S3 Max Pixel Count

[wkm001]

Approximately how many pixels can I control before S3 starts to drag or stutter? What are the typical bottlenecks (PC, network, controllers, etc...)?

 

This year I'm going to use two AlphaPix 16 controllers. I also have two 16 channel LOR AC controllers. My PC is a custom built i5-4690 with 16GB of RAM and a Samsung 850 Pro SSD.

 

I'm going to put a second network card in my desktop and connect to a dedicated switch just for the light show. I really want to avoid spending the next few months setting everything up and sequencing, just to have my show look terrible.

 

 

[Darryl Lambert]

Last year I ran 8 LOR 16 channel AC controllers, 4 LOR 16 channel DC controllers, 4 sandevice 682's, 4 sandevice 6804's. Which worked out to 3900 pixels & a couple channels shy of 12000 on S3 with no issues.

[LOR Staff]

One million pixels!

 

 

 

Actually, that's a hard question to answer since there are so many variables - sequence 'speed', your IP networking skills, etc.  It's the same reason we can't give a number for channels on a network.

 

I can tell you that with S4, I have personally seen 22,000 pixels running with 0 issues.  I have also heard of 30,000 with no issues.  But that is S4 using the new pixel tools.

[jerrymac]

It is not really an issue of the number of pixels.  The issue is traffic. 15000 pixels changing from solid red to solid green every 20 seconds is no big deal.  500 pixels each chasing the rainbow every .05 seconds IS a big deal. The more chases and the greater number of pixel changes eventually can result in delays. The more complex the sequencing is the more likely you will hit the invisible limit that will result in delays,  also depends on the controller speed ( G2 or G3 )  etc.

Not an easy answer, if you are concerned best bet is update to 4.xxx since it has better tools to handle pixels as well as larger displays.