For another change of application, we looked at a beta of a new VR-capable CAD file viewer called PiXYZ Review. Here, we managed to get decent performance even with a 13 million triangle factory model, although the default render quality was not as good as in VRED. GPU rendering has been slowly gaining traction in the design viz sector. Iray, Nvidia’s GPU-accelerated physically-based renderer, is now available as a plug in for Rhino, 3ds Max, Cinema 4D and Maya.

Unlike VR games, which have fixed datasets so they can be completely optimised to run with specific GPUs, performance in professional VR varies greatly. It is not only influenced by the application, but the size of the dataset, the complexity of the geometry (number of triangles), how well the geometry has been optimised, as well as the lighting and textures. Iray is also embedded inside several applications including SolidWorks Visualize, Siemens NX Ray Traced Studio, Catia Live rendering and Lumiscaphe. Chaos Group also offers a GPU-accelerated version of its popular physically-based renderer, V-Ray, called V-Ray RT, which plugs into Revit, Rhino, SketchUp, 3ds Max and others. Quadro GPUs can also be used to accelerate the OpenCL-based Radeon Pro Render from AMD.Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes. 3D Vision Pro This is great if your application can take advantage of the plentiful GPU power on offer. Unfortunately, CAD software is notoriously bad at doing so. Core 3D performance in manufacturing and architectural BIM applications like SolidWorks and Autodesk Revit are heavily dependent on the frequency (GHz) of the CPU. And because CPU frequency has stagnated over the past few years, performance in 3D CAD software has not increased as much as it has in other applications. Design viz, VR and GPU rendering applications, for example, are much less tied into the speed of the CPU.

It is also important to understand that VR has much bigger demands than a typical desktop 3D application. In fact, it needs around eight times more graphics computing power than is needed to view the same workflow on a single FHD (1,920 x 1,080) monitor. This is down to increased demands on resolution and frame rate. Quadro T2000, Quadro T1000, Quadro P5200, Quadro P5000, Quadro P4200, Quadro P3200, Quadro P4000, Quadro P3000, Quadro P2000, Quadro P1000, Quadro P600, Quadro P520, Quadro P500, Quadro M2200, Quadro M1200, Quadro M620, Quadro M520, Quadro M5500, Quadro M5000M, Quadro M4000M, Quadro M3000M, Quadro M2000M, Quadro M1000M, Quadro M600M, Quadro M500M, Quadro K5100M, Quadro K5000M, Quadro K4100M, Quadro K4000M, Quadro K3100M, Quadro K2200M, Quadro K2100M, Quadro K3000M, Quadro K2000M, Quadro K1100M, Quadro K1000M, Quadro K620M, Quadro K610M, Quadro K510M, Quadro K500M Release 378 is a Quadro New Feature (QNF) driver. This driver is from the most recent driver release branch from NVIDIA, and contains the latest new features and functionality. It has been tested for workstation environments, and is recommended only for those users who need specific features mentioned in the release highlights or release notes. We would expect this lead to grow when viewing models on a 4K resolution display, as this would put an even bigger load on the GPU. The higher-end ‘Pascal’ GPUs – the Quadro P4000, Quadro P5000, and Quadro P6000 – showed no discernible benefit over the Quadro P2000 in shaded with edges mode. While we didn’t test the lower-end Pascal Quadro GPUs, we would expect to see similar flat results, particularly with the Quadro P1000. On paper, this low-profile GPU, which fits standard desktop and Small Form Factor (SFF) workstations, looks to be a good choice for those looking to use mainstream CAD tools simply for modelling.

Like all graphic cards from this line, the P2000 is based on the Pascal GPU architecture. It also features 1024 CUDA Cores, 5GB GDDR5 memory, and the ability to support up to four 5K (5120 x 2880 at 60Hz) displays natively. The Quadro P2000 measures in at 4.4” H x 7.9” L and uses a single slot via the PCI Express 3.0 x16 interface. It features the line’s usual 4x mini-DisplayPorts and supports HDMI and VGA connections through adaptors. In the lead up to today’s launch Nvidia provided us with a sample Quadro P2000 and Quadro P4000 for review. As always, we tested these GPUs with real world professional design, engineering, and visualisation applications. As part of the testing we also got hands-on with several new generation pro VR tools using the HTC Vive Business Edition, a special enterprise version of the impressive Head Mounted Display (HMD). While we didn’t test 4K performance for this article, in the past we have seen the Quadro M5000 go from 13 FPS right down to 4 FPS when moving from FHD (1,920 x 1,080 to 4K / UHD (3,840 x 2,160). This is where the higher-end Quadro GPUs – the P5000 and P6000 – would really come into their own. GPU rendering works almost entirely independently of the CPU, which means it can take full advantage of the power on offer.

In Autodesk VRED Professional the results were more mixed. This advanced design viz application is very GPU intensive, even when viewing models on a desktop display. But to push things up to 90 FPS per eye raises the bar somewhat. The Quadro P4000 delivered a smooth VR experience in all our architecturally-focused VR applications using a variety of test models. We also had no problems with Gravity Sketch, but this came as little surprise considering the relatively simple datasets produced by this conceptual design tool. All five models will be available in March and will replace the current ‘Maxwell’ Quadro GPUs. (see chart above for full specifications and prices – US prices have not yet been set). At these higher resolutions, on-board memory also becomes more important. In the past, the biggest memory footprint we have seen from a single model at 4K is 4,731MB in VRED Professional with AA set to ultra-high.Both viewing styles are very GPU intensive and performance is less restricted by the speed of the CPU. In our tests, the Quadro P2000 showed a clear benefit over the previous generations. With RealView, Shadows and Ambient Occlusion enabled it was 59% faster than the Quadro M2000 and 105% faster than the Quadro K2200.