pro 512gb M.2

So it sounds to me like from your guys experiences for me to maintain a constant smooth frame-rate (at least 40-50fps) I'll need to run 4 1080s. However even the latest i9 only has 44 PCIE lanes, so long story short I'd probably be looking at 2 host machines both with dual GPU, which means two Prepar3d Professional Plus licenses vs one.

Does that sound about right to you guys?

[DukeSan27]

All excellent information, it looks like I may have to adjust some of the hardware specs.

Unfortunately I cannot run NVSurround or stretch a single screen for my application, as each display will be mounted in front of a mirror for each view "channel".

The hardware spec I was planning to run is:

Intel Core i9-7900X, overclocked as high as can be stable, temps permitting
Asus Rampage VI Apex
32gb DDR4-3200 CL 14 in quad channel
Dual Asus ROG Strix 1080ti OC 11gb GPUs
Samsung Pro 512gb M.2

So it sounds to me like from your guys experiences for me to maintain a constant smooth frame-rate (at least 40-50fps) I'll need to run 4 1080s. However even the latest i9 only has 44 PCIE lanes, so long story short I'd probably be looking at 2 host machines both with dual GPU, which means two Prepar3d Professional Plus licenses vs one.

Does that sound about right to you guys?

I have almost the exact machine as you are planning to build. I have three 4K monitors, but I use only middle monitors plus half of each side monitor in single view mode, I.e. 2x4K total resolution. That’s fine with 2x1080Tis, no problem.

The problem you are going to face is running multiple views is that P3D does not scale very well with multiple views. Each view will cause significant FPS drop, maybe 30-40%. The only solution is to run multiple PC’s, one per view, something like WideView or Multi-channel. I guess that’s where you are.

And I don’t think you will need dual 1080Ti in each machine. Single 1080ti should be more than enough to drive one 4K monitor.

And then for CPU, single machine with 7900X is good, but multiple machines with 7900X would be a waste cost wise. Better to look at something like 8700K for multiple machines. It will over-clock and cool much easier than 7900X.

[StargazerFSE]

And I don’t think you will need dual 1080Ti in each machine. Single 1080ti should be more than enough to drive one 4K monitor.

Thanks for the response, that is helpful info.

So for my application I need to drive 4 physically separated displays, placing each view to line up as of it were one large screen. I believe the best way to achieve the level of control needed to precisely align the views and frustum angles would be individual views.

1440p or even 1080p are both options, and smooth frames with FPS over 35-40+ are a must. 4 machines with professional plus licenses would destroy my budget so I'm trying to get as much as I can out a single machine.

And I think trying to run more then 2 or maybe 3 1080ti's would be a lot even for a single i9-7900X to handle at 2160p.

Have you done any comparison testing with 1440p?

[DukeSan27]

And I don’t think you will need dual 1080Ti in each machine. Single 1080ti should be more than enough to drive one 4K monitor.

...

Have you done any comparison testing with 1440p?

I have tried smaller windows than 4k, but it does not make much difference, the FPS still takes a significant hit with multiple view.