Workstation graphics

[orangat]

Does the quadro fx4000 based on the nv41/g70? have additional functionality over mainstream Nvidia cards like the 79xx series?

Are the drivers for quadro-consumer cards very different?

 

[nullpointerus]

Yes, the drivers are quite different.

The Quadro cards do very poorly in 3D games but kill the GeForce cards in professional 3D applications. IIRC the primary difference rested in the fact that the Quadro cards accelerate the special line drawing and polygon filling modes which those 3D applications use - antialiased wireframes and such.

There was an article comparing the two lines some months ago, but I can't remember where it is. You'd probably be better off doing a search yourself and reading a few more reviews to familiarize yourself with the exact differences. Not having owned a Quadro or used such appliations, I can't offer any more help.

EDIT: Clarified contrast between nVidia's lines.

 

[TanisHalfElven]

but i thought regular cards could be modded to quadro with a biuos flash (not sure at all so please don't flame me if i'm wrong)

 

[DJCrunkMix]

Originally posted by: nullpointerus
Yes, the drivers are quite different.

The Quadro cards do very poorly in 3D games but kill the GeForce cards in professional 3D applications. IIRC the primary difference rested in the fact that the Quadro cards accelerate the special line drawing and polygon filling modes which those 3D applications use - antialiased wireframes and such.

There was an article comparing the two lines some months ago, but I can't remember where it is. You'd probably be better off doing a search yourself and reading a few more reviews to familiarize yourself with the exact differences. Not having owned a Quadro or used such appliations, I can't offer any more help.

EDIT: Clarified contrast between nVidia's lines.

Yeah, those workstation cards are insane... I am an mechanical engineer and I just started my job. They gave me with a freakin' 7000 $ PC with insane graphics and Xeon Processors. 4 GB of RAM and 1 TB of space... woo hooo !!! When I pan/zoom/rotate in SolidEdge/Unigraphics/Solidworks/ANSYS (Used for mechanical design/analysis), its extremely smooth.

 

[Lord Banshee]

Quadros are just as fast as the Geforce GPU it uses in games. Price for Price it isn't though

$2000 Quadro will equal a $500 Geforce in games but a 4 Geforces in SLI will never equal the performance of a Quadro in Pro Applications.

Now for the OP:

The FX4000 will be alot faster in Pro Applications, but it really depends on what software you use. But in all you can bet the FX4000 will never have artifacts in viewports where the Geforce does

And yes some Geforce 6800 AGP and very little PCI-E were able to Quadro Mod them but this is not possible anymore.

 

[orangat]

From what I understand, the early Quadro/Gerforce lines were using the same gpu and the difference was merely the drivers.

The Quadro FX4000 retails for ~$1500 at newegg and might be using the exact same gpu as the 6800gt (agp) because it is using the nv40 core.

Does the FX4000 and agp 6800gt have any difference in hardware? Would a rivatuner softmod turn my 6800gt into a true quadro and blast the pants off a 7900gtx in 3ds/maya?

 

[orangat]

ttt

 

[Lord Banshee]

i would say you havea 90% chance of of making a 6800GT(AGP) to a QuadroFX4000 withsoft mod, so your odds are good.

 

[pkme2]

I use a Quadro FX1400 for my Graphics workstation and find it perfect for my needs. I just replaced my FireGL V3100 last month. I got the quadro after checking out its superiority over the ATI FireGL 5000 & V7100.

AGP 8X Quadro FX4000 $495

 

[Cookie Monster]

I think the quadro cards that are based on G71/G70 are the FX4500 and FX5500. While the FX4000 is based on the old nv40 architecture.

edit - NV dominates the workstation market. Qaudro cards are just awesome, and driver support is top notch. Almost many people favor quadro cards over fireGL cards.

In terms of performance, NV dominates almost all the becnhmark there is apart from a few.

However these cards are very expensive, and the FX5500 is about $2000~

 

[pkme2]

One can sometimes get a great deal if one is patient and timely.
Quadro FX4500 512MB PCI-E