NVIDIA Quadro P4200 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Max-Q vs NVIDIA Quadro P620

NVIDIA Quadro P4200

The Nvidia Quadro P4200 is a mobile high-end workstation graphics card for notebooks. It is based on the GP104 chip (like the consumer GeForce GTX 1070 or 1080 for laptops) and features 2304 shader cores. The clock rate is not disclosed but the theoretical SP performance is rated at 8.9 TFLOPs (for the fast Max-P version) and therefore faster than the old Quadro P5000 but below the Quadro P5200 (see table below). The P4200 is equipped with 8 GB GDDR5 which leads to 224 GB7s peak bandwidth due to the 256 Bit memory bus. There are two variants available, a Max-P performance version and a Max-Q version tuned for efficiency (with lower clock speeds).

The Quadro GPUs offer certified drivers, which are optimized for stability and performance in professional applications (CAD, DCC, medical, prospection, and visualizing applications). The performance in these areas is therefore much better compared to corresponding consumer GPUs.

Power Consumption

The power consumption of the Quadro P4200 is rated at 115 Watt TGP (max power consumption incl. memory) and therefore 15 Watt more than the Quadro P5000. The card is therefore best suited for large 17-inch notebooks.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Max-Q

The Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti with Max-Q design is a power efficient mainstream GPU for laptops based on the Pascal architecture and was announced in January 2017. Contrary to the faster models, the GTX 1050 uses the GP107 chip, which is manufactured in a 14 nm process at Samsung.

The clock is not the only difference compared to the regular GTX 1050 Ti though. The drivers for the Max-Q version were optimized for efficiency (and not performance; only for Max-Q models), there are optimized voltage converters for 1V operation, high-end cooling methods, and a 40 dB limit for the fan noise (with clock adjustments to ensure this at all times).

Features

The GP107 chip is manufactured in a 14 nm FinFET process at Samsung and offers a number of new features, including support for DisplayPort 1.4 (ready), HDMI 2.0b, HDR, Simultaneous Multi-Projection (SMP) as well as improved H.265 video de- and encoding (PlayReady 3.0). A full list of improvements and the new Pascal desktop GPUs is available in our dedicated Pascal architecture article.

Performance

The performance of the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti can vary quite a lot depending on the cooling performance of the laptop. Nvidia states that the Max-Q variant should be about 10 to 15% slower than a regular GTX 1050 Ti for laptops. Therefore, the GPU is most suited for Full HD and high quality settings for games of 2016.

Power Consumption

The power consumption of the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti with Max-Q design is rated at 40 to 46 Watt and therefore a lot lower than a regular GTX 1050 Ti for laptops (53 Watt). This means that the Max-Q GTX 1050 Ti is also suited for thin and light laptops.

NVIDIA Quadro P620

The Nvidia Quadro P620 is an entry-level mobile workstation graphics card for laptops. It uses a GP107 Pascal chip with a 128 Bit memory bus and therefore similar to the old Quadro P1000 with reduced clock speeds. Compared to consumer cards, there is no similar specified card currently and therefore the P620 slots in between the GeForce MX250 and GTX 1050. With a theoretical peak of 1.5 TFLOPS, the performance is clearly ahead of the old P600 with 1.2 TFLOPS.

The Quadro GPUs offer certified drivers, which are optimized for stability and performance in professional applications (CAD, DCC, medical, prospection, and visualizing applications). The performance in these areas is therefore much better compared to corresponding consumer GPUs.