"Up to 1.5GB GDDR3 Frame Buffer with ultra fast memory bandwidth
Industry's first 1.5GB frame buffer and massive memory bandwidth up to 76.8GB/sec. delivers high throughput for interactive visualization of large models and high-performance for real time processing of large textures and frames and enables the highest quality and resolution full-scene antialiasing (FSAA).
Dual Dual-Link Digital Display Connectors
Dual dual-link TMDS transmitters support ultra-high-resolution panels (up to 3840 x 2400 @ 24Hz on each panel) --which result in amazing image quality producing detailed photorealistic images.
Fast 3D Textures
Fast transfer and manipulation of 3D textures resulting in more interactive visualization of large volumetric dataset.
Jumbo 8K Textures Processing
Faster processing of very large textures resulting in higher performances when zooming and panning through high resolution images.
Next-Generation Vertex and Pixel Programmability with Shader Model 4.0
Reference standard for shader model 4.0 enabling a higher level of performance and ultra-realistic effects for OpenGL and next generation DirectX 10 industry-leading professional applications. Investment protection for future Microsoft Vista release.
C Programming Environment for the GPU
The NVIDIA® CUDA™ GPU computing software provides a C language environment and tool suite that unleashes new capabilities to solve complex, visualization challenges such as real-time ray tracing and interactive volume rendering.
12-Bit Subpixel Precision
3x that of the nearest competitive workstation graphics, 12-bit sub-pixel precision delivers high geometric accuracy, eliminating spreckles, cracks, and other rasterization anomalies.
32-Bit Floating Point Precision
Sets new standards for image clarity and quality through 32-bit floating point capabilities in shading, filtering, texturing, and blending. Enables unprecedented rendered image quality for visual effects processing.
32-Bit Filtering and Blending
Enables unprecedented rendered image quality for visual effects processing.
Advanced Color Compression, Early Z-Cull
Improved pipeline color compression and early z-culling to increase effective bandwidth and improve rendering efficiency and performance.
Cg High-Level Graphics Shader Language
Cg—"C" for graphics—is a high-level, open-standard programming language for OpenGL that takes advantage of the power of programmable GPUs. NVIDIA Quadro FX programmable graphics pipelines leverage high-level shading languages to enable the creation and integration of real-time photorealistic effects into 3D models, scenes, and designs. This represents a major leap forward in ease and speed for the creation of real-time, realistic graphics within MCAD, DCC, and scientific applications.
Essential for Microsoft Windows® Vista
Offering an enriched 3D user interface, increased application performance, and the highest image quality, NVIDIA Quadro graphics boards and NVIDIA® OpenGL ICD drivers are optimized for 32- and 64-bit architectures to enable the best Windows® Vista™ experience.
Frame Synchronization (G-Sync Option)
Allows the display channels from multiple workstations to be synchronized, thus creating one large "virtual display" that can be driven by a multisystem cluster for performance scalability.
Full 128-Bit Precision Graphics Pipeline
Enables sophisticated mathematical computations to maintain high accuracy, resulting in unmatched visual quality. Full IEEE 32-bit floating-point precision per color component (RGBA) delivers millions of color variations with the broadest dynamic range.
Full-Scene Antialiasing (FSAA)
Up to 32x SLIAA and 16x FSAA dramatically reduces visual aliasing artifacts or "jaggies" at resolutions up to 1920x1200, resulting in highly realistic scenes.
Genlock/Frame Lock (G-Sync Option)
Also known as "house sync." Genlock allows the graphics output to synchronized to an external source, typically for film and broadcast video applications.
Hardware 3D Window Clipping
Hardware accelerated clip regions (data transfer mechanism between a window and the frame buffer) which improve overall graphics performance by increasing transfer speed between color buffer and frame buffer.
Hardware-Accelerated Pixel Read-Back
Up to 2.4GB/sec pixel read-back performance delivers massive host throughput, more than 10x the performance of previous generation graphic systems.
Highest Workstation Application Performance
Next-generation architecture enables over 2x improvement in geometry and fill rates with the industry's highest performance for professional CAD, DCC, and scientific applications.
High-Performance Display Outputs
400MHz RAMDACs and up to two DVI digital connectors drive the highest resolution digital displays available on the market.
NVIDIA High Precision, High Dynamic-Range Technology
Sets new standards for image clarity and quality through floating point capabilities in shading, filtering, texturing, and blending. Enables unprecedented rendered image quality for visual effects processing.
NVIDIA PureVideo Technology
NVIDIA PureVideo™ technology is the combination of high-definition video processors and software that delivers unprecedented picture clarity, smooth video, accurate color, and precise image scaling for SD and HD video content. Features include, high-quality scaling, spatial temporal de-interlacing, inverse telecine, and high quality HD video playback from DVD.
NVIDIA PureVideo HD Technology
The ultimate high-definition movie experience on your PC by combining high-definition movie decode acceleration and post-processing, HDCP circuitry, and integration with HD movie players. It delivers superb picture quality for all video formats, as well as stunning HD DVD and Blu-ray movies—with low CPU utilization and power consumption.
NVIDIA Quadro Unified Memory Architecture
Allows for superior memory management, which efficiently allocates and shares memory resources between concurrent graphics windows and applications.
NVIDIA SLI™ Technology
A revolutionary platform innovation that enables professional users to dynamically scale graphics performance, enhance image quality, and expand display real estate. Available on NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600, 5500, 4600, 4500, 3500, and 3450 GPUs.
NVIDIA Unified Architecture
Industry's first unified architecture designed to dynamically allocate compute, geometry, shading and pixel processing power to deliver optimized GPU performance.
nView Multi-Display Technology
The NVIDIA® nView® hardware and software technology combination delivers maximum flexibility for multi-display options, and provides unprecedented end-user control of the desktop experience. NVIDIA GPUs are designed to support multi-displays, but graphics cards vary. Please verify multi-display support in the graphics card before purchasing.
PCI Express Certified
PCI Express is a new Intel bus architecture that doubles the bandwidth of the AGP 8X bus, delivering greater than 2GB/sec. in both upstream and downstream data transfers.
Quad Buffered Stereo
Offers enhanced visual experience for professional applications that demand stereo viewing capability.
Rotated-Grid Full-Scene Antialiasing (RG FSAA)
The rotated grid FSAA sampling algorithm introduces far greater sophistication in the sampling pattern, significantly increasing color accuracy and visual quality for edges and lines, reducing "jaggies" while maintaining performance.
Unified Driver Architecture (UDA)
The NVIDIA UDA guarantees forward and backward compatibility with software drivers. Simplifies upgrading to a new NVIDIA product because all NVIDIA products work with the same driver software."
As far as I know, many of those above-mentioned features aren't available on a gaming card. I don't know if they're driver-based or if they're hardware-based features (well, the 1.5GB memory is obviously hardware), but I think it has to do with RISC architecture and keeping things you don't need out of gaming cards, and vice-versa. I just don't believe a professional card will play a game the same way.