Nvidia Launches Quadro 400 Graphics Card for Professionals

Posted 04/05/2011 at 7:48am | by Paul Lilly

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As much as we'd like them to be, videocards aren't always about fun and play, For getting serious work done, you need a graphics card that cares not if it can run Crysis so long as it can compute the pants off of CAD design and other professional applications. That's the kind of thing Nvidia's new Quadro 400 videocard was designed for, and according to Nvidia, designers and engineers can expect up to 10 times better performance compared to a Sandy Bridge-equipped system, and 5 times better performance than the mighty GeForce GTX 580 in select tasks.

Those tasks don't include gaming, but do include professional applications like Autodesk AutoCAD. The Quadro 400 boasts 512MB of DDR3 memory, a 30-bit (10-bits per color) color engine with a dynamic range of over one billion color variations, and drivers that are optimized for work related programs.

"Designers and engineers, whether designing the largest assemblies or smallest components, rely on Quadro," said Jeff Brown, general manager, Professional Solutions Group, Nvidia. "The Quadro 400 is the right tool to help ensure that job gets done the right way, especially when it comes to running professional apps like Autodesk AutoCAD."

Other features include hardware 3D window clipping, unified driver architecture, support for ultra-high screen resolutions (up to 3840x2400 via dual-link DVI), and Nvidia Mosaic Technology enabling users to connect up to eight displays using a single card per two displays.

The Quadro 400 is available now for $170.

Image Credit: Nvidia