NVIDIA launches new Fermi based Quadros at DVinfo.net

Devin Termini · July 29th, 2010, 12:27 PM

Think they'll support MPE in Premiere? The specs make them look very powerful. At the moment, there is no low-end model. The Quadro 4000 is most likely in the same price class as the FX 3800 (~$800 - $900).

Nvidia Launches Fermi-based Quadro GPUs

Harm Millaard · July 29th, 2010, 04:45 PM

Optimist.

Nvidia's Fermi-based Quadro cards are designed for use in design and engineering workstations.

The Quadro 4000 ($1,199) will feature 256 CUDA cores and 2GB of GDDR5 memory when it ships in August. The Quadro 5000 ($2,249) bumps the CUDA core count to 352 and comes with with 2.5GB of GDDR5 memory. The Quadro 6000 ($4,999) will include stereovision in the form of Nvidia’s 3D Vision Pro emitter and LCD shutter glasses (this will be a no-cost option on the Quadro 4000). Unlike the consumer version, which relies on USB, the 3DVision Pro emitter will plug directly into the card via a three-pin cable. The shutter glasses, meanwhile, will utilize RF communication in order to eliminate any line-of-sight requirement while increasing the range to 100 feet. The stereovision kit will ship in October.

An emitter for Nvidia's LCD shutter glasses connect directly to the Quadro's mounting bracket, in contrast to consumer-oriented models that rely on USB.

The top-of-the-line Quadro 6000 is also shipping October. This card will feature 448 CUDA cores, a whopping 6GB of GDDR5 memory, and a 3D Vision Pro kit. If that doesn’t provide enough horsepower for your engineering and modeling needs, Nvidia’s QuadroPlex 7000 ($14,500) will bundle two Quadro 6000 cards in SLI in an external module to deliver 896 CUDA cores and an aggregate 12GB of GDDR5 memory.

As usual, the Quadros are way overpriced. The specs of the 4000 pale in comparison to the GTX 470/480 in number of cores, only a slight advantage in amount of memory, but at nearly triple the price??? The 6000 has the same number of cores as the 470, but the price is more than tenfold.

Steve Kalle · July 29th, 2010, 05:04 PM

Having used a Quadro for the last 2 months, I don't think they are overpriced at all. The nvidia geforce drivers are not known for stability whereas the Quadro drivers have not given me a BSOD compared to one every 1-2 weeks using a geforce card.

Khalil Ismail · July 29th, 2010, 08:22 PM

Steve : I have been using GTX285. I do not do complex editing , 2 to 4 layers with. CC, curve, titles, transition, Red giants effects. Not a single crash, smooth sailing so far.

Thanks Harm for the info.

Harm Millaard · July 30th, 2010, 01:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Kalle

Having used a Quadro for the last 2 months, I don't think they are overpriced at all. The nvidia geforce drivers are not known for stability whereas the Quadro drivers have not given me a BSOD compared to one every 1-2 weeks using a geforce card.

Seems a pretty hefty price tag for a set of drivers.

GTX-460 $ 200, FX 4000 $ 1,200 for the same cores, so a driver price of $ 1,000.

GTX-470 $ 500, FX 6000 $ 5.000 for the same cores, so a driver price of $ 4,500 plus some memory.

Steve Kalle · July 30th, 2010, 01:56 PM

Its not just drivers, there are other differences in hardware. For example, someone tested a soft-modded 8800 against the real Quadro and the Quadro was 25% or more faster in 3D apps.

Furthermore, explain why a $150 ATI FireGL blows the doors off a GTX 285 in 3D apps - its because of these 'drivers'. We aren't playing games, we are using professional applications that are written in a different way from games.

Plus, the Quadros use far less power.

I forgot to mention one of the biggest benefits to the higher-end Quadro's: 10 bit via DisplayPort.

Why would Black Magic use Quadros in their $200k+ CC/CG suites when they can save money and get regular cards? Why does Autodesk use Quadros in their $50k - $250k IFFS workstations when they can save money by using regular cards?

Don't you use an EX1? By this over-priced logic, then you shouldn't buy any $550 16GB SxS cards.

Just because you don't see the value in something doesn't mean those who do are idiots.

Tim Kolb · July 30th, 2010, 04:50 PM

This is kind of an old argument really...

Grab a GTX card...it's cheap...it's available...you can do the toddler hack and get Mercury to adopt it as its own...

...and when you need tech support, while you're explaining that you make a living with the thing to the kid on the phone with the added-value sheet of Left 4 Dead cheat codes in front of him...

You can brag that you really pulled one over on those of us who overpaid for a Quadro...and are talking to boring adults who are familiar with video production, codecs, machines configured with one or two HDSDI interface cards (most of which not supporting gamer display cards in approved configs BTW) and color space.

Look, I'm not saying that people who buy gamer cards and do the hack are "pretenders" or "wannabes" or any other derogatory thing...but I am getting sick of getting the "you sure are stupid for letting yourself get ripped off" thing FROM them.

Buy a cheap card and have fun...and stop already. I use Quadro cards, I don't have time to mess around testing what cards I can make work with the hack, etc...the Adobe forums are full of people who I swear have made trying to beat the system a part-time job judging by the frequency of their posts and the flurry of activities and tasks they relate in them.

I don't need another job. I get paid for the one I have...and I buy equipment that is built AND supported in a way that helps to preserve billable hours...because that's how my family eats.

In the late 1990s, when I had two Media 100 suites, I bought 9 GB Micropolis media drives from a company called JEMS Data. They charged a premium for the drives integrated in their housings, etc (at that time I was paying about 3200-3800.00 per 9 GB drive, and I had ten of them between the two systems). I had plenty of associates who bought the same drive cheaper (LOTS cheaper...1/2 to 1/3 the price) in generic housings or from warehouse brands and gave me lots of crap about how I wasted literally 10's of thousands of dollars.

Then one day, the firmware in these drives starts to crap out. don't know exactly what the "firmware" in a harddrive is...but I know something about crapping out... It was established that there was a design problem with the drives and Micropolis went nearly broke trying to make good on all these drives. A lot of my colleagues did not have a dealer or support channel to lean on to get the problem taken care of...they were stuck.

Me? I was getting replacement drives that were far faster in housings advance shipped to me on JEMS' dime and one by one, they replaced every single drive. I never lost a day of edit time or any data on either system because JEMS let me know about the problem when they found out and helped me manage it until all the drives could be replaced.

So...enough already.

Support costs money...the lack of it costs you clients.

July 29th, 2010, 12:27 PM	#1
Devin Termini Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Mount Pleasant, MI Posts: 177	NVIDIA launches new Fermi based Quadros Think they'll support MPE in Premiere? The specs make them look very powerful. At the moment, there is no low-end model. The Quadro 4000 is most likely in the same price class as the FX 3800 (~$800 - $900). Nvidia Launches Fermi-based Quadro GPUs

July 30th, 2010, 01:56 PM	#6
Steve Kalle Trustee Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 1,554	Its not just drivers, there are other differences in hardware. For example, someone tested a soft-modded 8800 against the real Quadro and the Quadro was 25% or more faster in 3D apps. Furthermore, explain why a $150 ATI FireGL blows the doors off a GTX 285 in 3D apps - its because of these 'drivers'. We aren't playing games, we are using professional applications that are written in a different way from games. Plus, the Quadros use far less power. I forgot to mention one of the biggest benefits to the higher-end Quadro's: 10 bit via DisplayPort. Why would Black Magic use Quadros in their $200k+ CC/CG suites when they can save money and get regular cards? Why does Autodesk use Quadros in their $50k - $250k IFFS workstations when they can save money by using regular cards? Don't you use an EX1? By this over-priced logic, then you shouldn't buy any $550 16GB SxS cards. Just because you don't see the value in something doesn't mean those who do are idiots. Last edited by Steve Kalle; July 30th, 2010 at 03:29 PM.

July 30th, 2010, 04:50 PM	#7
Tim Kolb Major Player Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Neenah, WI Posts: 547	This is kind of an old argument really... Grab a GTX card...it's cheap...it's available...you can do the toddler hack and get Mercury to adopt it as its own... ...and when you need tech support, while you're explaining that you make a living with the thing to the kid on the phone with the added-value sheet of Left 4 Dead cheat codes in front of him... You can brag that you really pulled one over on those of us who overpaid for a Quadro...and are talking to boring adults who are familiar with video production, codecs, machines configured with one or two HDSDI interface cards (most of which not supporting gamer display cards in approved configs BTW) and color space. Look, I'm not saying that people who buy gamer cards and do the hack are "pretenders" or "wannabes" or any other derogatory thing...but I am getting sick of getting the "you sure are stupid for letting yourself get ripped off" thing FROM them. Buy a cheap card and have fun...and stop already. I use Quadro cards, I don't have time to mess around testing what cards I can make work with the hack, etc...the Adobe forums are full of people who I swear have made trying to beat the system a part-time job judging by the frequency of their posts and the flurry of activities and tasks they relate in them. I don't need another job. I get paid for the one I have...and I buy equipment that is built AND supported in a way that helps to preserve billable hours...because that's how my family eats. In the late 1990s, when I had two Media 100 suites, I bought 9 GB Micropolis media drives from a company called JEMS Data. They charged a premium for the drives integrated in their housings, etc (at that time I was paying about 3200-3800.00 per 9 GB drive, and I had ten of them between the two systems). I had plenty of associates who bought the same drive cheaper (LOTS cheaper...1/2 to 1/3 the price) in generic housings or from warehouse brands and gave me lots of crap about how I wasted literally 10's of thousands of dollars. Then one day, the firmware in these drives starts to crap out. don't know exactly what the "firmware" in a harddrive is...but I know something about crapping out... It was established that there was a design problem with the drives and Micropolis went nearly broke trying to make good on all these drives. A lot of my colleagues did not have a dealer or support channel to lean on to get the problem taken care of...they were stuck. Me? I was getting replacement drives that were far faster in housings advance shipped to me on JEMS' dime and one by one, they replaced every single drive. I never lost a day of edit time or any data on either system because JEMS let me know about the problem when they found out and helped me manage it until all the drives could be replaced. So...enough already. Support costs money...the lack of it costs you clients. __________________ TimK Kolb Productions

July 29th, 2010, 04:45 PM	#2
Harm Millaard Trustee Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands Posts: 1,832	Optimist. Nvidia's Fermi-based Quadro cards are designed for use in design and engineering workstations. The Quadro 4000 ($1,199) will feature 256 CUDA cores and 2GB of GDDR5 memory when it ships in August. The Quadro 5000 ($2,249) bumps the CUDA core count to 352 and comes with with 2.5GB of GDDR5 memory. The Quadro 6000 ($4,999) will include stereovision in the form of Nvidia’s 3D Vision Pro emitter and LCD shutter glasses (this will be a no-cost option on the Quadro 4000). Unlike the consumer version, which relies on USB, the 3DVision Pro emitter will plug directly into the card via a three-pin cable. The shutter glasses, meanwhile, will utilize RF communication in order to eliminate any line-of-sight requirement while increasing the range to 100 feet. The stereovision kit will ship in October. An emitter for Nvidia's LCD shutter glasses connect directly to the Quadro's mounting bracket, in contrast to consumer-oriented models that rely on USB. The top-of-the-line Quadro 6000 is also shipping October. This card will feature 448 CUDA cores, a whopping 6GB of GDDR5 memory, and a 3D Vision Pro kit. If that doesn’t provide enough horsepower for your engineering and modeling needs, Nvidia’s QuadroPlex 7000 ($14,500) will bundle two Quadro 6000 cards in SLI in an external module to deliver 896 CUDA cores and an aggregate 12GB of GDDR5 memory. As usual, the Quadros are way overpriced. The specs of the 4000 pale in comparison to the GTX 470/480 in number of cores, only a slight advantage in amount of memory, but at nearly triple the price??? The 6000 has the same number of cores as the 470, but the price is more than tenfold.

July 29th, 2010, 05:04 PM	#3
Steve Kalle Trustee Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 1,554	Having used a Quadro for the last 2 months, I don't think they are overpriced at all. The nvidia geforce drivers are not known for stability whereas the Quadro drivers have not given me a BSOD compared to one every 1-2 weeks using a geforce card.

July 29th, 2010, 08:22 PM	#4
Khalil Ismail Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Palm Desert California Posts: 42	Steve : I have been using GTX285. I do not do complex editing , 2 to 4 layers with. CC, curve, titles, transition, Red giants effects. Not a single crash, smooth sailing so far. Thanks Harm for the info.