NVIDIA Introduces NVIDIA Quadro CX - The Accelerator For Adobe Creative Suite 4

[malware]

NVIDIA today introduced its new accelerator for Adobe Creative Suite 4 software, the NVIDIA Quadro CX. This new GPU provides creative professionals with a faster, better, more reliable way to maximize their creativity. Quadro CX was architected to deliver the best performance for the new GPU-optimized features of Adobe Creative Suite 4.




“Adobe is at the forefront of the Visual Computing Revolution,” said Dan Vivoli, executive vice president of marketing at NVDIA. “CS4’s GPU features are sending shockwaves through the creative industry.”

“Photoshop users are always looking for maximum performance, and we recognized that tapping into the power of the GPU is one way to give it to them,” said Kevin Connor, vice president of product management for Professional Digital Imaging at Adobe. “Thanks to NVIDIA’s efforts to optimize the Quadro CX product for CS4, users can be assured of a dramatically fast and fluid experience on tasks such as panning, zooming, and rotating large images as well as manipulating 3D content.”

NVIDIA specifically designed and optimized the Quadro CX to enhance the performance of Adobe Creative Suite 4 product line and meet the unique needs of the Creative Suite 4 professional. Adding NVIDIA Quadro CX to the pipeline gives creative professionals a faster, better, and more reliable experience. With NVIDIA Quadro CX users can encode H.264 videos at lightning-fast speeds with the NVIDIA CUDA-enabled plug-in for Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, RapiHD from Elemental Technologies; accelerate rendering time for advanced effects; and accurately preview what deliverables will look like with 30-bit color or uncompressed 10-bit/12-bit SDI before final outputi.

Adobe Creative Suite 4 software now has added optimization to take advantage of GPU technology, including the parallel processing capability in the Quadro CX GPU. These enhancements accelerate a number of visually intensive operations, including:

• Adobe Photoshop CS4 uses the NVIDIA Quadro CX GPU to bring unprecedented fluidity to image navigation. The GPU enables real-time image rotation, zooming, and panning, and makes changes to the view instantaneous and smooth. Adobe Photoshop CS4 also taps the GPU for on-screen compositing of both 2D and 3D content, ensuring smoothly anti-aliased results regardless of zoom level. Brush resizing and brushstroke preview, 3D movement, high-dynamic-range tone mapping, and color conversion are also accelerated by the GPU.
• Adobe After Effects CS4 now has added optimization features to accelerate a variety of creative effects, making it easier than ever to add graphics and visual effects to video, which allows the artist to quickly move from concept to final product and speeds up the workflow. Effects accelerated include depth of field, bilateral blur effects, turbulent noise such as flowing water or waving flags, and cartoon effects. NVIDIA Quadro CX takes advantages of these workflow enhancements.
• Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 can take advantage of Quadro CX to accelerate high-quality video effects such as motion, opacity, color, and image distortion. Quadro CX also enables faster editing of multiple high-definition video streams and graphic overlays and provides a variety of video output choices for high-quality preview, including DisplayPort, component TV, or uncompressed 10-bit or 12-bit SDI.

NVIDIA Quadro CX is available starting today, from leading resellers, e-tailers, and retailers, for $1,999 USD. For more information on NVIDIA Quadro and the new Quadro CX, please visit: www.nvidia.com/quadrocx.

Source: NVIDIA

[tkpenalty]

ALL HD4xxx cards do acceleration for Adobe Creative Suite 4... much more worth it than these quadros.

[EarlZ]

Originally Posted by tkpenalty

ALL HD4xxx cards do acceleration for Adobe Creative Suite 4... much more worth it than these quadros.

Corrent, and 100% sure this is just driver level.. GP-GPU concept.

[Black Hades]

Originally Posted by tkpenalty

ALL HD4xxx cards do acceleration for Adobe Creative Suite 4... much more worth it than these quadros.

If you are to believe Fudzilla's article that is.
I understand that the acceleration is handled through OpenGL so it wouldnt be that improbable.

[TheLostSwede]

Originally Posted by Black Hades

If you are to believe Fudzilla's article that is.
I understand that the acceleration is handled through OpenGL so it wouldnt be that improbable.

And maybe if you took your head out of wherever you've stuck it, you'd realise that Fudzilla is actually more right than wrong. Sure, there's the odd miss here and there, but I think that happens to most publications, be it online or in print.
Even this esteemed publication has mistakes in it from time to time, but I don't hear you moaning about that...

[Black Hades]

Originally Posted by TheLostSwede

And maybe if you took your head out of wherever you've stuck it, you'd realise that Fudzilla is actually more right than wrong. Sure, there's the odd miss here and there, but I think that happens to most publications, be it online or in print.
Even this esteemed publication has mistakes in it from time to time, but I don't hear you moaning about that...

I was just saying that if I hear it from only one unofficial source, and it happens to be fudzilla I tend to have a slight doubt at times, not that I disbelieve it. It's not like AMD/ATi confirmed it yet.

I don't understand why you had to reply in such a hostile way... please refrain from contributing to the degradation of forum threads in such manner.

Thanks

[tkpenalty]

Originally Posted by Black Hades

I was just saying that if I hear it from only one unofficial source, and it happens to be fudzilla I tend to have a slight doubt at times, not that I disbelieve it. It's not like AMD/ATi confirmed it yet.

I don't understand why you had to reply in such a hostile way... please refrain from contributing to the degradation of forum threads in such manner.

Thanks

We're sick of them bashing fudzilla. I mean, they usually get the news before every other source...

[lemonadesoda]

All I can say is... congratulations nVidia. You got CUDA out and working silicon AND PRODUCTS before Intel got Larrabee out.

If Larrabee got here first, CUDA wouldnt stand a chance. As it is, it has got a headstart.

Now for the FORMAT WARS OF 2009: Intel vs. nVidia on math acceleration.

[pagalms]

I'd say it's GTX 260 with different memory and HDMI outputs.
Buy GTX 260, change 8 numbers in driver *.inf file and you'll get this card.

[Black Hades]

NVIDIA Quadro CX... I hope nobody buys the damn thing, that'll teach them.

Sounds to me like corporate greed. "Oh look those designers earn well using our products, why not rehash and charge premium".
Good thing that competion is fierce these days and ATi will leave a dent in Nvidia profit, just like happened to the 280.

Isn't it enough that LCDs (that are fit for graphics design) are expensive as hell? (spectraView series comes to mind)

So get a decent PC + Wacom Tablet + NVIDIA Quadro CX + Nec SpectraView + everything else a designer needs and you get to pay around 10k$ for something worth around 2,5k$

[mdm-adph]

Originally Posted by pagalms

I'd say it's GTX 260 with different memory and HDMI outputs.
Buy GTX 260, change 8 numbers in driver *.inf file and you'll get this card.

Then you can spend the other $1700 on hookers and blow... I mean you can actually pay for CS4 by that point.

[newtekie1]

Originally Posted by pagalms

I'd say it's GTX 260 with different memory and HDMI outputs.
Buy GTX 260, change 8 numbers in driver *.inf file and you'll get this card.

It is hard to tell what it is by the specs. The 198SP's definitely pegs it as a GT200 core. However, it only has a 384-bit memory bus? It does come with 1.5GB of RAM to, so it is definitely no normal GTX260.

And I wish it was that easy to convert a normal card into a Quadro...There is far more to it than that, most of the professional features are physically disconnected.

I don't really see a market for this with ATi cards accelerating CS4, and normal nVidia cards accelerating Photoshop CS4. The video editing crowd will probably buy it, even with ATi cards doing the same job, simply because the ATi cards won't be able to touch this thing due to the 1.5GB of RAM.

[pagalms]

Originally Posted by newtekie1

It is hard to tell what it is by the specs. The 198SP's definitely pegs it as a GT200 core. However, it only has a 384-bit memory bus? It does come with 1.5GB of RAM to, so it is definitely no normal GTX260.

And I wish it was that easy to convert a normal card into a Quadro...There is far more to it than that, most of the professional features are physically disconnected.

I don't really see a market for this with ATi cards accelerating CS4, and normal nVidia cards accelerating Photoshop CS4. The video editing crowd will probably buy it, even with ATi cards doing the same job, simply because the ATi cards won't be able to touch this thing due to the 1.5GB of RAM.

Here's the line from Quadro CX driver *.inf

NVIDIA_GT200.DEV_05F9.1 = "NVIDIA Quadro CX"

Quadro CX description says:

CUDA Parallel Processor Cores 192

GTX 260 description says:

Processor Cores 192

IMO it's the same thing.

GTX 260 has 448 bit memory, Quadro has 384 bit memory. One memory channel cutted off (same as 8800GTS G80 and Quadro FX 4600, where GTS has one channel cutted off).
Memory size - just a chips with larger capacity.

Maybe it's more different than i think, but why do i have to spend 2k$, if i can get GTX260 much cheaper, open Notepad for 10 seconds and get the same if not better card.

[newtekie1]

I wasn't arguing that the core was the same, but it isn't just a normal GTX 260. 1.5GB of GDDR3 split across 12 chips mean each chip is huge(125MB). Large memory chips, like these, are still very expensive.

The Quadro(and FireGL) cards have been nothing more than slightly modified desktop cards for a while now. You can't just change the driver inf and get the features of the Quadro card, it isn't that easy. You can not take a GTX260 and edit the inf to read it as a Quado. It might display as a quadro, but you won't get the features of the quadro. You used to be able to soft mod regular nVidia cards into Quadros, but I'm pretty sure nVidia put a stop to that when they released the 7000 series card.

There is a big different between what your opinion is, and what is reality. Your opinion is wrong, you can not change a GTX260 into a Quadro.

[lemonadesoda]

Ah, but you can emulate a Quadro on a GTX260

Typically the differences between consumer and pro cards, just like with ATI and their FireGL range, is that the pro series has:

1./ Higher specced display hardware, for higher resolutions, like dual channel DVI
2./ Higher specced display hardware and BIOS, for greater colour depth and gamma mapping
3./ Sometimes additional ports/features like 3D glasses

However, point 1 is now moot. All higher end consumer has dual link DVI. Point 2 is only of value if you have a pro TFT which has a higher gamut spectrum that a regular TFT. And point 3 is very very specialist, but still used for engineering and medical applications.

[newtekie1]

If by emulate, you mean change the name so the drivers read it as a Quadro, but not get any actual hardware acceleration in apps that the real Quadro provides. Then yes, I guess you can emulate the Quadro with a GTX280. The same way you can emulate a GTX280 with a 8800GS.

[lemonadesoda]

No, you WILL get the acceleration because it is CUDA based. You'll get acceleration in CS4 for any CUDA enabled GPU. That's exactly what these "plugins" for CS4 are: CUDA based filters rather than x86 based filters (and apps).

[pagalms]

Originally Posted by newtekie1

The same way you can emulate a GTX280 with a 8800GS.

Not really
Of course you can change cards name to whatever you want:



Driver setup installs drivers depending on your cards GPU, not name.
I've modded my G80 8800GTS to Quadro FX 4600 and everything recognizes it at FX 4600.

[newtekie1]

Originally Posted by lemonadesoda

No, you WILL get the acceleration because it is CUDA based. You'll get acceleration in CS4 for any CUDA enabled GPU. That's exactly what these "plugins" for CS4 are: CUDA based filters rather than x86 based filters (and apps).

Only Photoshop CS4 gets CUDA acceleration currently. Premier and the other CS4 apps do not get acceleration from just any CUDA enabled GPU, they still require workstation cards such as this Quadro to recieve hardware acceleration.

Originally Posted by pagalms

Not really
Of course you can change cards name to whatever you want:



Driver setup installs drivers depending on your cards GPU, not name.
I've modded my G80 8800GTS to Quadro FX 4600 and everything recognizes it at FX 4600.

It might recognize it as a FX 4600, but it will not perform like an FX 4600. The programs will recognize it as whatever name you put(hence my 8800GS into a GTX 280 reference), however it will not actually work as an FX 4600.

[TheGuruStud]

Originally Posted by newtekie1

Only Photoshop CS4 gets CUDA acceleration currently. Premier and the other CS4 apps do not get acceleration from just any CUDA enabled GPU, they still require workstation cards such as this Quadro to recieve hardware acceleration.



It might recognize it as a FX 4600, but it will not perform like an FX 4600. The programs will recognize it as whatever name you put(hence my 8800GS into a GTX 280 reference), however it will not actually work as an FX 4600.

It's using the quadro driver, adobe thinks it's a quadro, the card is basically the same, it will accelerate...

This has been done forever.

[newtekie1]

Originally Posted by TheGuruStud

It's using the quadro driver, adobe thinks it's a quadro, the card is basically the same, it will accelerate...

This has been done forever.

No, it won't accelerate. You need to soft-mod the card to achieve that with a G80 8800GTS, it is more than just changing the device id. The G92 cards are not even soft-moddable, so I doubt the GT200 cards will be either.

[lemonadesoda]

^^ it will accelerate. The CS4 accelerators are CUDA based: http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_quadro_cx_us.html

What is DIFFERENT about Quadro CX is the follow:

1./ 1.5 GB GDDR3
2./ 10-bit per component color fidelity (only useful on a pro display that can display these extra colors)
3./ Dual DisplayPort for2x 2560x1600
4./ Quad Buffered Stereo for speicalist stereo imaging devices (stereo display connector like the FireGL range)

And THAT is the only difference compared to the consumer card. Essential for certain industrial applications, completely USELESS for the regular consumer/gamer.

There is NO "MAGIC" chip on the device design for CS4.

[Steevo]

Wait, Nvidia has BBQ? Dammit, and all this time..........

[newtekie1]

Originally Posted by lemonadesoda

^^ it will accelerate. The CS4 accelerators are CUDA based: http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_quadro_cx_us.html

First of all, the only way to get it to accelerate would be to somehow illegally get your hands on the software that adds CUDA acceleration to Premier. The only legal way to get and use this software is to buy this Quadro card(saddly). Without that software, the GTX260 renamed to the Quadro will not accelerate. However, once you get that software, any CUDA enabled GPU will accelerate, so renaming the GTX260 is really useless at that point.

[AsRock]

It's been on the egg for a while now all though it's out of stock lol.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814133248