NVIDIA QuadroFX 4800 1.5 GB Workstation Graphics Card

Early in 2008, NVIDIA released the QuadroFX 3700 board priced at the more cost-conscious (only $1,700) high-end workstation market. Using the less powerful, but more efficient G92 architecture, it delivered raw GPU performance close to that of the QuadroFX 5600, but had only 512 MB of memory and overall lukewarm specs given the price tag. Nevertheless, NVIDIA still held the performance crown with the QuadroFX 5600, and all was well in the workstation realm.

Now, as we've seen in the labs, ATI is assaulting that performance crown with their new FirePro lineup of workstation graphics cards. The top-tier FirePro V8700 model which we looked at a few weeks back uses ATI's exciting new RV770 graphics processor and was able to wallop the QuadroFX 5600 board in terms of performance while also being a lot less expensive. Of course, NVIDIA is right there with a solution of their own to compete against the newly rejuvenated FirePro lineup, but the question is, are NVIDIA's new models enough to stave off a newly energized ATI?

Two new models just hit the QuadroFX lineup. On the high-end, they have the QuadroFX 5800 card, using the same powerful GT200 architecture which powers the GeForce GTX 280, coupled together with 4 GB of memory and a 512-bit memory interface. Of course, this beast costs $3,499, and it's going to be a tough sell in this economic market, powerful as it may be. Perhaps the more reasonable solution is the card we're looking at today, the QuadroFX 4800, the QuadroFX 5800's little brother.

The QuadroFX 4800 is a much more palatable high-end solution, coupling together a GT200 graphics processor with 1.5 GB of memory and a price tag nearly half that of the QuadroFX 5800. Let's find out how NVIDIA's massive GT200 graphics processor handles workstation-class loads instead of crunching pixels in Crysis...



NVIDIA QuadroFX 4800 Specs

* NVIDIA GT200 Graphics Processor

* 65nm Manufacturing Process

* 602 MHz GPU Clock Speed

* 192 Stream Processors

* Shader Model 4.0 (DX 10) and OpenGL 3.0

* 1.5 GB of GDDR-3 Memory

* 800 MHz GDDR-3 Clock Speed

* 384-bit Memory Controller

* 76 GB/s Memory Bandwidth

* PCI Express 2.0 x16 Connector

* Dual Slot Copper Cooling System

* Standard Length Card (EATX Not Required)

* 2 x DisplayPort, 1 x DL-DVI Outputs

* Stereoscopic Output

* Genlock/Framelock Compatible

* 2-Way NVIDIA SLI Multi-GPU Connector

* Supports Windows XP/Vista x32/x64-bit, Linux x32/x64, Solaris

* MSRP : $1,999 USD