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NVIDIA Performance On Linux, Solaris, & Vista

Posted by kdawson on from the in-that-order dept.

AtomBOB suggests a Phoronix review comparing the performance of a Quadro graphics card on Windows Vista Ultimate, Solaris Express Developer, and Ubuntu Linux. The graphics card used was a NVIDIA Quadro FX 1700 mid-range workstation part. The cross-platform benchmark used was SPECViewPerf 9.0 from SPEC. Quoting Phoronix: "Using the Quadro FX1700 512MB and the latest display drivers, Windows Vista wasn't the decisive winner, but the loser... Ubuntu 8.04 Alpha 5 with the 169.12 driver had overall produced the fastest results within SPECViewPerf. In only three benchmarks had Solaris Express Developer 1/08 outpaced Ubuntu Linux, but with two of these tests the results were almost identical.""

8 of 231 comments (clear)

  1. What is the difference? by moreati · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've wondered this a while. What is the difference between the gaming cards and the workstation cards from Nvidia and ATI? Do they just have better DACs? Certified driver support for business apps? Or is the GPU itself somehow?

    Alex

  2. Surprised.. by LingNoi · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I am surprised by this as I would have thought Nvidia would have put more effort into their Vista driver with Linux drivers being mostly on the back burner. I am assuming it is because their Linux driver is old code (which we all know contains less bugs then new code) whereas the Vista driver is written from scratch?

    Either way I think this shows the awesomeness of Ubuntu and Linux. ^_^

    1. Re:Surprised.. by vux984 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Its like reading one idiot correct another idiot... fta:

      In this case, the unsupported assertion starts with market share numbers pulled out of thin air. Under the heading "Disabling of Functionality," Gutmann writes: ...For example many sound cards built on C-Media chipsets (which in practice is the vast majority of them) support Steinberg's ASIO (Audio Stream I/O), a digital audio interface that completely bypasses the Windows audio mixer and other audio-related driver software...

      See how he slipped that little statement in there to make the problem he's discussing seem like something that will affect "the vast majority" of Windows systems? The trouble is, the vast majority of sound cards are not "built on C-Media chipsets." Don't take my word for it; that's what the company itself says. In reporting on a 2006 deal between C-Media and Asus, DigiTimes quotes a report in the Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN)

              C-Media anticipates that its market share in the high-end audio IC market will hit 10%, up from the current 1-3%, according to the company...

      The last time I looked, 1-3% was a tiny blip, not the "vast majority."

      So the first idiot says the vast majority of audio chipsets are C-media... and the 2nd idiot thinks he's counting him by quoting C-media claim they have well under 10% of the 'hign-end audio ICs'. The two assertions aren't even in conflict for crying out loud.

      Consider Toyota... both the worlds largest car company and simultaneously barely represented in the exotic high end car segment. So C-Media is a Toyota of audio chips; sounds about right. This is like a bad slashdot debate, not journalism. On both sides.

  3. Re:OpenGL? by zappepcs · · Score: 3, Interesting

    While I tend to agree with you, it would be stupid on the part of MS to hobble openGL because it will only make Windows look sucky. The news for nerds crowd on the Internet (not just /.) will ensure that *ANY* Linux drivers get vicarious face time with the masses and hobbling that experience is like a huge marketing blunder on the scale of the Sony rootkit without so much of the legal problems.

    One thing that I like, recently it is not a case of Linux and Solaris having to be as good as MS, but a case of hmmm lets just see which performs better without the a priori conclusion that everyone has to keep up with MS.

    I think that very soon, if not now, we can start thinking of MS as an angel with a tarnished halo, if I can put it so gently?

    We are slowly moving in to an era of REAL competition, where all OSs are competing for the leading edge and the masses waiting for news each quarter of who is winning rather than everyone not really caring since no other OS is as good as MS. At that point, I think you can clearly and safely declare a win for F/OSS. A battle win if not the war.

    --
    Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
  4. Re:the difference does not matter. by bigpicture · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You think? I remember and have followed a similar kind of scenario, it started over 30 years ago when I was younger. It went something like this: GM was the Biggest of the Big. Had a market share greater than all other automobile manufactures combined. Had revenues higher than the GNP of 90% of the worlds nations. etc. etc. etc. They developed this Business Model called "Planned Product Obsolescence". (Your vehicle was planned to be scrap in about 10 years or before.)

    There was also another little automobile manufacturer called Toyota with a very small market share, they made crappy little vehicles, used to be called "piss pots". They had a Business Model called "Continuous Improvement". There was a historic event in 2007 that went quietly unnoticed, Toyota surpassed GM in world market share and revenues.

  5. Re:the difference does not matter. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You argument is flawed. You're arguing because windows is better known it will always
    have the largest market share. The same could have been said about IBM pcs, or lotus 1-2-3,
    Borland's compiler suite, or wordstar word processor.

    The fact of the matter that next winner has to start out small because it gets to grab
    marketshare. Google is an excellent counterexample to your argument. They were just 2-3 people
    in 1998 working on a master's thesis project when Yahoo and AOL were the big thing. And where
    is AOL now? How much marketshare does Yahoo have for search engines?

    Personally I think that Dell selling preinstalled Linux boxes in the U.S. was the first toll
    of the death bell for Microsoft. Then walmart selling out the green PCs was the next tolling of
    the bell, and now that Asus is selling Eepc laptops I think is the first nail in the coffin for Microsoft.

    Will Microsoft die overnight? No. Will they go out with a bang? No. I think they will go out with
    a whimper within the next 5 years unless they somehow manage to reverse their course like they
    did in 1995 and embrace the fact that GPL software is here to stay and start using it.

  6. Re:But Microsoft is not GM by AJWM · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Microsoft has been reporting 15% growth in revenues the U.S., 20 to 30% growth abroad each quarter. [emphasis added]

    Amazingly enough, Microsoft has been known to lie about some things. I suggest you review the fine print on those "reports", and then ponder why, if Microsoft's growth is really as reported, their stock hasn't been doing as well as it historically used to. Their cash reserves are also shrinking. Then there are the legal battles they're fighting.

    That is the picture of a company on the way down.

    --
    -- Alastair
  7. Stereo 3D Support Is One by maz2331 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The Quadro boards allow OpenGL stereoscopic images to be displayed in a window, and the non-Quadro boards do not. If you want really good 3D, you need a Quadro.

    I use them for my stereoscopic video stuff with either a pair of shutter glasses or 3D HMD goggles, and can do a live, 3D viewfinder to compose the scene, align cameras, etc.