NVIDIA Fermi-Based Quadro Pro Graphics Cards Outed, Plus 3D Vision Pro

NVIDIA has outed its latest Fermi-based cards, the NVIDIA Quadro Plex 7000 array, and Quadro 6000, Quadro 5000 and Quadro 4000 GPUs, targeting graphics professionals that might weep in excitement over the fact that they're apparently up to five times faster for 3D applications and up to eight times faster for computational simulation.  While most models are intended for desktop workstations, there's also the Quadro 5000M chipset for mobile workstations.

All versions support OpenGL 4.1, DirectX 11, DirectCompute and OpenCL, together with NVIDIA's new 3D Vision Pro system, also freshly announced today.  That brings shutter glasses to the professional workbench, and will be priced at around $349 for the specs and $399 for the transmitter.

Dell, HP and Lenovo are among the manufacturers who have signed up to use the cards, with the various models rolling out as follows:

Scalable Visualization Systems:

• Quadro Plex 7000, with 12 GB (total) of memory and 896 CUDA cores ($14,500; available fall)

Board and Desktop Workstation Solutions:

• Quadro 6000, with 6 GB of GDDR5 memory and 448 CUDA cores ($4,999; available fall 2010)
• Quadro 5000, with 2.5 GB of GDDR5 memory and 352 CUDA cores ($2,249; available now)
• Quadro 4000, with 2 GB of GDDR5 memory and 256 CUDA cores ($1,199; available now)

Mobile Workstations:

• Quadro 5000M, mobile workstation GPU with 2 GB of GDDR5 memory and 320 CUDA cores (due Q3 2010 in HP and Dell machines)

Press Release:

New NVIDIA Fermi-Class Quadro Launches the Era of Computational Visualization

First GPUs to Combine ECC, Double Precision Floating Point and Massive Geometry Processing, Delivering Five Times Faster 3D Performance, Eight Times Faster Simulation Performance and Immersive Stereoscopic 3D

LOS ANGELES, CA–(Marketwire – July 27, 2010) – SIGRRAPH 2010 — NVIDIA (Booth #717) today launched the era of the 'computational visualization workstation' for designers, engineers, researchers and animators by introducing its Quadro® graphics processing units (GPUs) based on NVIDIA® Fermi architecture, and by also introducing the new NVIDIA 3D Vision™ Pro solution. The new Quadro GPUs deliver performance that is up to five times faster for 3D applications and up to eight times faster for computational simulation(1), shattering previous benchmarks.

The NVIDIA Quadro Plex 7000 array, and Quadro 6000, Quadro 5000 and Quadro 4000 GPUs feature the new NVIDIA® Scalable Geometry Engines and leverage NVIDIA Application Acceleration Engines (AXE) to enable the world's fastest performance across a broad range of CAD, DCC and visualization applications(2). Rated at an unheard of 1.3 billion triangles per second in raw performance(3), the Quadro 6000 enables users to interactively work with models and scenes that are five times more complex than ever before.

"For over a decade Quadro has been the choice of professionals around the world. We've also built Engines like AXE to enable the creation of next-gen applications," said Jeff Brown, general manager, Professional Solutions Group, NVIDIA. "When you couple these technologies with our Fermi architecture, the result is a new Quadro family that's exponentially better than anything the market has ever seen."

Redesigned from the Ground Up to Accelerate Entire Workflows

Combining high performance computing capabilities with advanced visualization, the new Quadro GPU is the world's first professional graphics solution with Error Correction Codes (ECC) memory and fast, IEEE double precision floating point performance. These are intended for applications demanding the highest accuracy, such as medical imaging, finite element analysis and computational fluid dynamics.

"In high-end visual effects development, fast iteration is essential," said Olivier Maury, research and development engineer, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). "By using NVIDIA Quadro GPUs, we are seeing up to eight iterations each day of complex fire, dust and air simulations, representing speed improvements of ten to fifteen times. NVIDIA CUDA and Quadro GPUs have entirely changed the way we solve complex visual effects challenges."

The new Quadro GPUs are built on industry standards, including OpenGL 4.1, DirectX 11, DirectCompute and OpenCL. In addition, Quadro leverages technologies that are unique to NVIDIA — such as the company's portfolio of Application Acceleration Engines (AXE) and NVIDIA CUDA™ parallel processing architecture. The result is that software developers are able to create and deliver the next-generation of professional applications that incorporate compute-intensive tasks. Among these tasks are ray tracing, physics simulation, computational fluid dynamics and real-time video effects processing.

"NVIDIA isn't just working on building better graphics hardware, but the software tools needed to drive the needed advancements that are now changing the industry," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst, Enderle Group. "NVIDIA was committed to building tool after tool this past decade in order to drive the market where they needed it to go, and their efforts are paying off."

The new Quadro professional solutions introduced today include:

Scalable Visualization Systems:

Quadro Plex 7000, with 12 GB (total) of memory and 896 CUDA cores

Board and Desktop Workstation Solutions:

Quadro 6000, with 6 GB of GDDR5 memory and 448 CUDA cores

Quadro 5000, with 2.5 GB of GDDR5 memory and 352 CUDA cores

Quadro 4000, with 2 GB of GDDR5 memory and 256 CUDA cores

Mobile Workstations:

Quadro 5000M, mobile workstation GPU with 2 GB of GDDR5 memory and 320 CUDA cores

Additionally, all Quadro products are compatible with the new NVIDIA 3D Vision Pro active shutter-glasses solution, also announced today, for the highest-quality stereoscopic 3D immersive experience.

Widespread Adoption

Workstation OEMs and System Integrators, including Dell, HP, Lenovo, BOXX Technologies and NextComputing, are among those that are offering the newest Quadro solutions. Quadro products are also available from value added resellers through master distributors PNY Technologies in North America and Europe, Leadtek in Asia Pacific, and ELSA in Japan.

"As the first professional-class GPUs to integrate high performance computing with advanced visualization, NVIDIA Quadro combined with Dell Precision workstations are poised to transform workflows," said Greg Weir, senior manager, Dell Precision Workstations Product and ISV Marketing. "With this technology, we are enabling our design, research, animation and film customers to deliver higher quality results in less time."

"NVIDIA continues to push the envelope on delivering cutting-edge graphics solutions,"said Rob Herman, director of product marketing, worldwide ThinkStation Business Unit, Lenovo. We're actively incorporating these latest graphics into our newly upgraded ThinkStation C20 and D20 workstations to deliver innovative, 'visual supercomputers' to our customers."

Availability and Pricing

The Quadro 4000 ($1,199 MSRP, USD) and Quadro 5000 ($2,249 MSRP, USD) are available immediately through all channels. The Quadro 6000 ($4,999 MSRP, USD) and Quadro Plex 7000 ($14,500 MSRP, USD) will be available this fall. Mobile workstations based on the Quadro 5000M will be available in the third quarter of 2010 from HP and Dell.

Press Release:

NVIDIA 3D Vision Pro Ushers in a New Dimension in Visualization

RF-enabled 3D Stereoscopic Solution Designed for Modern Professional Workstations and Multi-user, Large Scale Visualization Environme

LOS ANGELES, CA–(Marketwire – July 27, 2010) – SIGRRAPH 2010 — NVIDIA (Booth #717) announced today NVIDIA® 3D Vision™ Pro, a new 3D stereoscopic solution empowering engineers, designers, architects and computational chemists who work with complex 3D designs to see their work in greater detail. 3D Vision Pro solutions brings true stereo 3D back to the desktop with support for LCD panels and offers a practical way to provide a rich, reliable 3D viewing experience for large scale visualization environments like video walls and collaborative virtual environments (CAVEs).

Incorporating active shutter glasses and an innovative radio frequency (RF) communication system, 3D Vision Pro solutions delivers the highest quality stereoscopic experience and supports a wide range of use cases:

Individuals can experience 3D on LCD panels at their Quadro powered desktop and mobile workstations

Small groups can view 3D on single or multiple projectors, and

Larger groups can experience 3D on power walls or in theaters driven by NVIDIA Scalable Visualization Solutions (SVS)

3D Vision™ Pro provides long range connections, up to 150 feet, with no cross talk, blind spots, or other transmission issues between multiple systems. As a professional stereoscopic solution, status information is transmitted from the glasses back to the host for effective IT management.

"With the ability to provide valuable insights into complex data, 3D stereo has become one of the core elements of the modern workstation," said Jeff Brown, general manager, Professional Solutions Group, NVIDIA. "Together, 3D Vision Pro and Quadro solutions bring the highest quality and most immersive 3D experience to enterprise environments."

NVIDIA 3D Vision Pro — A New Way of Looking at Things

Digital content creation (DCC) artists, product designers, and physicians can see their 'world' in 3D, with perspectives that are significantly richer than traditional two-dimensional views. Physicians, for example, can now view volumetric scans like ultrasound in 3D. Businesses looking to provide large scale visualizations such as popular video walls now have a reliable, enabling technology to deliver that kind of experience.

"NVIDIA is clearly a leader in the field of 3D visualization and has been working on Stereoscopic 3D technology since 1999. With their launch of a professional 3D solution, this technology can easily move beyond the entertainment viewing experience for individual consumers," said Dr. Jon Peddie, president of Jon Peddie Research. "By providing large scale visualization capabilities and remote management capabilities, NVIDIA is pioneering 3D technology for the enterprise, opening the door for professional users and large scale visualization system integrators to utilize 3D in ways not thought of before."

Key features of NVIDIA 3D Vision™ Pro stereoscopic solutions include:

Active shutter glasses technology that delivers a true progressive image, which preserves the highest quality texture detail and text;

Rechargeable batteries with 20 hours of continuous operation;

Wide range of panel and projector support, and;

A wide range of professional application support.

Professional applications for NVIDIA 3D Vision Pro already available

Companies such as Siemens Healthcare, Agilent, Cineform, and RTT are already embracing NVIDIA 3D Vision Pro technology as an essential element of new solutions they've recently announced:

Siemens Healthcare is now shipping its syngo.fourSight Workplace Imaging Management Solution for Obstetrics. It provides off-system 3D/4D volume manipulation and 2D image and clip review for a variety of Siemens' most powerful ultrasound platforms, assisting in communication with doctors, surgeons, and patients. It may also improve paternal-fetal bonding, and aid in treatment or pre- and post-natal surgical planning.

"Our syngo.fourSight Workplace software, combined with new NVIDIA 3D Vision Pro technology and the latest NVIDIA Quadro professional graphics solutions, makes this an even more compelling image management tool for enhanced patient throughput and department workflow in obstetrical ultrasound," said Barbara Del Prince, worldwide segment manager for OB/GYN, Siemens Healthcare. "Doctors, hospitals and imaging centers now have the most powerful, comprehensive and innovative 3D imaging solution toolset available for volume image manipulation."

Pricing and Availability

NVIDIA 3D Vision™ Pro stereoscopic solutions will be available in October directly from NVIDIA and from authorized resellers such as PNY Technologies at MSRPs of $349 (USD) for the glasses, and $399 (USD) for the RF transmitter hub. For more information on NVIDIA 3D Vision Pro, please visit: www.nvidia.com/object/3d-vision-professional-users.html.