NVIDIA Quadro FX 2800M

The NVIDIA Quadro FX 2800M is a mobile workstation GPU built on the Tesla architecture, using the G92B chip fabricated on a 55 nm process at TSMC. It carries 754 million transistors on a 260 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 2.9M / mm², and was released on 2009-11-30, now marked as end-of-life. The data places it at the 50th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 0, though its nearest rival list is empty, so comparisons rely on architectural context rather than direct score deltas.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The Quadro FX 2800M does not include dedicated ray tracing cores or tensor cores, as its Tesla architecture predates those hardware units. This is a fundamental limitation for modern workloads that depend on hardware-accelerated ray tracing, such as real-time global illumination or path tracing in DCC applications. Instead, the GPU relies on traditional rasterization pipelines and compute via its 96 shading units, which handle both vertex and pixel processing.

In terms of API support, the card offers DirectX 11.1 (10_0) and OpenGL 3.3. The DirectX 11.1 feature level is constrained to 10_0, meaning it cannot access tessellation or compute shader features that are part of the full DirectX 11 specification. This effectively limits the card to applications built for DirectX 10-era graphics. Vulkan is not supported, which further narrows compatibility with modern cross-platform graphics APIs. OpenGL 3.3 provides moderate compatibility with older workstation software, but many current CAD and simulation tools expect OpenGL 4.x or higher.

The absence of RT and tensor cores means that any workload involving neural network inference or real-time ray tracing must be offloaded to the CPU or a secondary device. The data indicates a pixel rate of 9.600 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 28.80 GTexel/s, which reflect the fixed-function throughput available for shading and texturing. For feature-set analysis, the card is firmly a product of its era, with no forward-looking acceleration blocks.

How It Compares

The nearestRivals array is empty in the fact pack, so direct score-based comparisons against specific competitor SKUs are unavailable. However, the percentileVsAllGpus value of 50 places it exactly at the median of all GPUs in the benchmark database. This suggests that in aggregate performance, it sits in the middle of the historical performance distribution, meaning it outperforms roughly half of all GPUs ever logged and underperforms the other half. That middle position is notable for a mobile part from 2009, as many desktop GPUs from that period would occupy higher percentiles.

Without rival names, the comparison must rely on architectural lineage. The G92B chip is a refined version of the G92 core, which was used across multiple NVIDIA desktop and mobile products. The Quadro FX 2800M inherits the same 96 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 16 ROPs as its desktop counterparts, but at a lower clock and with reduced power envelope. Its FP32 throughput is 288.0 GFLOPS, which is modest by modern standards but was competitive in its release window. The 50th percentile indicates that the card’s overall benchmark results, when weighted across all logged GPUs, are exactly median, implying that it holds up better than many older low-end parts but falls behind most mid-range and high-end GPUs from later generations.

Memory Subsystem

The Quadro FX 2800M ships with 1024 MB of GDDR3 memory, connected via a 256-bit bus. The memory clock runs at 1000 MHz, with an effective data rate of 2 Gbps, producing a bandwidth of 64.00 GB/s. This bandwidth figure is the critical bottleneck for high-resolution workloads, as the 256-bit interface is the primary conduit for texture fetches, framebuffer writes, and geometry data.

For 4K resolution, 1024 MB of VRAM is severely insufficient. Modern scenes with high-resolution textures, multiple render targets, and depth buffers will quickly exhaust this capacity, causing the driver to spill to system memory over the PCIe bus, which drastically reduces performance. Even at 1080p, texture-heavy scenes can exceed 1 GB, especially in professional applications that use large asset libraries. The 64.00 GB/s bandwidth is also limiting: at 4K, a single full-screen pass with 8 bytes per pixel requires roughly 66 MB per frame, and at 60 FPS that alone demands about 4 GB/s, leaving little headroom for other operations. The data implies that the card is best suited for 1080p or lower, with modest texture budgets.

The 256-bit bus width, while generous for the era, does not compensate for the low clock speed. Many later GPUs achieve higher bandwidth with narrower buses by using faster GDDR5 or GDDR6 memory. Here, the 2 Gbps effective rate is half of what early GDDR5 parts offered, so the memory subsystem is a clear weak point for any resolution above 1600p.

Benchmark Performance

The fact pack lists no individual benchmark scores and no nearest rivals, so performance analysis must rely on the aggregate percentile and the raw compute metrics. The FP32 throughput of 288.0 GFLOPS, pixel rate of 9.600 GPixel/s, and texture rate of 28.80 GTexel/s define the card’s theoretical ceilings. These numbers are consistent with a mid-range mobile GPU of the late 2000s. The 50th percentile indicates that the card’s real-world performance, as logged in the database, matches the median GPU. This is an unusual position: most mobile workstation GPUs from that era rank lower due to thermal and power constraints, but the FX 2800M’s 75 W TDP and MXM form factor allowed it to sustain clocks better than many smaller mobile parts.

Compared to the predecessor Quadro FX Go, the FX 2800M offers a newer chip and higher memory bandwidth, though specific delta percentages are unavailable. Relative to the successor Quadro Fermi-M, the FX 2800M falls behind in architecture efficiency, as Fermi introduced improved tessellation and compute capabilities. However, without numeric scores, the exact margin cannot be quantified. The data does show that the card’s shading unit count (96) and ROP count (16) are low by modern standards, so multi-core scaling in modern games or renderers will be poor. For single-threaded or lightly-threaded workloads from its era, the performance is adequate, but any modern application that uses more than 96 threads will see the GPU become the bottleneck.

The 288.0 GFLOPS FP32 figure translates to roughly 0.288 TFLOPs, which is below the threshold needed for even entry-level AI inference tasks. The lack of tensor cores further cements this as a non-option for machine learning. For 3D rendering in OpenGL 3.3, the card can handle moderate polygon counts and simple shading, but complex shading models with many texture lookups will hit the 64.00 GB/s bandwidth limit quickly.

Who Should Consider It

Given the 50th percentile rank and the memory constraints, the Quadro FX 2800M is suitable only for legacy professional workloads that were designed for DirectX 10 or OpenGL 3.3. At 1080p, with low-to-medium texture settings, the card can run older CAD software, basic 3D modeling, and 2D drafting applications. The 1024 MB VRAM is adequate for viewport rendering of moderate scenes, but not for full production renders or high-detail simulations. The 64.00 GB/s bandwidth means that texture-heavy applications like architectural visualization will stutter unless texture resolution is kept low.

Users targeting 1440p or 4K should avoid this card entirely, as the memory subsystem will throttle performance to unplayable levels. The FP32 throughput of 288.0 GFLOPS is also insufficient for any modern physics simulation or fluid dynamics at high resolutions. The card is best viewed as a museum piece or for running legacy software that requires certified OpenGL 3.3 drivers, where the 50th percentile position ensures it matches the median experience of other GPUs from that era.

The lack of Vulkan support and limited DirectX 11.1 (10_0) feature level means that modern game engines or new versions of professional tools will not run, or will fall back to software rendering. The 16 ROPs limit fill-rate-bound operations, so any scene with heavy transparency or post-processing effects will see sharp frame rate drops. In short, this card is for users who must run specific legacy applications that are known to work with OpenGL 3.3 and do not require more than 1 GB of VRAM.

FAQ

Q: Does the Quadro FX 2800M support hardware ray tracing?

A: No. It has no RT cores, and its Tesla architecture lacks any ray tracing acceleration hardware.

Q: What is the maximum memory bandwidth of this GPU?

A: The bandwidth is 64.00 GB/s, derived from a 256-bit bus and 2 Gbps effective memory clock.

Q: Can this card run modern games with DirectX 12?

A: No. The card supports DirectX 11.1 with a feature level of 10_0, which does not include DirectX 12 capabilities.

Q: How much VRAM does the Quadro FX 2800M have?

A: It has 1024 MB of GDDR3 memory.

Q: What is the FP32 compute performance?

A: The FP32 throughput is 288.0 GFLOPS, based on 96 shading units at the given clock.

Q: Is Vulkan supported?

A: No. The API list includes DirectX 11.1 (10_0) and OpenGL 3.3 only, with no Vulkan support.

Power and Cooling

The Quadro FX 2800M has a TDP of 75 W, which is moderate for a mobile workstation GPU of its generation. This power budget allows it to be fitted into an MXM Module with a slot width of MXM-B (3.0). The card requires no external power connectors, as it draws all power from the MXM slot itself. The fact pack lists no suggested PSU, indicating that the power supply is handled by the host laptop’s internal power delivery, not a desktop PSU.

The 75 W TDP is low enough for most dual-fan laptop cooling solutions, but sustained load will generate significant heat given the 55 nm process node. The G92B chip’s 754 million transistors on a 260 mm² die mean that heat density is moderate, but the lack of a dedicated power connector suggests that the card is designed for systems with adequate chassis airflow. The MXM form factor allows for replaceable graphics modules, but the 75 W limit means that overclocking is not feasible without exceeding the slot’s power budget.

For cooling, the card relies on the laptop’s thermal solution, as no specific cooler is listed. Users repurposing this card in a desktop via an MXM-to-PCIe adapter would need to provide their own active cooling, as the module does not include a heatsink. The pixel rate of 9.600 GPixel/s and texture rate of 28.80 GTexel/s indicate that under full load, the GPU will reach its power ceiling quickly, but the 75 W TDP keeps it below the threshold where exotic cooling is required. The absence of a suggested PSU reinforces that this is a mobile part, not meant for standalone desktop use without modification.