Quadro FX vs. GeForce FX
 

I'm looking to put together a new system.

Does anyone have any info on Quadro FX vs. GeForce FX performance?

Yes, I do know there are ways to patch GeForce cards to appear as
Quadro cards in the OS. However, there *are* some hardware differences
between the two cards, even though they look very similar. I found the
following information:

----------BEGIN QUOTE----

1. - Though the PCB appears nearly identical, there are differences.
The heat sync on the Quadro FX boards, for example, is different and
operates more efficiently.

2. - Professional users care about quality, stability, reliability
and accuracy. Their data must be accurate (people's safety may
actually rely on it) and their applications must run reliably. To
ensure quality, NVIDIA takes extra steps to own the board
manufacturing process so that the parts used do not vary. NVIDIA
employs a virtual model to build its GeForce cards. While quality is
still high with a virtual model, there can be variances from one board
manufacturer to another as they use the same reference design, but not
necessarily identical parts. Since there is more at stake when you
insert a Quadro board into your professional workflow (i.e. on a
deadline to animate a portion of a movie or complete a virtual
prototype of a new car), NVIDIA maintains tighter controls on the
manufacturing process to ensure a higher standard of quality,
consistency and reliability demanded by its professional users.

3.- It is no secret that NVIDIA leverages a lot of common technology
between its Quadro and GeForce graphics. If we didn't take advantage
of the economies of scale for Quadro, customers would be paying a lot
more than they do today. That's not necessary. Despite the
technology-sharing, there are stark differences in the features placed
on top of the silicon for Quadro users, they include:
AA points and lines
Overlay planes
Stereo functionality
Clip regions
2-sided lighting
Hardware Logic Ops (HW XOR)
Harware Stippled Lines
OpenGL Quad buffered stereo
Dual Link
and more...

4. - One of the biggest differences between Quadro and GeForce is the
application certifications obtained for premiere professional-grade
software. We pay people to work with software vendors to ensure that
key applications run reliably. It takes a lot of man hours and effort
to do this, and is partially responsible for the price premium that
users pay when they purchase a Quadro board. But it's a must-have.
Software makers want certifications too to help keep their support
calls to a minimum.

----------END QUOTE------

What I'm looking for is some first hand information on the performance
differences in using a Quadro FX card for 3D Studio, Maya, CAD, etc.
(stuff other than games), vs. using a GeForce FX card for these
applications. Specifically the Quadro FX 3000 and the GeForce FX 5900.

Well as they already say, an Quadro is more optimized for profesional
use and you pay for such. Those cards need to be tested with different
software to check if it gives the quality and the stability in those
apps.

There is something as an softmod, with tools like RivaTuner you can
make windows think that your FX5900 actually is an quadro card.
And...on a hardware base..there is not much difference between a
normal GF card and a Quadro card.

So you can optimize your normal cards proffesional performance by
tricking windows in thinking it's a quadro, and then install quadro
drivers.

Actually, there is even a Hardmod for this trick.... it's where you
move a certain part of the card a little bit. It's just a small part.
And that works like a kind of dipswitch, telling the card to be a
quadro or an normal GF.

For gamers..Quadro has not much extra's for gamers. Maybe the higher
stability and image quality....

( I have ran an Quandro 780GL :-p )



Pelvis Popcan wrote in message . ..
I'm looking to put together a new system.

Does anyone have any info on Quadro FX vs. GeForce FX performance?

Yes, I do know there are ways to patch GeForce cards to appear as
Quadro cards in the OS. However, there *are* some hardware differences
between the two cards, even though they look very similar. I found the
following information:

----------BEGIN QUOTE----

1. - Though the PCB appears nearly identical, there are differences.
The heat sync on the Quadro FX boards, for example, is different and
operates more efficiently.

2. - Professional users care about quality, stability, reliability
and accuracy. Their data must be accurate (people's safety may
actually rely on it) and their applications must run reliably. To
ensure quality, NVIDIA takes extra steps to own the board
manufacturing process so that the parts used do not vary. NVIDIA
employs a virtual model to build its GeForce cards. While quality is
still high with a virtual model, there can be variances from one board
manufacturer to another as they use the same reference design, but not
necessarily identical parts. Since there is more at stake when you
insert a Quadro board into your professional workflow (i.e. on a
deadline to animate a portion of a movie or complete a virtual
prototype of a new car), NVIDIA maintains tighter controls on the
manufacturing process to ensure a higher standard of quality,
consistency and reliability demanded by its professional users.

3.- It is no secret that NVIDIA leverages a lot of common technology
between its Quadro and GeForce graphics. If we didn't take advantage
of the economies of scale for Quadro, customers would be paying a lot
more than they do today. That's not necessary. Despite the
technology-sharing, there are stark differences in the features placed
on top of the silicon for Quadro users, they include:
AA points and lines
Overlay planes
Stereo functionality
Clip regions
2-sided lighting
Hardware Logic Ops (HW XOR)
Harware Stippled Lines
OpenGL Quad buffered stereo
Dual Link
and more...

4. - One of the biggest differences between Quadro and GeForce is the
application certifications obtained for premiere professional-grade
software. We pay people to work with software vendors to ensure that
key applications run reliably. It takes a lot of man hours and effort
to do this, and is partially responsible for the price premium that
users pay when they purchase a Quadro board. But it's a must-have.
Software makers want certifications too to help keep their support
calls to a minimum.

----------END QUOTE------

What I'm looking for is some first hand information on the performance
differences in using a Quadro FX card for 3D Studio, Maya, CAD, etc.
(stuff other than games), vs. using a GeForce FX card for these
applications. Specifically the Quadro FX 3000 and the GeForce FX 5900.