7900GTX or Quadro4500/5500 ?

[Gakalist]

I was wondering if anyone has any input regarding GPU choices between SLi 7900GTX's or Quadro FX4500/5500's.
The main question is if the quadro's will give the same/better performance in games or will they be slower?
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

 

[Lan]

Someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

The way I understand it is that the FX Quadro chips are more for your business/workstation type graphics cards for stuff like that, and not for gaming at all.


If you want absolute top notch graphics for gaming where money is no issue, then go with the 2 7900GTX's.

That being said, unless you are driving an uber high resolution, getting 2 GTX's is a waste of money. Buy only one instead and get a better CPU or a small RAID setup.

So the bottom line is that the Quadro's are not for gaming and will not even come close to the performance of a 7900GTX in a game.

 

[Gakalist]

UBer high it will be.....3 dell 30" displays. 1 on primary graphics card, 2 others for left and right displays for use when not gaming in SLi mode.
Does anyone know why the FX Quadro's are slower, they have more graphics horsepower?

 

[Heyyou27]

A quadro 4500 is currently priced around $2000; the 7900GTX is between 500-600.

 

[baracuda73]

Quadro's are designed to run CAD and Animation Design prograns and render those. they have very different graphics engine design requirements

 

[Gakalist]

Well ok then. I don't know that much about gpu's, as you can all see. I just figured that the higher end cards that actually do the game rendering in desigh would be that much faster.
Guess not....
Thanks guys....

 

[chuckshissle]

While the Quadro can handle some plenty of polygons because it is mainly for 3D applications like CAD and related stuff. It is powerful piece of card but it is not for gaming at all. It cannot render shadowing, lighting, HDR, and other effects that is present in gaming cards. So do not get or you'll just end up spending huge amount of money for a poor gaming quality card.

 

[cleeve]

Quadros are simply garden variety Geforce GPUs that are flagged to use the 'professional' quadro drivers for cad apps.

These 'pro' drivers suck for games though. If you're a gamer, it's a colossal waste of money, and performance...

 

[dmantech]

I have 2 Quadro FX 1400's , but I use ithem in SLI for animation and to run Maya and 3D's Max and ect. So if you want gaming power go for the 2 7900 GTX's. I have a primary gaming card also the X1900XT. So stick with the 7900 GTX's.

 

[mdd1963]

"UBer high it will be.....3 dell 30" displays. 1 on primary graphics card,"

Doesn't each Dell 30" require dual DVI inputs to support 2560x1600 res? (Ergo, it will be rather difficult to drive 3 displays with a pair of cards?)

If ever a resolution was built for SLI, it would have to be 2560x1600, however, but, if gaming is a concern, steer away from any expensive Quadro's, which are really nothing more than rebadged/BIOS flashed 7xxx series anyway...

 

[Topota_madre]

Quadro are made for work (stability) they are geforces with enhancements that games nos uses ( AA Lines, overlay planes,etc) but have low clock speeds and give you less game power. It is like ATI FireGL , the top Fire GL is based on 1800 because cad and DCC dont use enhancements of 1900 but need more geometry power.

Its not de same work and play. Open GL /DirectX. Quadros and Fire GL are optimized a little in hardware , a lot in drivers to drive Open GL horse power.

Go Quadro only if you use Solidworks, Maya, etc. For gaming go Geforce or Radeon.

 

[Pain]

Just fyi, here is a thread that talks about this subject.

http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=178333&highlight=

 

[Jaffee]

UBer high it will be.....3 dell 30" displays. 1 on primary graphics card, 2 others for left and right displays for use when not gaming in SLi mode.
Does anyone know why the FX Quadro's are slower, they have more graphics horsepower?

LoL. That's a sweet damn setup.

There was a thread on this a couple days ago I think. Someone brought up that pixelshaders are disabled and the drivers are different. Rendering in DX9 isn't as fun with a Quadro as it is with 2 7900GTX's, lol.

 

[nottheking]

I was wondering if anyone has any input regarding GPU choices between SLi 7900GTX's or Quadro FX4500/5500's.
The main question is if the quadro's will give the same/better performance in games or will they be slower?
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

Well, for the most part, there's little to no hardware difference between a GeForce and a Quadro. The trick is getting the right ones to compare. In this case, I believe the QuadroFX 4500 is effectively a 7800GTX, while the 5500 is a 7900GTX. They are simply optimized toward "professional" 3D applications, not just games. Particularly, I've noted that unlike your typical gaming-variety card, they can actually accelerate true ray-tracing.

When it comes to playing games, IN THEORY, a Quadro would match the appropriate GeForce. Often, it seems it can, but at other times, it seems that the drivers get in the way. But in any case, where it comes in the downside is always a lesser gap than the GeForce finds itself at, on the wrong side, when it comes to professional rendering.

Of course, this all asks the question of purpose; a 7900GTX is some $400-450US, while even some WEAKER Quadros start in the thousands. If you're going to be almost entirely gaming, there's little need to waste the extra cash. However, if you're making a graphics workstation, spending your days in Maya or 3DSMax, and might pop up Doom3 at 8PM, then the Quadros would make more sense; they'll still have plenty of power for even newer games, and fare VASTLY better in "serious" tasks.

 

[Gakalist]

I've spoken to Dell and Nvidia about driving 3 displays at once. They say that this setup will work fine and that a DVI-Dual link interface is all that is needed for these displays. Each 7900GTX has 2 of them, so theoretically, 4 monitors can be driven at once, although only the primary display will be enabled when using SLi for gaming.

Thanks fot the GPU info guys.....much appreciated.

 

[cleeve]

Quadros and Fire GL are optimized a little in hardware , a lot in drivers to drive Open GL horse power.

I don't believe there's a hardware difference. It's all in the drivers, that's why you can mod Geforces to Quadros.

 

[Ycon]

I doubt you can afford any of those QuadroFX cards
In fact noone can *lolz*

However, if youre not doing any CAD, CAM or other 3D Modelling theres no need for a QuadroFX