NVIDIA QuadroFX 4800 1.5 GB Workstation Graphics Card
Specifications and Comparison
Specifications
Before we look at this card specifically, we wanted to run through some of the specification and compare them to the newly launched FirePro V8700 card as long with its bigger brother, the QuadroFX 5800.
 ATI FirePro V8700
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 NVIDIA QuadroFX 4800
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 NVIDIA QuadroFX 5800
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For those who cannot tell by looking at the specification differences between the QuadroFX 4800 and QuadroFX 5800, what we're basically dealing with here are the Quadro versions of the GeForce GTX 260 and 280 series, somewhat beefed up for the workstation market. These variants are equipped with huge frame buffers, native DisplayPort options, Stereo output support, and support for Genlock/Framelock. ATI's FirePro V8700 follows that same strategy, using their RV770 GPU used in the Radeon HD4870 series and re-equipping it for the pro market.
While the "upgrades" to the GeForce GTX 260 design to make the move over to the Quadro series are certainly positive all across the board, there is one thing to note. The QuadroFX 4800 is using NVIDIA's 192-shader core variant of the GT200 GPU, whereas the GTX 260 is now shipping with a 216-shader core variant. Effectively, this makes the QuadroFX 4800 the slowest member of the GT200 family to ship thus far - however, we're dealing with very solid architecture already, so performance wise, we're not worried about this card not delivering. It will--how much versus the ATI FirePro V8700 is yet to be seen, however.
Also worth noting - the new QuadroFX series cards officially support OpenGL 3.0, whereas ATI's new lineup still only states OpenGL 2.1 support.
