<html xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name=ProgId content=Word.Document>
<meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 10">
<meta name=Originator content="Microsoft Word 10">
<link rel=File-List href="cid:filelist.xml@01C33F09.70271190">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:DoNotRelyOnCSS/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:SpellingState>Clean</w:SpellingState>
<w:GrammarState>Clean</w:GrammarState>
<w:DocumentKind>DocumentEmail</w:DocumentKind>
<w:EnvelopeVis/>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
</w:Compatibility>
<w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]-->
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Wingdings;
panose-1:5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:2;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:0 268435456 0 0 -2147483648 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0cm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;
mso-ascii-font-family:Arial;
mso-hansi-font-family:Arial;
mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:windowtext;}
span.SpellE
{mso-style-name:"";
mso-spl-e:yes;}
span.GramE
{mso-style-name:"";
mso-gram-e:yes;}
@page Section1
{size:612.0pt 792.0pt;
margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt;
mso-header-margin:35.4pt;
mso-footer-margin:35.4pt;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
/* List Definitions */
@list l0
{mso-list-id:767577801;
mso-list-type:hybrid;
mso-list-template-ids:-1656983030 1095530966 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693;}
@list l0:level1
{mso-level-start-at:0;
mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:-;
mso-level-tab-stop:36.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
font-family:Arial;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
ol
{margin-bottom:0cm;}
ul
{margin-bottom:0cm;}
-->
</style>
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
</style>
<![endif]-->
</head>
<body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple style='tab-interval:36.0pt'>
<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Hi,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>I’ve just finished a live
interactive video performance gig last week, and thought I’d do some benchmarking
on the machines that were lent to us, just for fun.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Here’s the background
to the question that follows.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>HP lent us two identical
machines (twin 2.8GHz Pentium Xeons, 1.5GB of ram each). One has an NVIDIA
Quadro4 980XL graphics card (128MB DDR ram), and one has a GeForce4 Ti4600 card
(also 128MB DDR ram).<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>Windows XP on
both.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>I’m absolutely <span
class=SpellE>gobsmacked</span>. I did some benchmarking with 3dMark 2003, and
the Geforce4 beats the Quadro4 by about 15-20% on average on just about
everything. In fact, the machine with the <span class=SpellE>quadro</span>
scored 1638, and the Geforce4 scored 1903.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>I also tried a few things in <span
class=SpellE>photoshop</span>, and found that the difference in performance ranges
from hardly noticeable to about 20-25% longer to process on the Quadro4.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Now, from what I understand
the Quadro4 is a top of the range card for workstation applications, and the <span
class=SpellE>GeForce</span> 4 Ti4600 was top of the gaming cards maybe 18
months ago.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Can anyone explain why the
GeForce4 outperforms the Quadro4? <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>The corollary question: would
I be able to get better performance out of the Quadro4 than the <span
class=SpellE>Geforce</span> <span class=SpellE>undex</span> <span class=SpellE>linux</span>,
using GEM? <span class=GramE>If so, how?</span><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Many thanks.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;
tab-stops:list 36.0pt'><![if !supportLists]><font size=2 face=Arial><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:
Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>-<font size=1
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></font></span></span></font><![endif]><font size=2 face=Arial><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>martin<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=SpellE><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>p.s</span></font></span><font
size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;
mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>. If there are any other people who would be
interested in sharing performance benchmarks running gem on different cards and
configurations, let me know.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>