Vega's *Heavyweight* display and computer; edition 2012

[Vega]

What complete computer gaming system could literally weigh half of a ton (not including the liquid)?

The build log commences...

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Setups of past:

http://www.youtube.com/user/CallsignVega/videos

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1588587

With an almost mathematical certainty, I am building the worlds only 3x FW900 portrait, no bezel gap, seamless Fresnel lens, Ivy Bridge, Quad Kepler, three user select-able cooling loop (Ambient, phase-change, Geothermal), gaming computer.

Your run of the mill system.

 

[Vega]

Reserved

 

[Vega]

I must be blind, I don't see a project section. So, anyone up for my little picture puzzle?

 

[Vega]

Didnt the Gadget show do one already!?

So the gadget show already made a 3x FW900 portrait, no bezel gap, seamless Fresnel lens, Ivy Bridge, Quad Kepler, three user select-able cooling loop (Ambient, phase-change, Geothermal), gaming computer!

Those ********, I was suppose to be the first!

 

[Vega]

Here is my proposed simple cooling system. Let me know if you guys can see any way to make it more efficient.

Here I have started the Geo-thermal drilling. This is the top 3 feet (17 feet underground). I've drilled near the home slab foundation and in a year-round shaded area to maximize Earth temperature stability. So far it looks like the ground water level is 5-6 feet below the surface which is GREAT. Finally a positive about living in the South.

 

[Vega]

Woops, I just realized I placed the RAM slots like X79 and not Z77. Actually, Z77 will even be easier to set up the cooling loops.

 

[Vega]

Can you post a bit more about this fresnel lens?

I understand the principal of how a fresnel lens works but can't think of its purpose in your project.

In the film "Brazil" they were used to magnify small text only crt monitors to more comfortable scales but I imagine combining one with high res modern displays would completely ruin image quality.

As whenever you add a lens, some degradation will occur. Although, during my proof-of-concept testing, I've found the trade-offs well worth it. You will get a slight decrease in image clarity with regard to slight chromatic abberations and on bright scenes seeing some of the circular grooves cut in the lens. But you gain magnification and the ability to eliminate bezels. It has actually done quite well in my testing and allowed me to go into full project mode.

Take a look at this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=TrhGiVl1RNs#t=337s

Now if he were to position the camera exactly where his eyesight was, there would be virtually zero gap between the images as you can see in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnNM-N_1ve8

If done properly, the gap between images will be 1mm or less.

 

[Vega]

That flight sim setup looks stunning and I'm very impressed how well the lenses work.

Ya, it actually works out quite well.


Got a few components in:

XSPC Raystorm full copper CPU block. Looks and feels like an awesome piece. Watercool MO-RA3 Pro radiator with 9x 140mm XSPC fans for my ambient loop section. This thing is built like a tank and has traditional German quality.

I've gone with EVGA Ultra Classified 580's until Kepler releases. Who know's, I might even be able to use EVGA's 90-day step up program on Kepler. I've always liked EVGA in the nVidia camp. Also tossed in there a Bitspower reservoir for my silver kill coils, fluid level viewing and fluid access port. I plan to run distilled water with silver kill coils, IandH Dead-Water Copper Sulfate and Water Wetter.

 

[Vega]

Wow, this looks awesome! I can't wait to see the final product !.

Quick question: What is the gooey looking stuff on the motherboard in this picture?

Sperm whale samples. Just kidding!

It is anti-condensation protection as that was a sub-zero liquid build. The material was dragon skin:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLiiJ4k3nTA

or what I like to call "Ectoplasm".


On another note, I just finished my custom reinforced 7 foot stainless steel desk to hold my monster display setup. I stood on this right in the middle on one of my feet (180lb) and it didn't even flex a hair.

Welding stainless steel is harder than you think! (just kidding). Time for the old glass desk to go!

 

[Vega]

Does anyone have experience working with any of these materials: acrylic, polycarbonate, CR-39 or polyurethane? I have contacted my Fresnel lens manufacturer to see if he could tell me what material they are. I am interested in trimming them to fit my display setup perfectly. Curious if the "score and snap" method would work or is cutting involved.

 

[Vega]

The stainless steel desk has exceeded my expectations in both looks and strength. Really high quality. This thing will last a lifetime.

 

[Vega]

Just a quick look at a Fresnel lens in front of a FW900 during testing. The 22.6" view-able appears to be around a 26-27" with the lens:

http://youtu.be/rp8sIip-jdc

 

[Vega]

those crystal speakers looks very heavy

cant wait for the project to be completed

They are not too bad, maybe about 7 pounds each.


I've just read this new article and it appears nVidia won't let 1155 do Quad-SLI:

http://vr-zone.com/articles/detailed-hands-on-pictures-of-gigabyte-s-g1.sniper-3/15100-2.html

So that means I'll have to go with X79 for Quad-SLI using single GPU cards or get two dual GPU Kepler like the GTX 690/790 whatever they are going to call it. If nVidia fixed the power problem on the new dual cards, if I water cool them I might get 95% of the performance for half the cost. We shall see. So maybe my X79 water block diagram was a prophecy!

I'd be more comfortable jumping into X79 if I knew there was a guarantee and not just rumors about Ivy Bridge-E fully supporting X79.

 

[Vega]

Seeing as your going eyeinfinity wouldnt it be better to keep the 7970's you had ?

Already its looking epic

AMD cards cannot run 3x FW900 CRT's. Anyways, in the past I have found nVidia to work Surround better. Higher quality drivers and less stuttering.

 

[Vega]

There is about a million reasons why the answer is no.

I've looked into it thoroughly.

 

[Vega]

Picture quality would be no where in the same league though

Exactly. Not to mention comparing CRT gaming motion versus projector's is like comparing a Ferrari vs an Austin Allegro.

 

[Vega]

Success! Well, at least a majority success. My setup during portrait nVidia Surround testing:

So during testing I kept wondering why it would not go into Surround mode, even when I was getting three green check marks on the Surround config page. I had all the same FW900 .inf's loaded, everything was a go. But when it actually went to put them into Surround it would fail. It would put it back into non-SLI "activate all displays" mode, with it then showing two FW900's and a "generic non-PNP monitor". I tried like eight different drivers, moving the computer around, switching cables and stuff. Was a super frustrating 8 hours.

So I thought OK, maybe nVidia is super anal and wants actual EDID information from every display. So I disconnected all of my BNC5 cables and used regular VGA cables that could pass EDID. Sure enough, that got it working! So nVidia Surround requires EDID information. Surround is working, but I am stuck at the standard resolution and refresh rates that the monitor sends out over EDID like 2304x1440@80Hz, 1920x1200@85Hz. It won't let me adjust those at all. Not a deal breaker but not ideal either. Plus I think BNC cables have a slightly better image, so maybe in the future I will do some crazy cable hack-job monstrosity in which I can use the BNC cables and pull EDID info at the same time. Suggestions welcome here! I don't even know if the FW900 will send out EDID info if the BNC cables are plugged in. Anyone know where I can get super high quality VGA cables in 25 foot lengths? Or a way to breakout the VGA to my BNC cables yet still get the EDID signal to the GPU's?

Even with the huge bezel gaps during my testing, the FW900 portrait Surround setup is EPIC. You get super high resolution, ridiculous buttery smooth CRT motion, zero viewing angle problems, zero ghosting, zero back-light bleed or IPS glow or anti-glare coating problems that you get with LCD's. nVidia Surround/multi-GPU with the CRT's has no stuttering or any problems with any of the games I tested. FW900's work extremely well in portrait as you don't have to worry about pixel orientation, a change in viewing angles or any of that nonsense. Definitely motivated now to work on the bezel-less Fresnel lens portion of the project.

 

[Vega]

That's looking great - subscribed! btw, how did you manage to get 3 FW900s?! I've got the one at the moment and had to scour ebay for ages to find it.

Out of interest, have you ever thought about a multiple projector setup?

I've got four FW900's and a 5th on the way.

The three there on the desk are A+ quality and are calibrated and like new. Almost $4000 in FW900's just on my desk.

I am in the US and they are still around but hard to find. Luckily I found a guy who takes the best FW900's left out there and reconditions them. You pay to play though!

Projector setups are cool for movies, but for gaming this setup I am making is far beyond a triple projector setup. Life-like crystal clear motion with no blur, zero input lag, zero ghosting, zero noise, high resolution. Playing at 10 mega-pixel resolution at 80Hz with CRT motion, completely blows anything I've done in the past out of the water.

 

[Vega]

vega you are one crazy dude fella
i thought i was bad at dropping money in to computer projects but you my friend make me look like trailer trash in those stakes.
are you married? what does the wife say because mine moans at me all the time about what i spend.... anyway i for one love what you do, you are an innovator for sure and your projects are always tip top so keep it up but one question? are you selling the parts you replace because the way you spend money it wouldnt surprise me if your giving them away . buying 4 x 580 classified just till keplar comes out....OMFG you are crazy or seriously loaded

Nope, not married! More money for the hobbies.

All of my old equipment I keep in perfect shape and re-sell on Ebay. I get back like 60-70% of my original cost so it isn't massively painful.


Since the FW900 was designed for normal landscape mode and the heat rising, I've modded a super quiet Noctua fan to help move air while they are in portrait mode.

(And yes for you nit-pickers I meant for it to be slightly askew to align with the grate vent holes for mounting)

 

[Vega]

I have had many problems with EDID info in the past.

The only way I ever got around it was using Powerstrip and forcing custom resolutions with very very detailed tweaks.

I'm not sure if you can force custom timings and get your surround working but it's worth a try?

For some reason whenever I try to modify or mask the EDID information, when I put the monitors in nVidia Surround it always bypassed those and tries to read the EDID electrically. If it can't it fails.


I think I've found my motherboard for this build:

ASRock Z77 Extreme9. I hope they also mean true 4-way SLI (look at printed PCB and not tossed on heat-sink for display) and not just two dual GPU cards like some guys try to advertise as "Quad-SLI" capable. Quad-8x PCI-E 3.0 should be plenty fast for 4x Kepler, the same speed as Quad-16x PCI-E 2.0. This is the only Z77 board I've seen yet with the PLX PCI-E 3.0 lane multiplier chip. Look's like this may be my board for my build as long as ASRock doesn't screw up the BIOS.

Why not just go for X79 you may ask? Generally the 1155 chips like IB will overclock higher, be a lot cheaper, be faster in games clock for clock, run cooler, use less energy, and more than four cores is not used for any game that I know of.