Quadro and GeForce the same performance?

cfule

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Dec 24, 2002
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hello! i have a question that you guys might able to answer, i am an architectual student and am tryng to build a workstation type of system for rendering 3D graphics on AUTOCAD programs (mostly openGL). i was thinking of buying a quadro card, but the tech guy of the comapny where am inquiring about the card told me that the performance of the quadro fx and geforcefx is almost identical (quadroFX 2000 and FX5800 to be exact) he told me that the quadro is only more expensive beacuse of the bundled 3D softwares. i dont need the 3D softwares, i already have them. should i go for the GeForceFX? the performance difference might only be slight if any

am an avid THG reader
 
am not really into picture quality, i just need a card that renders images fast enough in my AUTOCAD programs so i dont have to wait for hours for the rendering time!

am an avid THG reader
 
I hate to burst your bubble their buddy but if rendering time is what you want then you need a faster cpu. Your graphics card is what you use in the viewports and picture quality etc. in the 3d programs. Quadro cards were made for proffesional 3D programs where as the fx line up is for gaming. Go for a quadro, if you still dont like your rendering output get a faster cpu, if that still doesnt satisfy you get some dual opterons/xeons.

Also, not to put down THGC but everypost on graphics cards I read are all about games, if you want some help from 3D pro's that have quadro cards and are willing to give you some useful info on them head over to www.cgtalk.com

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Settinng up my dream system right now :]
 
I'm not sure the the 'Quadro' versions of FX cards are even out yet.
But at least for Geforce4 series, the only difference between the quadro's and it are the drivers. The hardware is exactly the same.
Here's a link to a program that provides "SoftQuadro" functionality. It isn't the best link, but it should help
http://216.239.39.104/translate_c?hl=en&u=http://www.3dcenter.de/downloads/rivatuner.php&prev=/search?q=geforceFX+to+quadro&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Search for yourself more. You should find some good info on it.
 
From what I've seen, the Quadro FX is out (albeit quite expensive). Now, a geforce FX vs. quadro fx will have noticeable difference in cases where extra stuff (like being opengl specific) are used. Performance will also be increased for qFX b/c drivers such as maxtreme (which uses processor AND video card for displaying viewports). Note that this performance increase is for your viewports, it has nothing to do with the final render since currently rendering is done via the cpu for ultimate precision (should change w/ the precision of the newer cards tho since they too give awesome results). So these "extra softwares" you get with the quadro are not stuff like 3d s max or autocad, rather they are better developed, opnegl specific drivers that can also optimize for a pro app- this takes more effort, and thus a higher price.

All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening.
 
thanks guys for the facts and opinions, it will surely help :) am an avid reader of both THG and Anandtech, but i seldom post on forums and communities :) glad to be a part of anandtech forums :)

am an avid THG reader