AMD Announces the Affordable FirePro V4900

By Wolfgang Gruener
published

AMD announced the FirePro V4900 workstation graphics card that expands the company's product line on the upper end of the entry-level professional graphics market.

The card comes with 1 GB of 128-bit GDDR5 RAM with a memory bandwidth of 64 GB/s. the card integrates 480 stream processing units, two DisplayPort interfaces and one dual-link DVI port to run up to six independent displays simultaneously. AMD says that the maximum power consumption of the card is below 75 watts. DirectX 11, OpenGL 4.2 and OpenCL are supported.

"The AMD FirePro V4900 stands in a league of its own and redefines entry-level professional graphics card capabilities," said Sandeep Gupte, general manager of professional graphics, AMD. "The AMD FirePro V4900 leverages AMD’s most advanced graphics technology, which not only enhances user experience and boosts performance of professional applications, but also features AMD Eyefinity multi-display technology that supports up to six displays4 increasing user productivity."

AMD will be offering the card in workstation systems offered by Dell, Fujitsu and HP. The standalone card has an MSRP of $189.

Wolfgang Gruener
34 Comments Comment from the forums
  • jdwii
    What makes these cards different from normal video cards? I always wondered this.
    Reply
  • sinfulpotato
    I wonder how this card would do in workstation applications vs a 6870. Which is around the same price.
    Reply
  • rad666
    jdwiiWhat makes these cards different from normal video cards? I always wondered this.FirePro are optimized for desktop applications, not games. They are designed to run under high stress loads (such as 3d redering) for long periods of time and remain stable.
    Reply
  • 11796pcs
    jdwiiWhat makes these cards different from normal video cards? I always wondered this.Just looked it up myself- here's the answer:

    http://www.ehow.com/about_5426830_workstation-graphics-card.html
    Reply
  • trandoanhung1991
    jdwiiWhat makes these cards different from normal video cards? I always wondered this.
    Drivers, stability, price and support. Also, some vendors intentionally gimp things like FP performance on their desktop cards to differentiate them with the pro cards.
    Reply
  • KonstantinDK
    Only some specialized software can take advantage of these cards. And certain applications see no difference. Check for reviews for a specific application u are using to see if it runs better on proffecional rather then gaming card. Often $300 gaming can beat $2000 pro cards.
    (read a review somewhere)
    Reply
  • zer0net
    I think only softwares like Solid Edge (solid works) and 3D autocad would be able to benefit from this card.
    Reply
  • Martell1977
    "The AMD FirePro V4900 leverages AMD’s most advanced graphics technology"

    So does that mean its based on the 6k chip or 7k chip?
    Reply
  • cadder
    They have drivers made for professional apps such as CAD. We tried a variety of video cards with 64bit Win7 and AutoCAD and Revit, only the FirePro and Nvidia Quadra were reliable. The ones that we were buying were about $130-140.
    Reply
  • kikireeki
    jdwiiWhat makes these cards different from normal video cards? I always wondered this.Drivers and support, nothing more!
    Reply