by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com
In the war between the two superpowers of CAD graphics AMD and nVidia, AMD's FirePro has scored a major victory over NVIDIA's Quadro for the PTC Creo crowd -- according to AMD spokesman Antoine Reymond.
I'm at the opening of a PTC user event. Openings of big CAD user meetings are usually an excuse to eat and drink. Held in the exposition hall with the hopes of uniting users with vendors and their products and services, most users are instead occupied with the free chicken quesadillas, cheeseburger sliders, crab cakes, and more. Most wander from food station to food station, having a free beer along the way; a few stations have wine. Drink coupons were included with registration, although press were denied. (Do we have that reputation?)
But the ever-alert Antoine is not swayed by temptation. He flags me down to show me a leapfrog in performance over their archrival. This was an opportunity he could not squander. It was a story that must be told. No matter that it was Miller time, a Sunday night, on a show floor that was about to close.
But I am happy to oblige. What is more fun than covering a good fight? NVIDIA, the marketing heavyweight, has been outspending AMD to promote its superiority in the battle for the CAD workstation. But here is Antoine telling me that his Firpro W7000 is up to 17 times faster than the nVidia Quadro K4000, specifically in GPU-accelerated transparency mode. His colleague, Jon Clark, quickly adds that other modes are also substantially improved.
To prove it, AMD shows otherwise identical PTC Creo v2.0 systems side by side. Sure enough, the AMD system does appear to meto be a bit smoother with fewer glitches as it rotates Creo models. The technical advantage AMD seems to have attained is not without some intrigue. Antoine tells me that PTC allowed AMD exclusive access for one full year. It's the only way they could have gained such a clear advantage.
Oh, boy. I can't wait to get over to get to the nVidia booth tomorrow!
[Reprinted with permission from CAD Insider.]
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