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View Full Version : pro v gaming cards, what am I missing?

tmcthree
10-16-2012, 06:23 AM
Hi, I'm about to upgrade my software, most likely to maya. Along with that I'm going to get a new graphics card.

One thing that's really puzzling me is the huge difference in price between pro and gaming cards for what seems like an inferior product.

For example the 680 v the quadro 6000

http://www.nvidia.com/object/product-quadro-6000-us.html

http://www.geforce.co.uk/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-680/specifications

As far as I can see, the 680 leaves the quadro standing in virtually every metric, so why is the quadro about 4 times the price? What do you get in Maya, for example, with the quadro, that you wouldn't get with the 680? There must be something surely!

To be honest both of these cards are a little too "cutting edge" to represent good value for money for me, but I think they illustrated the point well.
I was considering between the 580 and the V7900.
Srek
10-16-2012, 07:59 AM
This has been discussed here several times in depth, do a search to find the details.
The big difference between the pro line and the gaming cards are the drivers.
From my experience the drivers for the pro cards are a lot more stable.
Other than that and the odd feature difference i don't see a reason to buy the pro cards.
Cheers
Björn
tmcthree
10-16-2012, 10:26 AM
Thanks Srek,

Yeah I've had a look around and I've seen people basically say that. I just find it a bit difficult to believe that it's as simple as that... :blush:

What about this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1Lm4CreDSw

"geometry caching and GPU-accelerated character skinning, in addition to realtime effects such as depth of field, motion blur and ambient occlusion"

Are these features available with game cards?
Srek
10-16-2012, 01:57 PM
You should check with AMD or Autodesk on this, my guess is that since they explicitly advertise it for the latest Pro card chances are that they haven't implemented it to support the gaming scards. Very likely this has no technical background but sales and/or marketing.
InfernalDarkness
10-17-2012, 09:38 PM
"geometry caching and GPU-accelerated character skinning, in addition to realtime effects such as depth of field, motion blur and ambient occlusion"

These features work fine on gaming cards, depending on the software implementation.
tswalk
10-18-2012, 01:31 PM
it usually seems to come down to the software you are using and what you are using it for...

things like hardware-accelerated clip planes/regions, overlay planes, ECC memory, driver optimizations are what differentiate pro vs. consumer graphics cards.

http://www.cgchannel.com/2012/07/gpu-review-quadro-5000-vs-geforce-gtx-580/

but there are examples out there with opposite results and different software...