NVIDIA Rolls Out New Fermi-Class Quadro Cards

Your finite element analyses, fluid dynamic studies, and ray-traced renderings can run anywhere from 5 to 8 times faster—if you can get a hold of one of the new NVIDIA Fermi-class Quadro cards.

Timed to coincide with Siggraph 2010, the arrival of the new NVIDIA Quadro 4000, 5000, 6000, and Quadro Plex 7000 cards promises to turbocharge many computation-intense visualization tasks. Depending on the card you pick, you get 256 to 896 CUDA processing cores, with 2 GB to 12 GB of memory. As powerful as it is, the previous generation Quadro FX 5800 with 240 cores can’t compete with its newer, faster cousins.

5X Performance Improvement

Just as parallel processing on multicore central processing units (CPUs) have become the norm, the same trend drives graphics processing units (GPUs). CUDA is NVIDIA’s parallel computing environment for graphics processors. This gives software developers a way to tap into NVIDIA GPUs’ virtual instructions so they can write code that runs as concurrent threads on multiple cores.

In addition to NVIDIA’s own CUDA, the new Quadro cards also support Khronos Group’s OpenGL 4.1 and OpenCL, and Microsoft’s DirectX 11 and DirectCompute programming languages, all promoting multi-tread computing in their own ways.

“Quadro can deliver an unheard of 1.3 billion triangles per second, shattering previous 3D graphics limitations,” hailed NVIDIA in its announcement. “Quadro is the only professional graphics solution with ECC memory and fast double precision capabilities to ensure the accuracy and fidelity of your results.”

The new Quadro cards have been put to test in Bunkspeed SHOT, a ray-traced rendering program powered by mental images’ iray engine; RTT RealFluid, a real-time airflow simulation package for automotive engineers; Mari, a texture-painting program from The Foundry; and many others.

Dell and HP have both begun offering Quadro 4000 and 5000 cards with their systems (for the list, go to the end of the blog post). Greg Weir, senior manager of Dell Precision workstations and independent software vendor (ISV) marketing, noted,  “As the first professional-class GPUs to integrate high performance computing with advanced visualization, NVIDIA Quadro combined with Dell Precision workstations are poised to transform workflows. With this technology, we are enabling our design, research, animation, and film customers to deliver higher quality results in less time.”

3D-Ready

If you’re puzzled by the large number people sporting dark glasses in Siggraph photos, there’s a perfectly good explanation: stereoscope.

Stereoscopic map projection, stereoscopic games, and stereoscopic monitors dominated the exhibit floor and Emerging Technologies pavilion. NVIDIA plans to capture this market with its 3D Vision Pro, a bundle that calls for a NVIDIA GPU, a 3D Vision-ready display unit, a projector, and stereoscopic glasses. The new Fermi-class Quadro cards fit nicely into this mix.

Manufacturer suggested retail prices (in U.S. $) and availability of Fermi-Class NVIDIA GPUs

• Quadro 4000: $1,199, available now
• Quadro 5000: $2,249 available now
• Quadro 6000: $4,999, coming this fall
• Quadro Plex 7000: $14,500, coming this fall

• HP Z400: $999, available now with Quadro 4000, 5000
• HP Z600: $1,629, available now with Quadro 4000, 5000
• HP Z800: $1,829, available now with Quadro 4000, 5000, coming in October with Quadro 6000

• Dell Precision T7500: $1,899, available now with Quadro 4000, 5000
• Dell Precision T5500: $1,719, available now with Quadro 4000, 5000
• Dell Precision T3500: $1,049, available now with Quadro 4000, 5000
• Dell Precision R5400 Rack Workstation: $2,218, available now with Quadro 4000, 5000