NVIDIA powers dazzling visuals of world's largest sphere in Vegas
NVIDIA, a key player in the AI industry, has revealed that its technology is responsible for the impressive visuals of the Las Vegas Sphere. The Sphere, recognized as the largest spherical building worldwide, flaunts 1.2 million programmable LEDs on its exterior surface. These LEDs are powered by 150 RTX A6000 GPUs from NVIDIA. The building was inaugurated on September 29, 2023, following four years of construction.
Las Vegas Sphere: A marvel of construction and technology
The Las Vegas Sphere, costing $2.3 billion to build, stands 366 feet tall and spans 516 feet wide, covering nearly 750,000 square feet. Its exterior, known as the Exosphere, is famous for creating stunning pictures with its 1.2 million LED pucks. Each puck comprises 48 individual programmable LEDs. The interior of the Sphere is equally impressive, with a floor-to-ceiling display that measures 250 feet high and offers a resolution of 16K x 16K.
NVIDIA's advanced hardware and software power Sphere's display
The Sphere utilizes 150 of NVIDIA's RTX A6000 GPUs to power its extensive display setup. Each GPU boasts over 10,000 cores, a VRAM capacity of 48GB, and a thermal design power (TDP) of 300W. The total cost for these GPUs is estimated at around $750,000. NVIDIA also supplied advanced interconnection technologies including BlueField DPUs and ConnectX-6 Dx NICs, along with DOCA Firefly Service and NVIDIA Rivermax Software, to ensure seamless functioning of all display panels.
Sphere Studios creates content for Las Vegas Sphere
The video content displayed on the Sphere is produced by Sphere Studios at its Burbank, California facility. The content is then digitally transferred to the Las Vegas Sphere, and streamed in real-time to rack-mounted workstations containing the RTX A6000 GPUs. This setup allows performance capable of delivering three layers of 16K resolution at 60 frames per second. NVIDIA's Rivermax helps in media streaming, while BlueField DPUs offer precision timing through the DOCA Firefly Service.
