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Thread: GeForce vs. Quadro

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    Certified AUGI Addict patricks's Avatar
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    Default GeForce vs. Quadro

    I was looking on the Nvidia website and it appears that GeForce caters more to gaming and Quadro more to graphics and CAD programs and the like. Anyone know why that is? I'm not real knowledgeable in the world of graphics and video cards and stuff. We just ordered a couple of GeForce 7900 card w/ 512 MB memory and dual DVI outputs, OpenGL 2.0 support etc. etc. I'm sure it's going to be alot better than our current Quadro FX500 cards we're running right now.

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    AUGI Addict iru69's Avatar
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    Default Re: GeForce vs. Quadro

    Quote Originally Posted by patricks
    I'm sure it's going to be alot better than our current Quadro FX500 cards we're running right now.
    It will be if you're playing Half-Life (or whatever the kids are playing these days) during your lunch break . The 7900GT is way overkill for Revit. The 7900GTX is simply a waste of money. But those are just my opinions.

    The differences between GF and Quadro cards are fairly subtle, and while I've been a fan of "workstation class" cards in the past, I think I could make the case either way these days. See attached from one manufacturer's website (though the brief is a bit dated now).

    The Quadro FX500 is a decent Revit card and I don't think there's much perceptible performance gain to be had in Revit with a faster card. And while I'd definitely go with the dual DVI on a new card, I think most people would have trouble distinguishing the difference between VGA and DVI connections (though maybe side by side, as in your setup, it's more noticeable).

    As a side note, the FX500 is an AGP slot card and the 7900 is a PCI-Express slot card... I'm not aware of an 7900 AGP card currently available, but maybe you found one... or maybe you really have an FX540? PCI-E cards cannot be used in AGP slots.

    Let us know how it goes!
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    Certified AUGI Addict patricks's Avatar
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    Default Re: GeForce vs. Quadro

    oh great... that would suck if it wouldn't fit. I dunno tho... my boss ordered them, and I think he ordered them through Dell based on our machines' service tag codes, so it should have only showed hardware compatible with our systems... I would think anyway.

    My device manager shows the display adapter as "NVidia Quadro FX500/ FX600"

    Know of any good resources where I could read up on graphics card lingo and terminology?
    Last edited by patricks; 2006-04-30 at 12:51 AM.

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    AUGI Addict iru69's Avatar
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    Default Re: GeForce vs. Quadro

    Quote Originally Posted by patricks
    My device manager shows the display adapter as "NVidia Quadro FX500/ FX600"

    Know of any good resources where I could read up on graphics card lingo and terminology?
    Could be that the device manager just shows the generic series, so you probably have an FX540 and you'd be okay. If you know what the dell computer you have, e.g. Precision 360 or 370 or 380, etc., I could probably tell you what kind of video card slot it has.

    Yeah, the lingo can get pretty confusing. The tough part about discussing hardware is that it gets incredibly complicated really fast and it's really hard to draw the line at the basics without there always being a dozen caveats to any bit of advice. It can be pretty boring stuff, but here are a couple pretty good hardware sites:

    www.anandtech.com
    www.tomshardware.com

    They kind of take for granted a certain level of understanding, but if you read enough articles, you start to pick up on it (kind of like listening to "old english" in a Shakespeare play )

    Also, you can type any computer term into wikipedia (e.g. pci express), and you'll most likely get more than you ever wanted to know... and of course there's google.

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    Certified AUGI Addict patricks's Avatar
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    Default Re: GeForce vs. Quadro

    When I open System Properties it says Dell Workstation PWS360. The front of the case says Precision.

    *edit* oh I'm guessing PWS means Precision WorkStation

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    AUGI Addict iru69's Avatar
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    Default Re: GeForce vs. Quadro

    Quote Originally Posted by patricks
    When I open System Properties it says Dell Workstation PWS360. The front of the case says Precision.

    *edit* oh I'm guessing PWS means Precision WorkStation
    The Precision 360 is AGP only as far as I know - PCI-E cards will not work with it. Best to double check with Dell directly (if that's who you ordered the cards from). Maybe you didn't order the 7900 after all (I believe there is a 7800 AGP card)?

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    AUGI Addict iru69's Avatar
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    Default Re: GeForce vs. Quadro

    ... or, like I said before, maybe there is a 7900 AGP...

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    Certified AUGI Addict patricks's Avatar
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    Default Re: GeForce vs. Quadro

    Well I just opened up the case and snapped this pic... the brown slot w/ the green thing around it is where my current graphics card is plugged in, it's an AGP slot, and then the other 4 slots it says are PCI slots according to the printing on the motherboard.


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    AUGI Addict iru69's Avatar
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    Default Re: GeForce vs. Quadro

    Quote Originally Posted by patricks
    Well I just opened up the case and snapped this pic... the brown slot w/ the green thing around it is where my current graphics card is plugged in, it's an AGP slot, and then the other 4 slots it says are PCI slots according to the printing on the motherboard.
    Right. The "PCI" slots are "regular" slots for add-in cards... "PCI-E" (PCI-Express) slots are a completely different (and newer) technology. If you want to upgrade your video card, you'll need an AGP card. My opinion is that you're better off keeping the FX500 card and putting the money towards a new computer. If you're hoping for faster reviting by getting a faster video card, I think you'll be disappointed. But good luck with whatever you decide.

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    Certified AUGI Addict patricks's Avatar
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    Default Re: GeForce vs. Quadro

    yeah I guess... I was looking on newegg.com and the graphics card options with both AGP interfaces AND dual DVI outputs are very limited, top of the line being the Quadro FX4000 at $1500 and next being the FX3000 at $1300

    *edit* would you recommend my boss also keep his FX500 in place? He'll be in the same position as me (he ordered a GeForce 7900 for both him and myself), but he also just got a Dell UltraSharp 24" widescreen display. He was using a Wacom 15" touch panel before, and we were trying to figure out if the FX500 could run both of those.
    Last edited by patricks; 2006-04-30 at 10:35 PM.

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