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ATI FirePro vs Nvidia Quadro

Question asked by Paul Viranyi on Mar 8, 2012
Latest reply on Mar 12, 2012 by Quintin Burger

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Hi Guys,

I would like to know if anyone has tested or is currently using an ATI FirePro card?

I am looking to buy some computers and have been looking at the ATI FirePro V4900/V5900 cards as an alternative to Quadro.

I have always been a fan of Nvidia, but I am not so sure that they are worth it now, ATI seems to be outperforming them and coming in cheaper.

I have read on some forums that people have had driver issues (easily fixed with a driver update) with ATI, but I have also read that people have had issues with the new Quadro's as well, namely the Quadro 600, Quadro 2000 etc.

I would appreciate any input.

Thanks,

Paul

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Edyss Scott Mar 8, 2012 9:27 AM
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Hi Paul,

My 2 cents

I don't have any experience with the ATI cards, but what I did find, is that ATI cards require more power (watts) for the equivalent performance on a Quadro. If you take a Dell Precision T1600 machine, Dell will allow you to put a Quadro 600 or a Quadro 2000 in that machine, while they will only allow an ATI V4900 (equivalent to the Q600).

if you compare a Q2000 to a ATI V5900 on their respective sites you will see they V5900 draws more power than the Q2000.
So make sure your system can drive your card to its full capability.

regards,
Edyss
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- Tony Deyoung @ Edyss Scott on Mar 8, 2012 1:34 PM
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  My 2 cents:
  
  ATI ended many years ago. The AMD FirePro line is a radical change in in design, performance and driver and software reliability. So good to start out with that in mind.
  
  One thing I might suggest - take a look at the V3900 ($119) vs Quadro 600 - faster at the same power and much lower cost.
  
  Develop3D has a good review of the FirePro V3900 and V4900
  http://develop3d.com/hardware/amd-firepro-v3900-v4900
  
  As to the 5900 vs Quadro 2000, in SolidWorks, it all depends on the type of model you use and whether the peformance if throttled by the CPU or if it benefits from more graphics power.
  
  Develop3D did a test with RealView turned on so graphic power matters, and the FirePro V5900 excelled, delivering an average frames per second (FPS) of 45, the fastest they've ever seen. The Nvidia Quadro 2000 with a 270.71 driver put in a score of 28 FPS. For comparison they also tested a previous generation FirePro V5800 but using FirePro SolidWorks-optimized 8.83.5.3 drivers. The older FirePro V5800 delivered 34 FPS.
  
  For CPU limited models, where performance is not so dependent on graphics horsepower, the FirePro V5900 delivered 14 FPS while the Quadro 2000 delivered 16 FPS.
  Hope this helps bring some useful info to this discussion.
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  - Paul Viranyi @ Tony Deyoung on Mar 9, 2012 1:42 AM
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    Thanks Tony, that is a great review, very informative.
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    - Edyss Scott @ Paul Viranyi on Mar 12, 2012 4:41 AM
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      Tony - ditto to Paul, thanks for the nice facts.
      
      Anybody know of a good way to monitor your graphics card's performance and memory usage.
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Quintin Burger Mar 12, 2012 4:54 AM
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SolidWorks Resource Monitor in SW2012
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ATI FirePro vs Nvidia Quadro

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SolidWorks Resource Monitor in SW2012

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