ATI and NVIDIA's high-end workstation graphics get tested and compared

They may not have quite the broad appeal of the companies more gaming graphics cards, but ATI and NVIDIA's relatively recent FireGL V8650 and QuadroFX 5600 workstation graphics cards still have no shortage potential users, and an old-fashioned shootout between the two $1,000+ cards is hard to ignore. That spectacle comes courtesy of the folks at HotHardware, who loaded up each card in a suitably high-end system and put 'em through the usual array of benchmarks and tests. After all that was said and done, they gave the edge ever so slightly to the NVIDIA card, although they say it's "not completely cut and dry" as to what the absolute best option is. Working the ATI's favor, however, is its lower MSRP (despite having more memory than the NVIDIA) and its top of the line Maya performance, although it fell short of the NVIDIA in overall Open GL and Direct 3D performance. If that's not enough to sway you one way or the other, you can hit up the link below for the complete blow by blow benchmark action.

[kojo87 @ Jan 23rd 2008 6:08PM]

i bet these can play DOOM. (at 500fps)

[Sam @ Jan 23rd 2008 6:12PM]

Just though I would point this out, these cards are for workstations. In a game, like Crysis, they will perform the same as a GTX.

[kojo87 @ Jan 23rd 2008 6:15PM]

yeah i know they're not gaming oriented but im sure they can pull off some decent performance in reasonable games. Crysis...not so much. my HD3870 can only run 250fps on medium settings at 1440x900.

[Dorz @ Jan 23rd 2008 8:05PM]

Baring a few differences workstation cards and their consumer level equivalents are virtually the same. The biggest difference from a technical point of view is how they both handle OpenGL. Because of the difference workstation cards would probably perform worse in game than a consumer card. Consumer grade = performance over quality orientated, whereas Workstation grade = Quality & Precision over performance orientated.

The real big difference between them though is how they are both tested. Both the hardware and drivers for a workstation card go through a rigorous and ongoing ratification process to ensure they work without fault and thats what you would pay for and its why the real big studios pay for these cards. They literally can't afford ANY downtime.

Unless you work in a fairly large studio or have a serious home studio there isn't much point in paying a huge sum of money for a workstation card.

[Kurian @ Jan 23rd 2008 9:23PM]

No, in fact that would suck compared to any of the Geforce/Radeons in games.

[Denver_80203 @ Jan 23rd 2008 9:56PM]

I've been testing Quadro cards at work for the last month. We've landed on the 4600 which is a 1500$ card compared to these that are each close to $3K. PRoblem with the 5600 is the 1.5 GB of RAM eats your system RAM space in a 32bit environment.

Anyway the 8800 GTX blows these out of the water in crysis or any gaming application. Something like 80 to 100% difference.

Run an OpenGL app on the 8800 and you may as well put up a chair. A single frame took a full second or more while the 4600 was pulling 40-80 FPS.

So in short, don't bother with a quadro for Doom

[Andir3.0 @ Jan 23rd 2008 10:00PM]

One of the major advantages to pro cards is that they can handle multiple render surfaces better. The consumer cards are optimized for one render surface since your likely only ever going to play full screen games. These cards handle multiple render surfaces and partial surfaces (covered by a window) better because they bypass the single surface optimizations. So they are slower at gaming than a consumer card, but they'd be able to play two games better :p

[kojo87 @ Jan 23rd 2008 11:02PM]

clarification: i did not mean my ATi HD3870 can run Crysis at 250fps. i meant 25fps. sorry.

[ed @ Jan 24th 2008 4:34PM]

What is the best set up to play Crysis at full resolution and all specs set on highest?

[kojo87 @ Jan 24th 2008 5:07PM]

best set up? probably 4 ATi HD3870 dual GPU boards in quad-crossfire on an AMD Spider platform with 8GB of RAM and a 3.0GHZ quadcore proc. that would be the best. most practical or inexpensive? probably not...

[Nathan @ Jan 23rd 2008 6:28PM]

...to get real friendly-like with a big burly man called "Susan"?

[Daniel @ Jan 23rd 2008 6:30PM]

to not take a second to think about a relevant or at least clever comment.

[Daniel @ Jan 23rd 2008 6:31PM]

I would then purchase based on drivers and tech support. Don't have much experience with either since I do my 3d work with geforce cards. If drivers and tech support are good on both, then it's the ATI with the lower price.

[JD @ Jan 23rd 2008 8:43PM]

I despise ATI's driver package. I'd go with Nvidia based on drivers. MS .Net is cool for lots of things, but not driver implementation. Catalyst is a bogged down, overweight package. I'm assuming they use CCC for their workstation cards, but I doubt they'd have a different package. Sorry if that seemed Rant-ish. That's why I still stick with Nvidia. Oh, and the 8800GT 512 was a spectacular value for my dollar that beats ATI's high end 3870.

[Tom @ Jan 23rd 2008 8:51PM]

JD, I SERIOUSLY doubt ATI uses CCC on their workstation gfx cards. Seriously doubt.

[chrisconnolly @ Jan 23rd 2008 9:28PM]

ATI does indeed use Catalyst Control Center for their workstation cards. It's the same as their gaming cards, but has a "Workstation" tab to control some specific areas of the card.

- The Author (Chris)

[Daniel @ Jan 23rd 2008 9:37PM]

lAME.

[Reader @ Jan 23rd 2008 6:39PM]

Go back in time 10 years ago with one of these and people will think you have some futuristic plasma pistol.

[Zeus.:God @ Jan 23rd 2008 6:56PM]

This isn't Halo, nor do these suck like either Halo or the plasma pistol.

[Reader @ Jan 23rd 2008 8:28PM]

Please, Halo? I was killin baddies with a plasma pistol in Gamma World :D

[Eric YJ Chiu @ Jan 23rd 2008 7:29PM]

I hated GMA900 so much before my 20th birthday.

two years later everything I have uses INTEL graphics.

[Dustin Frazier @ Jan 23rd 2008 7:59PM]

I'm sorry?

[Eric YJ Chiu @ Jan 23rd 2008 8:34PM]

yes, it's called the playstation 3, the xbox 360 and the wiiii.

[thethirdmoose @ Jan 23rd 2008 9:24PM]

Except... it doesn't.
The Wii uses an ATi chip (Hollywood or broadway, i don't remember which)
The 360 and PS3 use ATi and nVidia chips (I think the 360 uses nVidia and the PS3 uses ATi)

[Anders @ Jan 23rd 2008 10:36PM]

PS3 - Nvidia
360 - ATI

[ethana2 @ Jan 23rd 2008 11:03PM]

Anders, correct. I'll also note that while the PS3 and Wii are worth something to me, the 360 is not.

To own something is to have the power to do with it what you will. To have something and not own it is not healthy. Avoid the 360 like the plague. It has no potential for /useful/ applications.

[z3r0D @ Jan 24th 2008 1:44AM]

omfg. Don't try to start a fanboi war. Holy shit.

Xbox360 IS NOT USELESS. It plays games, as does the ps3, and so does the wii. It plays at around the same level currently as the Ps3. ITS NOT USELESS. It had some flaws, but they're gone now with the new chips.

[Hashbrown_Hunter @ Jan 23rd 2008 7:59PM]

$1000+ ? Damn I'm so poor. No wonder I'm stuck with a 7600GT instead of an 8600GT.

[Denver_80203 @ Jan 23rd 2008 9:58PM]

Actually each of these are close 3000$

[xB Owner @ Jan 23rd 2008 8:00PM]

Nice "pie in the sky cards." For regular production work in the architectural and engineering fields you usually have to settle for much less. I just spec'd out the newest workstation we are getting at our office and it will be running an nVidia Quadro FX1700. That is about as high end as we get.

[Denver_80203 @ Jan 23rd 2008 10:03PM]

We have 1700s all over the place and honestly they are VERY good cards. They run as sister cards to a 4600 on our better workstations. Running open GL tests I find they run fast and smooth. Unless you are doing heavy animation you'll be quite happy for the money saved.

[xB Owner @ Jan 24th 2008 11:08AM]

Oh, no doubt we'll be happy with the 1700. We make due with much, much worse on many "workstations." My current computer is running and older FX1300 card.

I guess I was just really making the statement that the number of "professionals" that actually use the really high end graphics cards are few and far between. Especially in my industry.

[Tom @ Jan 23rd 2008 10:25PM]

I'll pass and use Direct 3d.

8800GTX saves me $$$$.

[ethana2 @ Jan 23rd 2008 11:08PM]

Direct3D? But of course! What a multiplatform API!

People who want to get work done don't use Direct3D. You're looking at BrookGPU, CG, GLSL, CUDA, etc.
..and I want to get work done.
....instead of using an OS where the user has to worry about malware.

Linux: From Curiosity came Power.

[bartoron @ Jan 25th 2008 5:00PM]

Now all I have to do is get a computer case that's 3 feet deep to fit my new FireGL V8650 in!