Best solution for 5 outside view setup?

[laserit 93]

Hi Guys

 

I want to setup 5 monitor's as window views. All my instruments are run off a networked PC (building a home cockpit)

 

My FSX machine is an Asus Rampage Extreme iii - I980X running at 4.4ghz with a gtx680-4g

 

I'm using FSX-DX10 and P3D

 

Currently she runs a single monitor window view stunningly (cant make her break a sweat).

 

The motherboard is capable of running 4 gpu's

 

Will I be able to maintain my performance with just adding more gpu's? What is the best solution?

 

Thx

Floyd

[SAAB340 28]

 

Will I be able to maintain my performance with just adding more gpu's?

No.

I can't help with what's the best setup for 5 screens with separate views but I can tell you that you won't be able to maintain your current performance. Rendering more pixels will put a higher load on the CPU as well as on the GPU, and having them in separate views will put quite a lot more load on the CPU as well. So your performance will drop a lot with 5 screens regardless of GfxCard. Better single thread CPU performance is the only way to regain some of that performance loss. (Highly clocked IvyBridge with fast RAM) The fact that you won't need the virtual cockpit will work in your favour.

 

I take it all 5 screens would be for outside view? It's probably better to use 3 larger screens but at lower rez (think FullHD TVs) for outside view to reduce the number views and pixels to reduce the demands on the CPU while still getting a large field of view for immersion. GPU of choice for that would be your current 4GB GTX680 or GTX Titan.

[VeryBumpy 272]

You could use OPUS on a 2nd computer to run a few of the views hence maintaining reasonable performance on your main rig.

[GSalden 4,656]

Second pc with WidevieW

[laserit 93]

Thanks guys

 

I'll wait a bit before spending some serious coin. I'm curious to see how a Titan will run with P3D v2 and X-Plane. I know LM was activley seeking input from the home cockpit community, I'm hoping they put some thought and development time in to improve multi monitor support.

 

I'm seeing ad's for 50" 1080p lcd's for under $600

[777simmer 117]

Multimonitor has been on my wishlist since FS2004 but I havent been succesfull yet :-(

 

I bought a new Ivy PC (3770k @ 4.6Ghz) which runs FSX wonderfull as long as I use ony one monitor.

It is ok with two monitors (each having a separate view) but framerate is half.

So in busy therminal area (like JFK) I am down to 15fps in good weather. ( forget about thunderstorms, etc).

 

Then I bought OPUS only to find out that to use it to etwork PCs wth multiple views, each PC needs to be top notch!

I thought I could use my old dual core (@ 4.8Ghz) but no chance, horrible stutters!

 

I wondered if wideview requires less recources than OPUS, and asked this question on the OPUS forum once, but was told it would run worse. I never tried though.

 

Now I have bought TrackIR and a 46"TV. That works realy well for me.

Best I had so far.

If only those stubbern developers would not have stopped making 2D Panels :-(

I could have had the VC on the TV and the 2D cockpit panel on a second monitor.

This way no matter where I would be looking around in the VC, I would still be able to fly, using the 2D panel flight instruments and engine instruments on a 24" monitor.

I am now thinking about looking into panel creation for my Captsim B727 to achieve this goal, but I have seen many reports of colleges that have been unsuccesfull with payware aircraft :-(

 

Any tips are highly apprciated.

 

Rob.

[777simmer 117]

Re-reading my post above I found a whole bunch of grammatical errors.

For some reason I can do nothing about that anymore as I can only edit my posts for a certain time after posting.

So, I am sorry about that!

 

The one thing I should however correct is that my old dual core (the OPUS client) runs at max 3.8Ghz (not 4.8Ghz).

[777simmer 117]

In case anyone from the B777 forum comes here:

 

I have tried EZDok as well, but it is a while ago.

It is nice but let me explain why nothing so far, other than a 2D panel helps me with the following problem.

 

When I fly a visual pattern I enjoy it to judge the correct height vs distance by visual reference only.

No DME, no FMC, etc.

I do this by setting the zoom to 100% on my 46" TV and zoom in on the Capt windscreen untill it fills the TV almost completely.

So I see the windscreen frame and a little of the top of the cockpit panel, but other than that I see only outside.

I find I can judge a 3 degree glide path visually best this way.

 

The problem now is, I have no Airspeed and Thrust indications!

So I have to open up another VC view, cutting my frame rate in half, and zoom in on the instrument panel.

A 2D panel is much more frame rate friendly for this.

 

If anyone can offer a solution to this framerate cut I would be very greatefull!