[Help needed for thread update] Mobile Professional GPUs Performance Chart

Mobile Professional GPUs Performance Chart

by Dreamer

"The screen is a window through which one sees a virtual world.
The challenge is to make that world look real,
act real, sound real, feel real."

Ivan Sutherland​

Here, we are going to talk about a different class of graphics cards usually referred as "professional" and designed for specific markets. Basically, there are two type of professional solutions offered on the mobile market at the moment. First of them are business cards, compatible with the latest business applications, which main purpose is to offer a reliable hardware and software platform for a stable business environment. The second category, which is the main target of this guide, are workstation cards turned to professional markets for industrial design, CAD and engineering, digital content creation, animation and special effects.

Business Graphics Cards

Business video cards are designed for professional 2D applications such as:

• General Purpose Business and Corporate
• Financial Trading

They are optimized for clearer image quality and more stable performance, and have different features for smooth video playback. Business cards pass rigorous compatibility testing with all major financial and corporate applications. Moreover, they are fully compliant with professional OpenGL and DirectX applications.


Performance Chart


(click image for lager version)

Note: All professional cards come with "high-speed" GDDR3 graphics memory in contrast to their consumer counterparts, which could also have "cost-competitive" DDR2 versions resulting in lower performance.

Workstation Graphics Cards

Workstation graphics cards are optimized and certified for professional 3D applications such as:

• Computer-Aided Design (CAD)
• Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE)
• Mechanical Computer-Aided Design (MCAD)
• Digital Content Creation (DCC)
• Non-Linear Video Editing (NLE)
• Visualization Applications

They are targeted primarily at OpenGL professional applications and support hardware acceleration for certain operations as well as some additional features used in professional applications. Workstation cards also come with specific OpenGL drivers built for maximum image quality and pixel precision and optimized for the corresponding professional applications.

Hardware acceleration along with driver optimizations usually result in significantly improved viewport performance over consumer card in professional OpenGL based applications. Moreover, all professional hardware and software from the graphics card makers is certified by the 3D application developers to ensure that they will work flawlessly in these tasks. These cards are usually announced as ISV certified when ISV stands for Independent Software Vendor.

The systems that have workstation cards can similarly be certified by ISVs, and the certification software vendors provide assures consumers that the programs a workstation has been certified for will run effectively on those machines. In other words, the system must be stable and fast enough to perform all of the tasks require by the application and to be free of compatibility-based errors and bugs and deliver high performance workstation graphics environment on both Windows and Linux platforms.


ISV Certified Mobile Workstations

14.1"
ThinkPad T60p (ATI Mobility FireGL V5250)

ThinkPad T61p (NVIDIA Quadro FX 570M*)
* Version with a 64 bit memory interface, different from the 15.4" models
Dell Precision M2300 (NVIDIA Quadro FX 360M)

Dell Precision M2400 (Quadro FX 370M)

15.4"
Dell Precision M65 (NVIDIA Quadro FX 350M)
ThinkPad Z61p (ATI Mobility FireGL V5200)
ThinkPad T60p (15/15.4) (ATI Mobility FireGL V5250)
HP Compaq nw8440 (ATI Mobility FireGL V5200)
Fujitsu Siemens Celsius H240 (ATI Mobility FireGL V5200)

Dell Precision M4300 (NVIDIA Quadro FX 360M)
ThinkPad T61p (NVIDIA Quadro FX 570M)
HP Compaq 8510w (NVIDIA Quadro FX 570M/ATI Mobility FireGL V5600)
Fujitsu Siemens Celsius H250 (NVIDIA Quadro FX 570M)

ThinkPad W500 (ATI Mobility FireGL V5700)
HP EliteBook 8530w (ATI Mobility FireGL V5700/NVIDIA Quadro FX 770M)
Dell Precision M4400 (NVIDIA Quadro FX 770M/1700M)
Fujitsu Siemens Celsius H265/H270 (NVIDIA Quadro FX 770M)

17"
HP Compaq nw9440 (NVIDIA Quadro FX 1500M)
Dell Precision M90 (NVIDIA Quadro FX 1500M/2500M/3500M)

HP Compaq 8710w (NVIDIA Quadro FX 1600M/3600M)
Dell Precision M6300 (NVIDIA Quadro FX 1600M/3600M)

ThinkPad W700 (NVIDIA Quadro FX 2700/3700M)
HP EliteBook 8730w (ATI FireGL V5725/NVIDIA Quadro FX 2700M/3700M)
Dell Precision M6400 (NVIDIA Quadro FX 2700M/3700M)


Performance Chart


(click image for lager version)

Note: All professional cards come with "high-speed" GDDR3 graphics memory in contrast to their consumer counterparts, which could also have "cost-competitive" DDR2 versions resulting in lower performance.

Additional information

A few words about gaming performance

Even though workstation graphics cards are based on the same cores as consumer cards, they still differ from the gaming solutions. One of the major differences is the optimizations for different applications implemented in the drivers. Professional applications don’t need funky visualization technologies, which are popular in the latest 3D games, but require maximized geometric performance and texturing speed instead. Their gaming performance with the professional drivers is usually relatively worse compared to the performance of their consumer counterparts. Some games may have compatibility issues with these cards due to the fact that the professional drivers are meant to be stable and they are not updated as often as the regular ones.

However, if consumer drivers are installed on workstation or business cards instead of professional, then they should have similar gaming performance as consumer cards assuming that they are clocked similarly and have the same amount/type of dedicated memory.


Synthetic Benchmarks

Workstations cards need specific OpenGL benchmarks designed to evaluate their performance in different kinds of professional applications. The most popular of them is called SPECviewperf, which runs a number of viewsets that come from the ISVs themselves and are focused on popular high-end CAD/CAM, visualization and digital content creation applications.


Links

NVIDIA Quadro NVS Series | NVIDIA Quadro FX Series | Nvidia Product Literature | ATI FireGL Series

 

nice guide

 

thanks this is more helpful in understanding graphics cards in terms of gaming vs. nongaming vs. professional... thanks...

 

Wow nice guide! I really understand now what the difference is between NVS and FireGL compared to Radeon and Geforce! Can Chaz combine this with another sticky?

Charlie

 

having this thread in a sticky (with a clear message that these aren't exactly gaming cards) could help get rid of the threads asking "what's this equivalent to."

it would be useful to see attached to a current sticky.

the only thing I question is the Quadro 350M (or is it 300M), either way I would guess it is closer to a 7600 in performance. having two 7400 based Quadros is kinda of...useless

 

There would be too much content in one thread if I did that, and also some of the information woud be redundant. This is best left as a stand-alone thread, thanks for your efforts Dreamer.

 

It's missing the Quadro 1400 which I've heard is equivalent to the Geforce 6800.

 

Thanks zicky
The NVIDIA Quadro FX Go 1400 is added.

 

Wow, I didn't realize the Quadro 1400 was based on the 6800 core. That's pretty crazy. I know it's outdated now, but at the time, I keep wondering how they fit that into a 15.4" shell...

 

Yes it's outdated but still powerful... and it's good to have it in a 15.4" notebook... so much better than teh 350M which Dell offers now

 

Yeah, if the M65 had the Go1400 in it I probably would have bought that instead of the M90. But the performance of the FX350 is just sad. Dell really needs to bring up the graphics options in their next line of Latitudes and Precisions (except the M90).

 

The Quadro NVS 120M is based on the Geforce 7400.

 

Okay. Maybe you could write 7300/7400 Core. I just wanted to point that out, because my NVS 120M is everywhere (Linux, Windows Vista) regonized as 7400 Go.

 

Hey nice guide, thanks

What about the quadro nvs 510m?

It has a 256b memory interface so I guess its based on a 7900 but maybe with lower clocks to fit in the 35 watt envelope... I am looking at the HP nx9240 (RB529UT#ABA) and it seems like a decent upgrade from the standard x1600 but I am not sure its worth the extra $.

 

Thanks for posting the information, Dreamer.

 

It was time this chart to be updated...

 

I don't understand this whole NVS 510M thing. It's based on the 7900 core like the 1500M and the 2500M, but it's an NVS (not FX) and it's designed for 2D apps? Why would nvidia make a card based on the VERY powerful 7900 and then make it for 2D apps? And if it's based on the 7900, how do they dumb it down to be less powerful for 3D?

 

I am seriously considering the nx9420 with the 510m, I was waiting for c2d but now the x1600 which has been standard across the lineup seems a bit long in the tooth. It looks like HP will be shippping these soon, so I can wait a week or so to get some benches.

As to why nvidia would bill it as a 2D card... well I can only think of video editing (NLEs like avid) which is what I am looking for in this machine.

 

I don't know what exactly you will be doing on that video card, but since you mentioned NLE and avid, it's better to check the system requirements on the developer's site. Some versions of the 3D applications require Open GL graphics cards while other not. The 3D software developers usually provide information about suported/recommended/certified cards.

 

thanks, appreciate the info here

But, actually, I havent had the best of luck with developer info regarding supported cards. Specifically I am reffering to adobe and the x1600 and opengl acceleration, but it has been a while since I have done content work on a notebook.

In general I prefer NV to Ati for their linux support. I think the 510m is too new to get any reliable user reports on. The only system I know with it is the HP and ship date keeps moving back.

 

Hi there,

I run programs like 3D MAX, AutoCADD, Photoshop, Illustrator and other such graphics/3D programs. What laptops would you recommend that have graphics cards good enough to support these programs? I'm a student so finding a good card in a 15" laptop would be really great, most of the ones i've seen so far are all 17"+ which are a lil heavy to lug around... will i have to sacrifice performance for portability though or is there a miracle laptop that's both good in performance and decent in terms of portability?

Thanks!!

 

Could you fill out the FAQ in the "What notebook should I buy" section and then we will talk about the options that you have?

 

Since I recently bought an nx9420 with an NVS 510m I thought I would do my part and add some info

Everest:

Device Description NVIDIA Quadro NVS 510M
Adapter String Quadro NVS 510M
BIOS String Version 5.71.22.43.10
Chip Type Quadro NVS 510M
DAC Type Integrated RAMDAC
Installed Drivers nv4_disp (6.14.10.8633 - nVIDIA ForceWare 86.33)
Memory Size 256 MB

3Dmark06

Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GTX
Graphics Driver NVIDIA Quadro NVS 510M

Main Test Results
3DMark Score 4101 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 1623 Marks
SM 3.0 Score 1597 Marks
CPU Score 1840 Marks

Detailed Test Results

Graphics Tests
1 - Return to Proxycon 13.129 FPS
2 - Firefly Forest 13.916 FPS

CPU Tests
CPU1 - Red Valley 0.589 FPS
CPU2 - Red Valley 0.92 FPS

HDR Tests
1 - Canyon Flight (SM 3.0) 14.157 FPS
2 - Deep Freeze (SM 3.0) 17.779 FPS


Rivatuner

256-bit G71 (A2,20pp,7vp) with 256MB DDR3

ATI Tool

450mhz core 300mhz mem



I have not tried to install more recent drivers with modded inf or messing around with the vbios, but I I would like to get the most out this card. Any input would be appreciated.

 

Erm, I don't think that I can do that, and I definitely haven't counted the "number of diamonds" between the card names. They are just automatically aranged to fit under the columns by the program that I used to make this chart.

 

Thanx for the chart I don't quite understand the M65/Qdro FX350M dis ; I'm running Maya 8.5 & Cinema4D R10 on it really smoothly with 20K to 50K smooth mesh character models on it, plus environments.

Factually, the 350M's Cinebench score was higher than my Ati Radeon's 1900XTX in my desktop.

Of course, yeah... it would've been nicer if Dell put in a 7600 based Quadro in the M65.

 

what about the new DX10 cards?
Quadro NVS 130/135/140
Quadro FX360/570/1600

 

Alright, I added the new cards, but still, there's no enough information about their performance...

 

There's no 14.1" T60p with a V5250, is there?

 

The T60p had two standard screen versions - 14.1" and 15". Both were available with the V5200 first, then they refreshed it with the V5250. So, yes there is.

 

Thanks for the update
BTW, what a nice charts!

 

Question : Since both the Quadro 135M and 140M derive from the 8400m GS is it safe to assume that the only difference between them is clock frequencies ? BTW in some other posts there are people who insist that the 140M derives from the 8400m GT (128-bit bus), the nvidia site reports the 140M as a 64-bit with no other details.

Another apparently stupid question : What is the diference between the NVS 140M and the Quadro FX 350M and 360M (only the drivers ?).

Rhetoric question : Why does NVIDIA keep technical info to themselves ?

 

That would be my assumption too. Also, the numbers are close 135 and 140, so I wouldn't expect anything more than that.

I know but there's no a 8400M GT with a 64-bit bus as you said . . .

And, I don't have more information than you for now... sorry.

Yes, the drivers.

I will ask them sooner or later. I promise

 

I posted this link before, but no one cared...

Scroll down and it has all the info you could ever want on the 135M/140M.


And...

...which implies that the 140M is an 8400GT, while a 135M is an 8400 GS; the differences between those two are in the first table.

 

Check out this link, it explcitly says that the NVS 140M has a 64-bit bus, hence not a 8400m GT, even if your graph implies so.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/quadro_nvs_notebook_techspecs.html

There is no direct info for the Quadro NVS cards in your tables. Do you have any info about the ir clock frequencies ?

There is also this page with info on the Quadro FX :

http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_11761.html

We can be sure that the FX 360M is the 8400m G(S) (9.6GB/ssec fill rate). The most weird thing is that the FX 360M has a max power consumption of 17w, while the NVS 140M 10w (doesn't say if max or not), however they are supposed to be the same card.

Has anybody tried to run the laptopvideo2go.com drivers on their Quadro NVS and report back on how it is recognised ?

 

No one cared because this article had been here for a while, so we know about it and you can find links to it in the forums

There is almost nothing about these card in the article

No the second chart doesn't show anything besides that the authors can make charts.

Check out the links that k_delta posted above and you will see that the NVS 140M has the same specs like the 8400M GS, specifically the 64-bit memory bus and the max anount of RAM.

 

They're not supposed to be the same card, they're merely based on the same chip design. The NVS cards always have throttled down power, I assume because they're made for business users with little to no high-end 3D rendering requirements.

 

Thanks for that guide man, that's pretty awesome, i'll keep those cards in mind

 

Lol ouch. That's pretty funny

Hey, I tried.

 

Are you sure about that ?

 

The NVS 120M and the FX 350M are the same card with a different BIOS and drivers. The same goes for the NVS 140 and the 360M. Also, their gaming performance is quite similar, afaik. (check out the reviews about the Latitude D820 and the Precision M65, which are almost the same notebook except for the ISV-certification and OpenGL drivers).

 

In addition to the BIOS and Drivers, the NVS cards are clocked lower, and at stock settings have lower power consumption.

 

So... if the difference is mostly BIOS and Drivers, how close can you come to GeForce performance with an NVS card just by installing different drivers?

How far can you go with that sort of stuff without voiding warranty?

Thx!

GaJ

 

Only drivers won't void your warranty in any way, BIOS would (that is if someone finds out). Regarding the first question, I am not even sure that you can install the laptopvideo2go drivers, maybe someone can illuminate us.

 

Yes, you can install the laptopvideo2go drivers (at least you could on the last series). I installed them on my 110m in sig to make it act like a normal Go7300. Then I OC'd it to normal Geforce speeds and it works pretty well now. I have no reason to believe that the same can't be done for the newer NVS cards.

 

Yes you can,and will get usually more performance in games [laptopvideo2go]
If you compare clock speeds on NVS120m/FX350m and the geforce 7400 in the XPS1210,the xps has higher memory speeds due to using GDDR3 memory instead of DDR2 in the NVS and FX.
Quadro's add features to the standard geforce,they don't take features away,so everything being equal [clock rates,memory,memory type]they perform the same as the equivalent geforce in D3d.
The quadro bios unlocks features that are already present on the geforce card,like hardware accelerated lines,double sided lighting and many others that are not needed on the geforce so they are disabled through bios...the actual hardware is identical on laptops and was the same with the M70 with FX1400/6800 and the M60 with FX1000/GF5700 that I had,believe me,they are the same thing except for bios enabled features.

If you knew the exact force bios command,you could change the GPU i.d. of one to the other,I've seen it done,but you need to know the command to do it.

 

maybe a stupid question but... how much faster would hp 8510w be compared to dell M4300 because of its graphics?

Dell claims the new M4300 should be up to 110% faster than the previous M65 model with basically the same specs (2.33 GHz/2.40 GHz, both 2 GB ram and 120 GB – 5.400 rpm), but different graphic! If FX 360M really makes it that much faster how fast then 8510w with FX 570M would be?

and compared to those two how would MBP 2.4 GHz with 8600GT 256 perform?

thanks

 

As a dump rule, every new generation cards is usualy about twice as powerful as the previous one.

So, the FX 360M can be 110% faster than the FX 350M, no problems here, on the other hand the FX 570M is probably about 150% faster than the FX 360M.

That's in terms of raw power, I haven't seen how they perform in the different professional applications yet.

The MBP graphics may differ in terms of memory type (haven't checked out) and core/memory clock speed (can vary). As a hardware is the same as the FX 570M with just different BIOS and OpenGL drivers.

 

I looked at the FAQ on graphic cards at the top of this section but I didnt find this card on it. Its in the Lenovo R61 series. I was wondering how it compares to other GPUs. If you could put it into one of the catagories that Chaz made in the FAq which one would it be?

 

The nVidia Quadro NVS 140M is the business counterpart to the Geforce 8400M GS (and from what I understand, it also supports DX10). If you're looking to play games with it, I've included some links have some helpful information. I had the same question as you had, and after researching the card's performance, I ended up ordering a T61 with this card.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=45151&highlight=quadro

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=45134&highlight=quadro

Edit:
If it's the Quadro NVS 140M, then it would probably be placed in the Mid-Range category along with the Geforce 8400M GS.

 

Which Quadro is it? Here's Dreamers Mobile Professional GPUs Performance Chart. You can find out more here.