Pricing a new workstation, for Houdini, would be doing simming/rendering. Was thinking the quadro 4000 was a good balance for age/value and power. The gtx 580 isn't really much cheaper…any thoughts? Quadro been berry berry good to me…

Thanks in advance!

J.C.

The Quadro is officially supported and will give you less headaches when Nvidia decides to do some crazy changes to the Geforce drivers.

The only thing I notice with the Quadro 4000 is the noise when it's under load. It's a single-slot card, so the cooler begins to sound like a jet turbine when you throw a lot at it (such as tumbling a very heavy scene). The 5000 is a dual slot card that will likely be a lot quieter, but it's also twice the 4000's already-hefty price. A cheaper alternative to the 5000 would be a well-ventilated case.

Otherwise, it's a very good card.

Bear in mind that Nvidia likes to launch Quadro's around SIGgraph time, and well, it's almost that time

Yeah, it's impossible to keep up. I really just want a decent card without the obscene prices, and, as mentioned, quadro just seems to avoid a lot of problems I keep reading about for a bit more money(the 580 is only around $250 cheaper). The enclosure would be a Boxx, and they're usually pretty good with sound and cooling…

My primary concern is ‘omg don’t be buying that - it doesn't support <insert API here> and all you get is pwn'ed!'

Thanks

J.C.

My primary concern is ‘omg don’t be buying that - it doesn't support <insert API here> and all you get is pwn'ed!'

It supports OpenGL 4.1, which is more than you need for now (with Houdini, at least). I'm expecting a new OpenGL spec next week, but given that there's no new generation of graphics hardware on the radar yet, I don't see additional hardware requirements coming, just API streamlining.

Well, no new Quadros at SIGgraph, but in my search, I did notice that noted-Quadro distributor PNY has a promotion going until the end of August that'll get you some money back:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/quadro-pny-promotion.html [nvidia.com]

There seems to be quite a few restrictions, but perhaps worth a look if you're buying anyway.