What's the difference between professional workstation video cards(Quadro) and prosumer video cards(ATI, Nvidia)?

[artikk]

Read title of thread. This might be a repost.

 

[imported_Kensai]

The professional cards have optimized drivers and have some special features like dual-link DVI which aren't available on the common consumer cards. (The new 512MB 6800U has it 😀 ) The cards perform better in professional applications like AutoCad, etc. etc.

 

[shoRunner]

many times nothing but a bios reflash

 

[CalvinHobbs]

where's ribbon...that's for her generally...oops i mean him..

 

[artikk]

Originally posted by: Kensai
The professional cards have optimized drivers and have some special features like dual-link DVI which aren't available on the common consumer cards. (The new 512MB 6800U has it 😀 ) The cards perform better in professional applications like AutoCad, etc. etc.

so workstation cards are better at rendering. Is that pretty much it?

 

[mwmorph]

and a lot worse at games.
underneath it all,it's just a flashed card.

 

[dullard]

underneath it all,it's just a flashed card.

In some cases, yes. But often no it isn't.

Often the workstation cards will have physical hardware features for quite some time before those features work themselves down to the consumer level. Features such as 640 MB memory, dual processing units, 3840x2400 resolution (at full refresh rate), etc are not "flashable". And those are just the easy to understand features. I'm sure experts here could go into great detail on advanced features.

 

[mwmorph]

Originally posted by: dullard

underneath it all,it's just a flashed card.

In some cases, yes. But often no it isn't.

Often the workstation cards will have physical hardware features for quite some time before those features work themselves down to the consumer level. Features such as 640 MB memory, dual processing units, 3840x2400 resolution (at full refresh rate), etc are not "flashable". And those are just the easy to understand features. I'm sure experts here could go into great detail on advanced features.

yeah, the realizm series by wildcat do have those that you speak of, but almost all the ATI/NV cards are flashed.

http://www.rojakpot.com/
has some guides for ati cards:
ATI Radeon 9800 To FireGL X2 Hard Mod Guide
ATI Radeon To ATI FireGL Mod Guide Rev. 4.3

 

[imported_Phil]

Don't forget that most of the price of these cards is caused by the qualification process that the manufacturers go through for workstation cards to certify them with key applications, such as AutoCAD.