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PC on tour

vvvv beta general
#21

hmm…

well i’m quite critical of extending a processor by 1/3 for 5x price
and also i know most of the stuff i’m doing in vvvv doesn’t require bleeding edge graphics performance (as long as i’ve written good patches and clever use of shaders / minimisation of render passes)

perhaps hdd performance isn’t so important
but i’d really like to try a system which fully uses the CPU, because all the data its dealing with is either in RAM or on an incredibly fast HDD. Maybe i’m being a spoilt brat… :)
maybe i’ll wait for later for that component

#22

… and out of your specs but worth mentioning this little cutie

http://cgi.ebay.it/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=360352554555&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

#23

I was air-travelling with a desktop PC for a while (sveral flights a week) and I have to say it really sucks!
We’ve used something like this: http://www.pelican.com/cases_detail.php?Case=1640 and a steady LIAN LI housing.
Still the PC was fucked up several times from impetuous handling at the luggage pipes.
It seems that the heavy power unit and the graphics cards bounce around in the housing and put lots of stress on the mainboard.
We’ve also tried a smaller Shuttle type PC to take it on board as hand luggage but it was a matter of luck with the airport stuff to let me on the plane with this.
I’d really recommend to use a Desktop replacement laptop and a sturdy handluggage trolly like this:
http://www.refinery29.com/static/bin/entry/197/x/26149/rimowa-luggage-lookbook-1.jpg

#24

@zepi : cheers for the info
I heard a couple of people bringing Shuttles in hand luggage
You ever get stopped?

My friend sells parts for particle accelerators and gets lots of raised eyebrows, but generally gets through.

I’m thinking in general that the CPU heatsink and the graphics card will cause the most stress when being chucked around. Obv. taking off the GPU is easier than the heatsink each time.
With the shuttles the cpu block is lighter weight / lower (since the gubbins are all attached to the case external) so is probably a safer bet for being basket balled into the hold

#25

in terms of desktop replacement laptop, my macbook pro handles that kind of gig atm

i really need 2 x naked ports sticking out as well as a local display,

#26

hi elliot. just get down in my orders 3 years ago:
despite pellican, i would really suggest you to use :
OPEN RACKSEN container: http://www.racksen.com/article-eng.php3?id_article=70

  • Flycase 4U in plastic.
    and if you are effrayed of vibrations, just to use Cire on screews.

setting apart gfx cards is also a good solution.
and yes zepi is definitively right about gentle gesture of ceratin airport people: they play rugby with your things !

from last year, i can say that you will HATE the pellican fly. Too much heavy, and if it contains a strong tower you will have a dead back.

those two last years I have equipped theatre companies with laptops, but i m going back to towers, as laptops may break inside and nothing cant be replaced on tour.
a shuttle strongly configured would be the ideal thing.

voilà !

#27

That racksen looks smart (backplate and everything else facing forwards in the rack)
it does look pretty heavy and dated (1.44" floppy anyone :) )
but yeah, i love the concept
thanks for the find!

will take the advice on the pelican
I’m thinking that if i got a pelican, it’d be for a micro-atx pc. but are you suggesting that the case itself is uncomfortably heavy?

At the moment i’m thinking towards a shuttle with 2 of these GeForce 550’s:
http://www.sparkle-usa.com/img/product/152/SXS4501024D5SNS_1.jpg
http://www.sparkle-usa.com/products_graphic_04.asp?cate=39&seq=152#
simply because they’re single height (even though they’re from the super snazzy brand ‘Sparkle’)

or an mATX with 1 double height card (probably geforce 560) + 1 simple card (geforce 430)

so for Shuttle i could have the option (although unlikely to use it) of SLI’ing the 2 550’s to bump the power to 3 projectors on a triple head, or in generally just enjoy 4 consistent outputs.
but there wouldn’t be a huge amount of space for cooling.

#28

definitively yes. but incredibly strong. i m a guy carrying heavy things easely, but i dont see myself taking planes and transiting with a big pellican for tower. too much physical pain ;-)

about racsen, its touring since 3 year, maintenance of computer is done each jully, and its making something like 60 000km per year and 60 mounting / unmounting in theatre.
the racsen i bought didnt have floppy. You should find a distributor and ask an offer about it, with what you need inside.
very well fitted inside. and no trouble at all. the 4U case in plastic is enough to protect and you can take it by hand.

yours ;-)

#29

well that’s why i took 590 actually, but it’s quite crap on drivers
first tests with two tripples were quite wierd, btw
but the cables lenght was more then 35 meeters digital trippls are suck on that far.
but i could’t acess 2-d tripple to change resolution on desired.

#30

what you doing about display sugo?

#31

yet nothing. any sugestions? have to buy it in the mornin

#32

poor karistouf, be advised there are also pelicases (or stormcase or alternatives) available with wheels and handle. e.g. http://www.peliproducts.co.uk/cases/storm/ps_im2875.html

Having worked as a cargo handler at the airport, I can only advise everyone to pack everything as good as possible - handling of baggage can be very rough.

I can also remember from a couple years back, that there are cases where the pci cards are secured on the edge away from the mainboard with a small truss and clamp. this could seriously help with graphics card moving around. maybe such a system is also available for the cpu cooler?

#33

@@antokhio. Following options at the moment:

1a) Shuttle with ATi 5870 EyeFinity*
1b) Shuttle with 2xGeForce 550 single height

  1. Asus Rampage III Gene / NZXT Vulcan case / GeForce 560 / GeForce 430 (+PCIe SSD?)

Choose 1b) if space is a priority
Choose 2) if price / upgradability is a priority

  • Check thread https://discourse.vvvv.org/ for more about EyeFinity. I’d say there’s not enough positive real world stories yet to confirm it as a stable option. Furthermore, since the adoption of Multi Stream Transport its generally not an option at all for us, generation 6xxx cards give us no useful options.
    5870 seems to be the only ‘workable’ card so far I’ve found. Ideally a fully funded studio can do some real hardware tests to verify the desk research in that thread.

Although the racks look great, they’re absolutely the heaviest option, and could at times require to be in the luggage hold (risk of @bilderbuchi’s successors rugby’ing it to smithereens) . I think I might try that when I have more resources (e.g. delivery service)

Generally I’m trying to avoid any exotic hardware

#34

amptown-cases should be able to produce a 19" 4HU with the trolly options shown here easily.

but i think a tower inside a peli-case equipped with shockabsorbing foam is mechanical the better choice and much more lightweight.

btw. all shuttles i have seen have gotten damn hot inside. i don’t trust them.

#35

There is another choice for 4 outputs
http://www.datapath.co.uk/products/multi-display-controller

A LOT better than tripleheads, about £800

Just had an output go down on my triple head, show tonight, I’ve had to loose 1 projector from the setup, proper arse!

#36

the minidisplayports of the 5870 are not really practicable. I’d like to recommend the ASUS 6970 DirectCU instead.

#37

@@kalle)), please check the ((forum:ati-eyefinity-displayport thread.
it’d be awesome to get some of your experiences in there. cheers :)

#38

@sugo
1c)(risky) leave the shuttle case opened so you can put 2 GTX 580(double height) with one half outside!

#39

I don t think that will work since the first card would take both the available slots… but I came to think the same in s similar situation, modding the case to give it extra air, probably just removing the whole external shell and replace it with some completely netted material, give it an extra fan too and expose the side where the video card is…

S.

btw : http://www.wordreference.com/iten/sugo

#40

hahha. i love the abbreviations!
but i prefer soju i think!

funny idea about having the pc with the graphics card wangling out of its pants
taking the cover off may alleviate some of kalle’s heat concerns (esp. GPU generated heat)

  • a deskfan :)
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