Quadro vs GeForce and double precision performance?

[w00tw00t1]

Hello,
I know this question has been asked time and time again about the differences between Quadro and GeForce. I understand the main differences which is Quadro is for 3D CAD/CAE/DCC while GeForce is intended for gaming. Quadro has firmware and drivers optimized for these professional applications. I know you can use either graphics card for both things.

Sometimes I hear the word double floating precision or FLOPS being thrown around such as the Linus' video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5Npt1BSF04. Quadro apparently apparently has a higher double precision processing power. On the newer Maxwell mobile Quadro cards, does a Quadro M5000 have a higher double precision power than a GTX 980? It's sort of hard to find information on the Quadro card. Also, what about double precision performance is so important for Quadro and why is it important? I'm trying to understand it in layman terms...

What I'm trying to understand is are there actual differences in specs between these two cards or is it all in the firmware and driver support?..

Thanks!

 

[SoNic67]

The cards are different, no matter what gamers will say. It's not only the theoretical flops but also the way they perform in OpenGL, OpenCL apps.
Newer Quadro have lowered the DP performance because it is not used by a lot of apps - for those nvidia reserves the Tesla lineup.
As for where to o find the specs, try wiki. Although be careful, like I said, those raw numbers don't tell the whole story...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nvidia_graphics_processing_units

Test your card with Specviewperf and you'll see what I mean.

 

[Calculagator]

The cards use basically the same hardware but the quadro has more RAM and supports ECC. As a Maxwell based card, the M5000 doesn't natively support double precision. Double precision is useful for some simulations, some fluid/physics analysis, and possibly some financial applications. For most non-academic workstation programs, it's not needed.
Actual performance will vary between programs.

 

[w00tw00t1]

The cards are different, no matter what gamers will say. It's not only the theoretical flops but also the way they perform in OpenGL, OpenCL apps.
Newer Quadro have lowered the DP performance because it is not used by a lot of apps - for those nvidia reserves the Tesla lineup.
As for where to o find the specs, try wiki. Although be careful, like I said, those raw numbers don't tell the whole story...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nvidia_graphics_processing_units

Test your card with Specviewperf and you'll see what I mean.

The cards use basically the same hardware but the quadro has more RAM and supports ECC. As a Maxwell based card, the M5000 doesn't natively support double precision. Double precision is useful for some simulations, some fluid/physics analysis, and possibly some financial applications. For most non-academic workstation programs, it's not needed.
Actual performance will vary between programs.

Ah I see...so it's really hard to tell just in the specs and it's when you use the card, you can actually feel a difference. I don't have a desktop Quadro card, but my friend has a laptop with a mobile Quadro card in it for work. Do they really see benefits from this when they're using programs like AutoCAD or 3DSMax? It seems like a lot of programs nowadays support both OpenGL and DirectX. Also, it seems like a lot of these programs are CPU dependent so where are the Quadro benefits? I'm going to college soon so I'll be eventually learning CAD design at some point. I'm debating if I should invest in a laptop that has Quadro.

 

[Calculagator]

There is certainly a benefit over integrated graphics. While the CPU might be the most important component for performance, the GPU will often determine what can be displayed and how smoothly the display will work.
I would wait to invest any significant amount until you really know what you need. Then you will be able to balance your budget with performance. If you buy now, you may spend a lot on features you will never use.

 

[SoNic67]

AutoCAD is very light on graphics, uses DirectX now, basically even my older Quadro laptop can handle it. Also AutoCAD is single-threaded (except for rendering 3D models), so you need the fastest (on a single core) CPU you can get.
Other software like maya can use a DirectX viewport, but it still has limitations in comparison to the standard OpenGL viewport.
Other software doesn't even know about DirectX, mainly because it is ported from Unix or Mac worlds.

So yes, it's hard to give an "ultimate answer", but generally a lower end Quadro like K620 or K1200 can handle nicely a lot of professional apps without breaking the bank.