Tom's Hardware > Forum > Graphic & Displays > Nvidia > [Solved] Running a workstation and a gamestation in one?

[Solved] Running a workstation and a gamestation in one?

Forum Graphic & Displays : Nvidia [Solved] Running a workstation and a gamestation in one?

I recently was given the chance to purchase a used Quadro FX card (Quadro FX 4800) for $700 from a business associate.

First, can I run a EVGA GTX 580 in one PCI-E slot and the the Quadro FX in a second slot? Play games off of my 580 and use the design programs (Adobe, AfterEffects, Maya, Sketchup) with the Quadro?

Secondly, with my system being a GTX 580 on a Gigabyte UD3R-X58 being powered by a 850 Thermaltake Blackwidow, is it even an upgrade to using my current Gpu or possible on my current PSU?

Thanks for the (future)insight. I don't know if there is currently a thread created resembling this. The 'search forums' results are brutal in amount returned and relevance.

Reply to joshyboy82

Best answer

That's a tough call. Those Quadro cards are designed with a specific purpose.

I think a 580 will perform better. It has over twice the stream processors.

Also, unless you can point your software at a specific controller from within the software, you'll have to disable the 580 for the Quadro FX to kick in as the primary video controller, otherwise you'll have yourself a $700 PhysX processor sitting in the 2nd slot.

I think I'd run with either or. Ask the associate if you can take it home and try it one night. The real prospect of being able to unload the card should be a decent amount of incentive for the associate to comply.

Power shouldn't be a problem as the quadro card uses a single 6-pin connector. You could run 2 580s in SLI with that PSU with 12V wattage to spare.

Let us know which works better for rendering in Maya. I'd like to know.

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Reply to ubercake