NVIDIA's Quadro4 Preview: Threatening the Competition

Quadro4 XGL

As was NVIDIA's goal with the GeForce4 launch, the Quadro4 line will be made available in both entry-level (Quadro4 NVS) and main-stream/performance (Quadro4 XGL) models.

The Quadro4 XGL line is subdivided into five separate cards:

Quadro4 900 XGL

The 900 XGL is NVIDIA's flagship Quadro4 offering and although NVIDIA wasn't willing to disclose clock speed information we'd assume that the 900 XGL would have an even higher clock speed than the desktop GeForce4 Ti 4600.

As you can guess the 900 XGL is based off of the GeForce4-derived NV25GL core. Cards will be available with 128MB of either SDR or DDR SDRAM. The 900XGL will also feature dual DVI video output connectors.

Quadro4 750 XGL

The 750 XGL is simply clocked lower than the 900 XGL while retaining all of the other features of the card. The 750 XGL is targeted specifically at 3DLab's Wildcat 6210 card (since according to NVIDIA, the 900XGL will seriously outperform the Wildcat) and is made available with 128MB of DDR SDRAM. The card features one DVI and one VGA output.

Quadro4 700 XGL

The 700 XGL is identical to the 750 XGL in clock speed yet it features a 64MB DDR SDRAM memory subsystem instead of the larger 128MB outfit.

Quadro4 500/550 XGL

Here's where things get a little confusing, the Quadro4 500 XGL and 550 XGL aren't based on the NV25GL core rather they use the NV17GL core. This means that these two cards are GeForce4 MX derivatives, meaning that they definitely won't be as great of performers as the 700+ series Quadro4 cards.

The 550 XGL features 64MB of DDR SDRAM while the 500 XGL is a SDR part.

Only users with cards slower than last year's Quadro DCC should consider the Quadro4 500/550 XGL.