Workstation/Desktop

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

Does anyone know what the real difference between a gaming(desktop) and a workstation video card is? I have compared the specs of 2 cards i am looking at but cannot see the advantages of the workstation card despite it being roughly the same price. I recognise card manufacturers (including Nvidia) state some workstation cards are better fro CAD applications but why is it better?

I am really interested in getting a card that has fast 2D graphics, i think most in this price range have suitable 3D graphics.

Some of what i think are the major specs below.

nVidia 7900GTX (desktop)
Memory 512mb
Memory Interface 256-bit
Memory Bandwidth 51.2 GB/sec
Fill rate 15.6 billion/sec

mVidia Quadro FX 1400 (workstation)
Memory 128mb
Memory Interface 256-bit
Memory Bandwidth 27.2 GB/sec
Fill rate 2.8 billion/sec

Desktop wins out as i can see?

[Link]

Someone like Stefan could answer this question with much more expertise than me, but I would say the 512Mb would definitely clinch it! That's a helluva lot of VRAM. Won't necessarily do much for your rendering times, but the 3D Window (OpenGL) will just fly. I have 256Mb on my laptop (Radeon X600) and it spins complex buildings faster than a disc jockey on speed.

Cheers,
Link.