Nvidia
has just unveiled its latest addition to the Quadro line of cards with the
FX 5800 which packs a whopping 4GB of memory and seems to be based on the same
GT200 GPU as the company's fastest desktop offerings. The Quadro FX 5800 is
launching at $3,499, and its spec sheet looks well furnished: 240 stream
processors, fill rate of 52 billion texels per second, 128-bit precision, true
10-bit color support, 102GB/s memory bandwidth (which should translate to an
800MHz GDDR3 clock speed, if my math is right), and "interactive 4D modeling
with time lapse capabilities." Nvidia says the Quadro FX 5800 should be well
suited to applications like "oil and gas exploration, medical imaging, styling
and design, and scientific visualization." For reference, the GeForce GTX
280-Nvidia's speediest desktop card-has a 48.2 billion texels/second fill rate
and a gig of RAM clocked at 1107MHz. Nvidia's numbers suggest the Quadro FX 5800
might actually be more power-efficient than its desktop counterpart, too. The
company quotes maximum power consumption of 189W for the Quadro and "Maximum
Graphics Card Power" of 236W for the GTX 280. Look for the Quadro FX 5800 in
future workstations and from Nvidia's usual professional GPU partners, including
PNY Technologies, Leadtek, and Elsa.
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