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xthexder ,
@xthexder@l.sw0.com avatar

I don’t know what they need so many GPUs for. There’s 16 displays inside, and the sphere itself has fewer pixels than even 1 of the internal displays. You could probably run the sphere off a laptop if you aren’t trying to do anything fancy.

Maybe they plan on doing crazy live simulations on it or something. I can’t imagine what kind of displayed image would actually use all 150 of them. Nvidia A6000 cards are damn powerful.

shasta ,

I guess the practicality of the decision depends on the finances. Did they actually buy the cards or were they gifted by nvidia for free advertising?

xthexder ,
@xthexder@l.sw0.com avatar

It does seem suspiciously like they picked 150 completely arbitrarily to make the project sound impressive, when they could have easily done it with 20. I’m sure a bunch of people in the middle made a bunch of money off that transaction too. Or like you said, maybe this is Nvidia doing some guerrilla marketing

WhyFlip ,

You don’t know. Full stop.

xthexder ,
@xthexder@l.sw0.com avatar

My job has been to run things on GPUs for almost 10 years now. The only thing anyone practical is doing on that many GPUs is AI training, massive scientific simulations, or crypto mining. 1 or 2 of them is enough to run something like ChatGPT.

Real-time graphics it turns out don’t scale well across multiple GPUs. There’s a reason SLI has gone away for consumer GPUs. At the current ratio, each of those $3000+ GPUs is only driving 8000 pixels (assuming each led puck is being used as 1 pixel, given their size). It makes no sense other than bragging rights

Rolive ,

Pretty sure it’s just for bragging rights.

yardy_sardley ,

Probably have a few cards running the displays and the rest of them mining some sphere-themed memecoin

gianni ,

We need more nuclear power ASAP

ashok36 ,

Vegas is almost entirely powered by the hoover dam. It’s already pretty green as far as energy goes. The question will be where do they get their power from in a few years when lake mead dries up.

HandwovenConsensus ,

That’s not true. The Hoover Dam contributes to Vegas’s power supply, but it’s nowhere near “almost entirely powered” by the dam, except in Fallout: New Vegas.

ashok36 ,

Turns out you’re correct. I appreciate the correction.

vaultdweller013 ,

Fallout: New Vegas is powered by my ever dwindling sanity. I am currently trying to get my mods to play nice.

Also its implied ingame that only the strip is powered by the damn dam and that Freeside and West Vegas get either limited or no power, hence why directing the electricity from Helios One to the area is such a big deal.

Soggy ,

In addition to the other thing, dams have a dramatic and disastrous impact on the ecology in the immediate area and the entire riparian system they connect to. It’s “green” in terms of emissions but they’re still harmful and we should be phasing them out for lower impact alternatives as much as possible.

rogue_scholar ,

Should? Definitely, but let’s be realistic, we can barely get people off of coal and oil right now.

In the world we live in, Dams have some of the lowest environmental impact compared to the other places we get our energy.

So we probably shouldn’t be trying to phase them out while there are much more severe effects being felt from the other base load facilities.

frezik ,

There’s no such thing as “ASAP” for nuclear power. If you had the permits signed off today, it would take 10 years before a single GWh of new nuclear energy goes to the grid.

Instead, maybe we shouldn’t build giant spherical advertising displays?

GamingChairModel ,

There’s no such thing as “ASAP” for nuclear power

Sure there is. It’s just that the P stands for “20 years from now.”

werefreeatlast ,

And a waste of electricity?

JackbyDev ,

I believe that’s implied in the “hubris” bit.

UnderpantsWeevil ,
@UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world avatar

Its one of the smaller atrocities in Vegas, particularly when compared to the Bellagio Fountain or the food waste generated by all those casino dining halls.

chiliedogg ,

The fountains aren’t quite as wasteful as they seem. They use a lot of water compared to a house, but way less than some car washes.

CompostMaterial ,

Plus it is recycled. They would only replace what is lost due to evaporation or after a drain and cleaning.

BobGnarley ,

Yeah we should have never invented televisions or records either! And don’t even get me started on cell phones. Just waste waste waste.

Why, if it were up to me we would all still be hunting and gathering!

vaultdweller013 ,

Apples to oranges dude, this is for pure spectacle that wears off after five minutes. Plus any data gained from it was at the lab they prototyped it I believe in Burbank. This aint really a sign of progress, and itll be funny to see what happens to it when it inevitably breaks.

xthexder ,
@xthexder@l.sw0.com avatar

So how is the total power over 500x that of the GPU power? If it’s all LEDs, that thing must get brighter than the damn sun.

Jackfinished ,

Funny enough you can barely see it during the day

Sorgan71 ,

God you guys cant have any fun. Yeah it uses power but cant we have cool things once and awhile?

PenisWenisGenius ,

In 2030 this will just be the standard system requirements for AAA games because optimization is hard.

redditReallySucks ,
@redditReallySucks@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

because optimization is hard costs money and they dont have enough from the 60 USD you paid

drunkpostdisaster ,

70*

redditReallySucks ,
@redditReallySucks@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Right, forgot AAAA was the new norm

z00s ,

Kinda feels like humanity is in the process of jumping the shark on this one

drunkpostdisaster ,

It’s the last season anyway

drunkpostdisaster ,

Might as well just give up on the earth right now I guess

AeonFelis ,

That article gets stuck so much and makes my (relatively high end) laptop’s fan scream so hard you’d think the website was designed for that kind of hardware.

ShittyBeatlesFCPres ,

Las Vegas in general is a testament to the hubris of humanity and an admittedly impressive technical feat. Does it even exist without the Hoover Dam?

batmaniam ,

I don’t know about power, but Vegas is actually incredibly water efficient. Due to the way the water rights work with the Colorado river, they’re not allowed very much, but it doesn’t “count” if you put it back in. So nearly every drop they use is treated and put back (probably cleaner, tbh). Boggles the brain, but somehow it’s actually a fairly sustainable city. More than any other other major metro, in any event.

DevopsPalmer ,

Considering they are in a literal desert, they would have to be fairly sustainable to exist in the first place. Not saying it’s not super impressive, my dad lived out there when they were building up a lot of the expanded infrastructure and he has some cool stories about how he saw the desert on the outskirts disappear as they added in all the water and transportation stuff

axo ,

What do other cities do with their wastewater? Isnt that the norm?

batmaniam ,

Thrilled you asked! So yes: Treatment is always required, but the final destination of the treated water can vary. For instance, in a lot of places they may have municipal water TO a home or business, but that may be discharged to septic, as opposed to the river. Also in a lot of areas, water may be taken out of an underground aquifer (either by private well or a municipality) but when treated it may be discharged into a river or ocean. That can create problems because if you’re near the coast, the empty space in the aquifer may be filled by salt/brackish water that can lead to salinity rises in the aquifer. To solve that some places turn to “ground water recharge”, which is just a fancy way of saying “we built a big well to put it back in the aquifer”.

Increasingly, you’re seeing some places essentially sell their treated water. Santa Rosa CA, for instance, built an entire pipeline that goes from their treatment facility to another municipality to be injected into their groundwater.

So yes, everywhere treats it, but the final destination makes a difference. Las Vegas (or anyone else on the river) only gets credit for what goes back into the river, so any evaporation etc is a problem. It sounds trivial, but there is a reason those other strategies exist. It essentially doubles every pipe, limits where you can park a treatment plant etc. Vegas also does some great grey water re-use. That essentially means it doesn’t go “back” but can get used many many times, limiting the initial draw.

Wastewater is funny because it’s far from rocket science, but the numbers to implement any of it get staggering very quickly.

jaybone ,

Where does Santa Rosa’s wastewater go to?

captainlezbian ,

Wastewater isn’t rocket science. It’s just harder and significantly more important. Every engineering discipline makes fun of the civils, but the fact is none of us are half as critical to modern life as them. Every benefit any of us claim rests on their backs. The flow of electricity is a civil engineering feat, the flow of water to and from our homes, businesses, and farms is a civil engineering feat (and critical to health), as is our transportation networks, our entire constructed environment, and even crazy and weird shit like controlling the location of critical rivers.

batmaniam ,

oh I’m not shortchanging it, I work in the field. It’s crazy how “simple” it is in concept and hard to deliver. But it’s on par with antibiotics with how many lives it’s changed. Like you said, it’s like a lot of civil stuff. A solid highway system, for instance. Just some dirt with fancy rocks on it right? Righhhhhhht?

And don’t get me wrong, wastewater has tons of complications. Any plant is operated in equal parts science, engineering, and art. It’s a living, breathing, bioreactor. They’ve each got their own distinct personality.

sugar_in_your_tea ,

I actually thought about going into civil engineering in school, but I ended up really liking Computer Science instead. In high school, I was waffling between being a software patent attorney and a civil engineering attorney, but once I took some CS classes, I decided software patents suck and I really wanted to work with computers.

I have a lot of respect for our civil engineers. My state is experimenting with a variety of civil engineering stuff, like paints for our highways (should help visibility in crappy winter conditions), alternative grass mixtures to cut water use (less engineering and more horticulture, but whatever), and expanding trains. I kind of wish I was involved with that, but I still really like my job, so I just follow that kind of stuff as a hobby. Bridges, trains, and tunnels rock.

captainlezbian ,

Yeah in retrospect I wish I’d gone civil. It wasn’t offered at my school but I went industrial because I loved both engineering and psychology. Civil would’ve meant I did more good and got less poisoned by my career

prole ,

It was also, literally, built by the mob

Zachariah ,
@Zachariah@lemmy.world avatar

Add a solar array and battery bank, a you might even have electricity left over. It’s in the desert after all.

LodeMike ,

Still a waste of energy because that could be used for the general grid

Zachariah ,
@Zachariah@lemmy.world avatar

I wouldn’t say entertainment is a waste of energy even if there are nobler uses for the power.

LodeMike ,

Advertising may be entertaining but it’s not entertainment

Zachariah ,
@Zachariah@lemmy.world avatar

…Las Vegas Sphere—a gigantic spherical entertainment arena sitting at the heart of Sin City…

yeather ,

I think he means the outside

Lost_My_Mind ,

I dunno man. You ever see the infomercials for the magic bullet, or the slapchop?

Fetticini

Linguine

Martini

Bikini.

You’re gonna love my nuts!

Nurse_Robot ,

Remember when he got his dick almost bitten off while doing coke with a hooker?

catloaf ,

Wasn’t it his lip?

Nurse_Robot ,

Shit you might be right. It’s been a long time

LodeMike ,

It may be entertaining, but it’s not entertainment.

brbposting ,

Remix still slaps

https://sh.itjust.works/pictrs/image/8f796e78-6830-4294-a621-62c823a4a2cf.jpeg

youtu.be/UWRyj5cHIQA

Rai ,

I’m in a good mood all day

Grimy ,

Here’s a link. You can go inside of it and it’s essentially a huge concert venue. It’s clearly entertainment.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=TuanMw6zwBk

buttfarts ,

Like those ass massaging power chairs.

ShepherdPie ,

I’d hate to be the one to use them after /u/buttfarts.

Tilgare ,

There wouldn’t be an incentive or the capital necessary to instigate the build out of solar without the sphere. Yes, it would be great if someone did that. But the owners of the sphere specifically have a financial incentive to do so for the sake of lower energy costs. There’s not a lack of land or sun, so whether they do or do not doesn’t amount to a “waste” of energy - anyone else can build out solar production too.

maniacal_gaff ,

I saw several concerts there and it was awesome. You want to live a life without anything fun in it?

NeoNachtwaechter ,

Have you ever seen a solar array that gives 28 MW?

Zachariah ,
@Zachariah@lemmy.world avatar

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_tower

NeoNachtwaechter ,

So?

Zachariah ,
@Zachariah@lemmy.world avatar

Or how about six wind turbines? It’s rather windy in Las Vegas.

NeoNachtwaechter ,

I mean, have you seen it with your own eyes?

Zachariah ,
@Zachariah@lemmy.world avatar

I’ve flown over a couple big ones. Not sure of the exactly area or output.

Zachariah ,
@Zachariah@lemmy.world avatar

Is it bigger or smaller than a football field?

NeoNachtwaechter ,

Rough calculation says it needs about 28 ha, this could be about 30 football fields (depending on whatever they mean in your area when they say football :))

Zachariah ,
@Zachariah@lemmy.world avatar

Thank you for doing the math.

ShepherdPie ,

110MW …wikipedia.org/…/Crescent_Dunes_Solar_Energy_Proj…

392MW …m.wikipedia.org/…/Ivanpah_Solar_Power_Facility

These are both near Vegas.

todd_bonzalez ,
@todd_bonzalez@lemm.ee avatar

Wait, why do they need 150 GPUs for a 1.2 megapixel display?

That’s less than 1080p!

Who engineered this monstrosity?

brbposting ,

Says 16K, where’s the disconnect? (I don’t know display tech)

todd_bonzalez , (edited )
@todd_bonzalez@lemm.ee avatar

Ah, you’re right, that’s 1.2 megapixel for the exterior, and 132 megapixel for the interior.

That’s a substantial increase, but it’s still the equivalent of about 16 4K screens, which absolutely does not need 150 GPUs!

Edit: No, I was wrong, this entire monstrosity is overengineered to over two gigapixels on the inside, and that’s absolutely ridiculous.

brbposting ,

Anything most likely driving factor here?

Extreme resolution requirements, massive number of LED elements, real-time rendering and synchronization needs, complex content processing, load distribution and redundancy, future-proofing capabilities, fraudulent kickback scheme

yggdar , (edited )

They say there are 16 screens inside, each with a 16k resolution. Such a screen would have 16x as many pixels as a 4k screen. The GPUs power those as well.

For the number of GPUs it appears to make sense. 150 GPUs for the equivalent of about 256 4k screens means each GPU handles ±2 4k screens. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but it could make sense.

The power draw of 28 MW still seems ridiculous to me though. They claim about 45 kW for the GPUs, which leaves 27955 kW for everything else. Even if we assume the screens are stupid and use 1 kw per 4k segment, that only accounts for 256 kW, leaving 27699 kW. Where the fuck does all that energy go?! Am I missing something?

todd_bonzalez ,
@todd_bonzalez@lemm.ee avatar

Oh Jesus, there are 16 16K screens? I didn’t read that right at all. That’s completely superfluous. The Las Vegas Sphere is an affront to God.

Cosmicomical ,

In the future there will be myths that we once had standards such as html but after we tried to build this sphere, god cursed us to use only incompatible proprietary protocols

Vanix ,

This is a complete shot in the dark but could the huge power draw come from needing some intense industrial cooling/airflow stuff in/on the sphere?

Edit: forgot a word

empireOfLove2 , (edited )
@empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

The big power draw is because of the sheer amount of light it dumps out. You try lighting up 54,000 square meters of LED panel to a few hundred nits like a pc monitor, and see how much power it takes.

Rai ,

complete shot in the dark

Man, I wanna delay the stupid edgy joke I’m making but I can’t help myself

realharo ,

More likely it’s the thing that generates all that heat in the first place.

srecko ,

Yeah, 4k phone and 4k plasma tv don’t consume same ammount of energy.

ShepherdPie ,

That’s the outside. The inside is 256 million pixels.

pewgar_seemsimandroid ,

someone pay to put the Lemmy logo on it, i heard there was a way to pay for an image to show up

root ,

Using the max power use of a video card to math this is ridiculous. It’s not at full TDP pushing this content. They aren’t playing max FPS 3D raytraced gaming, they’re playing videos.

ByteJunk ,
@ByteJunk@lemmy.world avatar

What.

The article says that, for the GPUs, they can have a “maximum power draw of 45,000 W at full tilt”.

The 28 million W comes from the full system, and surely the massive displays, LEDs and eventually sound system makes up the bulk of that, the gfx cards are a rounding error…

Zorsith ,
@Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Synchronizing that many screens into one/two continuous displays is not light computing work. Roughly every square foot is its own panel in commercial displays.

Dadifer ,

That pretty much describes all of Vegas.

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