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Affordable Workstation Graphics Card Shoot-Out

Posted by kdawson on from the how-not-to-spend-four-digits dept.

MojoKid writes "While workstation graphics cards are generally much more expensive than their gaming-class brethren, it's absolutely possible to build a budget-minded system with a workstation-class graphics card to match. Both NVIDIA and ATI have workstation-class cards that scale down below $500, a fraction of the price of most high-end workstation cards. This round-up looks at three affordable workstation cards, two new FireGL cards from AMD/ATI and a QuadroFX card from NVIDIA, and offers an evaluation of their relative performance in applications like Cinema 4D, 3D StudioMax, and SpecViewperf, as well as their respective price points."

5 of 141 comments (clear)

  1. Difference? by AdeBaumann · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm sure I'm not the only one who doesn't know... so can anybody explain the difference between a high-end workstation card and a high-end gaming card?

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    1. Re:Difference? by kcbanner · · Score: 5, Informative

      The workstation cards tend to have very low error tolerance, while the real time graphics cards allow for quite a bit of error in the name of speed. This is fine unless your rendering something.

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  2. Quadro FX5700 vs 8800 GTS OC? by alwaystheretrading · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'd really like to see a low end workstation card like one of these compared to a high end consumer card. When I'm working with half a million polys in 3DS Max 2008 is it really going to be worth the extra money to get the workstation card?

  3. The Biggest Scam of the Graphics Industry! by MindPrison · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The biggest curtain that have ever been pulled over the artists eyes is the "PRO"-Graphics card-Fad! Youre paying to feel "pro" - you dont get more "pro" for your money at all, you just get to "feel-like-pro" but very little extra to justify the real bucks youre spending on Quadro & FireGL series.

    I know this, Im a "graphics pro" myself that makes a living of designing 3D-Models & prototyping every day and Ive used nearly every card known to mankind.

    Heres my advice - take it or leave it:

    Buy a Gaming-Nvidia card! The difference between the Gaming Series cards and the Quadro series card is just some extra driver software that is optimized for your "insert-favorite-3D-app-here", yes...there are some less pixel-flaws..but this will never ever affect your final-render unless youre using Nvidias Gelato (which has - by the way - proven in many cases to render less effectively than modern Multi-core-CPUs with software rendering)

    You will save up to THOUSANDS of Dollars by not buying into the "PRO" hype, and youll be one happy puppy you didnt - and work just as efficiently (I know - we do) as the ones with the "PRO" cards, the game cards are actually using the same chipsets (remember the Quad-Mod you could perform on their cards, it aint fake you know!)...it would make absolutely NO SENSE for them business wise to produce 2 different cards when their cards can in fact do the same thing....and actually use the same chips.

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    What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
  4. Make your own Quadro at a fraction of the price by nano2nd · · Score: 5, Informative

    Have a look at this site - it is possible to flash an 8800 GTX to Quadro FX 5600:

    http://aquamac.proboards106.com/index.cgi?board=hack2&action=display&thread=1178562617

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