FirePro V3900: Entry-Level Workstation Graphics

By Igor Wallossek
published

AMD's new FirePro V3900 is the company's low-profile, entry-level workstation graphics card. It's priced to compete against Nvidia’s Quadro 400. Today we're putting it up against Nvidia’s Quadro 400 and five other professional and desktop graphics cards.

Power Consumption And Noise

Power Dissipation

Subjected to a heavy workload, all of our tested boards draw less than 50 W. At such modest power levels, even low-profile cards are easy to cool. Idle power consumption of 10 W or less is almost negligible when you consider the target market for these products. Nvidia's Quadro cards stand out as particularly power-friendly. Under load, power consumption roughly corresponds to performance. AMD's FirePro V3900 is the fastest offering, but it also uses the most power.

Sound Level

In this story, we're measuring acoustics from a distance of 20” (50 cm) perpendicular to the installed cards. Although these small boards are rated at low TDPs and to not dissipate a lot of heat, their small cooling fans become quite audible, even under a modest workload. The sound levels of the FirePro V3900 and the Quadro 600 are almost identical, both at idle and at full load. However, the inexpensive consumer-grade GeForce cards have more aggressive fan speed profiles, resulting in higher noise levels.

Igor Wallossek
62 Comments Comment from the forums
  • djjoejoe
    If a large difference between a workstation card and a gaming card can be the drivers, does this apply to gaming performance as well? Does the workstation GPU preform similar to the desktop equiv or higher thanks to 'better' drivers. Is it just a case of drivers being optimized for things that end up not applying to gaming, thus any sort of performance increase only applies to none gaming applications?

    Just curious :)
    Reply
  • SpadeM
    I'm curious about some things, can you pop one of these cards in a pc running next to a 560Ti used for gaming? And then exchange the output in the back of the pc and select the workstation card to use to render in max or maya? Or do you have to reboot every time you set the video output?
    Reply
  • JOSHSKORN
    Can these cards run...THAT game? OR any other GPU intense game?
    Reply
  • RazorBurn
    Both Cards run on the same Hardware, its just that Professional Video Cards have their Drivers optimized to CAD/CGI, etc.. Its like two same SUV cars with Same Engine, but with different tires, one with plain road tire and the other has snow tires.. SUV with a snow tires will certainly run better in snow terrain that the plain road tire SUV..

    CAD apps like AutoCAD had Optimized code to run better on Professional Video Cards because the Optimized code in the Drivers.. Unlike Gaming Video Cards which has Optimized codes for Games but not on this CAD apps..
    Reply
  • Olle P
    It would be nice to see one or two games thrown into the test.
    Just for the heck of it, and also to answer the question:
    - Which card is the better choice for my work station if I'd also like to run a game or two during the lunch break?
    Reply
  • EDVINASM
    I wonder, is there going to be a new budget version out soon based on AMD 7xxx series?
    Reply
  • These clowns need to be brought into court for this intentionally crippling of desktop GPUs, and price fixing of workstation cards.

    This travesty needs to stop.
    Reply
  • Exactly. With how often the question is asked, "How well will this or that pro card perform in games?", I can't believe at least one or two game benchmarks weren't included.

    I'd especially like to see some benchmarks on mid-range pro cards.

    Also, same question as above, can I use a Profession CAD graphics card along side a gaming card and get CAD benefits on one monitor and gaming on the other.
    Reply
  • EDVINASM
    MarriedManExactly. With how often the question is asked, "How well will this or that pro card perform in games?", I can't believe at least one or two game benchmarks weren't included.I'd especially like to see some benchmarks on mid-range pro cards. Also, same question as above, can I use a Profession CAD graphics card along side a gaming card and get CAD benefits on one monitor and gaming on the other.
    Unless your motherboard supports PCI Express slot switch off via software you can't. Even if it would, you would need to restart. Plus knowing AMD driver compatibility and reliability I wouldn't even hope atm. If you are gaming a lot and doing a lot of 3D, question is, what is more important to you, games or 3D content creation? If you are just beginner and doing CAD for fun, you will get by with gaming GPU. Otherwise, you must be making money on your projects and you should afford mid-high GPU for CAD.
    Reply
  • jaquith
    Nice article and thank you!

    Holly cow, you weren't kidding when you said 'Entry Level', this is more like 'Impoverished Level.'

    To me an entry level are sub-$400 cards; nVidia Quadro 2000 series and AMD FirePro v5800. Obviously, Pro GPU's are tailored for their use.
    Reply