Umm... Where is the Quadro?

So I was looking to get a NP8660 or NP5796 as a workstation computer. Now that they have been released I would like to know what happened to the Quadro series of cards? Will they be offered in the future? I know pcmicroworks didn't offer it at first, but now they do. So Will I be able to buy a Sager workstation notebook and recieve it prior to August 25th?

 

Contact the vendor you want to order from.

You can get the Quadro 1600M if you ask.

The Quadro 3600M is not yet available for the Clevo notebooks yet.

 

Well I guess you can't get these new laptops with the quadro cards. I know people used geforce drivers on the quadro cards, does anyone know if it works the other way around? Is there anyway to optimize the 9800m GT or GTS for workstation applications? Any ideas how a 9800 GT would compare to a FX 1600 in rendering?

 

Quadro?? I want the FireGL version of the M98 (Mobility Radeon HD 4850/4870)!

 

Yeah, I guess I have to go with the school laptop then. Sager decided to axe workstation cards in all of its laptops. I asked, you cant have it custimized with the workstation card.

 

Whom did you ask, and what exactly did they say?

 

I emailed powernotebooks and xoticpc. I called xoticpc as well. Both vender said you could not put a quadro in the 8660 or 5796 and Sager had no plans of adding them.

 

Then that's probably a pretty good indicator as those two vendors typically read from the same page as Sager does. However, Sager is much more open to being persuaded by its customer base to make changes - provided the change is physically possible - if the affected customers can mount a convincing enough argument that there's enough of a reason to warrant the change - if you want an example, pm Eleron911, who was a part of the group of forum members who convinced Sager to rewrite the fan firmware for the original 570MRU to provide better fan control.

Lastly, if you want a workstation card, and since you're already willing to consider a 17" (e.g., the 5796), then why not consider the NP9262, which can be configured with the Quadro FX1600M?

 

Or go for HP, they have FX3600M.

 

Why do you want a Quadro FX1600 per se?
Get the 9800 GT. It uses less power AND is more powerful in all aspects (=100% future proof).
The FX1600 is a good card for doing CAD and graphical engineering stuff, but the 9800 GT does all those things even better + you can game on it!

 

The 9800gt is a more powerfull card, but in terms of opengl FX1600 > 9800gt. I am a mechanical engineering student, so I'm going to be using programs like solidworks and NX5. Do you have any benchmarks comparing an 8800m gtx to an FX 1600? You there is data that shows the 9800 gt can keep up in these programs it would sway me.

 

if you are going to use Solidworks, then definitely get a Quadro to make full use of the program.

I would recommend to look towards a 17" Clevo... like M570TU or D901C.

 

I did once benchmarked desktop cards, in SolidWorks SPECAPC a Geforce 8800GTS640 scored 40% of the performance of a Quadro 3500 (based on a 7900gs if I remember correctly). I'm in the same boat, I'd love to use this notebook as my next CAD station.

A 17" is just to big to lug around, but I do need to have as much power as possible (lots of customers love looking over my shoulder, it really is a selling point if you can show them how fluid things go when working on their design).

 

Well I sent an email to sager, so we will see what happens. I really wanted a sager, but the school deal ends on July 28th, so time is against me. If I get any guarantee that they will throw in a workstation card, I will definitely go for it. The 92 is way too big, and now that I think about it the 5796 would be even be a little much.

 

Well, this was their response:

Sorry, NP8660 Video Card dos not have option for Quadro!


Brian Liaw
Sales Manager
18005 Cortney Court
City of Industry, CA 91748 USA
Local:626-964-8682 (S.California) x 106
Nation wide:800-669-1624 x 106
FAX: 626-964-2381
Email:[email protected]
Website: www.sagernotebook.com

 

its true that high-end Geforce cards can do well for all apps and games.

but if you are focusing on just OpenGL apps for modeling and rendering you can look toward a mid-range notebook:
- Lenovo T61 w/ Quadro 570M (equivalent to 8600M GT)

 

Hmm, to me, with the recent news they've just become a lot less attractive (since the asic is the same as the dreaded G84/G86)... But the W500 is on my list! (FireGL V5700)

 

When is FireGL 5700 due to come out? Will it fit in a 15.4" platform?

 

The Lenovo W500 should be out in August according to their website ( http://www.lenovo.com/news/us/en/2008/07/ThinkPad_SL.html).

It should support the FireGL V5700 according to another website I googled ( http://www.arc.ulaval.ca/futursetudiants/portable/description.php). So this card seems to be recommended for CAD applications.

I'm starting to have doubts on the M860TU after all the recent updates on video card and battery life. But right now I have no clue how the V5700 fares against the Nvidia Quadro (besides an benchmark of the old V5200 at http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html which is not very encouraging).

 

What are they saying the battery life is?

 

For the W500? The links I posted are all the info I have right now, you should probably follow as well this thread dedicated to the new Lenovo products :

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=272471

 

The Precision M6300 with the Quadro FX3600M is a good viable choice too, but look on Ebay as the Dell sticker price is set for companies and often double what you can get on.

 

That's correct, but the Dell M6300 is a 17" machine, like the HP 8710w. Right now they are the only laptops which seem to support that board.

If you are looking for a 15.4" you have to compromise, and the W500 could be a candidate, only time (and benchmarks) will tell.

 

So if lenovo can fit a FireGL 5700 in their new W500, why can't Sager?

http://shop.lenovo.com/ISS_Static/merchandising/US/PDFs/w500_datasheet.pdf

 

I made a small correction for you.

 

Umm, maybe because Sager isn't the ODM, so they're at the mercy of the actual ODM - Clevo. Sager can't put a FireGL 5700 in any of their systems unless Clevo decides to.

 

Actually I was under the impression the machine uses an MXM4 graphics module, so the choice is (somewhat) in the hands of the assembling party?

 

As MXM is not a standard, other than in the formal sense that NVidia calls it a standard, the mere fact that the motherboard is MXM-compliant is neither here nor there, you still need a card that will fit that particular machine - and Sager produces neither motherboards nor GPU cards.

 

If you follow that definition of standard you can scrap allmost any standard in the PC industry as bull****, including PCIe... MXM is definetly a standard, especially since the adoption by ATI.

Other than that you seem to be right: it seems that what Clevo calls MXM seems to have little to do with the actual standard (source: mxm-update) & Sager can only fit what is made by Clevo... Should have edited "Sager" to "Clevo" as well ;-)

 

Is the FireGL 5700 really so good? I read it is better than Quadro FX1600M and not too far from 3600M. The W500 looks like a great machine for CAD/modeling but I cannot find any info about this video card, not even on the ATI website.

 

I tried to contact ATI/AMD about their current Mobile FireGL line, but from the responses I got their support staff doesn't know much about the R600 FireGL products either, so you're not the only one...

 

MXM is not a standard, even by comparison with PCIe or any other legitimate industry standard. Clevo's implementation of MXM is much closer to the actual promulgated "standard" from NVidia than that of others, such as _Dell, which uses a (very proprietary) version of MXM - an MXM-based card from _Dell, for example, will not fit into a Clevo, and vice-versa.

Also, to my recollection, the statements on mxm-update (a link would have been preferable, I've not the time to go fishing for others' references) are out of date; if you review the actual MXM standards as promulgated by NVidia: (1) Electromechanical Specification, and (2) Software Specification, you will see that the MXM-IV HE that Clevo uses is, in fact, a part of the current specification.

 

Interesting. They will have to become confident quite fast then, if these new machines are supposed to start shipping in August ...

 

I have been waiting for the 3600m for the 9262, for dcc in the programs I use (Maya, Bryce, Vue 6) it will have the most power in a portable form. Nothing worse than manipulating a million plus poly object in openGL and waiting for the view ports to update also quad core helps for quick renders on a single machine before sending the job off to a render node.

 

Quadro 3600M (or its replacement based on the 9800M) is supposed to be available in Fall.