Workstation Shootout: Nvidia Quadro 5000 Vs. ATI FirePro V8800
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Page 1:Introduction
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Page 2:Comparisons And Applications
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Page 3:Nvidia Quadro 5000: Overview
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Page 4:Nvidia Quadro 5000: Features, Connectors, And Driver
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Page 5:ATI FirePro V8800: Overview
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Page 6:ATI FirePro V8800: Features, Connectors, And Driver
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Page 7:Test Configuration
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Page 8:Benchmark Results: SPECapc Autodesk 3D Studio Max 9 1.2
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Page 9:Benchmark Results: SPECapc Autodesk Maya 2009
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Page 10:Benchmark Results: SPECapc Newtek LightWave 9.6
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Page 11:Benchmark Results: SPECviewperf 11
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Page 12:Conclusion
ATI FirePro V8800: Features, Connectors, And Driver
Our FirePro V8800 sample completely eschews DVI. Instead, the card sports four DisplayPort connectors, allowing four displays to be used in parallel. As on the desktop, this feature is referred to as EyeFinity.
Considering the small installed user base, a DisplayPort-only design is a rather bold move. After all, most folks still have a monitor with a DVI cable sitting on their desk. There‘s no need to worry, though, as ATI includes two active single-link adapters with the card that can translate the DisplayPort output to a DVI signal. Since DisplayPort and DVI are not compatible on the physical protocol level, these need to be active adapters, with a circuit translating the signal from one protocol to the other.
As a side note, DVI-to-HDMI adapters (or vice versa) don’t need an active circuit, since in both cases, the video signal is based on the PanelLink protocol. Instead, you just need an adapter that contains connections linking the various pins for each plug correctly.
The FirePro V8800 also features a 3-pin connector for stereoscopic 3D glasses. Again, that doesn’t necessarily mean the glasses have to be connected by wire. Instead, a little transmitter that synchronizes the stereoscopic images will do just as well.
AMD can put checkmarks in all the important feature boxes, including Shader Model 5.0, DirectX 11 and OpenGL 4.1. The company knows just as well as Nvidia that modern graphics processors are capable of much more than just rendering pretty pictures. The high transistor count and the many shader cores make current GPUs an attractive choice for scientific calculations. While Nvidia is actively promoting its proprietary CUDA API for GPGPU work (general purpose graphics processing), AMD has all but dropped its Stream API, choosing instead to back the OpenCL standard. While that move is laudable on paper, it’s not like developers are falling over themselves to create software that makes use of OpenCL (yet).
Nvidia, for its part, regularly promotes CUDA at universities, scientific institutions, and to its partners in various industrial sectors in order to inspire developers to use its programming language. And yes, that includes financial support as well.
AMD offers an add-in card for specific usage scenarios called the FirePro S400. Production companies working in the broadcasting sector need Framelock and Genlock when working across several monitors in parallel. The S400 offers this type of synchronization.
The FirePro V8800 is rated with a TDP of 208 W and satisfies its power requirements through two 6-pin auxiliary power connectors. The card also comes with a CrossFire connector that allows two V8800s to be used in parallel.
- Introduction
- Comparisons And Applications
- Nvidia Quadro 5000: Overview
- Nvidia Quadro 5000: Features, Connectors, And Driver
- ATI FirePro V8800: Overview
- ATI FirePro V8800: Features, Connectors, And Driver
- Test Configuration
- Benchmark Results: SPECapc Autodesk 3D Studio Max 9 1.2
- Benchmark Results: SPECapc Autodesk Maya 2009
- Benchmark Results: SPECapc Newtek LightWave 9.6
- Benchmark Results: SPECviewperf 11
- Conclusion
For someone who doesn't do 3-D design these benchmarks are kinda confusing.
(or have I sped-read past the reason why
Hence why I'm selling my HD5770 and getting a GTX460. Much as I like their hardware, ATI sucks balls on drivers...this card won't even shine on M&B and BF2 is a nightmare.
Why do you even want to compare 2 different cards that have different price range ? At least in my country GTX460 costs almost twice as much as 5770. I wonder why nobody can force Nvidia or AMD to bring the workstation optimization found in Quadro - FirePRO drivers to normal cards ... we all know about the past Quadro mods from normal gaming cards ... most of the time all that differes between the 2 cards is amount of memory.
Because then Nvidia wouldn't have their Quadro lines would they?
It's mostly for money, they just change a product a bit and market it as a completely different thing, this rakes in more money, and i know you can turn GTX2** Series card's to Quatro's because iv'e turned my GTX285 into one before.
what teh ehck you mean ? lol i'min school for gameart design work in 3ds max 2010 all teh time, and i still can;t make much sense of tom's benches here , are tehy mesuring in render time or what ?? who the f--- they get the scroes ect ect , i want to see actual render times , would i benfit at all , if i replaced my gaming card with one of these ? sorry toms but epic fail on this comparison this time , why on earth you show 3ds max render tiems for comercial card benches but not work station cards is beyond me. just makes no sense, especially sicne consumer graphic cards DO NOT make a damn difference in 3ds max because when you use a comercial vid card all renders are done on the cpu not the gpu.
A true statement if i ever heard one, since AMD merged ATI and fired lots of ATI personnel.
what is it, not what is it more or less