Mac Pro users gain unprecedented new graphics performance thanks to Nvidia Quadro K5000

Today in Amsterdam, at the IBC, Europe’s largest technology conference and exhibition dedicated to the creation, management and delivery of electronic media and entertainment content worldwide. Nvidia announced the new Nvidia Quadro K5000 GPU for Apple Mac Pro users. This new graphics processing unit (GPU) board is based on the very latest Keplar Architecture by Nvidia and will offer Mac Pro users astounding new performance levels across a wide range of applications and industries.

01 - Nvidia's new Quadro K5000 for Mac is based on the Keplar Architecture and offers Mac Pros users unprecedented GPU power.

The Nvidia Quadro K5000 for Mac is ideal for professional applications like video editing, color correction, compositing, design visualization (3D) and GPU-based applications like GPU-accelerated ray tracing 3D rendering. In addition, the new Quadro K5000 for Mac retains its full performance and features when using Apple Boot Camp and running Windows-based professional applications.

Inside the new Quadro K5000 for Mac

• Cinema 4K support (4096 x 2160 resolution), new super high resolution support
• A new display engine that can power 4 displays simultaneously
• 4 GB of graphics memory that provides faster interactivity with content creation apps
• Based on the Nvidia Keplar Architecture
• 2x Faster then the Fermi-based Quadro 4000 for Mac
• Support for up to 2 Quadro K5000 GPUs in a single Mac Pro
• Support for OpenGL, OpenCL and Nvidia CUDA

“The Nvidia Quadro K5000 has great OpenGL and CUDA performance, so it’s ideal to use as a shared GUI and image processing GPU in DaVinci Resolve 9,” said Grant Petty, CEO of Blackmagic Design. “Like many artists who use DaVinci Resolve, colorists seek the highest performance possible for their systems, and with just one of the new Keplar GPUs our users will be able to work with 4K imagery on their Mac Pros in real time.”

“Quadro K5000 for Mac will have a transformational impact on the digital content creation workflow,” said Greg Estes, media & entertainment industry executive at Nvidia. “We’re giving Mac Pro users the most powerful professional GPU ever for the Mac, with features and performance that will make a substantial difference in their workflows and allow them to create digital content at speeds never before possible.”

DCC: Putting This In Perspective

The Quadro K5000 supports Shader Model 5 and OpenGL 3.2 and Microsoft DirectX 11. It has 1536 CUDA cores and consumes 122 watts of power.

Some useful comparisons include: 4GB of GDDR5 memory as compared to 1 GB of GDDR5 memory in the ATI Radeon HD5870 GPU in the Mac Pro options box. Like the 5870 the K5000 has a 256-bit memory interface. The total memory bandwidth is 173 GB/sec, compared to 153.6 GB/sec. on the 5870.

The Nvidia Quadro K5000 for Mac is planned to be available later this year from select Apple resellers and system integrators and will have an estimated price tag of 2,249.USD. To learn more visit here.

Architosh Analysis

We are delighted to see this come to the Mac Pro. As long as Nvidia is creating at least one very powerful Quadro card for the Mac, Mac Pros continue to be competitive professional workstations across a range of Apple-dominated or Apple-strong industries. Film editing, music, science and medical research, digital content creation and some engineering fields utilize Mac Pros for a wide variety applications. Here at Architosh what we care about the most are DCC (digital content creation) and CAD apps. Will many architects spend this much for their workstations? We are not sure. Will dedicated professional DCC visualization professionals? Very likely.