Having last visited Vegas while Sphere was under construction back in 2023, the venue was still a sight to behold, even in its unfinished state. Now, seeing videos of it in action back across the pond, I look forward to seeing it in person one day (or, at the very least, glimpsing at it as I rush between CES appointments). Stunning as this spectacle can be, though, I’ve always been curious what it takes to run such a unique venue. Now, Nvidia is all too happy to reveal its part in lighting up Las Vegas.
Much as it takes the best graphics cards to drive 4K gaming monitors in our homes, Sphere is an altogether different beast. The venue’s interior houses 16K (15360×8640) screens, which offer 16 times the pixel count of our cutting-edge displays. However, there’s not just one but 16 of these panels for a combined resolution of 245760×135360. That’s not to mention the 1.2 million LEDs on its exterior, which is the largest LED screen in the world.
Suffice it to say, consumer pixel pushers simply wouldn’t cut it in such demanding circumstances. In fact, as Nvidia explains in a new blog, it takes around 150 RTX A6000 GPUs to bring the building to life. This souped-up SLI of sorts doesn’t operate alone, though. It’s a team effort, working alongside Nvidia BlueField DPUs (data processing units) and ConnectX-6 Dx NICs (network interface cards), running on services and software provided by Team Green.
Of course, there are undoubtedly other bits of hardware driving Sphere experiences, but it’s intriguing to learn just how involved Nvidia is here. The company even has its hand in the development of content for the venue, too. More specifically, Sphere Studios, the production house responsible for developing new content for the building, uses Lenovo servers powered by A40 GPUs to run its custom image-processing software.
The sheer amount of graphics processing power behind Sphere is awe-inspiring in its scale and presumed cost (both to build and run). The venue has been open just over a year now despite problems maintaining profitability. Given the investment behind it, artistic and monetary, I hope those Nvidia GPUs help light up the Vegas skyline for years to come. I can’t not see Darren Aronofsky’s ‘Postcard from Earth’, after all.