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Pete Dowson

Three P3D Windows: better 3 video cards, or 3XSLI or neither?

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Hi folks

I wonder if any P3D user has a 3 screen very wide angle setup which needs three scenery windows to be established in order to combat the horrible fisheye effect at the sides. I have a curved screen with 3 projectors and a 210 degree FOV.

I am getting my local PC system builders to build me the fastest PC I believe I can specify at present as using 3 windows reduces performance overall by some 80-100%  At busy detailed airports I get 18-25 fps and some stutters whereas, before, with a single window, it was never below 30 and usually hitting well over 40 in similar circumstances.

I am trying to decide whether it is worth going for an SLI configuration for the video output, with all three projectors connected to the same video card, or having 3 separated video cards with a projector and scenery window on each. And if SLI, is 3 way SLI measurably better than 2-way? Or should I just stick to a single card as now?

I need to make a decision withing the next two days because the builders needs some lead time and I have the screen display system designer coming over to configure the system again in a couple of weeks.

I'd like to hear from anyone with experience in these matters, or at least with adequate knowledge of the working behind it all so can give a learned and considered opinion.

Thanks,
Pete Dowson
 


Win10: 22H2 19045.2728
CPU: 9900KS at 5.5GHz
Memory: 32Gb at 3800 MHz.
GPU:  RTX 24Gb Titan
2 x 2160p projectors at 25Hz onto 200 FOV curved screen

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A 1080Ti should power 3 screens, depending on resolution. If you are considering 3x4K, then you would probably need more. Try to avoid SLI if you can. It often causes micro-stutters and only works if the software/driver combination supprts it.

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If money is not an issue I would choose 3 1080 Ti , one for each view.

Regarding SLI : some people have it running, but it only works a little ( read higher levels of AA ). Others cannot get it to work.

Myself , I am using 1x 1080 Ti to drive 3 HD tv's.

This is how that looks :

 

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FOV : 190 degrees

My flightsim vids :  https://www.youtube.com/user/fswidesim/videos?shelf_id=0&sort=dd&view=0

 

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26 minutes ago, GSalden said:

If money is not an issue I would choose 3 1080 Ti , one for each view.

Regarding SLI : some people have it running, but it only works a little ( read higher levels of AA ). Others cannot get it to work.

Myself , I am using 1x 1080 Ti to drive 3 HD tv's.

With 3 windows?  I asume so as I don't see the distortion you'd get at the sides otherwise.

Like you I have no cockpit showing on screen. All three windows are scenery only. The screen is a curved one outside a hardware 737 cockpit.

The 3 projectors are 1080p (normal HD), and currently they are connected to the one 1080Ti.  But whilst it's okay when cruising, at or near and detailed airport with some AI traffic (my limit is 100) it is down to 18-25 (20-28 with Vsync off), and that's with a 7700K overclocked to 5 GHz!

With one view it's about twice the performance, for the same scenery and traffic.

This is with Prepar3D version 3 at present. I need a few more things sorted out before moving to version 4.

I am looking to upgrade to a 7900X on an X299 motherboard, possibly with two more 1080Ti's. It was how to have thse configured which was puzzling me. But if SLI is problematic I think that puts it in favour of the separate cards for each window -- if that will help deal with the emormous penalty of having three windows.

Thanks,
Pete

 


Win10: 22H2 19045.2728
CPU: 9900KS at 5.5GHz
Memory: 32Gb at 3800 MHz.
GPU:  RTX 24Gb Titan
2 x 2160p projectors at 25Hz onto 200 FOV curved screen

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1 hour ago, Pete Dowson said:

Hi folks

I wonder if any P3D user has a 3 screen very wide angle setup which needs three scenery windows to be established in order to combat the horrible fisheye effect at the sides. I have a curved screen with 3 projectors and a 210 degree FOV.

I am getting my local PC system builders to build me the fastest PC I believe I can specify at present as using 3 windows reduces performance overall by some 80-100%  At busy detailed airports I get 18-25 fps and some stutters whereas, before, with a single window, it was never below 30 and usually hitting well over 40 in similar circumstances.

I am trying to decide whether it is worth going for an SLI configuration for the video output, with all three projectors connected to the same video card, or having 3 separated video cards with a projector and scenery window on each. And if SLI, is 3 way SLI measurably better than 2-way? Or should I just stick to a single card as now?

I need to make a decision withing the next two days because the builders needs some lead time and I have the screen display system designer coming over to configure the system again in a couple of weeks.

I'd like to hear from anyone with experience in these matters, or at least with adequate knowledge of the working behind it all so can give a learned and considered opinion.

Thanks,
Pete Dowson
 

I use three 4k screens in NVidia surround.  I used to have 3 Titan Pascals not overclocked.  Ended up that one overclocked Titan Pascal ran way better than 3 not overclocked and I returned 2 of them.  The single Titan, when safely overclocked (which is easy to do) drives three screens at decent fps.  Stick with the single 1080ti and overclock it.  


Forever indebted to the late Michael Greenblatt of FSGS.

 

 

 

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13 minutes ago, vp49p3 said:

I use three 4k screens in NVidia surround.  I used to have 3 Titan Pascals not overclocked.  Ended up that one overclocked Titan Pascal ran way better than 3 not overclocked and I returned 2 of them.  The single Titan, when safely overclocked (which is easy to do) drives three screens at decent fps.  Stick with the single 1080ti and overclock it.

I know I can drive three HD or three 4K screens with good performance if thery are showing one stretched P3D scenery window, but i want to avoid that. Are you saying that you have good performance with three separate P3D scenery windows at 4K? Because here, on an overlcocked 7700K (at 5GHz) AND an overclocked 1080Ti, AND with overclocked main memory too (i.e. lowered CAS values), it's okay in cruise and at simple airports, but it less than satisfactory at anything more detailed. 

I could get it smooth enough if I disable AI traffic, but that is not what i want as I call a busy airport with no traffic very unrealistic.

Thanks,Pete

 


Win10: 22H2 19045.2728
CPU: 9900KS at 5.5GHz
Memory: 32Gb at 3800 MHz.
GPU:  RTX 24Gb Titan
2 x 2160p projectors at 25Hz onto 200 FOV curved screen

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On ‎7‎/‎24‎/‎2017 at 1:27 PM, Pete Dowson said:

I know I can drive three HD or three 4K screens with good performance if thery are showing one stretched P3D scenery window, but i want to avoid that. Are you saying that you have good performance with three separate P3D scenery windows at 4K? Because here, on an overlcocked 7700K (at 5GHz) AND an overclocked 1080Ti, AND with overclocked main memory too (i.e. lowered CAS values), it's okay in cruise and at simple airports, but it less than satisfactory at anything more detailed. 

I could get it smooth enough if I disable AI traffic, but that is not what i want as I call a busy airport with no traffic very unrealistic.

Thanks,Pete

 

I do not use three separate windows.  I use Nvidia surround and stretch the view over the three displays.

Jay


Forever indebted to the late Michael Greenblatt of FSGS.

 

 

 

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With NVSurround you have the fisheye distortion.

Denali made a fix for that 2 years ago. The zoom value was like 1.50 per screen and AA did not work.  But he proved that it was possible...

4K monitors are great but imho 2K HD tv's are good enough. The sharpness ofva 4K monitor is too sharp compared to reality.

I use Unlimited + Triple Buff + 25 Hrtz on the HD tv's + DXTory trial with fps limiter set to 25. 

And I have multiple P3D.cfg files , depending on the weather + how heavy the arrival scenery is...

 

 

 


13900 8 cores @ 5.5-5.8 GHz / 8 cores @ 4.3 GHz (hyperthreading on) - Asus ROG Strix Gaming D4 - GSkill Ripjaws 2x 16 Gb 4266 mhz @ 3200 mhz / cas 13 -  Inno3D RTX4090 X3 iCHILL 24 Gb - 1x SSD M2 2800/1800 2TB - 1x SSD M2 2800/1800 1Tb - Sata 600 SSD 500 Mb - Thermaltake Level 10 GT case - EKWB Extreme 240 liquid cooling set push/pull - 2x 55’ Sony 4K tv's as front view and right view.

13600  6 cores @ 5.1 GHz / 8 cores @ 4.0 GHz (hypterthreading on) - Asus ROG Strix Gaming D - GSkill Trident 4x Gb 3200 MHz cas 15 - Asus TUF RTX 4080 16 Gb  - 1x SSD M2 2800/1800 2TB - 2x  Sata 600 SSD 500 Mb - Corsair D4000 Airflow case - NXT Krajen Z63 AIO liquide cooling - 1x 65” Sony 4K tv as left view.

FOV : 190 degrees

My flightsim vids :  https://www.youtube.com/user/fswidesim/videos?shelf_id=0&sort=dd&view=0

 

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Have you considered using Wideview? It has been upgraded to 64bit for P3dV4 compatibility as well.

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2 hours ago, vp49p3 said:

I do not use three separate windows.  I use Nvidia surround and stretch the view over the three displays.

Yes, that would give really good performance here too, with my current system. i would have no need to upgrade. But with a 210 degree field of view such a method gives really bad fish-eye effects at both sides. Not tolerable. Hence the three windows.

Pete

 


Win10: 22H2 19045.2728
CPU: 9900KS at 5.5GHz
Memory: 32Gb at 3800 MHz.
GPU:  RTX 24Gb Titan
2 x 2160p projectors at 25Hz onto 200 FOV curved screen

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2 hours ago, GSalden said:

Denali made a fix for that 2 years ago. The zoom value was like 1.50 per screen and AA did not work.  But he proved that it was possible...

I've investigated both that and a commerical product purporting to do simialr, but it seems the quality of the results is really poor, effectively degrading the projected view to normal non-HD resuoltion apparently.

 


Win10: 22H2 19045.2728
CPU: 9900KS at 5.5GHz
Memory: 32Gb at 3800 MHz.
GPU:  RTX 24Gb Titan
2 x 2160p projectors at 25Hz onto 200 FOV curved screen

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1 hour ago, Garys said:

Have you considered using Wideview? It has been upgraded to 64bit for P3dV4 compatibility as well.

No need for Wideview, L-M says I can do it with one licence and four machines, three for the views, using the built-in multichannel option in P3D Pro.

Alas with the space I had to make to fit in the 210 degree FOC curved screen, there's really no room for 3 or 4 PCs of adequate power. And that would be a more expensive solution in any case.

L-Ms opinion seems to be that 3 video cards one for each Window would be better than using SLI. But then it would only help if P3D is still not processor limited. So the advice is try one card with all three displays connected and check the processor loadings. Then, if it looks like it will help, add the two other cards. I think this is the route I will take.

Thanks,
Pete

 


Win10: 22H2 19045.2728
CPU: 9900KS at 5.5GHz
Memory: 32Gb at 3800 MHz.
GPU:  RTX 24Gb Titan
2 x 2160p projectors at 25Hz onto 200 FOV curved screen

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5 hours ago, Pete Dowson said:

L-Ms opinion seems to be that 3 video cards one for each Window would be better than using SLI. But then it would only help if P3D is still not processor limited. So the advice is try one card with all three displays connected and check the processor loadings. Then, if it looks like it will help, add the two other cards. I think this is the route I will take.

 

I think that is the best advice.

FWIW, I am running a Project Magenta setup on P3D3.4 with 3 x 1920x1080 outside views (no instruments) on a 6700K (oc'd to 4.5 GHz) and 2 GTX980ti's in the box. Views are arranged in View Group, no visible distortion (at least to me).

I managed to make SLI work in previous versions of P3D but have not been successful with the last two versions. I tried connecting 2 screens to 1 card and the 3rd to the other card, but then each time I booted the screen arrangement would change, so in the end I gave up on this and am now running all three screens on one card (anyone in Thailand needs a GTX980Ti ?).

FPS are locked at 25 in P3D and while it of course drops to the teens on heavy airports this does not overly disturb me, its still mostly good enough for manual landings.


Erhard

I9 11900k RTX 3080 TI 3 x 55" LED TV 4K, 2 more PCs for displays and hardware connection Prosim A320

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Hello all,

 

I have been chasng an answer to this query since FSX came on the market.

I have finally settled on "forgetting FSX and running FS2004"  I have a configuration which utilises 6 monitors and I do it as outlined below, but only in FS2004 as I believe that FSX and others require yet another PC upgrade.

I run (or am about to run) a 1080ti amp extreme with three monitors plugged in. These are a 60 inch HD TV 1080p for a VC cockpit (centred on screen and showing from the top of windscreen down to just below the VDUs) then the other two I have undocked VCs zoomed in and aligned with the side cockpit view so that only the view is shown. These are 32inch 1080p HD TVs.

The other GPU is a 1050ti oc into which I have plugged a 40inch 1080p HDTV in portrait mode for my AFT and FWD overhead panels, a 22 inch 1080p Monitor for my Lower DU and FMCs and a 24inch 1080p in portrait mode for my aft electrical pedestal. Obviously this is set up for my payware Boeing 737.

Until now I have not been able to utilise FSX, FSX-SE or P3D in this format but I live in hope with the latest platforms.  I am also separated from my sim computer and I hope to have my 1080ti ready for installation when I return home in mid August.

I have set up the above in the belief that the outside screens are going to require more GPU power whilst the 1050ti should handled just the instruments.

I have given you all this background information and I implore you to advise me if this is probably the best way to handle what I am doing and if it isn't ... what can I do to improve my situation to run P3Dv4. XPlane, I believe, is not yet into the realm of docking/undocking screens to enable this display but are, in fact, working on it.

So guys and girls, any suggestions to make P3Dv4 workable and enjoyable at long last. In  P3Dv3  it was impossible to do this and I am really really hoping that I can update at last.

ANY help would be appreciated.

Regards

Tony Chiloctt


Tony Chilcott.

 

My System. Motherboard. ASRock Taichi X570 CPU Ryzen 9 3900x (not yet overclocked). RAM 32gb Corsair Vengeance (2x16) 3200mhz. 1 x Gigabyte Aorus GTX1080ti Extreme and a 1200watt PSU.

1 x 1tb SSD 3 x 240BG SSD and 4 x 2TB HDD

OS Win 10 Pro 64bit. Simulators ... FS2004/P3Dv4.5/Xplane.DCS/Aeroflyfs2...MSFS to come for sure.

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On 7/24/2017 at 5:02 PM, GSalden said:

If money is not an issue I would choose 3 1080 Ti , one for each view.

Well, I went with this, but it isn't as good performance-wise as all three projectors on the one card! I found that rather surprising.
   We will be trying 3-way SLI with the three 1080Ti's, and hope that will turn out justifying the cost of the extra 2 cards.  If not I will have two slightly used 1080Ti s for sale -- hybrid ones with water and air cooling.

On 7/25/2017 at 5:29 AM, A340Bangla said:

I managed to make SLI work in previous versions of P3D but have not been successful with the last two versions.

Yes, I read all about assorted SLI problems in P3D version 3, but then an equal number of good things about SLI in version 4 with the lastest nVidia driver.

Pete

 


Win10: 22H2 19045.2728
CPU: 9900KS at 5.5GHz
Memory: 32Gb at 3800 MHz.
GPU:  RTX 24Gb Titan
2 x 2160p projectors at 25Hz onto 200 FOV curved screen

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