NVIDIA Quadro K1000M vs NVIDIA Quadro M2000M vs NVIDIA Quadro 5010M

NVIDIA Quadro K1000M

The NVIDIA Quadro K1000M (or Quadro K1100M, due to the internal code name 1100M) is a mid-range, DirectX 11.1-compatible graphics card for mobile workstations. It is a Kepler-based GPU built on the GK107 architecture and is manufactured in 28nm at TSMC. Compared to the K2000M, the K1000M only features 192 shader cores of 384. The Quadro K1000M is built for the Intel Chief River generation (Ivy Bridge) and is the successor to the Fermi-based Quadro 1000M (Huron River platform).

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 GeForce graphics cards of similar specifications.

Architecture

The Kepler architecture is the successor to the Fermi architecture that first appeared in laptops with the GeForce 400M series. The GK107 Kepler core offers two shader blocks, called SMX, each with 192 shaders for a total of 384 shader cores that are clocked at the same speed as the central core. The K1000M, however, offers only one SMX with 192 shaders. Although more shader cores are available in the Kepler architecture as compared to the Fermi design, the Kepler shaders are still expected to be up to twice as power efficient. However, due to the missing hot clock of the shader domain, two shaders of a Kepler chip are about as fast as one shader of a Fermi chip (as the latter is clocked twice as fast).

PCIe 3.0 is now supported by the mobile Kepler series and an optional Turbo mode can automatically overclock the Nvidia card by a theoretical 15 percent if the laptop cooling system allows it. The implementation of this boost mode is done in the BIOS, but it is ultimately dependent upon the manufacturer of the laptop.

Performance

The performance is similar to the consumer GeForce GT 630M and above the older Quadro 1000M. Most 3D games of 2012 can be played fluently in medium settings an resolutions.

Features

The improved feature set now includes support for up to 4 active displays. Furthermore, high resolution monitors of up to 3840x2160 pixels can now be connected using DisplayPort 1.2 or HDMI 1.4a if available. 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.

The 5th generation PureVideo HD video processor (VP5) is also integrated in the GK107 core and offers hardware decoding of HD videos. Common codecs such as MPEG-1/2, MPEG-4 ASP, H.264 and VC1/WMV9 are fully supported up to 4K resolutions while VC1 and MPEG-4 are supported up to 1080p. Two streams can be decoded in parallel for features such as Picture-in-Picture. Another novelty is the inclusion of a dedicated video encoding engine similar to Intel QuickSync that can be accessed by the NVENC API.

The power consumption of the K1000M is rated at 45 Watt (TGP according to Nvidia) and is therefore suited for medium-sized notebooks 15-inches or greater.

NVIDIA Quadro M2000M

The 28 nm Nvidia Quadro M2000M is a mid-range DirectX 12 (FL 11_0) and OpenGL 4.5-compatible graphics card for mobile workstations. It is a (first generation) Maxwell-based GPU built on the GM07 chip with 640 shader cores. Therefore, the GPU is similar to the consumer Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M or 950M. The Quadro M2000M is built for the Intel Skylake generation and is the successor to the Kepler-based Quadro K2100M. The M2000M typically comes with 4 GB GDDR5 VRAM clocked at 1250 MHz (5000 MHz effective at 80 GB/s compared to 48 GB/s on the K2100M). 

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 M2000M is still not known, we can only speculate on the performance of the card. However, we do know that it is a mid-range model from the mobile 2015 Quadro line based on the same chip as the GeForce GTX 960M or 950M. Therefore, it should be faster than the old Quadro K2100M.

Using CUDA (Compute Capability 5.0) or OpenCL 1.2, the cores of the Quadro M2000M can be used for general calculations.

Power Consumption

The power consumption of the Quadro M2000M is rated for the same TGP of 55 Watt as the K2100M, including the board and memory components. Therefore, the card is suited for 15-inch notebooks and larger.

NVIDIA Quadro 5010M