Workstation Vs. Gaming Graphics Cards

[androto]

Hello Everybody,
I have a fairly short question for you guys. If money weren't an object, are workstation graphics cards better for playing games than regular graphics cards (i.e. GTX 200 series vs. a Quadro FX).

Thanks in advance.

 

[daedalus685]

Short answer, no.

Tech wise, the cards are exactly the same.

What you pay for is service several tiers above regular gaming cards, and drivers designed to be very very stable and perform exceptionaly well at work related tasks. A gaming card will work better in most games, and a workstation card will be miles ahead in workstation apps.. due to the drivers, you could softmod a workstation card to run games just as well as a game card, but at best it would be the the same performance for ten times the price.

Of course the same is true backwards, you can softmod a gamer card into a workstaton card for much less money.. but without the support most companies would demand being that price may not be the issue there.

 

[androto]

Short answer, no.

Tech wise, the cards are exactly the same.

alrighty then, that'll save me some money.

thanks

 

[daedalus685]

LOL, some money in the regard that most enthusiast PC's cost less in total than the price difference between a Quadro FX5800 and three gtx285 😀

 

[g725s]

you can softmod a gamer card into a workstaton card for much less money.. but without the support most companies would demand being that price may not be the issue there.

Where would be the best place to find out more about doing this?

 

[gravesgrg]

I'd be interested in knowing how to mod my gamer card to run the workstation driver, too! I spend more time with DAZ3D, Animation Master, and Photoshop CS3 than I do with gaming, but even the modest workstation cards are 2x-3x the cost. From what I've been able to glean from the past comparisons of game vs. workstation, the drivers make a 10x time difference in software such as Maya, AutoCAD, 3DMax, etc.
However, if you're using Animation Master, they told me they did not optimize the software for the number of cores (i.e. single core is as fast as dual core). Clock freq is king in that arena.

Are there any websites that are as devoted to workstation performance as Tom's is on gaming performance?