The friendly folks at work gave us some Nvidia Quadio FX 3500 vid cards today. i understand theyre pretty surrious, but are more 3d app cards, not gaming cards.

I have a Geforce 7600GT now. would i be better or worse off w/ this card for 3d games?

Also i read something that w/ a new bios (and maybe drivers to match) you can really unlock these cards and make them more gaming friendly. whats the word on that?

thanks

4/19/2007 10:45:38 AM

I too am interested in this knowledge.

4/19/2007 10:58:25 AM

try it and see.

4/19/2007 11:50:05 AM

The Quadro (not Quadio ) FX 3500 is based on the NV40 gpu (similar to 6800's). Its more tuned to CAD/art 3d programs as you mentions, such as solid works, maya, etc... The card also supports a much higher resolution of upto 3840 x 2400:24 Hz. There's also some minor differences in specs as the card is again geared toward quality rendering rather then speed.

Here's a review of the FX 4000:
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2307&p=1

A quick glance/reference of various of cards:
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2746&p=6

This is just a quick sum up, but it looks that the 7600gt is almost 6 frames faster then a 6800 gs and the fx4000 is slower than a 6800 ultra. They aren't a speed demons but it could play games. I would bet that the 7600gt you have now beats the Quadro, but I'd suspect it would be 15-5fps slower in a majority of the games. If not slower.

4/19/2007 12:01:01 PM

How much is a GeForce 7600GT going for nowadays. I'm looking for a cheap 9800 Pro replacement.

4/19/2007 12:02:39 PM

What's your budget? The new midrange/low end dx10's are out. 8600 and 8500's are around the 100-150 price point. Not sure about the performance, haven't looked at it yet. Best bang for the buck is the 8800 gts 320mb card. They are about 270AR or less now.

4/19/2007 12:19:33 PM

^ 8600 GTS is crap. 8800 GTS is the best bang for the buck as previous post says. PNY has cheap ones ($220). The better ones are by XFX and BFG, both with lifetime warranty on their cards.

4/19/2007 12:34:05 PM

EVGA as well for lifetime warrenty

4/19/2007 12:43:40 PM

Its not NV40

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NVIDIA_Quadro

its G71!

4/19/2007 12:46:35 PM

i'm nerdy so i just installed the new card at lunch.

verdict?

Quadro FX 3500 >>>>> Geforce 7600GT


I only play race car games, but i can now max every single thing out in GTR2 including real mirrors and wheels (both eat a lot of power) while running at full FSAA and run a 24 car race and still stay in th 70fps range. w/ vsync on (60hz LCD) i don't get a flinch. wow! before in a race w/ settings at mediumish and FSAA at the lowest setting (4 levels) id dip into the 20-30fps while in traffic.

[Edited on April 19, 2007 at 1:50 PM. Reason : fdfd]

4/19/2007 1:50:19 PM

Dan, give me your old card

$2

4/19/2007 9:09:28 PM

somewhat OT, but the 8600GTS is 128-bit vs. the 8800GTS is 320-bit... that's why the 8600x sucks

4/19/2007 9:16:58 PM

I got one at work. I use it to check email.

4/19/2007 10:06:11 PM

yeah, was reading up on the new cards at work today. pretty surprised they cut a lot of corners and expect that kind of msrp's.

And the Fx 4000 is an nv40gl so I assumed that the 3500 was a similar model. guess not

4/19/2007 11:45:30 PM

Quote :

"Geforce 7600GT"

agp? sell? how much?

4/20/2007 11:28:28 AM

its PCIE, too

using rivatuner, i "changed" my card to its 7950GT equivelent and installed the faster geforce drivers. Its overclocking quite nicely, too.

from 450mhz core and 660mhz memory stock to 625/837mhz now.

thats from a 3600 to a 4500 in 3dmark06

OH YAYERR..

4/21/2007 2:47:10 PM