NVIDIA cripples firmware on their Video Cards! Here’s How To Mod For Upgrade!

[ThestigGT999]

https://57un.wordpress.com/2013/03/...eir-video-cards-heres-how-to-mod-for-upgrade/

http://www.eevblog.com/forum/projects/hacking-nvidia-cards-into-their-professional-counterparts/

NVIDIA has some explaining to do here. They sell two separate video cards, the consumer level GTX690 and the professional level K5000. Both of these cards utilize the same GPUs but the GTX690 is simply a crippled K5000. It’s very frustrating to see NVIDIA treat customers this way. Moreover, they know the sort of people that they market to, they couldn’t have expected that their hardware would not be probed at some point.

Interesting read

 

[Gregster]

Yer, I had a read on that yesterday. The guy did well to find that out

Now let the hate posting begin....

 

[Yaayuh!]

I don't see the problem, neither do i think think that nVidia have to explain anything.

 

[Stanners]

I thought this was standard for all professional cards compaired to cosumer cards?

This is how some cosumer level cards could be flashed to use the professional version Bios etc

 

[Yaayuh!]

I thought this was standard for all professional cards compaired to cosumer cards?

This is how some cosumer level cards could be flashed to use the professional version Bios etc

Quite a few, especially back in the day. Also, missing the point that professional cards have better support and probably go through more rigorous testing.
Nothing new here and nothing to explain.

 

[Gripen90]

Quoting the original post: "... And stock, the GTX690 is clocked FASTER then the K5000 and the Tesla K10, so you are getting a faster card in comparison, not making the GTX690 faster.

I repeat, this does NOT make your GTX 6XX card faster, nor does it make it slower."

So... I don't really see the issue from a gamers perspective.... but I do from the prof' video editor - he pays a lot more for those small differences.

 

[d_brennen]

Have a look at the AMD FirePro 2270, then look at a £25 HD5450...

 

[Doomedspeed]

They are 2 different cards, aimed at different audiences which cater to different needs.

This kind of behaviour happens all the time..

They Don't need to explain a thing...

 

[PorkPieCat]

crippling isn't the right word, though i thought it was common knowledge pro cards were the same thing + more support/different firmware + $1000s

 

[Sin_Chase]

I don't see the problem?

Most professional level hardware/software has it's markup in support, continued development and upgrades.

GPU Rendering program X releases a new version. nVidia Professional Card does not work with it. The support will be there and a fix/driver release issued. Same problem with your gaming grade GPU? Yeah....don't expect a fix in the short term...if ever at all.

 

[Orangey]

Surely the fix would also work for gaming cards if they are the same and can even use the same drivers.

Does anyone here do this?

 

[Suarez7]

Surely the fix would also work for gaming cards if they are the same and can even use the same drivers.

Does anyone here do this?

I could try it on my 680 but I doubt I'll see any benefit.

Edit: Just seen you have to remove things from the PCB, no thanks.

 

[cavemanoc]

To be honest it is more the Pro users that have cause to gripe - given that they could have a near identical card for a fraction of the price you could argue that the hardware is being oversold/overpriced. As mentioned previously, there are often binning issues with the pro cards - always good news for enthusiasts who want pro cards for a fraction of the price and like to tinker!

 

[Ksanti]

The only reason Nvidia would do this is if they could effectively provide the same performance at a lower cost by mass producing a more powerful chip rather than splitting the product line too much. Gamers have nothing to complain about because all that this practice means is that it's more effective for Nvidia to provide gamers with a crippled powerful chip than a maxed out less powerful one. Nvidia couldn't afford to give the Tesla etc.'s level of performance at the GeForce price point and if it was a matter of Nvidia aren't allowed to split the line like this, all it would mean is that the quadro card wouldn't exist at all or would be much less powerful, likewise for the GeForce card. Mass producing makes the Quadro much cheaper to produce which gives a performance advantage to the professional chips than had lines not been based off of the same architecture, and all it means for gamers is that there's more overhead room for Drivers to improve performance. Nvidia wouldn't ever let themselves fall far behind AMD in gaming performance and that's what dictates pricing more than anything else.

 

[spoffle]

The only reason Nvidia would do this is if they could effectively provide the same performance at a lower cost by mass producing a more powerful chip rather than splitting the product line too much. Gamers have nothing to complain about because all that this practice means is that it's more effective for Nvidia to provide gamers with a crippled powerful chip than a maxed out less powerful one. Nvidia couldn't afford to give the Tesla etc.'s level of performance at the GeForce price point and if it was a matter of Nvidia aren't allowed to split the line like this, all it would mean is that the quadro card wouldn't exist at all or would be much less powerful, likewise for the GeForce card. Mass producing makes the Quadro much cheaper to produce which gives a performance advantage to the professional chips than had lines not been based off of the same architecture, and all it means for gamers is that there's more overhead room for Drivers to improve performance. Nvidia wouldn't ever let themselves fall far behind AMD in gaming performance and that's what dictates pricing more than anything else.

This is nothing new. It's happened for as long as there have been pro and consumer graphics cards.

I think the prices of professional cards are ridiculous considering you're getting the same GPU, but that's from a consumer standpoint.

From the professional standpoint, you're getting more than just the card and the GPU it has on it.

It's not about them not being able to afford giving the performance, AMD's pro and consumer cards are nearly identical, usually the pro cards just have more VRAM, but the performance is mostly the same too.

It's all about the software support.

Something that's quite interesting to note though is for a lot of people, these professional cards are no longer as relevant. I've noticed a fair amount of people move away from Quadro type of cards in favour of the desktop gaming variants as the price difference between them don't closely begin to represent the additional value that they'd get.

Add that to the fact that industry standard software like 3DS Max and Maya are now using Direct X for their viewport rendering, and it means that games orientated desktop cards are sometimes offering more performance.