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What is the difference between a gaming GPU and a workstation GPU?

  • Thread starter Thread starter quasar923
  • Start date Start date
Q

quasar923

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On newegg ive seen some workstation GPUs that cost 900 or so bucks, and their specs are way worse then most mid-highend GPUs. So why do they cost sooo damn much?
 
they're designed for programs like autocad and other graphical design programs

I seem to be answering all your questions today huh?
 
The major difference between gaming video cards and workstation video cards is that gaming video cards focus more on shaders (textures) while workstations focus more on vertexes (lines).
 
haha yes you are barb. well would a gaming GPU such as a 4850 be adiquite for autoCAD? my dad is an architect and thats what he mainly does on his comp all day long. are vertexes harder to make than shaders or somthing? beacuse why would they cost sooooo much? i dont think my dad wants to spend 900 bucks on just a gpu. altho the comp he has now may have a workstation gpu because its a small single slot gpu with out a fan just a heat sink and 3 years ago the comp cost him like 2,200 bucks with a 19" dell LCD, 3ghz p4, 1 gig ddr ram, no more than a 250gig hdd im guessing, and now his mobo is trash and he has to get it replaced, which he did a few days ago. but im ganna be building him a PC with an e7200, 2 gig pc6400, 4850 512mb, asus p5q pro, 250gig hdd, 600watt psu. will the 4850 work for him?
 
workstation cards are more precise and accurate, something autocad and the like need.. they are optimized for things such as vertexes and vectors .. instead of textures.. and are a must for people like architects.. that need pin point accuracy.
 
quasar923 said:
haha yes you are barb. well would a gaming GPU such as a 4850 be adiquite for autoCAD? my dad is an architect and thats what he mainly does on his comp all day long. are vertexes harder to make than shaders or somthing? beacuse why would they cost sooooo much? i dont think my dad wants to spend 900 bucks on just a gpu. altho the comp he has now may have a workstation gpu because its a small single slot gpu with out a fan just a heat sink and 3 years ago the comp cost him like 2,200 bucks with a 19" dell LCD, 3ghz p4, 1 gig ddr ram, no more than a 250gig hdd im guessing, and now his mobo is trash and he has to get it replaced, which he did a few days ago. but im ganna be building him a PC with an e7200, 2 gig pc6400, 4850 512mb, asus p5q pro, 250gig hdd, 600watt psu. will the 4850 work for him?
Click to expand...

On-the-fly vertex rendering is very hard. Textures in games are already pre-rendered, and all the gaming graphic card is doing is laying them in the correct location on model (car, building, characters, etc), and apply the appropriate AA, lighting, filters etc.
 
but do you guys think the 4850 is up to the task. can the 4850 run the programs like he's asking.

Honestly, I don't know as I have zero experience with work stations. All my video card experience is with gaming systems.
 
but will a 4850 be able to run my dads auto cad with the setup ill be giving him as well as it was before on his other comp?
 
Depends, the software that your dad might use probably has some special protocols, addressing...some special link between software and hardware that can only be obtained by a quadro or a fireGL.
 
It will do some of the job.

But it will not be up to the task. When complex schematics have to be drawn a mainstream graphics will not be so accurate. Also it will take him a lot more time to render a plan.

Workstation graphics are your only choice if you want to be productive, else the waiting might kill you.
 
I'm a professional animator and mechanical engineer.

get a HD3870 for your dad and do a firegl softmod to use all the FireGL V7700 functions.

I use it for my solidworks and 3Dstudio Max and Maya and the performance is way better than the Quadro FX4600 i have at the office.

I can send you the modded files if u need ^___~
 
disketko said:
It will do some of the job.

But it will not be up to the task. When complex schematics have to be drawn a mainstream graphics will not be so accurate. Also it will take him a lot more time to render a plan.

Workstation graphics are your only choice if you want to be productive, else the waiting might kill you.
Click to expand...

there's your answer quasar, your gonna need to get him a firegl or quadro card for his work station system

I'm a professional animator and mechanical engineer.

get a HD3870 for your dad and do a firegl softmod to use all the FireGL V7700 functions.

I use it for my solidworks and 3Dstudio Max and Maya and the performance is way better than the Quadro FX4600 i have at the office.

I can send you the modded files if u need ^___~
Click to expand...

hey, that sounds like a even better solution. I'm sure you can find someone on these forums to trade you straight up your 4850 for a 3870.
 
Here's a comparison i just did... using same machine same card... different drivers.

Spec Viewperf 10

HD3870 Catalyst 8.4

Benchmarks FPS
=========================

3dsmax-04 25.84
catia-02 20.51
ensight-03 29.69
maya-02 53.26
proe-04 16.42
sw-01 37.23
tcvis-01 10.04
ugnx-01 16.10


HD3870 FireGL drivers mod 8.44

Benchmarks FPS
=========================

3dsmax-04 44.39
catia-02 42.95
ensight-03 55.94
maya-02 261.35
proe-04 41.41
sw-01 96.81
tcvis-01 34.21
ugnx-01 55.21


System spec:

Q9450 @ 3.0 to match Nvidia's test bed.
MSI HD3870 OC edition 800/1126

Nvidia's Quadro numbers for comparison.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_11761.html

Note that Nvidia card has a hardware lock on chip so that Geforce cards can't use Quadro features. Last card that was modable was 6800GT (Quadro FX4000)

some of the straight up cards and their gaming counter parts

NVIDIA

Quadro FX5600 = Geforce 8800 Ultra
Quadro FX4600 = Geforce 8800 GTX
QUadro FX3700 = Geforce 8800 GTS (G92)

ATI

FireGL V8600(1GB)/V8650(2GB) = 2900XT/Pro
FireGL V7700 = HD3870
FIreGL V5600 = HD2600XT
 
BarbaricSoul said:
there's your answer quasar, your gonna need to get him a firegl or quadro card for his work station system



hey, that sounds like a even better solution. I'm sure you can find someone on these forums to trade you straight up your 4850 for a 3870.
Click to expand...

why do i need a 3870 tho? cant the mod be done on a 4850?
 
or maybe ill just put his gpu that he has now which may be a workstation gpu into this new build and put the 4850 into my bros comp which will be made from the left over parts from my dads comp.
 
Should be able to do with the 4800 series ... unfortunately the FireGL drivers doesn't support the RV770 yet.
 
yah that's an old lower clocked X800 pro based card.
 
Back to the original question: why do they cost so damn much?
 
They needed to make a market for the Professionals. Can't be having studios using gaming cards now can they ^__~. Anyways there's used to be many different companies making workstation cards until Nvidia and ATI start mass producing their cards based on the same GPU they use on gaming cards. This was to cutcost on manufacturing and lower the design cost. The older players soon vanished since they were only making workstation cards are only took a small share of the market.
The professional programs are OpenGL based and games are DirectX based (now it's shifting lil bit since 3DsMAX and few other autodesk software designed their packages for DirectX). They designed the drivers and features set for that particular market. The workstation counterparts usually have the top-bin chips on them.. since they don't want companies paying $2000 for the card complain that the memory module was bad or the core get's too hot. There for the lower clocks on the pro cards. $2000 for a graphic card for a studio or engineering firm is nothing.
 
boogah said:
They needed to make a market for the Professionals. Can't be having studios using gaming cards now can they ^__~. Anyways there's used to be many different companies making workstation cards until Nvidia and ATI start mass producing their cards based on the same GPU they use on gaming cards. This was to cutcost on manufacturing and lower the design cost. The older players soon vanished since they were only making workstation cards are only took a small share of the market.
The professional programs are OpenGL based and games are DirectX based (now it's shifting lil bit since 3DsMAX and few other autodesk software designed their packages for DirectX). They designed the drivers and features set for that particular market. The workstation counterparts usually have the top-bin chips on them.. since they don't want companies paying $2000 for the card complain that the memory module was bad or the core get's too hot. There for the lower clocks on the pro cards. $2000 for a graphic card for a studio or engineering firm is nothing.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, that figures.
 
ktr said:
On-the-fly vertex rendering is very hard. Textures in games are already pre-rendered, and all the gaming graphic card is doing is laying them in the correct location on model (car, building, characters, etc), and apply the appropriate AA, lighting, filters etc.
Click to expand...

Which begs the question when we'll finally get real time rendering. I get so tired of looking at photo imaging on objects.
 
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