While NVIDIA has released a number of new graphics cards for the gaming market over the last year and a half, we have seen relatively few updates to their workstation lineup in that same timeframe. It's been since mid-2007 that we saw the last major performance update to the Quadro lineup with the launch of their flagship Quadro FX 5600. While the monstrous G80 based Quadro FX 5600 has no doubt had competition since its release, it's been able to effectively hold off competing ATI products to reign as the performance champ throughout this last year and a half or so. Although on the workstation segment it doesn't come into the picture until just recently with their FirePro rebranding. - HotHardware

NVIDIA Quadro FX 4800 1.5GB Style Graphics Review

Early in 2008, NVIDIA released their Quadro FX 3700 board priced at the more cost conscious high-end workstation market. Using the less powerful, but more efficient G92 architecture, it delivered raw GPU performance close to that of the Quadro FX 5600 card, but had only 512MB of memory and overall lukewarm specs given the price tag. Nevertheless, NVIDIA still held the performance crown with the Quadro FX 5600 version, and all was well in the workstation realm. And now ATI is assaulting that performance crown with their new FirePro lineup of workstation graphics cards which they have introduced just recently.

The top FirePro V8700 model uses ATI's exciting new RV770 graphics processor and was able to wallop the Quadro FX 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, though the question is, are NVIDIA's new models enough to stave off a newly energized ATI? Now two new models just hit the Quadro lineup. On the high-end, they have the Quadro FX 5800 card, using the same powerful GT200 architecture which powers the GeForce GTX 280, coupled with 4GB of memory and a 512-bit interface.

Of course, this beast costs $3499, and it's just 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 Quadro FX 4800, the Quadro FX 5800's little brother. The Quadro FX 4800 is a much more palatable high-end solution, coupling together a GT200 graphics processor with 1.5GB of memory and a price tag nearly half that of the Quadro FX 5800. The Quadro FX 4800 is all business, despite using the same cooling system and board design as we've seen with the GeForce GTX 260 series cards, though with stylish silver cooling system.

Hidden on the top in a secret compartment are two important connectors. On the left side, you have a connector for a genlock and/or framelock adapter board, if your workstation application requires it. The board isn't included for cost reasons, but this little connector is one of the key differentiators between Quadro cards, as NVIDIA typically only features this connector on their high-end boards. Next to it we have an SLI adapter, which can be used to connect two Quadro boards together in SLI. NVIDIA actually supports multi GPU operation on their Quadro lineup, whereas ATI has taken a stand-off approach and does not allow this.

At $1999, the Quadro FX 4800 board is not a cheap workstation solution, but it does provide excellent workstation performance. The GT200 GPU is a workhorse in these types of applications, and it really plows through many of them with performance levels we have never seen before. As a whole it's an excellent, high performance, low noise workstation graphics solution for 2009. Nearly across the board, the Quadro FX 4800 gives better performance than the prior generation, while doing so at a much lower introductory price point of $1999. This would as such be the choice when looking at the Quadro lineup as it stands today.

However, there is one issue to consider. ATI's new FirePro V8700 card forces users to make an interesting decision. While the Quadro FX 4800 is a solid, exciting card, ATI's FirePro V8700 card can typically deliver similar performance levels with a roughly 25% lower price, at about $1499. That's a pretty solid price gap, and it's tough to justify the Quadro FX 4800 over the less expensive FirePro card at this time. The Quadro FX 4800 does offer some pretty important benefits over the FirePro series, mind you. If you need CUDA support, an improved multi GPU solution, and slightly lower power consumption, it does the job great.

One area where NVIDIA has a clear upper hand right now is their availability. The Quadro FX 4800 1.5GB cards are available from a multitude of sources already, and are already at street prices down in the $1600 range. ATI's FirePro V8700 lineup has yet to fully hit the streets at its intended $1499 price point. So, if you need an excellent workstation solution now, the Quadro FX 4800 is here for you immediately. And while ATI might be able to provide a more compelling price to performance solution when they actually start volume FirePro V8700 shipments to market, but by the time it ships, it might already be to late for this argument.

From our point, it seems entirely possible that street prices for the Quadro FX 4800 will have closed the price gap. Definitely a tough call, but either way you go, you're getting a lot more performance compared to the previous generation workstation solutions at much lower price tags from the starting gate, which is something everyone can appreciate.