Quadro 6000 vs Quadro 4000 vs GTX

[3Dgeo]

Hi there,

This is my first built.
Im building my workstation, specs are:

CPU: 2 x Intel Xeon X5647
MOBO: Intel Workstation Board S5520SC
RAM: Kingston 24 GB
Still dont have SSD

I have limited budget.
I have chance to cheaply buy Quadro 6000 (used)
In same time I have suggestion to buy Quadro 4000 (new, also cheap, half a price of Quadro 6000) aswell.

Im doing mainly heavy 3D modeling and renders, use Photoshop, after effects and so on...
I would like to have fast V-ray RT feedback with heavy scene.

Should i go for 6000 or 4000? 6000 isn't overkill? And how it will work with other components?
I read tons of stuff about these cards. More I read, more confusing I am.
Also I try to compare GTX videocard to Quadros (I know they are for gamers). But some GTX I found have more cuda cores than Quadro 6000 even.
Quadros vs GTX - looked this in google half a day today, as I sed: more I read, more confusing I am.
Some people say that theres no reason to spend more for Quadros cose GTX works fine, other says that U can play even games with Quadro.
Well, im not a game player, but ofcourse I want to play some game time to time. But main reason of this workstation to make fast really heavy visualisations, simulations and good viewport speed.

What do you think? What video card would be best for me and for components I have?
Is it risky to invest money in used Quadro?

 

[thanulee]

Well i just traded a GTX 680 for a GTX 680 and guess what? gtx 680 SUCKS !!!! kepler is *** comparing to fermi architecture if we are talking about gpu rendering.. GTX 690 is like having 2 cards, so the best solution atm for GPU rendering or such kind of stuff is DEFINITELY 580 when comes to GTX series. I had both 580/680, both tested and no comparison gtx680 is very very slow cause despite her cuda core number, her architecture for the moment doesnt work well with 3d graphics apps.
On the other hand i have no clue when it comes to quadro and plz dont listen to anyone just by looking the specs. Maybe the worse quadro when it comes to 3d applications can be twice as fast as the best gtx... Numbers say nothing when we talking about 3d apps. Its a totally different aspect than gaming. I hope i gave u a hint. Im trying to understand wth is going on with my GTX 680 and is so crappy in 3ds max... And my conclusion is that 580> all gtx in terms of gpu rendering.
My advice: dont listen to noone unless they have the cards and work on em in 3ds max ( i learned the hard way by spending 1000 euros so far to see that 680 is crap comparing to 580... something which i didnt expect)

 

[thanulee]

I traded a gtx 580* for a gtx 680 i meant

 

[ittimjones]

The Quadro 4000 is prly enough, but IDK if any of the GTX line will work for you. they are mainly for gaming, speed, not detail. you will want the detailing.

If you have the chance to get a 6000 that's AWESOME! prly one of the most powerful workstation cards you can get, but it's expensive, and a 4000 may suffice.

On second thought, you already put so much into ur workstation, go ahead and get the 6000, you won't regret it.

 

[ikaz]

Thing you have to remember is Quadro cards are all about the drivers and professional support thats why you pay more. So if you were just a hobbiest I could see you using a "gaming card" but looking at the rig your building your looking at either doing professional (i.e paid work) or trying to become one. So Quadro all the way as far as 4000 vs 6000, think about it this way do you think you will see a deal that good on a 6000 in the next two years if and can you afford it ? If so I would get it just so your rig lasts you in the long term and if it for work you can write some of the cost of your PC on your Taxes (if your in the US) since it work related.

 

[3Dgeo]

Well i just traded a GTX 680 for a GTX 680 and guess what? gtx 680 SUCKS !!!! kepler is *** comparing to fermi architecture if we are talking about gpu rendering.. GTX 690 is like having 2 cards, so the best solution atm for GPU rendering or such kind of stuff is DEFINITELY 580 when comes to GTX series. I had both 580/680, both tested and no comparison gtx680 is very very slow cause despite her cuda core number, her architecture for the moment doesnt work well with 3d graphics apps.
On the other hand i have no clue when it comes to quadro and plz dont listen to anyone just by looking the specs. Maybe the worse quadro when it comes to 3d applications can be twice as fast as the best gtx... Numbers say nothing when we talking about 3d apps. Its a totally different aspect than gaming. I hope i gave u a hint. Im trying to understand wth is going on with my GTX 680 and is so crappy in 3ds max... And my conclusion is that 580> all gtx in terms of gpu rendering.
My advice: dont listen to noone unless they have the cards and work on em in 3ds max ( i learned the hard way by spending 1000 euros so far to see that 680 is crap comparing to 580... something which i didnt expect)

Thank you for reply.
So conclusion is that Quadro with even lower specs will work better (it is dedicated for working not playing) ? I have hear this from friends, but I wanna be shure.

 

[3Dgeo]

The Quadro 4000 is prly enough, but IDK if any of the GTX line will work for you. they are mainly for gaming, speed, not detail. you will want the detailing.

If you have the chance to get a 6000 that's AWESOME! prly one of the most powerful workstation cards you can get, but it's expensive, and a 4000 may suffice.

On second thought, you already put so much into ur workstation, go ahead and get the 6000, you won't regret it.

Thanks for reply
Well, damn, but you are right, its a little bit pricy for me, but I think that I wouldnt regret it too. In other way I can sell it and get all my money back. But if I dont, I aways think: what if I had Quadro 6000
Thanks again

 

[3Dgeo]

Thing you have to remember is Quadro cards are all about the drivers and professional support thats why you pay more. So if you were just a hobbiest I could see you using a "gaming card" but looking at the rig your building your looking at either doing professional (i.e paid work) or trying to become one. So Quadro all the way as far as 4000 vs 6000, think about it this way do you think you will see a deal that good on a 6000 in the next two years if and can you afford it ? If so I would get it just so your rig lasts you in the long term and if it for work you can write some of the cost of your PC on your Taxes (if your in the US) since it work related.

Thanks for your reply
I can afford it, but for next month I have to live prity tight. I already did that this month (deal I found is my 2 month salaries for Quadro 6000, in my country salaries is low, I'm not from USA).
And yes, I hope to start my own company in the near future and I want that only limitation will be my imagination, not my hardware.

 

[thanulee]

Thank you for reply.
So conclusion is that Quadro with even lower specs will work better (it is dedicated for working not playing) ? I have hear this from friends, but I wanna be shure.

Well this is not sure hehe! The thing i can only tell u for sure is about GTX. GTX 580 is the best thing ATM for gpu rendering. Quadros are dedicated for working but for example: quadro is for viewing purposes rather than rendering ones. Viewport in 3ds max is better viewed with quadro but quadro renders slower than a gtx gaming card. With that being said, i d suggest u keep researching before u make a buy u ll regret Check 3d forums in general / jeff pattons blog/ vraychaosgroup forum etc. Quadro is supposingly the best for professionals but not the fastest. Jeff Patton specific mentioned in one of his posts that he aint that happy with quadro 6000 performance on 3ds max (and we are talking for lots of money here...). What purposes are u after exactly? GPU rendering or just heavy modelling?

 

[thanulee]

Oh i just read ur thing up there. Well this is what is most likely the thing u are after:

-GTX 580/ 3gb ram (if u use scenes over 3 mil polygons/textures)

-GTX 690 4gb ram (scenes with less than 3 mil polygons/textures cause this card is dual cored and splits ram in 2+2)

or a quadro+gtx if u go for both rendering times/viewport performance

 

[3Dgeo]

Well this is not sure hehe! The thing i can only tell u for sure is about GTX. GTX 580 is the best thing ATM for gpu rendering. Quadros are dedicated for working but for example: quadro is for viewing purposes rather than rendering ones. Viewport in 3ds max is better viewed with quadro but quadro renders slower than a gtx gaming card. With that being said, i d suggest u keep researching before u make a buy u ll regret Check 3d forums in general / jeff pattons blog/ vraychaosgroup forum etc. Quadro is supposingly the best for professionals but not the fastest. Jeff Patton specific mentioned in one of his posts that he aint that happy with quadro 6000 performance on 3ds max (and we are talking for lots of money here...). What purposes are u after exactly? GPU rendering or just heavy modelling?

Well, I'm not so deep in GPU vs CPU rendering, but think my processors can handle rendering. Primerally I need good viewport performance with a lot of deatil, and if Quardo 6000 can make it - fast material adjustment in real time rendering (vray RT), but in the end I still will be rendering with old fashion way - CPU power.

 

[3Dgeo]

Oh i just read ur thing up there. Well this is what is most likely the thing u are after:

-GTX 580/ 3gb ram (if u use scenes over 3 mil polygons/textures)

-GTX 690 4gb ram (scenes with less than 3 mil polygons/textures cause this card is dual cored and splits ram in 2+2)

or a quadro+gtx if u go for both rendering times/viewport performance

Today this idea come to my head, using Quadro and GTX in one rig is good idea? Do I need connect it with SLI? Today I found its not so good idea, don't know myself but i found that if I use Quadro and GTX only one of them will work or something similar. And my scene often will be much more than 3 mill polys

 

[thanulee]

I havent tested it but it works from what i read but are alooot of things in general to consider... My honest answer?

2 x gtx 580 3gb ram on watercooling

This is the best thing for speed/ram/money

ps.watercooling is essential if u get 2 of those

 

[thanulee]

SLI doesnt matter btw on rendering doesnt boost doesnt do nothing actually

 

[3Dgeo]

I havent tested it but it works from what i read but are alooot of things in general to consider... My honest answer?

2 x gtx 580 3gb ram on watercooling

This is the best thing for speed/ram/money

ps.watercooling is essential if u get 2 of those

I have read Jeff blog, it was really helpful, thanks. Now I see what are u trying to say. I dont have any experience on GPU rendering speed (except my old laptop 512mb card ). I cant tell if Quadro 6000 speed is enough for me. But I will buy it, cose from Jeff blog I realized that GPU memory is very important to me cose I will have huge scenes and I want to render it in very high res. If real time rendering will be to slow for me, I just buy second Quadro 6000 (or some GTX with a LOT of memory).

 

[thanulee]

Well if u can afford it im sure it will be a good option. Check also the TESLA series from quadro cards. They seem pretty solid and u can ask Jeff about that cause he owns a couple of these cards. We are talking for a lot of money here btw Idk if that worths it cause GPU rendering is not ready for production yet keep that in mind!! U ll be paying for an investment lets say. Also is rumored that the new 7xx nvidia series would go up to insane amounts of RAM so u might w8 a while cause they are about to come these days availiable.

 

[3Dgeo]

Well if u can afford it im sure it will be a good option. Check also the TESLA series from quadro cards. They seem pretty solid and u can ask Jeff about that cause he owns a couple of these cards. We are talking for a lot of money here btw Idk if that worths it cause GPU rendering is not ready for production yet keep that in mind!! U ll be paying for an investment lets say. Also is rumored that the new 7xx nvidia series would go up to insane amounts of RAM so u might w8 a while cause they are about to come these days availiable.

In any way, I cant afford NEW Quadro card, I find used 6000 really cheap 1/10 of its real price, I doubt that I even need this powerful card, Im buying it cose its cheap and I think it will last me long, even if in the future I need more GPU power, this GPU will be enough. Well, if all goes as I plan - I will have it after few days. Still, I dont have desent SSD to test it, but for testing my very old 40GB HDD will be enough Do not have case for it as well.

 

[pard]

How did the used Quadro work for you? Where did you get it from?