Is having more GPU shaders good for only 3D applications?

[sltech]

I am getting a new laptop that offers the choice of the Nvidia Quadro K4100M and K5100M GPUs.

The K4100M has 1152 shader cores, and the K5100M has 1536 shader cores. I've read that more shaders will improve performance for 3D applications such as games and CAD.

But will having more shaders improve performance for other things like Blu-Ray and HD video playback? What about video editing and encoding?

 

[yogurt_21]

the quadros are really aimed at professional applications so yes to video editing, encoding, and CAD improvements. Also have you really encountered something that struggles with video playback? haven't seen a gpu struggle in those areas since 2001. Granted I haven't been in the laptop scene all that time. But my work laptop has a i5-4300U with onboard graphics, no HD or blu-ray video issues. Neither of the mentioned cards will either.

The K5100M is going to be faster overall at the same power requirements. If you can afford it, that would be the one I'd recommend.

 

[Ghost]

What about video editing and encoding?

Yes, if your software supports GPU acceleration. Basically every GPGPU application makes use of shaders. Shaders/CUDA cores are the computational units.