Nvidia, one of the world’s largest makers of graphics chips for PCs and game consoles, is rolling out a new graphics processor specifically aimed at workstations.
The Santa Clara, Calif., company announced Dec. 5 that its new Quadro FX 3500M graphics processor is now available on the Dell Precision M90 workstation. In a statement, Nvidia said the new graphics chips will deliver better performance, especially for high-end CAD, digital content creation and scientific visualization.
This announcement from Nvidia comes shortly after the company announced on Nov. 7 that it would begin offering new architecture for its GeForce graphics processors. This new architecture, which involves thread computing, will also be used in the professional Quadro line in 2007.
Nvidia earlier announced on Oct. 19 that it would begin shipping graphics processors that are WHQL-certified for Microsoft’s Windows Vista operating system. The enterprise version of Vista launched Nov. 30 and the consumer version will debut on Jan. 30.
In 2005, Nvidia came to an agreement with Intel that allowed the two companies to license each other’s technologies in products. The Dell Precision workstation uses Intel processors.
Microprocessor Advances
With support from OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) and DirectX, the FX 3500M chip offers 512MB of DDR3 (double data rate 3) SDRAM (synchronous dynamic RAM), a 256-bit memory interface, up to 38.4GB of memory bandwidth and a 2GB-pixel read-back.
The new graphics processors also offer what Nvidia calls an adaptive power management tool, giving users performance scalability and visualization.
The new graphics processor is immediately available in the Dell workstation for an additional $399, according to Nvidia. The Dell Precision M90 comes standard with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, which runs at 2.33GHz, a 17-inch display, 4GB of DDR2 SDRAM and a 120GB hard drive, and can be configured with either the 32- or 64-bit Microsoft Windows XP Professional operating system.
The Precision M90 had previously offered Nvidia’s FX 1500 and FX 2500 graphics processors, according to Dell’s Web site.