The Baron
07-22-03, 12:51 PM
So, some of you have probably heard of the Quadro FX3000 that was announced today. I was going to write a little preview bit about it, but, of course, my motherboard died and prevented me from accessing everything I wrote down during the conference call and the presentation I was sent. So, going from memory, here's the account of the call.
It was on July 11, and I was on the phone with Charlie Rasch, the Quadro product line manager, and Jerry something-or-other (I want to say Orbach, but that's just the guy from Law and Order, and for the life of me I cannot remember the guy's name), the Quadro PR manager.
Anyway--the FX3000 press release is here. (http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6990)
And now for random things I remember:
It's based on the NV35 core, but the FX2000, based on the NV30 core, is still in production.
Core/memory speeds are 400/425; even with the lower speeds than the FX2000, SPEC benchmarks were significantly higher.
They're not designed to replace the current Quadro line--they're designed to basically let NVIDIA enter the visualization/powerwall market (more on that in a bit).
Two models: FX3000 and FX3000G. The FX3000 has dual DVI outputs (one, I believe, is called a double DVI output or something like that?), occupies two slots, has a slightly modified version of the FX2000 cooler (it's apparently quite a bit quieter, while cooling the same amount, and of course there's no DDR2 to get absurdly hot), and lists for $2295.
FX3000G adds a framelock and a genlock. Genlock allows the card to sync to a video signal, and the framelock allows multiple cards to work in tandem by attaching Cat 5 cables to the cards. I believe they said that the bandwidth is great enough to allow 16 cards (in different systems) to work together at the same time.
So... the framelock is the interesting bit. It synchronizes rendering--however, I don't believe that it is the equivalent of SLI. I BELIEVE that every card still outputs to its own DVI monitor (meaning, if you have 5 cards, you have 5 displays). But, maybe Uttar wasn't too far off with his whole "NV3x core has 3dfx-style SLI elements" essay.
I mentioned that the FX3000 line was designed to put NVIDIA in the powerwall market (you know, those huge projected displays). The big way they're going about this is what they call a "single system powerwall."
Basically, instead of having the graphics card send an absurdly high resolution image to a device which divides the output among multiple projectors, the card will split the signal itself and allow you to use 2 random projectors and display a much higher resolution. Falls into the "Dude, why didn't I think of that?" category.
Jerry and Charlie emphasized that the card would be of great benefit to markets that extensively used volumetric rendering (primarily oil industry and medical imaging). Charlie stated that the increased memory bandwidth (256-bit bus) would be extremely beneficial. However, he also hinted that a move to PCI Express would be coming--I would expect the Quadro NV40 card (and possibly also the NV40) to appear in PCI Express form (the NV40 would probably also appear in AGP form, but we'll see) and that the nForce 3 boards will have PCI Express support by the end of the year. (Possibly nF3 Pro 250?)
NVIDIA is still pushing Cg pretty hard, and it looks like it's gaining support in the workstation market since it works with OGL.
Now, the stuff that just came up at the end during the little Q&A session:
With regards to NV36--they would not talk about "future products" but I think it was Charlie who said that it would make sense to have an NV36 Quadro.
From the sound of it, nF3 Pro 150 will be out in both an Opteron and Athlon64 form by the time Athlon64 is released.
There should be a big tasty announcement at SIGGRAPH (it made me EXTREMELY happy, but the info is not from NVIDIA and, as far as I know, is not yet public, so I can't share specifics).
When they asked how NVIDIA was viewed in the enthusiast market, I mentioned that the driver problems were taking a toll on its reputation. Happy, Dig? :p
I'm sure there's stuff I'm forgetting, and I'll try to have a real preview up sometime.
Overall, it was an extremely insightful experience--thanks Charlie, Jerry, and Susan Austin (former Quadro PR manager who set the whole thing up). I look forward to hearing from NVIDIA again... ;)
It was on July 11, and I was on the phone with Charlie Rasch, the Quadro product line manager, and Jerry something-or-other (I want to say Orbach, but that's just the guy from Law and Order, and for the life of me I cannot remember the guy's name), the Quadro PR manager.
Anyway--the FX3000 press release is here. (http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6990)
And now for random things I remember:
It's based on the NV35 core, but the FX2000, based on the NV30 core, is still in production.
Core/memory speeds are 400/425; even with the lower speeds than the FX2000, SPEC benchmarks were significantly higher.
They're not designed to replace the current Quadro line--they're designed to basically let NVIDIA enter the visualization/powerwall market (more on that in a bit).
Two models: FX3000 and FX3000G. The FX3000 has dual DVI outputs (one, I believe, is called a double DVI output or something like that?), occupies two slots, has a slightly modified version of the FX2000 cooler (it's apparently quite a bit quieter, while cooling the same amount, and of course there's no DDR2 to get absurdly hot), and lists for $2295.
FX3000G adds a framelock and a genlock. Genlock allows the card to sync to a video signal, and the framelock allows multiple cards to work in tandem by attaching Cat 5 cables to the cards. I believe they said that the bandwidth is great enough to allow 16 cards (in different systems) to work together at the same time.
So... the framelock is the interesting bit. It synchronizes rendering--however, I don't believe that it is the equivalent of SLI. I BELIEVE that every card still outputs to its own DVI monitor (meaning, if you have 5 cards, you have 5 displays). But, maybe Uttar wasn't too far off with his whole "NV3x core has 3dfx-style SLI elements" essay.
I mentioned that the FX3000 line was designed to put NVIDIA in the powerwall market (you know, those huge projected displays). The big way they're going about this is what they call a "single system powerwall."
Basically, instead of having the graphics card send an absurdly high resolution image to a device which divides the output among multiple projectors, the card will split the signal itself and allow you to use 2 random projectors and display a much higher resolution. Falls into the "Dude, why didn't I think of that?" category.
Jerry and Charlie emphasized that the card would be of great benefit to markets that extensively used volumetric rendering (primarily oil industry and medical imaging). Charlie stated that the increased memory bandwidth (256-bit bus) would be extremely beneficial. However, he also hinted that a move to PCI Express would be coming--I would expect the Quadro NV40 card (and possibly also the NV40) to appear in PCI Express form (the NV40 would probably also appear in AGP form, but we'll see) and that the nForce 3 boards will have PCI Express support by the end of the year. (Possibly nF3 Pro 250?)
NVIDIA is still pushing Cg pretty hard, and it looks like it's gaining support in the workstation market since it works with OGL.
Now, the stuff that just came up at the end during the little Q&A session:
With regards to NV36--they would not talk about "future products" but I think it was Charlie who said that it would make sense to have an NV36 Quadro.
From the sound of it, nF3 Pro 150 will be out in both an Opteron and Athlon64 form by the time Athlon64 is released.
There should be a big tasty announcement at SIGGRAPH (it made me EXTREMELY happy, but the info is not from NVIDIA and, as far as I know, is not yet public, so I can't share specifics).
When they asked how NVIDIA was viewed in the enthusiast market, I mentioned that the driver problems were taking a toll on its reputation. Happy, Dig? :p
I'm sure there's stuff I'm forgetting, and I'll try to have a real preview up sometime.
Overall, it was an extremely insightful experience--thanks Charlie, Jerry, and Susan Austin (former Quadro PR manager who set the whole thing up). I look forward to hearing from NVIDIA again... ;)