Quadro FX 5500 SDI vs Quadro NVS 280 SD
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in the ranking | 1535 | not rated |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Power efficiency | 0.07 | no data |
| Architecture | Celsius (1999−2005) | Curie (2003−2013) |
| GPU code name | NV18 C1 | G71 |
| Market segment | Workstation | Workstation |
| Release date | 31 May 2005 (19 years ago) | 20 April 2006 (18 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | no data | $6,999 |
Detailed specifications
General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.
| Core clock speed | 250 MHz | 650 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 29 million | 278 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 150 nm | 90 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 10 Watt | 104 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 1.000 | 15.60 |
| ROPs | 2 | 16 |
| TMUs | 4 | 24 |
Form factor & compatibility
Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).
| Interface | AGP 8x | PCIe 1.0 x16 |
| Length | 168 mm | 229 mm |
| Width | 1-slot | 3-slot |
| Supplementary power connectors | None | 1x 6-pin |
VRAM capacity and type
Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.
| Memory type | DDR | GDDR3 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 64 MB | 1 GB |
| Memory bus width | 64 Bit | 256 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 200 MHz | 505 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 3.2 GB/s | 32.32 GB/s |
Connectivity and outputs
Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.
| Display Connectors | 1x DMS-59 | 3x DVI, 1x S-Video |
API compatibility
List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 8.0 | 9.0c (9_3) |
| Shader Model | no data | 3.0 |
| OpenGL | 1.3 | 2.1 |
| OpenCL | N/A | N/A |
| Vulkan | N/A | N/A |
Pros & cons summary
| Recency | 31 May 2005 | 20 April 2006 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 64 MB | 1 GB |
| Chip lithography | 150 nm | 90 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 10 Watt | 104 Watt |
NVS 280 SD has 940% lower power consumption.
FX 5500 SDI, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 10 months, a 1500% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 66.7% more advanced lithography process.
We couldn't decide between Quadro NVS 280 SD and Quadro FX 5500 SDI. We've got no test results to judge.
Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
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