Quadro and CAD cards - why??

[maverick77_uk]

Hi all,

Here's a question that I've not been able to answer.

With the geforce / radeon gaming cards, I'm used to seeing the prices go up to £300 or there-abouts for the latest greatest fastest models, which have blistering fast 3D abilites, as well as (as do all cards these days) have perfect 2D abilities.

However, what ARE these CAD cards, like the NVidia Quadro series? Why do they cost like £1500?? such as:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=142753

What are they able to do that a standard gaming card can't? especially when reviews etc of them say that they are not designed for 3D games and shouldn't be run on them? What are you actually paying all these money for when you can get a blisteringly fast Geforce 6800U or Radeon X800pro for £300 that can do 2D and 3D OpenGL and DirectX?? At the end of the Day, CAD software is only using 3D API's like games, so what IS the difference?!?

Cheers!

 

[Lax]

Easiest way I can describe it is that those cards are meant for just what they say, CAD. Meaning they can do VERY fast high intensity rendering in a set environment (autoCAD, Maya, and the like). They aren't meant to be able to do high moving graphic rendering like with games (UT2K4, HL2). The radeon and Nvidia cards are specifically designed to preform at higher speeds to render faster and thus get you what you see, crazy 3D. It also has something to do with the GPU and clock speed, Prae might be able to clerfiy there. (I know nothing of that)

 

[maverick77_uk]

Hi,

Hmmmm.......But surely if you used AutoCAD on a geforce 6800U, it would work just fine? I mean, what are you paying an extra £1200 for? Are these cards 5X faster? what is SOOOOOOO complex in CAD that isn't in games?

 

[Cromewell]

you are paying for the professional video card not a 'budget' gamers card
also the special driver development is part of the cost. 512MB is available on some of those cards and 512 buffer was just recently added to the public drivers

 

[maverick77_uk]

OK, so its called a professional card, not a "budget" gamers card - so what? What is it able to do that a geforce 6800U can't? Why don't "professionals" stick a "budget" card in their "professional" systems and save themselves £1500??

 

[Praetor]

However, what ARE these CAD cards, like the NVidia Quadro series? Why do they cost like £1500?? such as:

They are cards designed, well... for CAD operatioons (and animation and stuff like that requiring pixel precision)

What are they able to do that a standard gaming card can't?

They have damn near 100% pixel precision and massive memory buffers. Cards like the 6800 have something like 95% pixel precision ... which is simply not good enough

At the end of the Day, CAD software is only using 3D API's like games, so what IS the difference?!?

Not really. Professional cards rarely [properly] use DirectX and/or OpenGL; they use interfaces like HEIDI

OK, so its called a professional card, not a "budget" gamers card - so what? What is it able to do that a geforce 6800U can't?

1. Pixel precision
2. Better AA/AF and other types fo operations
3. Massive Buffers
4. HEIDI

Why don't "professionals" stick a "budget" card in their "professional" systems and save themselves £1500??

1. Because $1500 isnt that much money considering the systems involved
2. Because animators dont want issues like nonincidental pixel occlusion.

 

[maverick77_uk]

Cool, OK, I get that. Therefore, surely if you have one of these cards, surely it could handle a game of Doom 3 if it's so much more accurate? It must be a relative sinch to get these card DX compatibe, so why don't they?

 

[Cromewell]

because it''s not what they were intended for, and a 512MB vid card is useless for gaming anyway

 

[Lax]

Not really. Professional cards rarely [properly] use DirectX and/or OpenGL; they use interfaces like HEIDI

Well I think prae put it the best.

 

[Praetor]

Therefore, surely if you have one of these cards, surely it could handle a game of Doom 3 if it's so much more accurate?

Not a chance. Firstly, the Quadros if im not mistaken are GeForce4 based cards. Secondly, a it would be "so much more accurate" .... but it would be "so much slower". You know that funky thing called 4XAA 16XAF? You know the way it kills performance? Ya well, to put things in perspective (keeping in line with the "quality" analogy), imagine 128XAA and 256XAF.

It must be a relative sinch to get these card DX compatibe, so why don't they?

Why would it be a relative cinch?