NOTE: Please also read news-story titled "NVIDIA Clarifies Quadro FX 4000 Technology, Pricing".

NVIDIA set a bit higher recommended price-point for its latest professional Quadro FX 4000 graphics card compared to previously available price-bins for high-end products for professional use.

PNY, a manufacturer and reseller of NVIDIA-based professional graphics cards, this week said the pricing of its PNY Quadro FX 4000 product will be 1999 Euro in the EU and $2499 in the USA. NVIDIA Quadro FX 3000 cost $2395 at launch, whereas the more advanced Quadro FX 3000G with genlock and framelock features – capabilities absent on the Quadro FX 4000 – was priced at $2995 initially.

The heart of the new Quadro FX 4000 is NVIDIA’s latest graphics processor GeForce 6800 Ultra containing approximately 220 million of transistors that form 16 pixel pipelines, 6 vertex processors as well as other important integrated circuits of the chip. Higher fillrate and geometry power typically allow graphics cards to demonstrate higher performance in various applications.

Designed for professional CAD, DCC, and scientific applications, Quadro FX 4000 delivers 7%, 8% and 45% improvements in proe-02, 3dsmax-02 and ugs-03 professional benchmarks respectively, according to NVIDIA.

In addition to performance improvements, NVIDIA Quadro FX 4000 also features Pixel Shaders and Vertex Shaders 3.0 functionality that enhance the feature-set of the current DirectX X 9.0 version and are likely to be eventually exposed by professional and gaming applications. The main idea of Shader Model 3.0 is a great expansion of Shader Model 2.0 specs and allowing software makers to create longer and more complex programs for modern graphics processors.

The Quadro FX 4000 graphics card also features 256MB of GDDR3 onboard memory functioning at 1000MHz. The card also features two DVI-I connectors to drive multiple very high-resolution displays at up to 3840x2400 resolution rates, satisfying demanding medical, satellite, and geospatial imaging application requirements.

PNY Quadro FX 4000 will be available starting from May 2004.