Quadro and Geforce - Vray and 3ds Max

[Robert Lopez]

Hi ! Im planning to buy a notebook and cant figure out wich graphics card i should go for.. ive already read a lot and watched tons of videos about this debate.. im planning to buy a Quadro P3200 workstation or an RTX 2070 gamer notebook .. I've seen that quadro favors open gl programs, but to what extents ? Does the drivers really matter today..?

Im planning to use it for modelling on 3ds max, sketchup and using vray as my main render engine. Id like to read more opinions.. Thanks in advance ..

 

Ps: There is a similar thread going on on these site but im afraid is from 2015 and may be outdated.. thats why im posting again !

[fredriksimu]

For what it's worth: We do archviz and have 3 workstations at our office running 3dsMax 2020 and corona render. (But v-ray would not be any different for this topic) Also doing stuff in UE4/Twinmotion, Enscape and various programs. Cards we have are Geforce GTX 980ti, GTX1060, RTX2070.

Never had any problems with regular GeForcecards. Really experienced people I've talked to within the field of archviz have all used regular GeForce cards, except those that work in companies where they buy computers that does not come with that option at all.

We had to "go around" our regular supplier by oredering the workstation without the "standard" quadro card and then installing a consumer GTX card ourselves.

Edited September 4, 2019 by fredriksimu

[Scott Schroeder]

This is for the older series of Quadro cards, but I have had nothing but trouble with them in my experience. Unless you are doing some serious computing on your GPU, the standard gamer card will be more than enough for your needs.

 

Be aware with the notebook, that the RTX cards in there are somewhat weaker than their desktop versions. I have a laptop with a RTX 2080 Max Q that performs on par with the RTX 2060 desktop card.

 

Quite honestly, the RTX cards in laptops are a slight waste of your money. Heck, any powerful GPU in a laptop is a misuse of money. It is for one simple reason, the thinness of the laptops makes it a thermal nightmare to keep those cards cool. Therefore, the power to the card gets cut to weaken the card.

[Francisco Penaloza]

Well, Thankfully I had plenty of experience with all the cards named here.

on my workstation, I have always been using Quadro series, because as mentioned earlier here, this machine is bough for the company, having said that I just pushed for an upgrade and I got an RTX 2080TI, we are going strong with realtime engines so, there is that.

 

I sued to have a Quadro P4000 that worked great all the time until I run out of memory on some scenes.

 

On the Laptop side Scott is correct when mentioned that there is a performance difference with the Max Q series, usually is about 10 to 20 percent, we haven't seen more than that.

 

We have a few MSI and Ryzer with RTX 2080 and compared to desktop RTX they are about that, 10-20 percent slower.

 

For laptops, heat is the main issue, that's why they made the Max Q series, now Quadro video chips on Laptops last longer than regular GTX o RTX now. We have the same age laptops and all the GTX had to have maintenance or be replaced, the same model but with Quadro keep going strong.

 

Regarding software, there is a small difference between OpenGL in favor of Quadro chip, but for us, the only problem we have is Sketchup sometimes freezing when using multiples monitors. Also there is less ghosting on meshes and CAD app with the Quadros chips, Laptops and desktop. This is when you mix pixels and vector data in CAD software, ( you know placing a PDF on REVIT scene, stuff like that) But for regular users this is very minimal.

 

For a laptop, if you need the best performance for your bucks I would go with the RTX1070 instead of the P3200, besides you'll get real-time raytracing capabilities that even tho it won't be a killer performance but at least it will let you get your feets wet with that technology.

[Robert Lopez]

First of all thanks for the responses guys, but for some reason im inclining towards the P3200, the "workstation" setup seems more reliable and resistant to me, another point is that i live in a very hot country and the thermal difference between the systems im looking for is a whooping 20Celsius or 68 Fahrenheit.. The notebooks im aiming for are the gigabyte aero 15x and the thinkpad p52 if you guys wanna look up. I dont wanna have to worry about the card mainteinance or a possible damage in the card.

 

Im still deciding tho, still have my doubts. Your opinions are welcome !

Edited September 4, 2019 by robertlopez

[James Vella]

I have used the dell workstation laptops for work with the Quadro p4000 and they are a solid workstation to work on, as mentioned above the cards excel mostly in CAD software and I noticed in 3dsmax wireframe performs better than shaded view but no issues leaving it on rendering for weeks straight. I hear the Lenovo P52 also uses the max-Q design for their Quadro cards. I also hear the battery life is quite short on the Lenovo so just something to be aware of because you will be tied to the power cable most of the time. However a cool thing about the Lenovo's is that you have a removable battery without taking the backplate off, which means you can buy a few extra batteries and hot swap them on the go. Also from what I read it has 100% Adobe which if is true is a great selling point for this laptop.

 

I purchased a Gigabyte Aero and have been using it for my business for the past 2 years, I absolutely love this laptop its got so many great things going for it - namely the monitor (90% adobe), battery life (9hrs for light work, 4hrs for normal work) and power for such a thin chassis (2cm thick, very portable machine). I also leave it rendering almost constantly, CPU & GPU rendering and no problems so far. I would upgrade to the Gigabyte Aero OLED if I had the chance as Id really like to get my hands on an RTX card and it has a maximum RAM of 64gb which is perfect for Corona CPU Rendering. I have encountered 1 issue with the fans from working outside a lot, its prone to collecting dust so best to clean it out once every few months to avoid a build up. You can also avoid most thermal issues just by having a laptop stand (or cooling pad underneath - I use these on particularly hot days however I hear the latest Aero a stand built in to the chassis). One thing I do dislike is the camera being at the bottom of the monitor which is not the best angle when skyping with clients.

 

One thing that will affect battery life will be the optional 4k display. I went with the 1920x1080 monitor as you can plug in an external monitor and still get full 4k+ resolutions through the thunderbolt display without affecting battery life on the go.

 

I think they are both top quality laptops to pick from, myself I will stay with the Gigabyte Aero (Im biased here obviously) but you cant go wrong either way. It would be good to see some reviews or hear from people that have used a Lenovo for rendering for the past couple of years to see how it stacks up. From my point of view, I would go with an RTX over a Quadro from a price point of view and also because you can have a 2 extra gigs of VRAM with the 2070 giving you a bit more power (as windows 10 takes 2 GB away from you when doing GPU rendering).

 

Regarding what Francisco said about the RTX 1070 I would have to agree, these cards are a great option for laptops as they need less power and still quite bleeding edge. If you work in 3dsmax the difference would be negligible (however Aero specific I think you can only get this graphics card with the older model i7 instead of the i9 and limited to 32gb ram).

Edited September 5, 2019 by redvella

[Scott Dombrowski]

Has anyone tried a desktop video card in an eGPU chassis connected via Thunderbolt 3? We have a bunch of laptops in our loaner pool that are generally spec'ed to be VR capable other than the video card and it'd be nice to be able to just buy the video card & enclosure instead of a whole new laptop.

[Scott Schroeder]

Has anyone tried a desktop video card in an eGPU chassis connected via Thunderbolt 3? We have a bunch of laptops in our loaner pool that are generally spec'ed to be VR capable other than the video card and it'd be nice to be able to just buy the video card & enclosure instead of a whole new laptop.

 

Yes, we have the eGPU "toasters" as they are called in our office. They work quite well, almost as if the card is sitting in your machine.

[Francisco Penaloza]

Has anyone tried a desktop video card in an eGPU chassis connected via Thunderbolt 3? We have a bunch of laptops in our loaner pool that are generally spec'ed to be VR capable other than the video card and it'd be nice to be able to just buy the video card & enclosure instead of a whole new laptop.

Yes, they work fine, but there is a little performance hit with these too, depending on the laptop. Most of them still have to go through the laptop video chip and that creates some delay mostly noticed with VR.

 

Using them as rendering card they work great, We use them to cook Enscape images or Lumion animation, the main difference that for Lumion you need to connect the monitor to the eGPU for Enscape this is not necessary.

[Scott Dombrowski]

Thanks for the heads up Francisco.

 

To swing this back to the topic, we moved away from Quadros a couple of lease cycles ago when we went with 980ti cards. Worked great with Max / VR and was a lot more cost effective.

[Francisco Penaloza]

Scott D. No problems,

I honestly think NVidia shoot their self on the foot with the Quadro Vs GTX series. Years ago there was a clear difference between them but since the software itself has changed on the graphics technologies using a Quadro system is not that much justified for our 'traditional' software. It may still apply to other industries but for us, not really.

 

Also, our industry is using more and more realtime app so in that case, GTX series (now RTX) make more seance. There is a small difference still but I am not sure if the premium price you pay for it is really justified.

 

For example, in my case I was looking for more VRam, the only option is RTX 2080TI VS RTX Quadro 5000 or 6000, the price gap is very considerable.

[Robert Lopez]

I have used the dell workstation laptops for work with the Quadro p4000 and they are a solid workstation to work on, as mentioned above the cards excel mostly in CAD software and I noticed in 3dsmax wireframe performs better than shaded view but no issues leaving it on rendering for weeks straight. I hear the Lenovo P52 also uses the max-Q design for their Quadro cards. I also hear the battery life is quite short on the Lenovo so just something to be aware of because you will be tied to the power cable most of the time. However a cool thing about the Lenovo's is that you have a removable battery without taking the backplate off, which means you can buy a few extra batteries and hot swap them on the go. Also from what I read it has 100% Adobe which if is true is a great selling point for this laptop.

 

I purchased a Gigabyte Aero and have been using it for my business for the past 2 years, I absolutely love this laptop its got so many great things going for it - namely the monitor (90% adobe), battery life (9hrs for light work, 4hrs for normal work) and power for such a thin chassis (2cm thick, very portable machine). I also leave it rendering almost constantly, CPU & GPU rendering and no problems so far. I would upgrade to the Gigabyte Aero OLED if I had the chance as Id really like to get my hands on an RTX card and it has a maximum RAM of 64gb which is perfect for Corona CPU Rendering. I have encountered 1 issue with the fans from working outside a lot, its prone to collecting dust so best to clean it out once every few months to avoid a build up. You can also avoid most thermal issues just by having a laptop stand (or cooling pad underneath - I use these on particularly hot days however I hear the latest Aero a stand built in to the chassis). One thing I do dislike is the camera being at the bottom of the monitor which is not the best angle when skyping with clients.

 

One thing that will affect battery life will be the optional 4k display. I went with the 1920x1080 monitor as you can plug in an external monitor and still get full 4k+ resolutions through the thunderbolt display without affecting battery life on the go.

 

I think they are both top quality laptops to pick from, myself I will stay with the Gigabyte Aero (Im biased here obviously) but you cant go wrong either way. It would be good to see some reviews or hear from people that have used a Lenovo for rendering for the past couple of years to see how it stacks up. From my point of view, I would go with an RTX over a Quadro from a price point of view and also because you can have a 2 extra gigs of VRAM with the 2070 giving you a bit more power (as windows 10 takes 2 GB away from you when doing GPU rendering).

 

Regarding what Francisco said about the RTX 1070 I would have to agree, these cards are a great option for laptops as they need less power and still quite bleeding edge. If you work in 3dsmax the difference would be negligible (however Aero specific I think you can only get this graphics card with the older model i7 instead of the i9 and limited to 32gb ram).

 

Thanks a lot James ! Ive decided to go for the Aero since ive seen your case and also compared some 3ds max benchmarks between cards in notebookcheck.net that has been very helpful. It seems there is really little difference between Quadros and Geforce nowadays. The Aero has superior battery, a color certified screen and its truly slim and portable, about the heat issues i plan to purchase a laptop stand if necessary

[James Vella]

Sure thing Robert, wish the the best of luck with your purchase. Quite jealous