NVIDIA releases new Quadro Plex D CUDA desktop rigs

NVIDIA's really pushing the GPU-as-CPU angle at SIGGRAPH this year -- we've already seen the PhysX and CUDA-powered GeForce Power Pack for consumers, and the company is also updating the Quadro Plex series of visual co-processors for workstation customers. The new Quadro Plex 2200 D2, designed for large datasets and models, crunches data through two Quadro FX 5800 GPUs (totalling 480 CUDA cores) and 8GB of RAM, while the Quadro Plex 2100 D2 is optimized for large multidisplay rigs with four Quadro FX 4700 GPUs and support for up to eight monitors. Sounds fun -- and we're guessing the people who can justify the $10,500 starting price for these rigs think so too.

[Shadowise @ Aug 12th 2008 11:34AM]

Sounds like a beast of a render machine.

[MadMike @ Aug 12th 2008 11:39AM]

They should make something like this for gaming cards. Be able to put 4 top-of-the-line gaming cards in here with a Physx card all SLI'd together with its own cooling and power supply. Make even more wicked gaming rigs.

[Samboini @ Aug 12th 2008 2:15PM]

Obviously still living with your parents, otherwise you'd be quaking thinking about the electric bill.

[MadMike @ Aug 12th 2008 2:43PM]

Nah, my house was built less than 6 months ago. Steel roof, great insulation, energy efficient HVAC, good windows, etc.. That and I get the "5-month averaged" electric bill. $130/mo. winter, $160/mo. summer.

[BirdofPrey @ Aug 15th 2008 10:01AM]

That would be nice since most high end cards require 2 card slots and their own power cables.
With 3way SLi and CrossFire X finding room can be an issue if you have the audacity to want to put something else in there like a RAID controlloer or video captue card.

Bring me that or a motherboard with a 10 card long bus

[maff @ Aug 12th 2008 11:47AM]

Giger Train!

[Anton @ Aug 12th 2008 11:54AM]

Yes, it can play Crysis.

[thatrotierkid @ Aug 12th 2008 12:20PM]

actually it cant, but it can render my car in pro e files in 5 seconds

[majorburns @ Aug 12th 2008 11:57AM]

so... does this not have a traditional CPU in it? is it just running off general purpose GPUs?

[Andrew @ Aug 12th 2008 11:57AM]

It's not a "computer".. If you read the article then you would have known:

"A Quadro Plex D series VCS can turn workstations and servers into
visual supercomputers. Easily connected to a host workstation via a
low-power PCI Express adapter card, the Quadro Plex VCS gives workstations
the massively parallel processing capabilities of multiple Quadro graphics
cards and features an ultra-quiet design, allowing the system to be
deployed deskside."

It's simply a MASSIVE external graphics card, with A LOT (8gb) of memory

[dchaosdx @ Aug 12th 2008 12:02PM]

it is an external graphics card, not a computer.

[Patriks7 @ Aug 12th 2008 12:06PM]

if its an external graphics card.. is it possible to hook it up with a laptop?

[majorburns @ Aug 12th 2008 12:17PM]

ahhh thanks. i read the article, but there's a fair bit of hi-end jargon in there i couldn't get my head around...

presumably, Pixar will want some?

[Ryan Trevisol @ Aug 12th 2008 12:31PM]

@Patriks7: It connects via a "Low-power PCI Express card", so probably not. And as was mentioned, this is for rendering, not making your Intel XpressGraphics run better.

[Dan Halen @ Aug 12th 2008 12:01PM]

$10,500. All in a $6 case.

[Blayed @ Aug 12th 2008 12:05PM]

Find me that case for $6, and I'll buy the whole unit.

[Dan Halen @ Aug 12th 2008 12:21PM]

...and do what with it...?

[barry99705 @ Aug 12th 2008 1:33PM]

It would make an awesome mini-itx case.

[Dan Halen @ Aug 12th 2008 1:51PM]

Yeah. Except that it has nowhere to mount the motherboard. Or hard drives. Or fans. Or an IO panel.

Or basically anything that would make it a computer case.

[Technex @ Aug 12th 2008 2:23PM]

I think the case looks really nice myself. Perhaps a little more metal, and a little more Nvidia green is needed, certainly for that price :).

[barry99705 @ Aug 12th 2008 3:36PM]

I built a computer into a Pelican case, component mounting isn't an issue.

[allenu @ Aug 12th 2008 12:06PM]

Looks like Biff's hoverboard carrying case.

[James @ Aug 12th 2008 12:09PM]

Sure, but can it run Crysis?

[John @ Aug 12th 2008 12:21PM]

NO because it's NOT a computer.

[Stiv @ Aug 12th 2008 3:40PM]

Fail.

[digitallysick @ Aug 12th 2008 12:17PM]

But will it run vista?

[Boyprodigy1 @ Aug 12th 2008 2:09PM]

No because its not a computer. But i am sure that vista's Aero feature would run incredibly smoothly when hooked up to this beast.

[Bad Beaver @ Aug 12th 2008 12:26PM]

Have a good look, this is where the games that your computer won't be able to run come from. Kinda sexy.

[computer.dude.28 @ Aug 12th 2008 12:27PM]

Ah, I remember when I had a GeForce2, then GeForce4.. now I'm up to a XXX edition factory overclocked 8600GT. Can't wait to get home to try this stuff out!

[computer.dude.28 @ Aug 12th 2008 12:30PM]

Sorry, slightly wrong thread. I direct this comment to
http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/12/nvidia-enables-physx-and-cuda-support-for-geforce-8-and-higher-g/

[iansilv @ Aug 12th 2008 12:42PM]

Can I hook it up to a computer and run Crisis?

[Mustaine @ Aug 12th 2008 12:50PM]

I'd like to see one of those sexy babes they have on the boxes printed on the sides.

[Ken @ Aug 12th 2008 1:24PM]

$10500 = assrape

Not one mention of how many TFLOP this thing pushes. My guess is 3-4 max and that can be done in a desktop for 1/5th the price.

[Chris @ Aug 12th 2008 1:34PM]

I'll take it, wait its not a desktop, that whole thing is the graphics card!? I like the case though. :)

[Boyprodigy1 @ Aug 12th 2008 2:12PM]

I wonder if you can get 2+ of these and put them in a sli setup...

[Dee @ Aug 12th 2008 2:16PM]

WTF is that???

[Chris Macdonald @ Aug 12th 2008 3:10PM]

why don't you read the article and find out?

[barry99705 @ Aug 12th 2008 3:37PM]

It's a lunch box. You can go back to your myspace "friends" now.

[Dee @ Aug 12th 2008 4:02PM]

I know what it is, I just posted what my first thought was seeing it for the first time (which I'm sure a lot of people thought the same) - i guess I'll clarify that next time.

FYI: Myspace, Facebook, and all forms of social networking sites are the worse thing to happen to possibility of improving human interactions. Blogs are cool, cause thier focus is just information and nothing else.

[wonkydonkydotnet @ Aug 12th 2008 5:23PM]

Isn't this thing more for the Modeling side of things?

If you were going to Render, wouldn't you just build a "Helmer" cluster for 1/2 the price???
http://helmer.sfe.se/

[thatrotierkid @ Aug 12th 2008 9:54PM]

ya its for modeling in solidworks, pro engineer, inventor, autocad, etc. i always say rendering even tho technically i know its not right. however, saying the computer is "modeling" something for me sounds wrong to me because the engineer/designer is doing the modeling, the computer is just taking your inputs and drawing them up for you. i guess theres no great verb to explain what the computer is doing.

and there are a lot of things you could do for 1/2 the price. really unless a company buys this and installs it on their server for everyone to use (not a bad idea actually and then the cost would be justifiable, plus it would make upgrading/maintenance easier). i kno my work just droppeg huge cash on a friend of mine in my department at work that does almost all of the model. 3.0Ghz Xeon, 8GB DDR3 RAM and a FireGL V7700 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814195063). I know there are at least 10 guys in the company with comparable cards to him, of the ~30 who do modeling. $10k to ensure that anyone connected to the network could at least do some basic modeling if need be isnt that bad from a company perspective. as far as one of these for a single person, thats a little excessive.

[Catsceo @ Aug 12th 2008 5:52PM]

So sexy...