NVIDIA Quadro M520 vs NVIDIA Quadro M5000M vs NVIDIA Quadro M4000M

NVIDIA Quadro M520

The Nvidia Quadro M520 is a DirectX 12 (FL 11_0) and OpenGL 4.5-compatible graphics card for mobile workstations. It is a Maxwell-based GPU built on the GM108 chip with 384 shader cores and manufactured in 28 nm by TSMC. That means its similar to the Quadro M500M (DDR3) but uses faster GDDR5 memory. The GeForce 940MX with GDDR5 memory is the consumer variant of the Quadro M520.

The Quadro series offers certified drivers that are optimized for stability and performance in professional applications like CAD or DCC. OpenGL performance, for example, should be significantly better than with GeForce graphics cards of similar specifications.

Architecture

Compared to Kepler, Maxwell has been optimized in several details to increase power efficiency. Smaller Streaming Multiprocessors (SMM) with only 128 ALUs (Kepler: 192) and an optimized scheduler should lead to better utilization of the shaders. Nvidia promises that a Maxwell SMM with 128 ALUs can offer 90% of the performance of a Kepler SMX with 192 ALUs. GM108 features 3 SMMs and thus 384 shader cores, 24 TMUs and 8 ROPs (64-bit interface).

Another optimization is the massively enlarged L2 cache. The larger size can reduce some of the memory traffic to allow for a relatively narrow memory interface without significantly hurting performance.

GM108 supports DirectX 11.2 (feature level 11.0 only) as well as DirectX 12.

Performance

Currently the clock speeds are not known of the M520 variant. They should be similar to the consumer 940 MX with GDDR5. Therefore, the performance should be similar to the Quadro K620M.

Features

The feature set should include support for up to four active displays. High-resolution monitors of up to 3840x2160 pixels can be connected using DisplayPort 1.2 or HDMI 1.4a (HDMI 2.0 not supported). HD-Audio codecs, such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD, can be transmitted via bitstream mode through the HDMI port. However, as most laptops will feature Optimus, the integrated GPU will likely have direct control over the display ports and may limit the feature set available by the Nvidia Kepler cards.

Using CUDA or OpenCL, the cores of the Quadro M520 can be used for general calculations.

GM108 integrates the sixth generation of the PureVideo HD video engine (VP6), offering a better decoding performance for H.264 and MPEG-2 videos. Of course, VP6 supports all features of previous generations (4K support, PIP, video encoding via NVENC API).

Power Consumption

The power consumption of the Quadro M520 is rated at 25 Watt TGP (max power consumption including memory and board). That is slightly below the M500M that is rated at 30 Watt. Therefore, the GPU is best suited for laptops 13 - 14-inches in size and above. The M500M also supports Optimus to automatically switch between an integrated graphics card and the Nvidia GPU.

NVIDIA Quadro M5000M

The Nvidia Quadro M5000M is a high-end, DirectX 12 (FL_12_1) and OpenGL 4.5-compatible graphics card for mobile workstations. It is a Maxwell-based GPU built on the GM204 chip with all 1536 shader cores activated and is manufactured in 28 nm at TSMC. Therefore, the GPU is similar to the consumer Nvidia GeForce GTX 980M. The Quadro M5000M is built for the Intel Skylake generation and is a successor to the Quadro K5100M (Kepler-based). The M5000M usually comes with 8 GB GDDR5 VRAM clocked at 1250 MHz (5000 MHz effective, 160 GB/s opposed to 115.2 GB/s of the K5100M). 

The Quadro series offers certified drivers that are optimized for stability and performance in professional applications like CAD or DCC. OpenGL performance, for example, should be significantly better compared to GeForce graphics cards of similar specifications.

Performance

As the exact clock speed of the M5000M is still not known, we can only speculate on the performance of the card. However, it is the top model of the mobile Quadro line in 2015 and based on the same chip as the GeForce GTX 980M. Therefore, it should be clearly faster than the old Quadro K5100M.

Using CUDA (Compute Capability 5.2) or OpenCL 1.2, the cores of the Quadro M5000M can be used for general calculations.

Power Consumption

The power consumption of the Quadro M5000M is rated at the same TGP of 100 Watt as the K5100M (including the board and memory components). Therefore, the card is suited for large notebooks with 17-inch displays or greater.

NVIDIA Quadro M4000M

The Nvidia Quadro M4000M is a high-end, DirectX 12 (FL_12_1) and OpenGL 4.5-compatible graphics card for mobile workstations. It is a Maxwell-based GPU built on the GM204 chip with all 1280 of the 1536 shader cores activated and is manufactured in 28 nm at TSMC. Therefore, the GPU is similar to the consumer Nvidia GeForce GTX 970M. The Quadro M4000M is built for the Intel Skylake generation and is a successor to the Quadro K4100M (Kepler-based). The M4000M usually comes with 4 GB GDDR5 VRAM clocked at 1250 MHz (5000 MHz effective, 160 GB/s opposed to 102.4 GB/s of the K4100M). 

The Quadro series offers certified drivers that are optimized for stability and performance in professional applications like CAD or DCC. OpenGL performance, for example, should be significantly better compared to GeForce graphics cards of similar specifications.

Performance

The clock speeds of the Quadro M4000M are very similar to the GTX 970M based on the same chip. The base clock is slightly higher with 975 versus 924 MHz but the Boost speed is lower at 1013 versus 1038 MHz. Therefore, with good cooling the GTX 970M should be slightly faster. Compared to the Quadro line-up, it is the second fastest Quadro card in 2015 and therefore clearly faster than the old Quadro K4100M.

Using CUDA (Compute Capability 5.2) or OpenCL 1.2, the cores of the Quadro M4000M can be used for general calculations.

Power Consumption

The power consumption of the Quadro M4000M is rated at the same TGP of 100 Watt as the M5000M and older K5100M/K4100M (including the board and memory components). Therefore, the card is suited for large notebooks with 17-inch displays or greater.