Nvidia quadro fx 4600 gaming: GeForce GTX 1050 vs Quadro FX 4600 [in 1 benchmark]

NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600 — review. GPU Benchmark & Specs

NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600 graphics card (also called GPU) comes in 796 in the performance rating. It is a good result. The graphics card NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600 runs with the minimal clock speed 500 MHz. It is featured by the acceleration option and able to run up to . The manufacturer has equipped NVIDIA with GB of 768 MB memory, clock speed 1400 MHz and bandwidth 67.2 GB/s.


The power consumption of the graphics card is 134 Watt, and the fabrication process is only 90 nm. Below you will find the main data on the compatibility, sizes, technologies and gaming performance test results. Also you can read and leave the comments.


Let’s take a closer look at the most important specifications of the graphics card. To have a good idea what a graphics card is the best, we recommend to use comparison service.

3.7
Out of 3
Hitesti score

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General info

The basic set of information will help you find out the graphics card NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600 release date and its purpose (laptops or PCs), as well as the price at the time of the release and the average current price. This data also includes the architecture employed by the producer, and the chip’s codename.

Place in performance rating: 894
Value for money (0-100): 4.05
Architecture: Tesla
Code name: G80
Type: Workstation
Release date: 5 March 2007 (14 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP): $1,999
Price now: $145 (0. 1x MSRP)
Value for money: 0.11
GPU code name: G80
Market segment: Workstation

Technical specs

This is the important information that defines the graphics card’s capacity. The simpler the device production process, the better. The core’s power frequency is responsible for its speed (direct correlation) while the elaboration of signals is performed by the transistors (the more transistors, the faster the computations are carried out).

Pipelines: 96
Core clock speed: 500 MHz
Transistor count: 681 million
Manufacturing process technology: 90 nm
Power consumption (TDP): 134 Watt
Texture fill rate: 24. 00
Floating-point performance: 230.4 gflops
Pipelines / CUDA cores: 96
Number of transistors: 681 million
Thermal design power (TDP): 134 Watt

Compatibility, dimensions and requirements

Today there are numerous form factors for PC cases, so it is extremely important to know the length of the graphics card and the types of its connection. This will help facilitate the upgrade process.

Interface: PCIe 1.0 x16
Length: 229 mm
Supplementary power connectors: 1x 6-pin

Memory

The internal main memory is used for storing data while conducting computations. Contemporary games and professional graphic apps have high requirements for the memory’s volume and capacity. The higher this parameter, the more powerful and fast the graphics card is. Type of memory, the capacity and bandwidth for NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600.

Memory type: GDDR3
Maximum RAM amount: 768 MB
Memory bus width: 384 Bit
Memory clock speed: 1400 MHz
Memory bandwidth: 67.2 GB/s

Video outputs and ports

As a rule, all contemporary graphics cards feature several connection types and additional ports. Knowing these peculiarities is crucial for avoiding problems with connecting the graphics card to the monitor or other peripheral devices.

Display Connectors: 2x DVI, 1x S-Video

API support

All API-supported NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600 are listed below.

DirectX: 11.1 (10_0)
OpenGL: 3.3

Overall gaming performance

All tests have been based on FPS counter. Let’s have a look on what place NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600 has been taken in the gaming performance test (calculation has been made in accordance with the game developer recommendations about system requirements; it can differ from the real world situations).

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Horizon Zero DawnDeath StrandingF1 2020Gears TacticsDoom EternalHunt ShowdownEscape from TarkovHearthstoneRed Dead Redemption 2Star Wars Jedi Fallen OrderNeed for Speed HeatCall of Duty Modern Warfare 2019GRID 2019Ghost Recon BreakpointFIFA 20Borderlands 3ControlF1 2019League of LegendsTotal War: Three KingdomsRage 2Anno 1800The Division 2Dirt Rally 2. 0AnthemMetro ExodusFar Cry New DawnApex LegendsJust Cause 4Darksiders IIIFarming Simulator 19Battlefield VFallout 76Hitman 2Call of Duty Black Ops 4Assassin´s Creed OdysseyForza Horizon 4FIFA 19Shadow of the Tomb RaiderStrange BrigadeF1 2018Monster Hunter WorldThe Crew 2Far Cry 5World of Tanks enCoreX-Plane 11.11Kingdom Come: DeliveranceFinal Fantasy XV BenchmarkFortniteStar Wars Battlefront 2Need for Speed PaybackCall of Duty WWIIAssassin´s Creed OriginsWolfenstein II: The New ColossusDestiny 2ELEXThe Evil Within 2Middle-earth: Shadow of WarFIFA 18Ark Survival EvolvedF1 2017Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds (2017)Team Fortress 2Dirt 4Rocket LeaguePreyMass Effect AndromedaGhost Recon WildlandsFor HonorResident Evil 7Dishonored 2Call of Duty Infinite WarfareTitanfall 2Farming Simulator 17Civilization VIBattlefield 1Mafia 3Deus Ex Mankind DividedMirror’s Edge CatalystOverwatchDoomAshes of the SingularityHitman 2016The DivisionFar Cry PrimalXCOM 2Rise of the Tomb RaiderRainbow Six SiegeAssassin’s Creed SyndicateStar Wars BattlefrontFallout 4Call of Duty: Black Ops 3Anno 2205World of WarshipsDota 2 RebornThe Witcher 3Dirt RallyGTA VDragon Age: InquisitionFar Cry 4Assassin’s Creed UnityCall of Duty: Advanced WarfareAlien: IsolationMiddle-earth: Shadow of MordorSims 4Wolfenstein: The New OrderThe Elder Scrolls OnlineThiefX-Plane 10. 25Battlefield 4Total War: Rome IICompany of Heroes 2Metro: Last LightBioShock InfiniteStarCraft II: Heart of the SwarmSimCityTomb RaiderCrysis 3Hitman: AbsolutionCall of Duty: Black Ops 2World of Tanks v8Borderlands 2Counter-Strike: GODirt ShowdownDiablo IIIMass Effect 3The Elder Scrolls V: SkyrimBattlefield 3Deus Ex Human RevolutionStarCraft 2Metro 2033Stalker: Call of PripyatGTA IV — Grand Theft AutoLeft 4 DeadTrackmania Nations ForeverCall of Duty 4 — Modern WarfareSupreme Commander — FA BenchCrysis — GPU BenchmarkWorld in Conflict — BenchmarkHalf Life 2 — Lost Coast BenchmarkWorld of WarcraftDoom 3Quake 3 Arena — TimedemoHalo InfiniteFarming Simulator 22Battlefield 2042Forza Horizon 5Riders RepublicGuardians of the GalaxyBack 4 BloodDeathloopF1 2021Days GoneResident Evil VillageHitman 3Cyberpunk 2077Assassin´s Creed ValhallaDirt 5Watch Dogs LegionMafia Definitive EditionCyberpunk 2077 1.5GRID LegendsDying Light 2Rainbow Six ExtractionGod of War

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1280×720

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1920×1080

high

1920×1080

ultra

1920×1080

QHD

2560×1440

4K

3840×2160

Horizon Zero Dawn (2020)

low

1280×720

med.

1920×1080

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Death Stranding (2020)

low

1280×720

med.

1920×1080

high

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ultra

1920×1080

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2560×1440

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3840×2160

F1 2020 (2020)

low

1280×720

med.

1920×1080

high

1920×1080

ultra

1920×1080

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2560×1440

4K

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Gears Tactics (2020)

low

1280×720

med.

1920×1080

high

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ultra

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2560×1440

4K

3840×2160

Doom Eternal (2020)

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1920×1080

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Legend
5 Stutter – The performance of this graphics cards with this game is not well explored yet. According to interpolated information obtained from graphics cards of similar efficiency levels, the game is likely to stutter and show low frame rates.
May Stutter – The performance of this graphics cards with this game is not well explored yet. According to interpolated information obtained from graphics cards of similar efficiency levels, the game is likely to stutter and show low frame rates.
30 Fluent – According to all known benchmarks with the specified graphical settings, this game is expected to run at 25fps or more
40 Fluent – According to all known benchmarks with the specified graphical settings, this game is expected to run at 35fps or more
60 Fluent – According to all known benchmarks with the specified graphical settings, this game is expected to run at 58fps or more
May Run Fluently – The performance of this graphics cards with this game is not well explored yet. According to interpolated information obtained from graphics cards of similar efficiency levels, the game is likely to show fluent frame rates.
? Uncertain – The testing of this graphics cards on this game showed unexpected results. A slower card might be able to produce higher and more consistent frame rates when running the same benchmark scene.
Uncertain – The performance of this graphics cards with this game is not well explored yet. No reliable data interpolation can be made based on the performance of similar cards of the same category.
The value in the fields reflects the average frame rate across the entire database. To obtain individual results, move your cursor over the value.

AMD equivalent

AMD FirePro 2270

Compare

Benchmark

Benchmarks help determine the performance in standard tests for NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600. We have listed the world’s most famous benchmarks so that you could obtain accurate results in each (see the description). Graphics card preliminary testing is especially important in the presence of high loads so that the user could see to what extent the graphic processing unit copes with computations and data elaboration.

Overall benchmark performance

ATI Radeon HD 5570

NVIDIA GeForce GT 720M

NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600

AMD Radeon HD 8350G

NVIDIA GeForce GTS 350M

PassMark is a great benchmark that gets updated regularly and shows relevant information on the graphics card’s performance.

NVIDIA GeForce GT 720M

AMD Radeon HD 8350G

NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600

NVIDIA Quadro 410

NVIDIA GeForce 810M

3. 7
Out of 3
Hitesti score

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Reviews of NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600

 

Compare NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600

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NVIDIA GeForce GT 710

AMD Radeon R9 M380

AMD Radeon R5 M230

NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 X2

AMD Radeon Pro Duo

NVIDIA GeForce GT 415M

AMD Radeon Pro WX Vega M GL

AMD Caicos

AMD Hainan

AMD Radeon HD 7660G + HD 7670M Dual Graphics

EOL Windows driver support for legacy products

NVIDIA SUPPORT

EOL Windows driver support for legacy products


Beginning with the Release 378, the NVIDIA professional drivers no longer support the following NVIDIA Quadro products below. The NVIDIA support team will continue to address critical driver issues for these products in Release 375 through March 1, 2018. However, future driver enhancements and optimizations in driver releases after Release 375 will not support these products.

Future driver enhancements and optimizations in driver releases after Release 375 will not support these products.

Quadro

Quadro Blade/Embedded

Quadro Notebook

Quadro Plex 7000

Quadro 4000M

Quadro 5010M

Quadro 7000

Quadro 3000M

Quadro 5000M

Quadro 6000

Quadro 100M

Quadro 4000M

Quadro 5000

Quadro 500M

Quadro 3000M

Quadro 4000

Quadro 2000M

Quadro 2000

Quadro 1000M

Quadro 2000 D

Quadro 600

Quadro 400

After Release 340, any subsequent Windows driver release starting with Release 343 will cease to support the products listed in this section below.

The Release 340 drivers will continue to support these products until April 1, 2016, and the NVIDIA support team will continue to address driver issues for these products in driver branches up to and including Release 340. However, future driver enhancements and optimizations in driver releases after Release 340 will not support these products.

Quadro, Quadro FX/CX, and NVS Workstation Products

Quadro, Quadro FX/CX, and NVS Workstation Products

Quadro FX

NVS

Quadro/Quadro CX/Quadro VX

Quadro FX 5800

NVIDIA NVS 300

Quadro 400

Quadro FX 5500

Quadro NVS 295

Quadro CX

Quadro FX 4800

Quadro NVS 420

Quadro VX

Quadro FX 4700

Quadro NVS 450

Quadro VX 200

Quadro FX 4600

Quadro NVS

Quadro FX 4500

Quadro NVS 210S

Quadro FX 4500 X2

Quadro NVS 280

Quadro FX 4000 SDI

Quadro NVS 280 SD

Quadro FX 4000

Quadro NVS 285

Quadro FX 3800

Quadro NVS 290

Quadro FX 3700

Quadro NVS 440

Quadro FX 3500

Quadro NVS 50 PCI

Quadro FX 3450 SDI

Quadro NVS 55

Quadro FX 3400

Quadro FX 3000

Quadro FX 2000

Quadro FX 1800

Quadro FX 1700

Quadro FX 1500

Quadro FX 1400

Quadro FX 1300

Quadro FX 1100

Quadro FX 1000

Quadro FX 880

Quadro FX 700

Quadro FX 600

Quadro FX 580

Quadro FX 570

Quadro FX 560

Quadro FX 550

Quadro FX 540

Quadro FX 500

Quadro FX 380

Quadro FX 380LP

Quadro FX 370

Quadro FX 370LP

Quadro FX 350

Quadro FX 340

Quadro FX 330 PCI-E

Tesla C, Quadro Plex Products

Tesla C, Quadro Plex Products

Tesla C

Quadro Plex

Tesla C1060

Quadro Plex 2200 D2

Quadro Plex 2200 S4

Quadro FX and NVS Notebook Products

Quadro FX and NVS Notebook Products

Quadro FX Notebook

NVS Notebook

Quadro FX 3800M

NVIDIA NVS 5100M

Quadro FX 3700M

NVIDIA NVS 3100M

Quadro FX 3600M

NVIDIA NVS 2100M

Quadro FX 2800M

Quadro NVS 510M

Quadro FX 2700M

Quadro NVS 320M

Quadro FX 2500M

Quadro NVS 160M

Quadro FX 3600M

Quadro NVS 150M

Quadro NVS 140M

Quadro FX 1800M

Quadro NVS 135M

Quadro FX 1700M

Quadro NVS 130M

Quadro FX 1600M

Quadro NVS 120M

Quadro FX 1500M

Quadro NVS 110M

Quadro FX 880M

Quadro FX 770M

Quadro FX 570M

Quadro FX 560M

Quadro FX 540M

Quadro FX 380M

Quadro FX 370M

Quadro FX 360M

Quadro FX 350M

GeForce 100/200/300/400 Series Desktop Products

Effective April 2018, Game Ready Driver upgrades, including performance enhancements, new features, and bug fixes, will be available only on Kepler, Maxwell, and Pascal series GPUs. Critical security updates will be available on Fermi series GPUs through January 2019.

GeForce 100/200/300/400 Series Desktop Products

GeForce 100 Series

GeForce 200 Series

GeForce 300 Series

GeForce 400 Series

GeForce GTS 150

GeForce GTX 295

GeForce GT 340

GeForce 405

GeForce GT 140

GeForce GTX 285

GeForce GT 330

GeForce GT 420

GeForce GT 130

GeForce GTX 280

GeForce GT 320

GeForce GT 430

GeForce GT 120

GeForce GTX 275

GeForce 315

GeForce GT 440

GeForce G 100

GeForce GTX 260

GeForce 310

GeForce GTS 450

GeForce GTS 250

GeForce GTX 460

GeForce GTS 240

GeForce GTX 460 SE

GeForce GT 240

GeForce GTX 460 v2

GeForce GT 230

GeForce GTX 465

GeForce GT 220

GeForce GTX 470

GeForce 210

GeForce GTX 480

Geforce 205

ION LE

ION

GeForce 500/600/700/800 (Fermi) Series Desktop Products

GeForce 500/600/700/800 (Fermi) Series Desktop Products

GeForce 500 Series

GeForce 600 Series

GeForce 700 Series

GeForce 800 Series

GeForce 510

GeForce 605

GeForce 705A

GeForce 820A

GeForce GT 520

GeForce GT 610

GeForce 710A

GeForce GT 530

GeForce GT 620

GeForce 720A

GeForce GT 545

GeForce GT 625 (OEM)

GeForce GT 705

GeForce GTX 550 Ti

GeForce GT 630

GeForce GT 730

GeForce GTX 555

GeForce GT 640

GeForce GTX 560

GeForce GT 645

GeForce GTX 560 SE

GeForce GTX 560 Ti

GeForce GTX 570

GeForce GTX 580

GeForce GTX 590

GeForce 7/8/9 Series Notebook Products

GeForce 7 Series

GeForce 8 Series

GeForce 9 Series

GeForce Go 7950 GTX

GeForce 8800M GTX

GeForce 9800M GTX

GeForce Go 7900 GT

GeForce 8800M GTS

GeForce 9800M GT

GeForce Go 7900 GS

GeForce 8700M GT

GeForce 9800M GTS

GeForce Go 7800 GTX

GeForce 8600M GT

GeForce 9800M GS

GeForce Go 7800

GeForce 8600M GS

GeForce 9700M GTS

GeForce Go 7700

GeForce 8400M GT

GeForce 9700M GT

GeForce Go 7600 GT

GeForce 8400M GS

GeForce 9650M GT

GeForce Go 7600

GeForce 8400M G

GeForce 9650M GS

GeForce Go 7400

GeForce 9600M GT

GeForce Go 7300

GeForce 9600M GS

GeForce Go 7200

GeForce 9500M GS

GeForce 9500M G

GeForce 9300M GS

GeForce 9300M G

GeForce 9200M GS

GeForce 100/200/300 Series Notebook Products

GeForce 100/200/300 Series Notebook Products

GeForce 100 Series

GeForce 200 Series

GeForce 300 Series

GeForce GTS 160M

GeForce GTX 285M

GeForce GTS 360M

GeForce GTS 150M

GeForce GTX 280M

GeForce GTS 350M

GeForce GT 130M

GeForce GTX 260M

GeForce GT 335M

GeForce GT 120M

GeForce GTS 260M

GeForce GT 330M

ION LE

ION

GeForce 400/500/600/700/800 (Fermi) Series Notebook Products

GeForce 400/500/600/700/800 (Fermi) Series Notebook Products

GeForce 400 Series

GeForce 500 Series

GeForce 600 Series

GeForce 700/800 Series

GeForce 410M

GeForce GT 520M

GeForce GT 620M

GeForce GT 710M

GeForce GT 415M

NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX

GeForce GT 625M

GeForce GT 720M

GeForce GT 420M

GeForce GT 525M

GeForce GT 630M

GeForce GT 820M

GeForce GT 425M

GeForce GT 540M

GeForce GT 635M

GeForce GT 435M

GeForce GT 550M

GeForce GTX 670M

GeForce GT 445M

GeForce GT 555M

GeForce GTX 675M

GeForce GTX 460M

GeForce GTX 560M

GeForce GTX 470M

GeForce GTX 570M

GeForce GTX 480M

GeForce GTX 580M

GeForce GTX 485M

NOTE: this list is specific to Windows drivers. For Unix information, click here: Support timeframes for Unix legacy GPU releases

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New NVIDIA Quadro FX Series Workstation Graphics Cards Deliver HPC for Less

By David Cohn
The entry-level NVIDIA Quadro FX 370.

Over the past year, NVIDIA has once again refreshed its entire lineup of workstation-class graphics accelerators — the Quadro FX series. Previously we looked at the NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600 and FX 5600 boards (see June and July 2007 DE, respectively). Now that the rest of the family has also been updated, it’s time to give you all the details on the entire product line.

  Like the ultra high-end Quadro FX 4600 and FX 5600, all of the new graphics accelerators feature NVIDIA’s unified architecture, which dynamically allocates geometry, shading, and pixel processing as well as compute power. Previous generations of graphics cards had separate banks of vertex and pixel shaders that could only be used for accelerating vertex calculations and texturing, respectively. This often resulted in portions of the graphics processing unit (GPU) sitting idle while others were maxed out,  because games often use models with low numbers of polygons with lots of textures while CAD models often have large numbers of polygons with few or no textures. The new unified architecture dynamically allocates the GPU’s power between vertex and pixel shading, improving performance for all types of users.

The entry-level 3D NVIDIA Quadro FX 570.
The ultra high-end NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600was reviewed previously.

Themid-range NVIDIA Quadro FX 1700.

The new high-end NVIDIA Quadro FX 3700.

In addition to sharing the same core unified architecture and drivers, the new boards are now Shader Model 4.0 compliant and come with the increased frame buffer capacity needed to make them fully Microsoft Vista ready. The Quadro FX 370, 570, 1700, and 3700 are all based on a 65-nanometer (nm) manufacturing process whereas the FX 4600 and 5600 are 90nm boards. The 370,  570, 1700, and 3700 also support PCI Express version 2.0, which doubles the bus standard’s bandwidth, meaning the X16 graphics slot can transfer 16GBps bidirectionally (8GBps in each direction).

  The latest boards also support the new NVIDIA Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) GPU-computing software architecture. Some types of computing tasks have parts that are better suited for CPU computing while other parts are better suited for being run on the GPU. CUDA provides a standard C language interface so that programmers can synchronize hybrid programs running on both CPUs and GPUs.

The New Quadro FX Family
The NVIDIA Quadro FX 370 ($129 MSRP/$115 average street price) is the company’s new low-end entry-level 3D card. Priced $70 less than its predecessor, the board comes with 256MB of DDR2 video memory, twice that of the board it replaces. The 64-bit memory interface yields a memory bandwidth of 6.4GBps. The FX 370 delivers 66 million triangles per second and 2.88 billion texels per second and provides two DVI-I connectors, one of which even supports dual link, enabling the board to support ultra-high resolution displays at 2560 x 1600 at normal refresh rates, a first for an entry-level board. Yet the half-length board uses a single PCIe X16 slot and consumes just 35 watts.

  Up a step is the new NVIDIA Quadro FX 570 ($199 MSRP/ $182 street), which outperforms the older FX 550 and FX 560 boards yet costs $80 and $100 less, respectively. Like the new FX 370, the FX 570 comes with 256MB of DDR2 memory, but uses a 128-bit memory interface. This results in a memory bandwidth of 12.8GBps, enabling the board to pump out 137 million triangles per second and a fill rate of 3.68 texels per second. Both of the board’s DVI-I connectors support dual link.

  For the mid-range, NVIDIA improves upon the FX 1500 with the introduction of the Quadro FX 1700 ($699 MSRP/$585 street). Likely to become the most popular board in the new Quadro FX lineup, the FX 1700 comes with 512MB of DDR2 memory, again double the amount previously found at this price point. Unlike its predecessor, the FX 1700 uses a 128-bit memory interface,  yielding a memory bandwidth of just 12.8GBps, the same as the FX 570. But when coupled with the new GPU, the FX 1700 clearly outperforms its predecessor,  delivering 191 million triangles per second and a fill rate of 7.36 billion texels per second. In addition to two dual link DVI-I connectors, the Quadro FX 1700 also provides HD component video.

  At the high-end, NVIDIA refreshes its product line with the introduction of the newest member of the family, the Quadro FX 3700 ($1,599 MSRP/$899 street). This board comes with 512MB of GDDR3 memory (double that on the older FX 3500) and uses a 256-bit memory interface to deliver a memory bandwidth of 51.2GBps. The new GPU provides 112 parallel processors, enabling it to deliver 250 million triangles per second and a fill rate of 28 billion texels per second. In addition to its two dual link DVI-I connectors, the board also supports stereoscopic 3D output as well as NVIDIA’s Scalable Link Interface (SLI). SLI technology enables two NVIDIA Quadro FX graphics boards to work in tandem to increase the graphics performance of a single workstation. The FX 3700 requires just a single PCIe X16 slot, but since it consumes 78 watts it does require an auxiliary connection to the system power supply.

  The NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600 ($1,999 MSRP/$1,399 street) is technically not a new board. This ultra high-end graphics accelerator was introduced just over a year ago, and was reviewed in the June 2007 issue of DE. But since it is a member of the new Quadro family, we’ll cover it again briefly here. The FX 4600 comes with 768MB of GDDR3 memory and a 384-bit memory interface. Its memory bandwidth is rated at 67.2GBps and the board delivers 250 billion triangles per second and 24 billion texels per second. Like the FX 3700, both of its DVI-I connectors support dual link and the board offers a stereo 3D graphics connector and SLI support. NVIDIA also offers optional G-Sync and SDI option cards for the FX 4600, providing frame lock and broadcast quality video capabilities, respectively. Because it consumes 134 watts of power, the board requires an auxiliary power connection, and with its large cooling fan and plastic cowl protruding more than an inch from the board, it is impossible to use the adjacent expansion slot.

  NVIDIA’s Quadro FX 5600 ($2,999 MSRP/$2,573 street) occupies the extreme top end of the product line and, like the FX 4600, Desktop Engineering reviewed this board when it was first introduced nearly a year ago (“Even More Graphics Power,” DE, Aug 2007). Targeted at the interactive display of large, complex models often found in automotive and aerospace design, oil and gas exploration, and scientific visualization, this board doubles the performance of its predecessor. The Quadro FX 5600 comes with 1.5GB of GDDR3 memory and uses a 384-bit memory interface to yield a memory bandwidth of 76.8GBps to deliver 300 million triangles per second and a fill rate of 19.2 billion texels per second.

Like the FX 4600, the Quadro FX 5600 provides two dual link enabled DVI-I connectors, SLI capability, stereo 3D support and the available G-Sync and SDI option cards. And like the FX 4600, the FX 5600 is so wide that it prevents the use of the adjacent expansion slot. But the NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 is a full-length board, and its maximum power consumption of 171 watts necessitates the use of not one, but two auxiliary connections to the system power supply.

The ultra high-end NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 outperforms its predecessorby 2X.

Benchmarking the Boards
As in the past, we tested five of the six boards using the same HP xw6600 workstation equipped with a pair of 3.0GHz Quad-Core Xeon E5450 processors, so all of our results are directly comparable. Desktop Engineering reviewed this system in the April 2008 issue (“Big Power in a Small Package”).

  But this is a different system than the HP xw4200 we used in previous years. We switched for two reasons: graphics performance has improved so dramatically that the older system was no longer fast enough to take advantage of the graphics performance and because the xw4200 lacks PCIe 2.0 support. In addition, the HP xw6600 was a close match to the system NVIDIA used to produce the benchmark results shown on its website.

  The PCIe 2.0 specification is backward and forward compatible with PCIe v1.x, so newer graphics boards will work in older systems and vice versa. But of course, when installed in an older system (like our original HP xw4200 benchmark platform), the newer boards are limited to the bandwidth of the original PCIe v1. x spec. Similarly, older graphics boards installed in a PCIe 2.0 capable system won’t be able to take advantage of the extra bandwidth.

  To help readers compare the benefits of PCIe v2.0, we went back and tested the older NVIDIA boards in the new HP xw6600, using version 10 of the SPEC viewperf benchmark (spec.org). Since we no longer had the FX 3500,  FX 4600, or FX 5500 on hand, we were unable to retest those boards. For that reason, our benchmark results chart (see previous page) also includes the results published on the NVIDIA website. We did not see any significant benefit of PCIe 2.0 in our benchmark tests.

  What both NVIDIA’s numbers and our own independent tests showed however, is that the new NVIDIA boards clearly outperform the company’s previous generation of graphics accelerators in each product range and, in most cases, the new board in one product range outperformed the older board in the next higher product range. For example, the Quadro FX 570 outperformed the older FX 1500, the FX 1700 outperformed the older FX 3500, and so on.

  All of the new NVIDIA Quadro FX boards are fully certified with most CAD and DCC (digital content creation) applications and all of the boards in the Quadro FX line, including earlier boards, use the same unified video driver. Drivers are available for most 32- and 64-bit operating systems,  including Vista, XP, and Linux.

  Many of NVIDIA’s older Quadro FX boards remain available,  but with the new boards outperforming the older boards at similar or sometimes even lesser price points, we recommend going with the newer products. With these six boards to choose from, there’s definitely a NVIDIA Quadro FX graphics accelerator for every CAD user.

More Info:
NVIDIA Corporation
Santa Clara, CA

NVIDIA Quadro FX 370
> Price: $129 (suggested retail), $115 (average street)
NVIDIA Quadro FX 570
> Price: $199 (suggested retail), $182 (average street)
NVIDIA Quadro FX 1700
> Price: $699 (suggested retail), $585 (average street)
NVIDIA Quadro FX 3700
> Price: $1599 (suggested retail), $899 (average street)
NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600
> Price: $1995 (suggested retail), $1399 (average street)
NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600
> Price: $2999 (suggested retail), $2576 (average street)


Contributing Editor David Cohn is a computer consultant and technical writer based in Bellingham, WA, and has been benchmarking PCs since 1984. He’s an applications engineer with The PPI Group, and the author of more than a dozen books. Please send comments about this article to [email protected]. You can also contact David at [email protected].

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