Nvidia VCQM5000SYNC-PB User Manual

User’s Guide

QUADRO SYNC

DU-06574-001_v01 | October 2012

DOCUMENT CHANGE HISTORY

DU-06574-001_v01

Version Date Authors Description of Change

01 October 16, 2012 AP, SM Initial Release

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Getting Started .................................................................................... 1

System Requirements .......................................................................... 1

Board Overview ................................................................................. 2

Board Installation ............................................................................... 3

Quadro Display Driver .......................................................................... 4

Working with Quadro Sync ...................................................................... 5

Multi-GPU Mosaic Configuration................................................................ 6

Mosaic Overview ................................................................................ 6

Configuring Mosaic .............................................................................. 7

Frame Lock Configuration ...................................................................... 8

Connecting Nodes in a Visualization Cluster ................................................ 8

Frame Lock Connector LEDs ................................................................... 9

Visualization Cluster Setup Order ........................................................... 10

Restarting a Visualization Cluster ........................................................... 11

Windows Driver Configuration................................................................ 11

Enabling Frame Lock ........................................................................ 13

Configure Frame Lock Clients ............................................................. 15

Linux Driver Configuration .................................................................... 16

Set Driver Security to Allow Remote Management ..................................... 16

Configure Frame Lock ...................................................................... 17

Sync to an External Timing Source ........................................................... 20

External Timing Sources ...................................................................... 20

Synchronize to an External Sync Source for Windows ................................. 21

Synchronize to an External Sync Source for Linux ...................................... 22

Monitoring Display Synchronization .......................................................... 23

Board Level Status Indicatior ................................................................. 23

Frame Lock and Stereo Sync Status LEDs ................................................ 24

System Topology Viewer for Windows ...................................................... 26

Sync Timing Limits .............................................................................. 28

Compliance and Certifications ................................................................ 29

Important Safety Information ................................................................. 30

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Quadro Sync Board Overview ....................................................... 2

Figure 2. Quadro Drivers Compatible with Quadro Sync ................................... 4

Figure 3. 3 x 3 Mosaic with Quadro Sync ..................................................... 6

Figure 4. NVIDIA Driver Downloads ............................................................ 7

Figure 5. Frame Lock Connections on Timing Server ....................................... 9

Figure 6. Board Level Status Indicators ...................................................... 24

Figure 7. Frame Lock and Stereo Sync Status LEDs ........................................ 25

Figure 8. System Topology Viewer for Windows ............................................ 26

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. Sync Timing Limits .................................................................. 28

Table 2. Symbols on Equipment .............................................................. 31

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GETTING STARTED

The NVIDIA Quadro® Sync board is designed to fit into a free PCI Express slot within the system. It does not require power from the PCI Express connector on the motherboard and is designed to be with PCI Express and PCIe connectors.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

 NVIDIA

● The Quadro Sync board supports up to 4 matching Quadro graphics processing

● For an up to date list of the Quadro boards compatible with Sync see

 Operating Systems

● Windows 7: 64-bit recommended, 32-bit supported

● Linux: 64-bit recommended, 32-bit supported

● Limited support for Windows XP 32-bit and 64-bit: 2 GPUs per Quadro Sync

 Driver

● R304 branch display drivers will support Quadro Sync for GPU topologies that do

● R310 branch and newer display drivers support Quadro Sync with Mosaic

 Chassis Requirements

Quadro® Professional Graphics Boards

units (GPUs) which are compatible with Sync

www.nvidia.com/sync

board, 2 displays per GPU and no support Multi-GPU NVIDA

not use Mosaic

topologies

Mosaic features

● Single free PCIe slot

● 6-pin PCI or SATA power connector

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Getting Started

Frame-Lock

Connectors

Status LED

SATA Power

GPU Connectors

Hole for cable tie retention of SATA cable

External Sync

PCI Power

BOARD OVERVIEW

The Quadro Sync board is an accessory board to the Quadro Professional GPU. On the top edge are four connectors to connect it to the GPUs. The cables are included in the box.

Figure 1. Quadro Sync Board Overview

For high vibration environments there are cable retention clips, not pictured, which hold all cables securely in place on both the Quadro Sync board and Quadro GPU. Since the SATA power connector has no physical retention the board has a hole which can be used to secure the cable with a cable tie.

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Getting Started

BOARD INSTALLATION

Prior to installing the Quadro Sync board, make sure to power down the machine and unplug the power connecter.

1. Place the Quadro Sync board in a free slot, note the PCIe edge fingers may not

bottom out in the PCIe slot.

2. Connect the Sync board and up to four Quadro boards with included ribbon cables.

On the Quadro board make sure to connect to the connector labeled “SYNC | SDI”. There is no need to connect the Quadro boards to the connectors on the Quadro Sync board in any particular order.

3. Connect a 6-pin PCIe or SATA power connector.

4. Optional: Place the included cable retention clips on both the Quadro Sync board

and Quadro board(s).



Note: When properly installed the PCIe finger on the Quadro Sync board may not touch the bottom of the PCIe slot.

When using Quadro Sync in a system that supports NVIDIA SLI® an SLI bridge does not need to be connected unless you are planning to use SLI specific features like SLI Frame Rendering or SLI Anti-Aliasing. These SLI modes are not compatible with most of the features of Sync.

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Getting Started

QUADRO DISPLAY DRIVER

Quadro Sync does not require a dedicated driver; all the files needed to operate it are included in the Quadro display driver. Drivers are available on the NVIDIA Web site at www.nvidia.com/drivers. When choosing the drivers for use with Quadro Sync, make sure to select the following from the pull down lists:

 “Quadro Sync Series” from the Product Series pull down list  “Quadro Sync” from the Product pull down list

Figure 2. Quadro Drivers Compatible with Quadro Sync

Quadro Sync is supported for single GPU operations with the R304 branch driver, multiGPU features are supported in the R310 and newer branch drivers.

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WORKING WITH QUADRO SYNC

Whether working with a single node or visualization cluster the Quadro Sync board provides multiple forms of display synchronization:

 Multi-GPU Mosaic: Mosaic is a software technology that abstracts multiple physical

displays into a larger virtual display. When the virtual display spans across multiple GPUs, the Quadro Sync board synchronizes the GPUs to ensure all the displays stay aligned.

 Frame Lock: Synchronize multiple displays, in one machine or spread across multiple

machines in a cluster. For Frame Lock a single display is chosen as the timing master and all other displays in the cluster align to it. Frame Lock can be used with individual physical displays and single or multi-GPU Mosaic displays.

 Sync to an External Timing Source: Aligns a selected display to an external timing

generator. The selected display can be a Mosaic or physical and can be used as the Frame Lock master if desired.

The Quadro Sync board supports mixing and matching the different synchronization options to build the correct configuration your installation needs. Installations with Quadro Sync can become complex and architecture decisions can impact performance and reliability, for questions on how to architect systems with Quadro Sync or Mosaic contact QuadroSVS@nvidia.com

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B C

D E F

G H I

MULTI-GPU MOSAIC CONFIGURATION

MOSAIC OVERVIEW

Mosaic is a technology that combines multiple displays or projectors into a single virtual display. It’s cable of creating a projector overlap region or subtracting the area behind screen bezels to create a single unified display surface. With Quadro Sync and supported Quadro GPUs up to 16 displays can appear as one to the operating systems and any application that runs on them. The image in Figure 3 is an example of a 3 × 3 display wall connected to 3 Quadro K5000 graphics boards.

Figure 3. 3 x 3 Mosaic with Quadro Sync

When working with multi-GPU Mosaic, Quadro Sync automatically keeps all the displays that are part of the Mosaic synchronized.

For more information on Mosaic refer to the NVIDIA Web site at www.nvidia.com/svs

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Multi-GPU Mosaic Configuration

CONFIGURING MOSAIC

No special configuration is required for Mosaic; configure it either through the control panel, with the configureMosaic utility or through one of the programmatic interfaces.

The configureMosaic utility is not part of the standard driver download but is easily downloaded from www.nvidia.com/drivers

Figure 4. NVIDIA Driver Downloads

Mosaic is compatible with the other synchronization methods covered in this user’s guide. When combining Mosaic with other forms of synchronization make sure to enable Mosaic first then continue with synchronizing.

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