What is a Workstation Graphics Card?
Workstations are well-equipped PCs and Macs meant for professional operation rather than home use. Both their hardware and software are tailored to accommodate applications such as design, graphics, coding, modeling and high end computation. But they're still home computers at heart, and their components are almost identical to mainstream models--graphics cards included.
Main Brands
Just as in the mainstream market, graphics cards for PCs are dominated by two brands--Nvidia and ATI, a subsidiary of AMD. The two are joined to a lesser extent by Sun, a computer manufacturer that's been around since the 1970s, and continues to specialize in workstations and their components.
Significance
Workstation graphics cards are almost the same as their desktop counterparts. The technology and parts are the same as those found in mainstream cards--Nvidia uses its GeForce variants in workstations, and ATI fields the same Radeon HD feature set. However, the difference does become apparent when looking at specific card configurations, drivers and bundled software.
Multiple Displays
The first big difference is support for more than one screen--typically two in budget workstation cards, and four or more in higher end models. This is important because workstations are often linked in an office or studio environment, with several people sharing a project.This is both a hardware and software feature, with non-workstation versions of the same graphics card simply omitting these to offer a lower price.
Software Support
The second major factor distinguishing workstation graphics cards are drivers and software optimization, They come with software that's suited for 3D, computer-assisted design (CAD), graphics, ray tracing, heavy computation and more. Normal graphics cards would offer compromised performance in comparison--workstation cards are meant to expedite productivity out of the box.
Higher Specs
Workstation graphics cards get the latest technology, because professional organizations and those requiring workstations have proven more willing to pay top dollar as early adopters. This translates into higher memory counts and multi-core graphics processing units. For example, Nvidia's Quad GPU design debuted as a workstation card before moving on to the gaming sector. Consequently, a top-end workstation card can easily cost three times a cutting edge gaming GPU.
Gaming
These cards can be deceiving--they have the most muscle and cost the most, yet don't deliver a correlating boost in gaming, a very demanding area for video performance. The reason for this is that the drivers and software that come with these cards aren't geared towards gaming, so much of the hardware goes untapped. Several software routines important for gaming may not even be included, such as Shader Model and DirectX--manufacturers skip those to save cost.
Need
The simple answer for mainstream users to the question, "Do I need one?" is no. Workstation cards with real power cost so much more than their simplified peers, there's no justification, unless some truly demanding rendering or crunching is in order. Conversely, cheaper workstation cards are older models that have long been outpaced by even mid-range mainstream models, so they're irrelevant. Despite advances in cooling making for quiet fans and low energy consumption for even the most powerful workstation cards, they remain a niche with little benefit to non-professionals.
Tags: graphics cards, workstation cards, come with, design graphics, drivers software