Setting Up The Hardware; Nvidia Gsync Card - HP xw3400 User Manual

Setting Up the Hardware:

The workstation hardware should be ordered as a unit and arrive with desired processors, graphics
cards, and memory.

NVIDIA Gsync Card:

If stereo is required, then the Gsync card will need to be added unless you are using an NVIDIA
quadroplex box with a Gsync card already in it. To add the Gsync card, first open the chassis of the
xw9300 or xw9400 workstation. Next, place the Gsync card in the PCI-X slot next to the bottom
graphics card. Some pressure will need to be applied to the back of the workstation (near the card
slot) as you try to push the card into the slot. This is because the spacing on the Gsync card is a little
off for PCI-X slots (it is optimal for PCI-express slots). This is OK because the Gsync card is not
electrically connected to the PCI-X slot; the slot just provides mechanical stability for the card.
As of NVIDIA release 8756 or greater, a single Gsync card will synchronize both graphics cards.
The two ribbon cables included with the Gsync card should be connected to the two graphics cards
as indicated in the photo above in previous section. The connectors for the primary graphics card
and the secondary graphics cards are labeled on the Gsync card. Eternal connectors are not
needed for this configuration; the external connectors are used when connecting to other graphics
cards and to an external sync signal. The StereoGraphics glasses can be plugged into the 3-pin DIN
connector on the top (primary) graphics card.
Now the stereo emitter is connected to the primary graphics card via the 3-pin DIN cable. Extender
cables are useful for these cables since the emitters should be placed near the screen facing towards
the audience. Many vizcenter rooms are setup with BNC-style emitters. NVIDIA only has the 3-pin
DIN connector on the graphics cards, but adapter cables are available from StereoGraphics that go
from the 3-pin DIN to BNC. You should probably have at least 2 emitters for a decent sized
visualization room. You can use the 3 pin DIN on both graphics cards and drive 2 emitters (1 emitter
per card). The Gsync card will synchronize the 2 stereo emitter signals.
Now connect the graphics cards to the projection system. We used a Panoram Integrator projection
system to do the edge-blending. The Panoram Integrator was connected to 3 1280x1024 Christie
monitors. Panoram Technologies has some newer products now that will work well with the
xw9300/xw9400 (Integrator 3000 and PixelBlaster). See http://panoramtech.com. Barco has
some projectors that will do the edge-blending directly without the need of a front-end system such as
Panoram's Integrator product. The BarcoReality SIM 4, 5, and 6 products are examples of this. See
http://barco.com/simulation. There are other projectors on the market that will also do the edge
blending directly. All these projection systems have to be setup/calibrated to get a high quality
image. The complexity of this setup and ongoing maintenance should be a major factor in selection
of this projection equipment. The Sony SXRD 4k projector is a single projector with all the calibration
of the 4 channels within the projector, making it mush easier to setup/calibrate. It also has a very
bright projection. For these 2 reasons, there is a lot of interest in the Sony SXRD 4k.
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