Nvidia raise the graphics bar (again)

Nvidia Quadro K6000

It was only back in March that we wrote about the release of the latest Quadro cards from Nvidia including the K5000 but now they have released the next model in the family, the Quadro K6000, and it's a monster

 The Quadro K6000 is the latest professional graphics card from Nvidia and it has some impressive specifications, even compared to the recent K5000.

The Quadro K6000 is a full height, dual slot graphics card with 12GB of GDDR5 RAM, a 384 bit memory bus allowing speeds of 288 GB/s and 2880 CUDA cores. The K5000 by comparison had 4GB of RAM, a 256bit memory bus at 173 GB/s and 1536 CUDA cores. This sets the K6000 head and shoulders above any other graphics card out there at the moment.

The K6000 is capable of driving 4 displays simultaneously and features Display port 1.2 connections which allow resolutions of up to 3840 x 2160 at 60hz, power consumption is a little higher than the K5000 at 225W but that is still remarkably low for a card with this sort of power.

The K6000 is an impressive beast and brings massive performance improvements in the fields of 3D modelling, grading, editing and data visualisation. Pricing has not been formally announced but we are starting to see listings for around the 4000 pound mark. 

Here is the full press release from Nvidia (after the page break)

NVIDIA today unveiled the visual computing industry’s new flagship technology – the NVIDIA® Quadro® K6000 GPU, the fastest and most capable GPU ever built.

The Quadro K6000 GPU delivers five-times higher compute performance and nearly double the graphics capability of its predecessor, the NVIDIA Quadro 6000 GPU, and features the world’s largest and fastest graphics memory.

Combining breakthrough performance and advanced capabilities in a power-efficient design, the Quadro K6000 GPU enables leading organizations such as Pixar, Nissan, Apache Corporation and WSI, Professional Division of The Weather Company and Innovation Engine of The Weather Channel, to tackle visualization and analysis workloads of unprecedented size and scope.

• Animation and Visual Effects – Pixar 
  “The Kepler features are key to our next generation of real-time lighting and geometry handling. We were thrilled to get an early look at the K6000. The added memory and other features allow our artists to see much more of the final scene in a real-time, interactive form, and allow many more artistic iterations.”
  -Guido Quaroni, Pixar vice president of Software R&D

• Product Styling – Nissan
  “With Quadro K6000’s 12 GB of memory, I am now able to load nearly complete vehicle models into RTT Deltagen and have stunning photorealism almost instantly. Instead of spending significant time simplifying the models to fit into previous hardware, we can now spend more time reviewing and iterating designs up front which helps avoid costly changes to tooling.”
  -Dennis Malone, associate engineer, Nissan North America

• Energy Exploration – Apache
  “Compared to the Quadro K5000, the Quadro K6000 tripled the performance when running jobs on Terraspark’s InsightEarth application. With jobs running in mere minutes, we can run more simulations and get better insight into where to drill. In this business, drilling in the wrong place is a multi-million dollar mistake, and the Quadro K6000 gives us the edge to make better decisions.”
  -Klaas Koster, manager, seismic interpretation, Apache Corporation

Unprecedented Performance
The Quadro K6000 GPU is based on the NVIDIA Kepler™ architecture – the world’s fastest, most efficient GPU architecture. Key performance features and capabilities include:

• 12GB ultra-fast GDDR5 graphics memory lets designers and animators model and render characters and scenes at unprecedented scale, complexity and richness
• 2,880 streaming multiprocessor (SMX) cores deliver faster visualization and compute horsepower than previous-generation products
• Supports four simultaneous displays and up to 4k resolution with DisplayPort™ 1.2 
• Ultra-low latency video I/O and support for large-scale visualizations

“The NVIDIA Quadro K6000 GPU is the highest performance, most capable GPU ever created for the professional graphics market,” said Ed Ellett, senior vice president, Professional Solutions Group at NVIDIA. “It will significantly change the game for animators, digital designers and engineers, enabling them to make the impossible possible.”

New Mobile Workstation GPUs
NVIDIA today also revealed a new flagship professional graphics GPU for workstation notebooks, the NVIDIA Quadro K5100M GPU. Delivering the highest levels of performance and graphics memory available on notebook platforms, the Quadro K5100M anchors a new line of workstation notebook graphics that includes the Quadro K4100M, K3100M, K2100M, K1100M, K610M, and K510M GPUs.

Quadro GPUs are designed, built and tested by NVIDIA to provide the superb reliability, compatibility and dependability that professionals require. They are certified and recommended by more than 150 leading software application providers worldwide.

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   The NVIDIA Quadro K6000 will be available beginning this fall from Dell, HP, Lenovo and other major workstation providers; from systems integrators, including BOXX Technologies and Supermicro; and from authorized distribution partners, including PNY Technologies in North America and Europe, ELSA and Ryoyo in Japan, and Leadtek in Asia Pacific.

The new Quadro mobile workstation graphics product line will also be available beginning this fall from major mobile workstation OEMs.