RAM | Reseller Advocate Magazine: Issue 54

By Chris Angelini

We're not even halfway through 2006 and the year has already been an eventful one with regard to professional graphics. First, 3Dlabs bowed out of the game, announcing its intention to refocus on portable handhelds instead of a "shrinking professional workstation graphics market." Then ATI introduced its first foray into ultra high-end graphics, following the announcement up with a completely retooled product line. And now NVIDIA has stepped up the performance of its fastest card in a bid to capture even more market share. It should come as little surprise that ATI and NVIDIA both refute the claims by 3Dlabs that demand for workstation-class hardware is shrinking. Recently published data from Jon Peddie Research would seem to concur. According to the report, unit shipments rose 16.8% and sales increased by 6.8% in 2005. "Last year, our Quadro family saw 30% growth," says Raj Mirpuri, workstation product manager at NVIDIA. "The professional market is most definitively not shrinking."

Reemphasizing Power

High-End Muscle
Workstation graphics cards can get pricey. That’s why the Quadro FX 3500 makes for an attractive upsell—it's laden with high-end functionality but doesn’t cost as much as the ultra-high-end cards.

In fact, NVIDIA has been shuffling around its Quadro FX lineup to better capitalize on workstation hardware. You can now get in the door with an entry-level board, the Quadro FX 350, for just over $150. That price gets you 128MB of memory, DVI ouput, Shader Model 3.0 support, and a single-slot form factor. Stepping up to the Quadro FX 550 buys an extra DVI output and twice as much frame buffer bandwidth thanks to a wider bus. The new FX 560 winds out NVIDIA's low-end, simultaneously featuring a sub-$300 price tag while enabling one dual-link DVI output for high-res monitors.

There's just one new mid-range product to note as NVIDIA phases out older Shader Model 2.0 boards in favor of a more modern architecture. The Company's Quadro FX 1500 sells for less than $700 yet comes equipped with 256MB of DDR memory on a 256-bit bus, two dual-link DVI ports, and a high-def video output.

NVIDIA's Quadro FX 3500 dominates the high-end, featuring the same Shader Model 3.0 functionality, up to 1.4 times greater performance than the FX 1500, dual-link DVI, and a stereo connector. Although it commands a premium price, the Quadro FX 3500 is well-suited to CAD environments that require some shading but aren't yet in the realm of photo-realistic rendering.

Cranking it Up a Notch

Having recently pulled through debilitating product delays on the desktop side, ATI's professional graphics lineup had begun looking dated. Even still, ATI's Danny Shapiro, worldwide marketing manager for the FireGL family, claims the company has seen 120% combined growth over the past two years. ATI is hoping that success continues with a much-needed refresh, updating updating its lineup with Shader Model 3.0 support.

Back on Track
The FireGL V5200 represents a step in the right direction for ATI. This is a mid-range workstation card outfitted with 256MB of memory, two dual-link DVI outputs, and complete Shader Model 3.0 support.

Both the FireGL 3300 and 3400 exist in ATI's "up to $400" entry-level container. The pair are equipped with 128MB frame buffers and dueling DVI outputs. If your customer has a somewhat flexible budget, spring for ATI's FireGL 3400 featuring more vertex processing power, three times as many pixel shaders, a dual-link connector, and component output.

The mid-range FireGL V5200 wields a similar architecture but offers twice the frame buffer (256MB) and two dual-link outputs for high resolution monitors. It sits between $400 and $800, doing battle with NVIDIA's Quadro FX 1500. Finally, ATI's new high-end FireGL 7200 increases pixel and vertex shading processing through a derivative of the R520 GPU in addition to supporting stereo 3D output.

A Whole New World

The last time we covered workstation-class graphics, 3Dlabs had just announced the Realizm 800, a monstrous, dual-VPU card with 640MB of GDDR-3 memory on a PCI Express x16 interface. 3Dlabs' flagship defined the ultra high-end niche with massive processing capabilities. Of course, now that 3Dlabs has thrown in the towel, the Realizm isn't much of a contender any more. Fortunately, ATI and NVIDIA both have their own ultra high-end parts to help keep that market satisfied.

King of the Hill
Many of your customers don't have 1GB of memory in their desktops much less on their graphics cards. NVIDIA’s Quadro FX 5500 is the baddest card available, bar none.

NVIDIA's solution, not even a month old, is called the Quadro FX 5500. The card is equipped with 1GB of GDDR-3 memory and a G71GL graphics processor manufactured using TSMC's 90 nm process. Now, in a desktop environment, such a large frame buffer would likely show little benefit. But according to representatives at NVIDIA, all of that memory is put to use by customers manipulating large datasets. Oil and gas exploration, medical imaging, and scientific visualization are all markets where such a powerhouse is set up for success. Add SLI, genlock, and SDI support, and you're looking at a very fast, flexible card.

The silver lining is that many of NVIDIA's tier-one customers plan to certify the Quadro FX 5500 for use in their workstations but will not be immediately selling it as an upgrade SKU. In other words, the card looks to be a high-margin upsell opportunity for channel partners.

For the first time in a while, ATI is ready to do battle with NVIDIA's fastest workstation card. Its FireGL V7350 enables many of the same high-end features found on the company's desktop boards, such as Shader Model 3.0 functionality and the Avivo display pipeline. Like the Quadro FX 5500, ATI's FireGL V7350 wields 1GB of memory, making it similarly attractive to customers working with massive datasets. The newest FireGL card's real ace is an attractive sub-$2,000 price point, though.

What, No CrossFire?

Priced to Impress
Not only is ATI’s FireGL V3300 affordable but it also features the Avivo display pipeline with two DVI outputs. Customers with 3D needs can use a pair of the cards to enable four-display arrays.

We're now looking at the second generation of NVIDIA hardware with SLI support—the capability that allows customers to harness the power of two graphics cards operating side by side. And while NVIDIA continues extolling the benefits of SLI, ranging from four-monitor output to 32x FSAA rendering, ATI has yet to enable its multi-card equivalent at the professional level.

According to Danny Shapiro, worldwide marketing manager for ATI's FireGL lineup, splitting the rendering load between two cards is still quite problematic at the workstation level since many applications run in a windowed mode rather than full-screen, creating load balancing issues. Consequently, performance stays flat, or, in many cases, dips.

Now, if it's a multi-display setup you're after, two FireGL cards will still deliver the same output capabilities of NVIDIA's SLI Multi-View Mode. Alternatively, look to the FireMV or Quadro NVS families for 2D-only multi-monitor output.

Old School 2D

You might be surprised to hear that many customers automatically assume multi-display configurations are prohibitively expensive, never mind research conducted by Microsoft demonstrating the productivity benefits of at least a second monitor. Large LCDs are priced well within reach of small businesses, and the cards, though still excellent margin opportunities, are very affordable, too. But help your customer think beyond the cost of acquisition. Microsoft's VIBE (Visualization and Interaction for Business and Entertainment) group's study found that productivity increased between 9% and 50% depending on the task. Now you've moved beyond spending money to where your customer is looking at a true business investment.

A New Flagship
Though previously absent from the ultra-high-end market, the 1GB FireGL V7350 gives ATI authority amongst those who work with large datasets.

The latest multi-display cards from ATI and NVIDIA help make the decision easier by piling on plenty of value. Take NVIDIA's incumbent Quadro NVS family, for example, made up of three distinct models and supporting a trio of different interfaces. The entry-level Quadro NVS 280 offers a pair of display connectors with digital resolutions up to 1600x1200 and analog outputs topping out at 2048x1536. Despite such flexibility, the card iskeyed to PCI-only workstations and is cooled passively, so customers are guaranteed less noise output.

At the other end of the spectrum, NVIDIA recently started shipping its flagship Quadro NVS 440, which is more capable in every way. For starters, you can connect a quartet of digital monitors at resolutions as high as 1920x1200 or analog screens at 2048x1536. It dissipates a little more heat than the other NVS boards (31W versus 21W), but it is still cooled by a passive heatsink. North American board partner PNY offers the Quadro NVS 440 with two different interfaces: PCI Express x16 and PCI Express x1. Because only 2D graphics data travels across the pipe, customers will realize similar performance from either solution.

So at the end of the day, NVIDIA's Quadro NVS cards allow you to sell into 2D workstations with almost any type of upgrade slot, all the while minimizing noise and power consumption. Potential customers may range from small businesses seeking multiple displays for vanilla desktops to financial groups, image production studios, and software development firms. ATI's FireMV lineup seeks to attract a similar group, and, in many ways, the FireMV hardware is very much like the competing Quadro NVS platform. It enables productivity-oriented multi-monitor output, minimal power consumption, and a fanless. Four boards step forth to serve that function: the FireMV 2200 PCI, 2200 PCI Express, 2400 PCI, and 2400 PCI Express. The two 2200-series cards are identical except for the physical interface. Both support up to two displays with digital resolutions as high as 1600x1200 and analog outputs topping out at 2048x1536. A low profile and low heat output work well in even the smallest chassis.

The Best of Both Worlds
Though it isn't the fastest steed in NVIDIA's stable, a Quadro FX 1500 board buys your customer 256MB of memory, dual DVI outputs, and SLI support. Think of it as a perfect compromise.

Stepping up to the 2400-series buys extra outputs—a total of four mixed and matched between digital and analog. Your customer gets twice as much memory (256MB), twice the number of graphics processors, and similar resolution ceilings. In that way, NVIDIA's Quadro NVS 440 holds an advantage because it accommodates the higher resolutions native to 23" and larger displays commonly used in graphics design studios.

An Issue of Support

ATI markets its own branded workstation products. As such, you and your customers can go straight to the source for help. The first stage of support involves direct telephone or email support. If that doesn't solve your customer's issues, an in-house problem resolution team is assigned to the issue, persisting until resolution is achieved. Level three features in-field technical support for particularly critical issues. You get the same degree of assistance through the same tiered structure each and every time there's a problem.

NVIDIA's policy is somewhat different since its board partners sell the Quadro cards. You'll have to work through whichever vendor manufactured the problematic card. And although there are only a handful of partners selling Quadro cards, the good news is that PNY has the largest presence in North America, so most of the time you'll still be working with just one company.

A Wrap on Workstations

With 3DLabs out of the picture, ATI and NVIDIA are really the only two vendors selling workstation graphics cards. Fortunately, both companies have stepped up their respective product families to include the ultra-high-end void left by 3Dlabs, in addition to improving on mainstream setups and specialized multi-monitor environments. The workstation graphics market is decidedly picking up momentum, and these latest products, mainstream and niche, will keep resellers contending for professional business.