Why are Quadro / FirePro so expensive

[DigDog]

I'v always wondered - though i'm not looking to get into graphic editing or anything - why these workstation cards are so much more expensive than their consumer counterparts .. sort of the way registered and unregistered ram is; i get the "error checking" but normal ram doesn't seem to have a lot or "error" to "check" so ..

NVidia FX 4800 Quadro : Memory: 1.5GB
Memory Bit Rate: 384 Bit
Memory Type: GDDR3 (!!)

£1700 (about two grand $)

ATI
Cores: 1600
Memory: 4GB
Memory Bit Rate: 256 Bit
Memory Type: GDDR5

£2300 (almost 3 grand)

...

wouldn't a triple-SLI of GTX680 have simply *more power* ?? it would even cost less. i can't believe the extra cost is just for colour calibration ...

 

[paperwastage]

market segmentation...

nvidia and ati found a way to differentiate the product to offer the same(or similar) hardware to different people, and different people(businesses) pay more for the drivers(that quadro supports)

and when you can hack a consumer card to be used/detected as a quadro, you save that $.... but will businesses do that? No, they want 100% guarantee it'll work without a problem... so they buy a quadro

 

[Zebo]

If you're making money from something and you need it they can charge more as opposed to entertainment which is more optional. Simple. Like Winserver vs winhome.

You think a civil engineer gives a crap if cards costs $4500 when he can bill it out within a day with increased productivity card allowed him/her?

 

[Jaydip]

I'v always wondered - though i'm not looking to get into graphic editing or anything - why these workstation cards are so much more expensive than their consumer counterparts .. sort of the way registered and unregistered ram is; i get the "error checking" but normal ram doesn't seem to have a lot or "error" to "check" so ..

NVidia FX 4800 Quadro : Memory: 1.5GB
Memory Bit Rate: 384 Bit
Memory Type: GDDR3 (!!)

£1700 (about two grand $)

ATI
Cores: 1600
Memory: 4GB
Memory Bit Rate: 256 Bit
Memory Type: GDDR5

£2300 (almost 3 grand)

...

wouldn't a triple-SLI of GTX680 have simply *more power* ?? it would even cost less. i can't believe the extra cost is just for colour calibration ...

More power means nothing in professional space unless it is backed by solid drivers and optimization for the task u are doing.

 

[3DVagabond]

I'v always wondered - though i'm not looking to get into graphic editing or anything - why these workstation cards are so much more expensive than their consumer counterparts .. sort of the way registered and unregistered ram is; i get the "error checking" but normal ram doesn't seem to have a lot or "error" to "check" so ..

NVidia FX 4800 Quadro : Memory: 1.5GB
Memory Bit Rate: 384 Bit
Memory Type: GDDR3 (!!)

£1700 (about two grand $)

ATI
Cores: 1600
Memory: 4GB
Memory Bit Rate: 256 Bit
Memory Type: GDDR5

£2300 (almost 3 grand)

...

wouldn't a triple-SLI of GTX680 have simply *more power* ?? it would even cost less. i can't believe the extra cost is just for colour calibration ...

There's far fewer pro cards sold. Support is more involved over all. That makes the cost for support much higher per card.

 

[blastingcap]

From what I understand, you pay for the support. Have a bunch of Quadros at work and something isn't working right? Call NV. They will help you one on one.

 

[Jaydip]

From what I understand, you pay for the support. Have a bunch of Quadros at work and something isn't working right? Call NV. They will help you one on one.

Spot ON.They have a dedicated support group for their pro card customers.Whenever we get any issues we open a ticket with a very short sla,still now they have never failed to give a resolution in the stipulated time.They are very good to deal with.

 

[DigDog]

pardon my ignorance but what would these problems be? i means, don't both desktop and workstation hardware do *the same thing* ? after all, they just calculate triangles and stick images on them.

at least that's my understanding of 3d design, idk about stuff like MRI imaging, folding and such.

 

[3DVagabond]

pardon my ignorance but what would these problems be? i means, don't both desktop and workstation hardware do *the same thing* ? after all, they just calculate triangles and stick images on them.

at least that's my understanding of 3d design, idk about stuff like MRI imaging, folding and such.

They are optimized for different software. Open a work ticket with nVidia or AMD for an issue you are having running Max or Maya on a Geforce or Radeon card and they'll tell you they don't guarantee those apps will run on those cards. As Jaydip said though, tell them you have a problem with those apps while running Quadro or Firepro cards and they'll immediately start working on a solution.

 

[Ancalagon44]

Also, if you look at benchmarks with such professional software, those Quadro and Firepro cards beat their consumer counterparts badly. They even beat newer cards that are more advanced.

Yeah, I know its the same silicon, and more than likely AMD and Nvidia just disable some stuff in software to make consumer cards perform slower. Thats why Quadro softmods exist I guess. But the point is, from the point of view of a business man who does not want to rely on a softmod made by 733tH@cKern00b, its worth the money.

 

[Cerb]

market segmentation...

nvidia and ati found a way to differentiate the product to offer the same(or similar) hardware to different people, and different people(businesses) pay more for the drivers(that quadro supports)

To elaborate a little, there used to be several companies that made expensive video cards supported by certain pieces of software. As it came to only NVidia and ATI making chips, they competed in those markets, and have kept them separate, including price.

Thus far, they have resisted commoditization, but I'm not sure how much longer they will be able to, before users demand that the software needs to work on their hardware (especially the ever-more-popular mobile and SFF users), or the vendor can SIUTA. With Recent language and API advancements, the need will only become more marginalized over time (DirectCompute, OpenCL, HLSL/GLSL), and no one in their right mind is going to make a new program with a hodgepodge of legacy OpenGL functions strewn about it.

You think a civil engineer gives a crap if cards costs $4500 when he can bill it out within a day with increased productivity card allowed him/her?

Actually yes, they do, as I used to do computer work for one, and the GPU was never a bottleneck worth worrying about, so the cheapest Quadros at the time were good enough (GF2MX, then GF4MX, then nForce 430 IGP). They'll spend it if they need it, but when the savings mean putting more away for taxes quicker, or paying down their mortgage faster, you had better believe they care about several thousand dollars.

pardon my ignorance but what would these problems be? i means, don't both desktop and workstation hardware do *the same thing* ? after all, they just calculate triangles and stick images on them.

at least that's my understanding of 3d design, idk about stuff like MRI imaging, folding and such.

Yes, but software has bugs, and you need some way to either get it working, or temporarily work around it, ASAP, when you encounter more than the most minor graphical glitch. When you have to deliver something to someone on time for pay, your priorities aren't quite the same, when it comes to driver and application bugs.

 

[DigDog]

so, regarding optimisation - these cards are actually different at hardware level, not just "moar cores!"

because as far as drivers are concerned, i'm sure you can spoof, considering that a top end card can cost x14 a desktop GPU.

as far as i know, back in the days professional cards were just "really top end, cherry picked components" versions of the desktop ones.

incidentally, were one to get into some video editing with consumer hardware, do things like GTX680 perform better with Quadro drivers? at least in editing, i mean ..

 

[Lonbjerg]

Driver validation.

 

[Lonbjerg]

so, regarding optimisation - these cards are actually different at hardware level, not just "moar cores!"

because as far as drivers are concerned, i'm sure you can spoof, considering that a top end card can cost x14 a desktop GPU.

as far as i know, back in the days professional cards were just "really top end, cherry picked components" versions of the desktop ones.

incidentally, were one to get into some video editing with consumer hardware, do things like GTX680 perform better with Quadro drivers? at least in editing, i mean ..

Once you could do that easy-peasy...but today....good luck.

 

[Ancalagon44]

the only difference at hardware level, if any, will be a different identifier to make sure its impossible to install the wrong driver. but the actual chip is the same.

You can spoof, with limited success, and AMD/Nvidia tries hard to prevent such things because it affects their bottom line.

 

[Jaydip]

U can install Quadro drivers for consumer graphic cards by modding the inf file,it unfortunately doesn't bring pro card performance though.

 

[tweakboy]

I'v always wondered - though i'm not looking to get into graphic editing or anything - why these workstation cards are so much more expensive than their consumer counterparts .. sort of the way registered and unregistered ram is; i get the "error checking" but normal ram doesn't seem to have a lot or "error" to "check" so ..

NVidia FX 4800 Quadro : Memory: 1.5GB
Memory Bit Rate: 384 Bit
Memory Type: GDDR3 (!!)

£1700 (about two grand $)

ATI
Cores: 1600
Memory: 4GB
Memory Bit Rate: 256 Bit
Memory Type: GDDR5

£2300 (almost 3 grand)

...

wouldn't a triple-SLI of GTX680 have simply *more power* ?? it would even cost less. i can't believe the extra cost is just for colour calibration ...

Quadro and FirePro are made from ground up to support OpenGL, 3d max , photoshop, autocad, Vegas.

Why is it soo expensive ? Well because it supports 128GB RAM ,,, desktop is 32GB max right now or maybe 64GB

The motherboard is very expensive because you can have LOTS of ram, and a Xeon chip which is faster then Sandy 2600k desktop. 8 cores , 16 threads. Or just AMD 8 core. I suggest go with Intel .... imo

 

[Jaydip]

Quadro and FirePro are made from ground up to support OpenGL, 3d max , photoshop, autocad, Vegas.

Why is it soo expensive ? Well because it supports 128GB RAM ,,, desktop is 32GB max right now or maybe 64GB

The motherboard is very expensive because you can have LOTS of ram, and a Xeon chip which is faster then Sandy 2600k desktop. 8 cores , 16 threads. Or just AMD 8 core. I suggest go with Intel .... imo

Care to explain?:hmm:

 

[Lonyo]

so, regarding optimisation - these cards are actually different at hardware level, not just "moar cores!"

because as far as drivers are concerned, i'm sure you can spoof, considering that a top end card can cost x14 a desktop GPU.

as far as i know, back in the days professional cards were just "really top end, cherry picked components" versions of the desktop ones.

incidentally, were one to get into some video editing with consumer hardware, do things like GTX680 perform better with Quadro drivers? at least in editing, i mean ..

And when you are a legitimate business which can afford the cards in the first place, you're not going to spoof.
Whether an individual can mess about and spoof doesn't really matter all that much when most of these cards are sold to professionals, as their market segment suggests (they are pro level cards).