What is, technically speaking, the diff btw a quadro card and a gaming one?

[malibbo]

Is there, for example, something that a cheap quadro card can do that a mid/high-budget gaming card can't?

Thank you.

 

[etherealfocus]

Quadro has zero benefits unless you're using an app that requires certified drivers - high end CAD/CAM, content creation, etc. For gaming, the only difference is that you'll pay 10x more for the same horsepower.

 

[IllogicalGlory]

In the Kepler days, and earlier, Quadro cards would support double precision at a much faster rate than their consumer counterparts. That's not the case anymore; double precision is only found on GP100/GV100 and nowhere else.

Quadro cards additionally tend to have twice as much VRAM as their consumer counterparts, as professionals may be dealing with projects that can saturate it. I think this VRAM may also have ECC capability, though I'm not sure.

The most important aspect of Quadros, however, is the extra performance in professional applications that they provide. This increase is artificial, but what you're really buying when you buy a Quadro is access to NVIDIA's certified drivers that perform immensely better in professional applications than the Geforce drivers.

This chart illustrates it quite nicely:

https://www.servethehome.com/nvidia-quadro-p6000-high-end-workstation-graphics-card-review/

The most interesting point on that chart is the Quadro K5200, which is a GK110 (Kepler) based Quadro, cut down further than even the GTX 780, and it's smashing GTX 1080s and Titan Blacks. That's the increase you get from the certified drivers.

 

[JDG1980]

What is the difference between gaming and professional GPUs? Binning and drivers.

Binning: Professional cards usually get the top bins, meaning they are likely to have better perf/watt than consumer cards.
Drivers: This is the most important one. The drivers for professional cards are certified, which is important for certain applications such as SolidWorks. They are also designed for accuracy rather than raw speed, so they don't take some of the quick-and-dirty shortcuts that gaming drivers do. In the case of Nvidia, some compute-related features are also intentionally gimped on consumer cards, so if you want them to run at full speed, you'll have to get a Quadro.

 

[nathanddrews]

The difference? If a gamer spent $8,000 on a GPU and only got 22fps, he'd be pissed. The precision issue is a big one. You really trade a lot of speed for precision.