Gaming on Workstation Graphics Card

[nenforcer]

Has anyone actually tried to run any games on nVidia Quadro or ATI FireGL based cards?

I would imagine that some of them perform adequately while others maybe not so much.

All modern workstation graphics cards are based on the same chips as their consumer counterpart but obviously the drivers differ in terms of features and optimizations.

How about software like Badaboom (CUDA)? Does anyone know if this software performs its GPU encodings equally across the Quadro and Geforce lineup?

 

[sgrinavi]

Ya, I have a quadros in my M4500, M4400 and a fx5800 in my Workstation at the office. I have run a GTX285 (the basis for the fx5800) and to tell you the truth I have not really noticed any difference in real world gaming performance.

IMO I buy WS cards because I have had luck with the drivers and have seen improved viewport fidelity/stability in certain apps. If they happen to work as well when gaming then that's just a bonus; it should not influence your decision at all.

Bang/$ is where the quadro gets you, not performance - If I were to spend as much on Geforce cards as my FX 5800 I could have quad 580's... Hell, I could build a complete killer sandybridge system for about half of what that card cost.

 

[nenforcer]

The price difference is obviously a major deterrent for the majority of people, myself included.

I've just heard that workstation cards perform worse than their consumer counterparts when it comes to games. (i.e. no time optimizing frame rates for childs play)

Which is unfortunate since you have to pay so much more for just the certified and qualified enterprise drivers.

It seems to me with the workstation cards you should get both the equivalent if not better gaming performance in addition to the software support for things like AutoCAD, etc.

 

[3DVagabond]

The price difference is obviously a major deterrent for the majority of people, myself included.

I've just heard that workstation cards perform worse than their consumer counterparts when it comes to games. (i.e. no time optimizing frame rates for childs play)

Which is unfortunate since you have to pay so much more for just the certified and qualified enterprise drivers.

It seems to me with the workstation cards you should get both the equivalent if not better gaming performance in addition to the software support for things like AutoCAD, etc.

I see what you are saying. What would be the reason to cripple game performance? Just add the optimizations for the pro apps. Makes sense. Someone will come along though and have some rationale as to why the gaming optimizations have to be removed.

 

[betasub]

If I were to spend as much on Geforce cards as my FX 5800 ...snip

Those of you with long memories will recall a Geforce card called the FX 5800. Thankfully it bears no resemblance to sgrinavi's Quadro.

 

[sgrinavi]

.....

It seems to me with the workstation cards you should get both the equivalent if not better gaming performance in addition to the software support for things like AutoCAD, etc.

I see what you are saying. What would be the reason to cripple game performance? Just add the optimizations for the pro apps. Makes sense. Someone will come along though and have some rationale as to why the gaming optimizations have to be removed.

I guess, but part of optimization is taking out the stuff you don't need.

Those of you with long memories will recall a Geforce card called the FX 5800. Thankfully it bears no resemblance to sgrinavi's Quadro.

That's an understatment

 

[3DVagabond]

Something I've wondered is, what if you crossfired a FirePro card with a Radeon (5870 2gig + V8800 for example). Would they then be able to use both drivers and give you the best of both worlds?

I've never thought about it much because I just assume that it wouldn't work. Although, I don't know why it wouldn't.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

The reviews I've seen, the workstation cards generally kept up with their gaming counterparts in gaming. But a lot of those workstation cards are counterparts of fairly low end kit. (As was pointed out, you're paying $1,000 for $900 worth of software optimizations and a $100 video card.)

If you have a high end workstation card, you can game without having to feel like you're missing out, but the price performance obviously sucks.

 

[notty22]

I think its often a misconception why Workstation cards don't game as fast as 'gaming' cards. Often times, people are not comparing the correct models with matching hardware specifications. Often times the prices are 5X their gaming counter part or more.
Also clock speeds are usually set at about 75%, what they are on the gaming cards. This is easily checked out by looking at http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_family.html
http://www.nvidia.com/object/quadro-fermi-home.html
Those clock settings must be optimum for power rating/usage and system stability/performance under business,critical situations.

 

[tweakboy]

2000k for a graphics card. It's made for CAD, Premieree video and audio workstation.

The latest video card workstation consumer will blow away 2k cards in gaming, because 2k cards are not optimized for gaming. Its for video editing ,, premiere, cad , maya etc ,, Its these apps taht the 2k card is optimized for not gaming.