Expert: Andre Hickman - 9/24/2010

Question
   According to my knowledge "GRAPHICS CARDS" is working for mainly for REAL TIME performance.
My Question is:-
1.What is the purpose of Nvidia QuadroFX Graphics cards working?(I want to know difference between Normal Graphics Cards  & Quadra FX series Cards?).Because the price is expensive than normal cards.
2.what is the difference between 1gb Normal graphics card and Quadro FX 1gb Graphics Card.
3.some body told me Quadro series is useful for Rendering jobs (maya, 3ds max, after Effects etc) is it right or not?


Answer
This question is out of my expertise, but I can tell you what I understand.

Real-time performance becomes a big issue in using 3D programs, AE, etc. because you are trying to move complex models and fx sequences around and want the quickest "refresh" if you will.  The 1gb that you are looking at is the built in RAM on the graphics card, which is like an envelope that the computer can drop graphics data in, and pull from on the fly.  

Here an analogy for regular and QuadroFX cards of the same RAM space.  Imagine 2 post offices, where all the incoming packages are dumped into a huge bin.  One has a mail worker that reaches into the bin, reads the address, and then sorts them by state.  Then he goes into his state, and sorts them by region, then goes into the regions and sorts by city.  But the other post office, utilizing the same space (that 1gb of RAM) has a computerized scanning eye, and a conveyor belt system that quickly reads an address, and does all of the sorting in a fraction of the time, and without error...

The QuadroFX has processors that not only do the mathematical calculations behind the graphics much faster, but the processors have multi pipes, so it is not doing one calculation at a time, but doing many calculations simultaneously. So rotating a complex model, or rearranging effects on a timeline happen much smoother and faster.

As far as rendering is concerned, the vid card may help in some calculations, but rendering is primarily dependant on the computer's CPU, in the same way that on screen visuals are dependant on the Video Card (VPU).  So the more pipes you have CPU-wise, the faster you can get a render done.  That's why renderfarms are often used.  You could have a 3ghz processor with one core(pipe) that can render a frame in 1 minute.  But what if you were able to get a hold of 4 old refurbished 1.8ghz processor machines (for the same price as the 1 3ghz machine) that could render a frame in 2 minutes each.  If you compare the two abilities, that 3ghz machine by itself could render 2 frames in 2 minutes.  It works twice as fast as each of the other machines, but for the same cost, with the render farm of 4 slower machines, you'd be rendering 4 frames, which is twice the output in the same time.

Most larger places use an incredible machine to do the design work, because they need to experience changes in real-time.  But the renders are sent to a renderfarm of mediocre machines so that the designer can continue to work uninhibited.  It's a trade off if you can only afford to do it one way.  You can sacrifice refresh speed in the design phase for render speed later, or vise-versa.  

I will give you this wisdom though...unless you are a design firm, who is pushing out projects on a daily basis, don't worry about the QuadroFX.  Get a good consumer card with as much RAM as possible, and focus on your computer's CPU and RAM with your resources.  I've worked on $10,000 machines, but I do most of my work at home on a Refurbished machine that I bought in a fire sale for about $50, and added a $100 graphics card to it, and about $100 worth of RAM.  Sure it can get frustratingly slow if I am trying something incredibly complex, but for the average project, it does just fine.

Cheers,
Andre