What is the best GPU to use in a Workstation?

Let's dive in with another question. What is the intended use case? Usually, when people approach workstations and GPUs in particular - their workflow, datasets or workloads, and use cases are the main contributing factor.

Nethertheless, features which GPUs provide play a big role in the desicion process. Take, for example, ECC support, SR-IOV, Mosaic, Memory pooling with NVLINK, and so on. In many cases, the limiting factor is the VRAM or Memory capacity. In such case, the higher and more complex the datasets, the more VRAM is required. And even if that is not enough, memory pooling is also available on the Nvidia Quadro lineup.

VRAM? Vram is a terminology for the GPU's onboard memory, varying in 2-32 or 48 GB. The more VRAM you have the more of the data you can fit into your memory. Memory is essential these days - textures, models, lighting, etc, they all benefit from it. Creators such as CAD designers, Automotive Designers, VFX, Video editors rely heavily on it. 

Coming from an automotive designer's way of thinking, for example, you can fit more and more textures, environments, complex geometry into that specific memory pool and don't have to rely on adding another card into the mix, but if that's the case, you can always pool up your memory with another card by using NVLINK. This is where the Nvidia Quadro lineup shines the most, no consumer card can do the same.

GPU core, let's talk about performance. With the newest RTX lineup of Nvidia Quadros, you can see huge performance gains over the previous generation, sometimes even 2-3-4x the performance. It all comes down to the core's efficiency and the instruction set adoption of the program in question, plus the core's architecture. With the latest iteration of Tensor / RT cores, the boost is a very visual one. For ages, people have been dreaming of real-time raytracing, now, it's a reality. 

Why Quadro, why not a Geforce card, what makes it so special and who uses it? That's where things get a bit complicated. If you are a one-man crew renderer, it can do a lot of work. But when it comes to precision, fluid dynamics, simulations, where every single piece of the puzzle has to be correctly done, with real-world dynamics, then nothing beats the Quadro lineup. Though Teslas are more scientifically orientated and are even better performing, they come with a cost "penalty".

Quadro in itself is a Monster, it has ECC support on the memory for example, which means it's less prone to any data mismatch or a Bit crashing the whole thing, that's where it's king. Quadros also come with leading support and warranty, and they are not only used in workstations, but in servers. They don't just aid in modeling with high precision, they help to simulate, render, and do even more complex tasks, where Geforce cards just can't perform on the same level. 

Recap. Quadros are a visualization and a calculation tool meant for large datasets with precision in mind and the capability to expand. They come with industry leading support, are less prone to data corruption and they're built to last. For production environments, large scale deployments in the HPC world, or even for a one-man workshop, we are always recommending going towards a Quadro GPU.

All workstations listed on our site are Quadro RTX GPU compatible. See some examples here. 

Find the NVIDIA® Quadro RTX™ 8000 Datasheet here