If you’re an artist, designer, or video professional with a Mac Pro, accelerate your workflow with the Quadro 4000 for Mac graphics solution. Delivering excellent graphics performance across a broad range of design, animation and video applications, Quadro 4000 for Mac allows you to do more, faster.
Designed, tested, and built by NVIDIA, Quadro 4000 for Mac allows you to create, iterate and deliver higher quality results in less time. The revolutionary Quadro GPU architecture The breakthrough NVIDIA® Fermi architecture tightly integrates advanced visualization and compute features delivering performance that greatly accelerates professional workflows. Supercharged professional applications Delivers excellent graphics and compute performance on design, animation and video applications for Mac and Windows. Applications include Autodesk Alias industrial design products for the conceptual design process, and for blazing-fast performance and fluid interactivity when editing HD videos, creating visual effects and enhancing digital images. Designed, built and engineered by NVIDIA to the highest standards of quality Quadro solutions are designed, built and backed by NVIDIA to ensure the highest standards of quality, delivering industry leading performance, capabilities and reliability.
Accelerated performance for Microsoft Windows professional applications Experience native Quadro® GPU accelerated 3D graphics performance and features when using Apple Boot Camp. GPU Features Next-Generation NVIDIA ® CUDA™ Architecture Breakthrough parallel computing architecture, code named Fermi, tightly integrates advanced visualization and compute features delivering performance that greatly accelerates professional workflows. NVIDIA ® Scalable Geometry Engine™ Dramatically improves geometry performance across a broad range of CAD, DCC and medical applications, enabling you to work interactively with models and scenes that are an order of magnitude more complex than ever before. Large Framebuffers with Ultra-Fast Bandwidth Large GPU memory with fast bandwidth for display of complex models and scenes, as well as computation of large datasets. NVIDIA ® Parallel DataCache™ Supports a true cache hierarchy combined with on-chip shared memory. L1 and L2 caches drive exceptional throughput, accelerating features such as real-time ray tracing, physics and texture filtering.
Fast 64-Bit Floating Point Precision Industry’s fastest double precision floating point performance enabling accurate results on mission-critical applications, including computer-aided-design, finite element analysis to computational fluid dynamics. NVIDIA GigaThread™ Engine Provides up to 10x faster context switching compared to previous generation architectures, concurrent kernel execution, and improved thread block scheduling. Dual Copy Engines Enables the highest rates of parallel data processing and concurrent throughput between the GPU and host, accelerating techniques such as ray tracing, color grading and physical simulation. Fast 3D Texture Transfer Fast transfer and manipulation of 3D textures resulting in more interactive visualization of large volumetric datasets. Hardware 3D Window Clipping Hardware accelerated clip regions (data transfer mechanism between a window and the frame buffer) improve overall graphics performance by increasing transfer speed between color buffer and frame buffer. Unified Driver Architecture (UDA) The NVIDIA UDA guarantees forward and backward compatibility with software drivers.
Nvidia Quadro 4b91ae7 4000 For Mac
Simplifies upgrading to a new solution because all Quadro products work with the same driver software. Image Quality Full-Scene Antialiasing (FSAA) Up to 64x FSAA dramatically reduces visual aliasing artifacts or “jaggies,” resulting in unparalleled image quality and highly realistic scenes. GPU Tessellation with Shader Model 5.0 Quadro Tessellation Engines automatically generate finely detailed geometry, for cinematic quality environments and scenes, without sacrificing performance. 16K Texture and Render Processing The ability to texture from and render to 16K x 16K surfaces. Beneficial for applications that demand the highest resolution and quality image processing. NVIDIA High Precision High Dynamic Range (HDR) Technology Sets new standards for image clarity and quality through floating point capabilities in shading, filtering, texturing, and blending.
Enables unprecedented rendered image quality for visual effects processing. Display Features High-Quality Display Connectors Attaches to ultra-high-resolution panels producing phenomenal photorealistic image quality from a range of display connectors. Directly through GPU, supports two active connectors including, dual-link DVI-I with up to 3840 x 2400 @ 24Hz, DisplayPort with up to up to 2560 x 1600 @ 60Hz, or HDMI from a cable. 30-Bit Color Fidelity 30-bit color fidelity (10-bits per color) enables billions rather than millions of color variations for rich, vivid image quality with the broadest dynamic range.
NVIDIA ® Quadro ® Digital Video Pipeline is the industry’s only GPU-accelerated solution for real-time acquisition, processing, and delivery of high-resolution SDI video, across traditional and now 3D video broadcast environments. Supports uncompressed 8-, 10-, 12-bit SDI via optional Quadro SDI Capture and Quadro SDI Output cards. NVIDIA ® 3D Vision Pro™ includes advanced active shutter glasses delivering crystal-clear stereoscopic 3D visualization for the most immersive experience. RF technology enables a range of environments ranging from collaborative work spaces to theaters.
3D Vision Pro solution sold separately. OpenGL Quad Buffered Stereo Support OpenGL offers professional applications the capability of smooth and immersive 3D Stereo experience.
3D Stereo Synchronization Enables robust control of stereo effect through a dedicated 3-pin mini-din connection between the graphics card and 3D stereo hardware. Support via optional 3-pin mini din connector. Software Support Programming the CUDA Parallel Computing Architecture General purpose GPU computing using standard programming languages like C/C and Fortran, and emerging APIs such as OpenCL and Direct Compute. This broad adoption of is accelerating techniques like ray tracing, video and image processing, and computation fluid dynamics. Cg Programming Programmable GPU leverages Cg high-level, open-standard shading language to enable the creation and integration of real-time photorealistic effects into 3D models, scenes and designs. Microsoft ® Windows ® 7 Support Take advantage of all the new and compelling features included with, delivering unprecedented application performance, advanced visual realism, and premium reliability with superior application compatibility on mobile and desktop workstations.
Shader Model 5.0 Programmability Infinite length vertex programs and dynamic flow control remove the previous limits on OpenGL and DirectX shader programs, delivering sophisticated effects never before imagined. NVIDIA Graphics API Extensions NVIDIA provides a set of extensions to standard graphics APIs for Linux and Windows, enabling applications to take maximum advantage of state-of-the-art GPU capabilities. Accelerated performance for Microsoft Windows professional applications Experience native Quadro® GPU accelerated 3D graphics performance and features when using Apple Boot Camp. Industry Standard PCI Express 2.0 Compliant Doubles the data transfer rate up to 5 GT/sec per lane for an aggregate bandwidth of 16 GB/sec bi-directional (8 GB/sec in each direction). Ultra-Quiet Design Acoustics lower than 28db for an ultra-quiet desktop environment. GPU Specs: NVIDIA Quadro GPU Quadro 4000 for Mac CUDA Cores 256 Form Factor 4.376” H x 9.50” L / Single Slot GPU Memory Specs: Total Frame Buffer 2 GB GDDR5 Memory Interface 256-bit Memory Bandwidth (GB/sec) 89.6 Display Support: Dual Link DVI-I 1 DisplayPort 1 Stereo (3-pin Mini-DIN) Support via 3D stereo optional bracket Maximum Display Resolution Digital @ 60Hz 2560x1600 Feature Support: Shader Model 5.0 OpenGL 4.1 Microsoft DirectX 11 NVIDIA CUDA Architecture FSAA (maximum) 64x^2 Thermal and Power Specs: Maximum Power Consumption 142 W.
Share this story. Everyone knows the old Einstein quote about the definition of insanity—it's doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. After a pretty, I was really hoping not to have to slam another potentially great card hamstrung by bad drivers. As a 3D professional, I've known NVIDIA's drivers to be their weakest point and have lost track of how many times I've recommended Radeon cards over NVIDIA for Maya and Mudbox (I frequently get asked to recommend video cards). It seemed that NVIDIA was just phoning it in and praying that CUDA's entrenchment in professional non-linear video editing, known to be heavily Mac-based, would be enough to sell these to Mac users. So when NVIDIA felt confident enough in their new Quadro 4000 Mac Edition to give me a card for review, I know that they'd either fixed it or gone insane. Well, I'm pleased to say that the folks at NVIDIA aren't crazy.
But that said, this is no perfect score either. This new card marks NVIDIA's departure from gaming cards for desktop Macs, and, considering that only someone with a twisted sense of humor would buy a Mac Pro for gaming, I think this was a wise choice. Potential users of this card are content creators, and the Quadro's features (not to mention the price) are better oriented towards this latter class of user. While you can get a lot of card for less money in a gaming card like a GTX 4xx or 5xx, such cards aren't practical for extended periods of use. With two GTX 580s running something like Octane Render over a weekend, the heat would be incredible. This heat also makes for a potential liability, shortening the life of your Mac Pro while adding a lot to your monthly electric bill.
For shorter periods of intensive GPU usage, a gaming card can be fine. This review is a little late coming since the card has been out for a few months.
I wanted to wait for OpenCL drivers for OS X 10.6 and the Quadro 4000, but after a few months with those still not arriving, I moved on to do the review. Fortunately, the beta releases of OS X 10.7 (Lion) includes OpenCL drivers, so I included scores those scores here. Lion also shed some light on the future of this and other 3D cards on the Mac. To make things a little more interesting for the review, I've also used a generic PC BIOS Radeon 5570 to see if it's even feasible to use these cards now that Apple seems to be throwing drivers into future OS X version to support these cards. I would never recommend these cards for mission-critical professional applications, but I thought that including the results would be interesting.
Price The price is by far the best 'feature' of this card—at $1200 MSRP, it doesn't cost more than the PC version. Mac users have grown accustomed to paying way too much for the same hardware, and NVIDIA did well by keeping the price down. I really hope this becomes the norm.
That said, the Mac version is not exactly what you'd get in the BIOS PC version; it has only two display outputs, where the PC version has three. So I guess it's all not all roses for Mac users, but it's still encouraging given that the card can be bought from Amazon for far below the $1200 suggested retail price: But, as I said in my review of the Quadro FX 4800, the hardware is only half the picture with these cards.
Let's see if the drivers and features make them worth the cost over the cheaper Radeon options. Test Hardware. Mac Pro dual hexacore Westmere Xeon 2.66 GHz. 24GB RAM. 120GB OCZ Vertex Turbo SSD system drive.
Dual NEC 2490WUXi Spectraview monitors. OS X 10.6.7 and Quadro 4000 Mac driver “Retail256.01.00f03v7” Installation and General Usage Physical installation is standard—the Quadro 4000 comes with adapters for the single DisplayPort connector, and it worked fine with the DVI input on the NEC 2490WUXi. Since there's no HDMI or mini DisplayPort, the card doesn't support HDCP audio out like the Radeon 5870 does. So, considering the lack of a third display output, it's a pretty bare-bones package.
You can get an optional 3D output adapter for the 4000, but I didn't test this. Physically, the card is tiny. I knew it was a one-slot card before it showed up, but it still blew my mind to see the 2GB Fermi card sitting next to the 1GB Radeon 5870. That there is one petite video card.
In the machine, it looks like a silver slice of pumpernickel: Squint and you'll see the Quadro sitting in the bottom PCI-E slot, using only one power connector, and it's not eating up the extra space intended for large video cards. You could put a single- or dual-slot card in the bottom and the Quadro in the second 16-lane PCI-E slot and still not block any other slots. The Quadro driver installation went as smoothly as you could expect given Apple's limitations. OS X requires drivers for cards to support drawing to the screen, so you have to install the driver for the card before you pop it into your system. This means that if you have to boot off of a 10.6 system CD, you will be headless unless you use another video card. It's been a problem for every video card that has been released without direct integration into the system, whether for ATI or NVIDIA parts for the past few years. This is pretty embarrassing for Apple, a company that's partly responsible for making 'plug-and-play' sound as dated as it does.
One time I booted up the machine with the Quadro after reinstalling the OS and the Quadro driver wasn't installed—I had to install it via my iPhone VNC client since the OS was booted but the screen itself was blank. This isn't a criticism of NVIDIA—it's just a note that if you want your Mac Pro to boot a modern operating system that can use this card with no driver loaded, try FreeDOS. The Quadro is an energy-efficient card that lacks the bandwidth of faster gaming cards, but I couldn't notice much difference in OS X, Photoshop CS5, and other general use apps after using the Radeon 5870. The card is quiet, but not as quiet as the 5870. This is probably due to the single-slot profile, which could force the fan to spin faster to get the same amount of cooling as a slower double-height card's fan. It's not noisy by any means—the 5870 is just exceptionally quiet.
Even when running both cards in the one Mac Pro, you can still call it a quiet system. All tests for this review were done using the one card, so you can be sure any bugs mentioned aren't due to this setup. If you're interested in how I did this mix of cards given the Mac Pro only having two power connectors on the motherboard, check out this page of my. General support for the Quadro 4000 Mac edition is there, with hardware acceleration working with Quartz Extreme, Flash and Photoshop CS5, but it has a lot of issues that compound to make the experience less enjoyable. Like the GTX 285, the 4000 has a tendency to resync my displays often enough that it's annoying.
If the monitors wake or I launch iTunes or QuickTime, there's a 50% chance that it will draw blue screens and go back to normal, like I've just attached another display.