PC Tech Thread

I don't know what you plan on doing with such a massive build but my old favorite Novatech have complete builds which are comparable.

https://www.novatech.co.uk/workstation/media-and-entertainment/
https://www.novatech.co.uk/workstation/nvidia-quadro-graphics/

Shit!

It's a work thing, for an art show. An artist has made a simulation in the Unreal Engine and that computer will be the source. I'm aware it'll be very expensive, but who is good to go to in the UK? I have someone who can make it in NY, but if I can save the shipping and have it done here then that'd be nice.

Is that list what he has specc'd or is there flexibility?

that's the spec of one made for a show in NYC last year, that worked. I know very little about this, so I'm keen to go off what's worked before. There's some advice that improving the GPU would be of benefit, but other than that no. it's not going to be used for anything else than as a source for this suimulation

That does not sound expensive... unreal engine is just a game engine and works well on most PCs.

However... do you have weird display requirements? Driving a single 4k projector is hard, but driving a grid of 4k displays goes into a world of stratospheric costs.

A lot of the PCs on this page will be just fine if driving a single display... but push the higher specs if it's a 4k display / projector: https://www.novatech.co.uk/pc/gaming-pc/

Multiple displays? Then it's a different question altogether... the gaming machine stays the same but you start looking at display solutions which come with very different price tags.

Basically: Unreal Engine uses a bit of CPU and then a lot of GPU... what you need from a GPU varies according to the resolution and quality you want to get to. If you slam the GPU to the highest, the price tag is high and then you also want to increase other parts of the machine (CPU and RAM and SSDs) just to support the GPU (think of it like a car, increase the engine and you increase lots of other things as they are balanced together).

Thank you.

It's running two large 4K projection screens and two 5.1 audio channels

Perfect.

2 x 4k renders is within the realm of a single gaming PC and 1 high-end graphics card, or a pair of mid-end graphics card.

The audio is almost irrelevant, everything does surround sound or can with a very cheap sound card.

I'd give either NovaTech and PCSpecialist a call and explain what you have and ask for recommendations.

Key things to communicate:

• Unreal Engine
  
• 2 x 4k outputs set to High Quality
  
• Art installation means it's going to run for a long time and needs to sustain this (it implies cooling that really can handle this - which it should, but they should bear it in mind)
  
• 5.1 audio outputs needed (irrelevant as the chips are already on every motherboard, but they may throw in a cheap sound card just to split the outputs)
  
  

Assumption in all of the above is that you already have the projectors - if this is true, telling them whether you need 2 x HDMI or 2 x DisplayPort supported on the graphics card is slightly relevant.

You'll end up with a machine that has lights in it - I can't help you there, but you can always turn this stuff off within the software that comes with the box.

thank you, that's very helpful

What do you need to drive a 4k screen like this
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07CTHWKQC/ref=twister_B07SDR3Z2W

Would just plugging a bog standard laptop with onboard graphics (whatever the onboard with 8th gen intel is) via HDMI do it? I've seen stuff about that only working at 30Hz or would it be USB-C or just not able to drive it?

Similar with a decent but dated graphics card (Nvidia GTX 970), would that do it?

I've done a bit of googling but can't seem to find much definitive info.

Any recent (last few years) and mid/top tier laptop will do it.

Ultimately it's about the chipset on the graphics card in the PC... but finding the specs is hard.

Virtually all desktops in a good while could drive that.

Cheers. Would HDMI be fine for it then? I keep coming across stuff saying that HDMI is only good for 30Hz but I'm not sure why that would be.

Find out what the laptop's CPU is and look up its graphics specs.

E.g. I have a Lenovo with an Intel i5-6200U, which includes Intel HD Graphics 520, which can do 4k @24Hz over HDMI, or @60 Hz over DP.

I don't think you'll have any issue with the desktop's GTX 970, but again, look up the spec for the exact card you have, ports vary between manufacturers.

If it's HDMI 1.4 then it doesn't have the bandwidth for more than 30Hz at 4K.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI#Version_1.4

HDMI 2.0 and 2.1 have much higher bandwidth. 2.1 can do 10K at 120Hz.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hdmi#Refresh_frequency_limits_for_standard_video

4K @ 60Hz you need to lose some colour information to fit it over HDMI 1.3-1.4b, but 2.0 and up are OK.
Higher refresh rates are still more limited, and even HDMI 2.1 can only manage 240Hz with compression.

Display Port manages a little better. Also, I prefer the connectors.

Actually, I also have a GTX 970, and that has HDMI 2.0, so yours probably does too.

Cheers all. So this looks to be the relevant CPU section https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/149091/intel-core-i7-8565u-processor-8m-cache-up-to-4-60-ghz.html

4K Support
Yes, at 60Hz

Max Resolution (HDMI 1.4)‡
4096x2304@24Hz

Max Resolution (DP)‡
4096x2304@60Hz

The laptop only has a HDMI port though so I assume I'd need some kind of USB C to displayport cable then? The USB C port seems to have a little displayport icon on it so I guess that should work and google suggests that such a cable exists.

an HDMI > DP converter will still have the 30hz limit. Go the USB C route.

Don't suppose anyone has an Oculus Rift S they want rid of? Or know of any good deals?

Following the announcement that you have to link them to a facebook account I suspect there will probably be some cheap ones knocking around.

Wait until this Facebook requirement kicks in and the second hand market should be flooded.

I've pre-ordered a Reverb G2 so the Vive Pro might be up for grabs soon. Current ETA is October.

Is there any way to do HDMI over ethernet whilst also using the ethernet for normal data. Or some other way round this?

My house is wired for ethernet with one wire going to each room and all terminating in the lounge. I want to use that to send my virgin tv box signal to a couple of different rooms but I also want to have ethernet to the router (which will be in that lounge). Any option beyond running a second cable (which realistically is probably very awkward)?

If you connect the hardware to the hub at one end and switches at the other will it not just share the bandwidth?

Fairly sure the answer there is no. we have our TV signal sent over ethernet around the house, and have had to use separate cables from the data.

I have a question, which might be a long shot.

Does anyone know anything about KVM switches? I have two high powered computers, which i use to run software which occasionally locks my computer up for about half an hour at a time, so the ability to switch to the other computer whilst computer 1 is locked would be tempting.

The issue I am having is that I use three monitors, I can find switches that do 2 monitors for a sensible price, but struggling to find one that does 3, anyone know of one?