Workhorse Vs. Powerhorse

One of the questions that I am frequently asked is “Should I buy a Quadro or GeForce graphic card?”. In this post I will answer this question. Both are graphic card families from NVIDIA. Quadro is a workstation-class solution aimed at CAD (Computer Aided Design) and DCC (Digital Content Creation) professionals where as GeForce is a consumer-level solution aimed at gamers and home users. ATI has a competing product family called FirePRO 3D.

Quadro uses almost the same hardware as GeForce at the core. The hardware is tweaked a little bit to provide features and optimizations for the professional user and Quadro uses a different firmware. In fact it is possible to mod a GeForce to work with Quadro drivers. However, being a workstation level graphic card means that it should meet high quality and reliability standards. When you are working on a highly critical car design or a movie scene the last thing you want is a hardware failure or a system crash. Quadro's are built for that kind of quality and reliability.

The Major difference comes in the form of software. NVIDIA backs Quadro with high quality driver, middle ware and application support. There are Quadro solutions that are tailor made for certain applications like the Quadro CX designed for Adobe Creative Suite 4.

Now lets talk about performance and price. These hardware features and optimizations along with software give Quadro an edge over GeForce in CAD/DCC and the performance is a lot better then equivalent GeForce card. Quadro also has features that make working with CAD/DCC applications more efficient and precise. When it comes to gaming GeForce performs a lot better than an equivalent Quadro. Price is another important factor. Quadro comes at a premium. A Quadro costs upto 3 times the cost of an equivalent GeForce, they are very expensive.

So the conclusion is if you are a buying a graphic card for gaming with some CAD/DCC, GeForce is the way to go. For serious CAD/CAM and casual gaming, go for a Quadro.