NVIDIA'S Quadro FX 3000 Smokes the Competition

By David Em

January 5, 2004

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Once upon a time there were many players in the desktop graphics card arena. Now there are effectively only two, NVIDIA and ATI. On the very high end, these two players are joined by 3dLabs, makers of the powerful Wildcat line of graphics processors. Last year, we awarded 3Dlabs' Wildcat 6210 the performance crown, but this year that distinction goes to NVIDIA's Quadro FX 3000.

Graphics cards represent the fastest-evolving front in computing. Moore's Law predicts CPU speeds will double every eighteen months, but GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) speeds double every six months.

The $2,000 FX 3000 redefines high-end graphics performance in two significant ways. One is its sheer horsepower, which I'll discuss further below. Perhaps more meaningful is the fact that for the first time in our experience, there are essentially no tradeoffs in usability with this card compared to consumer-level boards, such as state-of-the-art Direct X performance, video playback, multiple display support, and color fidelity.

When you pay a couple thousand bucks or more for a graphics card and don't get many of the benefits found on boards costing a fifth or even a tenth as much, it's aggravating. The FX 3000 breaks that mold, providing uncompromising performance while delivering all the important creature comforts.

First Impressions

The FX 3000 is a full-size 8X AGP card that sports what's probably the biggest heat sink I've ever seen. BYTE.com Contributing Editor Alex Pournelle had no trouble installing the FX 3000 in our new HP xw8000 workstation, although it does require plugging in a y-split power connector to provide it with sufficient juice. Compared to the pro-level boards we were testing a couple years back that took up two slots and had four cooling fans, the 3000's a marvel of efficient design.

While we were inserting the 3000, we also installed an NVIDIA NVS 200 board in a PCI slot with the goal of testing animation and video apps across more than two display surfaces.

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