NVIDIA brings the Fermi-packing Quadro 4000 to the Mac Pro

For most Mac users, upgradeable anything is starting to sound like a distant memory, but Mac Pro users bought that big ol' box for a reason: expandability. Now NVIDIA is here to make it worth their while, releasing the mid-range Quadro 4000 graphics card with that latest / greatest Fermi architecture. With 256 CUDA cores and 2GB of GDDR5 memory, the card should slice through just about anything a pro app (Photoshop, Maya, Snood) can send it, and probably wouldn't mind popping out a FPS session now and then just to stretch the legs. Of course, when we say "mid-range" we aren't talking cheap: NVIDIA's MSRP is $1,199, a good bit more than the card's $700-ish PC-compatible counterpart. It should be available this month.

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It's Here -- NVIDIA Quadro Delivers NVIDIA Fermi Architecture to the Mac Pro
Award-Winning Professional Graphics Solution Delivers Blazing Fast Performance on Software From Adobe and Others

SANTA CLARA, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 11/16/2010 -- NVIDIA announced today the expansion of its award-winning line of NVIDIA® Quadro® professional graphics solutions to the Mac platform, bringing the computational and visualization breakthroughs enabled by NVIDIA Fermi architecture to Mac Pro users.

For professional users operating on Mac OS X Snow Leopard, this means the wait is over. The NVIDIA Quadro 4000 graphics processing unit (GPU) for Mac is optimized to accelerate workflows and drive a range of top professional applications. For example, the Adobe Mercury Playback Engine in Adobe® Premiere® Pro CS5 software leverages NVIDIA CUDA™ parallel processing technology to enable film and video professionals to work unconstrained. Other examples include visual effects and image processing applications from The Foundry, including NUKE and STORM, and MATLAB from MathWorks.

"Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 and the Adobe Mercury Playback Engine, accelerated by NVIDIA Quadro GPUs, have redefined the non-linear editing workflow, delivering huge productivity gains," said Ginna Baldassarre, senior product manager at Adobe. "Adobe looks forward to working with NVIDIA to help more Mac users reap the benefits of real-time performance and the ability to create compelling, multi-layer projects with multiple HD or higher resolution video clips, all while instantly viewing results."

The Foundry is a leading developer of visual effects software for film and broadcast.

"The Foundry's software has been used to help create visual effects for many Hollywood blockbusters, including 'Avatar,' 'Alice in Wonderland,' 'Harry Potter,' 'Iron Man,' 'Star Trek,' 'District 9,' '2012,' and 'Transformers,'" said Bruno Nicoletti, Founder and CTO, The Foundry. "The Quadro 4000 is a powerful GPU blockbuster for the Mac."

MathWorks MATLAB is a high-level technical computing language and interactive environment for algorithm development, numeric computation, data analysis, and data visualization, all of which benefit tremendously from fast double precision, a unique Quadro 4000 GPU for Mac feature. Graphics features, including 2-D and 3-D plotting functions, and 3-D volume functions required to visualize engineering and scientific data, are available in MATLAB.

"The visualization features in the Quadro 4000, coupled with GPU-accelerated computation for algorithm development and deployment with MATLAB and Parallel Computing Toolbox, are a powerful combination of capabilities for the Mac platform," said Silvina Grad-Freilich, manager of parallel-computing marketing, MathWorks. "We are pleased that our Mac users will be able to leverage Fermi-grade computational performance in their applications."

The high-end NVIDIA Quadro 4000 GPU for Mac, with 256 NVIDIA CUDA processing cores and 2GB of fast GDDR5 memory, delivers exceptional graphics performance across a broad range of design, animation and video applications. With new NVIDIA Scalable Geometry Engine technology, the Quadro 4000 for Mac can process up to 890 million triangles per second¹, enabling professionals to design, iterate and deliver higher quality results in less time.

The Quadro 4000 GPU for Mac also provides additional display flexibility through a DisplayPort and a DVI-I (Dual Link) connector built into its bracket, and a 3D stereo bracket for optimal stereo connection to the system. A DisplayPort to mini-DisplayPort cable is also included to enable mini-DisplayPort only Apple displays. Additionally, users can enable up to four high resolution displays from a single Mac Pro using dual NVIDIA Quadro 4000 for Mac boards.

The NVIDIA Quadro 4000 GPU for Mac enables dramatic increases in computing performance. Minimum system requirements include Mac OS X v10.6.5 or later with MacPro3,1 (early 2008), MacPro4,1 (early 2009), or MacPro5,1 (mid-2010). The Quadro 4000 processing unit for Mac is designed, built and supported by NVIDIA to provide best in class performance, reliability, compatibility and stability with professional Mac applications. NVIDIA and its ISV partners believe it's the right choice in providing the dependability that video production and graphics professionals require.

Availability and Pricing
The Quadro 4000 GPU for Mac ($1,199 MSRP, USD) is available this month at Apple.com, select Apple resellers and system integrators, and from authorized distribution partners including: PNY Technologies in the Americas and Europe, ELSA in Japan, and Leadtek in Asia Pacific.

To learn more, visit: www.nvidia.com/quadro.
Follow NVIDIA Quadro on YouTube and Twitter: @NVIDIAQuadro.

About NVIDIA
NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) awakened the world to the power of computer graphics when it invented the GPU in 1999. Since then, it has consistently set new standards in visual computing with breathtaking, interactive graphics available on devices ranging from tablets and portable media players to notebooks and workstations. NVIDIA's expertise in programmable GPUs has led to breakthroughs in parallel processing which make supercomputing inexpensive and widely accessible. The Company holds more than 1,600 patents worldwide, including ones covering designs and insights that are essential to modern computing. For more information, see www.nvidia.com.

(1)Raw throughput number calculated by graphics processing clusters, GPU clock rate, and triangle throughput.