Hot on the heels of its high-end Fermi-based professional GPUs, NVIDIA is introducing a pair of new cards designed for the mainstream designer, architect or animator.
The Quadro 600 is an entry-level card featuring 96 CUDA cores and 1GB DDR3 connected via a 128-bit bus. Though NVIDIA hasn't specified any clock-speeds, eagle-eyed readers may have noticed that the card sounds a lot like the upcoming GT 430. Putting the two together gives a likely core-clock of 700MHz, with the shaders running at 1,400MHz and the memory at 800MHz. The half-height card supports DisplayPort and DVI outputs and has a maximum power-draw of only 40W.
For those looking for a more mid-range solution, NVIDIA is also launching the Quadro 2000. This GPU replaces the Quadro 1800, and the manufacturer is promising a 50 per cent increase in geometry performance over the previous generation. The card is equipped with 192 CUDA cores, 1GB GDDR5 and a 128-bit memory-interface, making this the professional version of the GTS 450. The Quadro 2000 is equipped with two DisplayPort connectors as well as a single DVI port and has a power-draw of 62W.
As well as all of the standard technologies like DirectX 11, OpenGL 4.1, DirectCompute and OpenCL, the cards support 30-bit colour fidelity and 3D Vision Pro.
Both cards should be available from system builders and resellers immediately. The Quadro 2000 carries a MSRP of $599 (£467 inc VAT) while the Quadro 600 should retail for $199 (£155 inc VAT).
