NVIDIA Releases Second-gen Quadro M6000 Workstation Graphics Card, Bumps Memory To 24GB

In advance of its GPU Technology Conference, which takes place in less than two weeks, NVIDIA has pulled a surprise out of its hat: an updated Quadro M6000 workstation graphics card. While there are a couple of subtle differences between this iteration and “previous-gen” (as NVIDIA now calls the original), it also comes with a major one: a bump from 12GB to 24GB of memory.

24GB isn’t a record for a non-gaming graphics card, as AMD released a 32GB model last summer. The difference here is that AMD’s card is designed strictly for compute purposes (it doesn’t have video outputs), while NVIDIA’s catering to both compute and content creation with its Quadro M6000.

Who can take advantage of the doubled framebuffer? NVIDIA sees those involved in simulation, automotive design, seismic exploration, large-scale visual effects, and even virtual reality (creation) as the greatest benefactors. It’s interesting to see “VR” mentioned here, because this card isn’t only suitable for creating such content, it’s great for playing it. As we covered in our look at the original last summer, the M6000 is architecturally similar to the GeForce TITAN X, NVIDIA’s current top-flight GPU. While GeForce optimizations will not be available on the Quadro, the performance is still going to be monstrous.

At first, I considered it to be a little odd that NVIDIA would consider this new 24GB model to be a successor to the “previous generation” M6000, when both cards will perform the exact same when 12GB of VRAM isn’t exceeded, but it makes a bit more sense when you realize that the company is retaining the original card’s SRP of $5,000 with the new release. That means those who’ve been planning to purchase an M6000 and could use more than 12GB might want to wait until this card becomes available at retail.

So what about these new features? I’ll let NVIDIA speak for itself:

• Additional intermediate GPU clock points for smoother transitions between GPU clock points, allowing for applications to increase and decrease in performance without interruptions to workflow;
• Greater software temperature control to keep the GPU temperature below the hardware slowdown threshold for the best user experience;
• And, an under-power boot message appears if the card is ever under-powered

These features are nice to have, but they’re not so major that those who own original M6000s are going to ripped-off. It’s unfortunate that the temperature feature wasn’t available on the previous-gen, though, as it’d be a nice feature to have. All of these improvements are done on the hardware level, so none of them can be backported to the original.

Automakers interested in high-end renders could appreciate a 24GB framebuffer

NVIDIA’s hardware partner PNY wasted no time getting a product page up. Included in the box are three DP to DVI-D adapters, a stereo connector bracket, DVI-I to VGA adapter, and 8-pin to dual 6-pin PCIe power adapter. At the current time, neither Newegg nor Amazon are carrying the 24GB model, but we’d imagine both will soon. If you are interested in snatching up the 24GB Quadro M6000 sooner than later, your best course of action would be to get in touch with the folks at PNY or your preferred system builder.