The summer is coming and it is time to get hot, really hot outside (depending on where you live of course), but with the temperatures increasing and all the hot hardware he have into out computers playing in stereo 3D can bring some issue. You should know that playing games in stereoscopic 3D mode is more demanding for your hardware and that does not mean only the GPU, but all other components and they all generate more heat. And with the the high-end video cards like GeForce GTX 4xx Fermi and Radeon HD 5xxx the heat dissipated is already quite a lot and the air cooling might sometimes give you quite high temperatures reaching even over 100 degrees Celsius or 212 degrees Fahrenheit and that is not good…
I’ve already started working on upgrading my stereoscopic 3D test PC using GeForce GTX 275 and Radeon HD 5970 to water cooling for the quad-core AMD CPU and the Radeon HD 5970 GPU and removing the GTX 275 card (to be used for iZ3D testing). The other project I’ve started working on is building a new Nvidia-based water cooled PC that will use single GeForce GTX 480 videocard and and Intel i7 quad-core processor with everything stuffed inside a Big Corsair Obsidian 800D case (great and big case, on the photo above, ideal for more serious water cooling projects). I think it is about time to get a GTX 480 card for stereoscopic 3D gaming with 3D Vision, because the GTX 275 is a bit old already and the GT 9800Ms in SLI inside the test Dell M1730 laptops is even slower. But thanks to a lot of money going into the upgrade and new system, I’ve postponed the purchase of a new 3D HDTV for testing at least for the end of the year hoping for some better prices and more content and easier PC connectivity for gaming in stereo 3D by then. I’m planning to get a Panasonic VT20E Plasma 3D HDTV as this is what is currently available and the best choice so far from what I’ve seen, unless other competitors manage to offer something better meanwhile.
Say tuned for some more information about the water cooling upgrade for my current test 3D system and the new PC built especially for stereoscopic 3D gaming coming soon… and I do hope to have some benchmarks in stereo 3D with the GTX 480 in stereo 3D mode on some of the newer and popular game titles… ;)
It seems that Fujifilm is continuing to enhance its 3D product line, as after the launch of the 3D consumer camera FinePix REAL 3D W1 and the 3D photo frame FinePix REAL 3D V1, the company has just announced another 3D-capable product. Fujifilm HD Player HDP-L1 is a 3D-capable photo and video player that can play content from SD/SDHC flash cards like the ones used in the REAL 3D W1 digital cameras (the player can also work with other non-3D Fuji digital cameras). The HDP-L1 player has an HDMI video output and can be connected directly to one of the new 3D-capable HDTVs and over HDMI and play back 3D content in 720p Side by Side format, either video in AVI format or 3D photos in MPO format (used by the W1 camera). This new product will allow you to easily view the 3D photos and videos on a larger screen than only on the small screen of the camera or on the slightly bigger V1 photo frame. So far the Fujifilm HD Player HDP-L1 has been announced only in Japan and the launch date for the product on that market is set for April 27th or in just few days and probably it will not take much time for the product to appear in Europe and America as well as the company’s 3D digital camera is already quite popular all over the world. What do you think about this product, do you think it may be useful, or the idea of having such non-universal solution is not so good?
Neil Schneider from MTBS3D.com has managed to find and take an interview from James Mentz, President & CEO of Bit Cauldron while at CES 2010. I’ve already written a bit about them and their plans to Offer Alternative to Nvidia’s 3D Vision Shutter Glasses a few days ago. Bit Cauldron still don’t reveal every detail, but have told some interesting things and they sound quite convinced about the advantages of their glasses, although we’ll still have to wait for the second half to see them on the market. It seems that Bit Cauldron has been working for quite some time together with AMD/ATI in order to bring stereoscopic 3D support to the owners of ATI-based GPUs. But when talking about gaming you’ll still have to use some sort of middleware software like iZ3D’s Driver or DDD’s TriDef as it seems that these two companies will be supporting Bit Cauldron’s glasses at first. James Mentz said that they are also open to work with Nvidia (the green company) and others of course in order to work on standards that in the end will benefit the end customer the most, because he’ll be able to use just one solution for all his stereoscopic 3D needs – TV, movies, games, photos… no mater if it is for the PC, the HDTV, the console or something else. So lets see how things will develop and meanwhile I’m getting more and more eager to test these glasses…
