Nvidia quadro fx 4600 (for workstation)..can it game!

[glimrman1]

i have been given the above workstation graphics card by the IT guy at my work. (replaced thru planned upgrades) my question: is this card capable of decent gaming? specifically, should i use it instead of my sapphire 4830? my rig:gigabyte mobo p43 chipset-single pcie slot, 4 gig ram, win 7 32 bit. many thx for your imput! salute!

 

[EXT64]

I tried to fine gaming benchmarks of the card, but I could not really find any. The most I got was that it will game, but slightly less than its Geforce counterpart. I think the 4600 would be at or below a 8800GT, so unless you do CAD work, it wouldn't really be worth it for gaming imo. I don't think it would add much performance, and it might actually cause more problems/glitches too since the drivers are meant for workstation apps. Do you only plan to use the computer for gaming, or do you do CAD work as well? It won't hurt anything though, so if you want to try it that's fine. It would be nice to know how it performs. I know gaming cards are very poor at CAD apps, but I have seen very little of CAD cards at gaming apps.

 

[SamuelL421]

That card is basically a 8800GTX with firmware optimized for workstation apps. The two cards you have are basically equivalent with 4830 better in most aspects, keep in mind the 8800 gtx is 3 years old now.

Although I'm not positive having never tried a workstation card for gaming, I imagine it would give fairly bad framerates unless you flashed the cards bios to that of a standard 8800GTX. The firmware on that card should tell it to render everything it "sees" once. Standard desktop video cards have drivers that tell them to render various parts in a certain order based on settings, the workstation card *should* try to brute force through everything simultaneously.

Again that's all just based on what I know and have heard, not personal experience. If you've got both cards and some downtime, test them and benchmark it. If nothing else, sell it to someone who's into CAD.

 

[glimrman1]

thank you for the great input!!! kinda mirrors my impressions from reading up on the card.

actually i was thinking of ebay as an alternative....i see like cards going for 6 bills and more...

again...many thanks!!! : )

 

[glimrman1]

btw....any other ideas/comments/etc are always welcome
always nice to getgood advice!


: )

 

[glimrman1]

shameless bump...thx for reading/replying

 

[glimrman1]

another shameless bump...last one, i promise.

that means last chance to get in your 2 cents worth!

thx!

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Stop bumping , because the best solution is keep your current card and e-bay the Quadro (it's a bazillion dollar premium to people looking for workstation apps) as you've already concluded, either take that money and buy beer, or else buy a new HD5870 or nV G300 derivative or HD5K refresh in the new year.

Here are a few workstation gaming benchmarks, not for the 4600, but for the more powerful 4800,to give you (and others reading this in the future) the idea that it would game OK, but you're still better off selling it if you're not going to use it for professional apps.

http://hothardware.com/Articles/Nvidia-Quadro-CX-Workstation-Graphics-Card/?page=10
http://hothardware.com/Articles/Nvidia-QuadroFX-4800-15-GB-Workstation-Graphics-Card/?page=10

 

[glimrman1]

thx for the post Ape! i especially appreciated the links to the reviews.

no more bumps...the card goes on ebay this weekend.