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Here's a key insight on this issue that the general public seems to be unaware about: the most expensive thing in workstation cards like Quadro and Tesla is war

by exDM69 14y ago

Here's a key insight on this issue that the general public seems to be unaware about: the most expensive thing in workstation cards like Quadro and Tesla is warranty and support. This is also the reason that they are clocked down, they have to be more reliable than a gaming gpu. Gaming GPUs have some parts fused off. These parts are not essential for gaming performance, and powering them off with fuses gives better thermal properties, which allows more gaming performance. These things run HOT. Finally, this hack does not really make your card into a Tesla or a Quadro, it just fools the driver with a bogus PCI ID and enables some software features that are disabled. It does not enable hardware that has been fused out.

S_A_P 14y ago
This is key- and I think that as long as you are just using it to get triple monitor support like this guy did you will likely be ok. However, if the software you work with is going to rely on some fused out feature of the Tesla or Quadro you are just risking frying your card unnecessarily. I dont understand why users think that this is an evil practice. Its HARD to build hardware, and just like software engineers want to have reusable code, hardware manufacturers want to have reusable silicone. You are paying for the features you want. If you want a feature set that isn't mainstream and "workstation" capable, you are going to have to pay more. If you just want to push pixels quickly, then of course they will disable some high end functionality and sell it to you cheaper. That said, I applaud the fact that they are digging in and learning to mod these things.
- goldfeld 14y ago
  The analogy to software is a good one. Often the software is shipped full, and you unlock features as you pay for.
coldarchon 14y ago
But why were these features disabled? To control a market they can't own?

by exDM69 14y ago

S_A_P 14y ago

This is key- and I think that as long as you are just using it to get triple monitor support like this guy did you will likely be ok. However, if the software you work with is going to rely on some fused out feature of the Tesla or Quadro you are just risking frying your card unnecessarily. I dont understand why users think that this is an evil practice. Its HARD to build hardware, and just like software engineers want to have reusable code, hardware manufacturers want to have reusable silicone. You are paying for the features you want. If you want a feature set that isn't mainstream and "workstation" capable, you are going to have to pay more. If you just want to push pixels quickly, then of course they will disable some high end functionality and sell it to you cheaper. That said, I applaud the fact that they are digging in and learning to mod these things.

goldfeld 14y ago
The analogy to software is a good one. Often the software is shipped full, and you unlock features as you pay for.

coldarchon 14y ago

But why were these features disabled? To control a market they can't own?