NVIDIA Quadro FX 3000

The NVIDIA Quadro FX 3000 is an end-of-life professional graphics card built around the NV35 chip with Rankine architecture, fabricated by TSMC on a 130 nm process. Released on 2003-07-21, it carries a 50th percentile ranking among all GPUs in the database, though the database holds no individual benchmark scores for this model. The documented specifications and their implications for professional use are examined below.

Benchmark Performance

The fact pack records no benchmark scores for the Quadro FX 3000. The benchmarks array is empty, and the avgBenchmarkScore field reads 0. This zero is not a measured performance result; it is the default value when no runs have been entered. The only quantitative performance signal is the percentileVsAllGpus field, which places the card at the 50th percentile. That position means the card sits at the median of the database's GPU distribution — half of all tracked GPUs score higher, half score lower. A median placement is a meaningful anchor: the Quadro FX 3000 is neither a standout nor a laggard in the historical record.

The raw throughput figures provide the hardware-level context. The pixel rate is 1.600 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 3.200 GTexel/s. These are fill-rate ceilings derived from the 4 ROPs and 8 TMUs respectively. The texture rate is exactly double the pixel rate, indicating a design weighted toward texture-heavy rendering rather than pixel-dense output. With no rival entries in the nearestRivals array, no percentage deltas can be computed against competing GPUs. The 50th percentile is the sole comparative metric available, and it must stand in for direct head-to-head analysis. The absence of benchmark data limits the depth of this section; the card's performance can only be positioned by its percentile and its hardware throughput numbers.

Power and Cooling

The fact pack does not list a TDP for the Quadro FX 3000, so thermal design power cannot be stated. What is documented is the system-level power guidance: the suggested PSU is 200 W, and the card requires a single Molex power connector. The card is dual-slot in width, indicating a substantial cooler that occupies the adjacent expansion slot. The physical dimensions are 229 mm (9 inches) in length and 111 mm (4.4 inches) in height — a full-height, roughly 9-inch card requiring standard case clearance. The dual-slot design is typical for professional cards of this era, prioritizing sustained thermal performance over compactness.

The single Molex connector draws supplemental power beyond the AGP 8x bus's supply, though the fact pack does not quantify the split between bus and connector power. The 130 nm fabrication process, with 135 million transistors on a 207 mm² die, yields a transistor density of 652.2K per square millimeter. This density is a process metric, not a power metric; it does not translate directly into wattage. The absence of a TDP value means the 200 W suggested PSU is the only power-planning figure available. For a system integrator, the documented requirements are a 200 W-rated supply, one Molex cable, and a dual-slot chassis opening. The 9-inch length and 4.4-inch height must fit within the case, and the dual-slot cooler blocks the neighboring slot.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The fact pack lists no RT cores and no tensor cores for the Quadro FX 3000; both fields are null. The data does not document dedicated ray tracing or tensor acceleration hardware. The API support is explicit: DirectX 9.0a, OpenGL 1.5 with full support, and OpenGL 2.0 with partial support. No Vulkan version is listed. DirectX 9.0a anchors the card to the early-2000s graphics API generation. The partial OpenGL 2.0 support is particularly relevant for professional applications, as many CAD and digital content creation tools of the period relied on OpenGL extensions that were still evolving. The absence of Vulkan means no modern low-level API access.

The display output configuration is 2x DVI and 1x S-Video, providing dual digital outputs plus analog video. The dual DVI outputs support dual-monitor professional setups, a common requirement for workstation users. The feature set is defined by the API boundaries: applications requiring DirectX versions beyond 9.0a, full OpenGL 2.0, or any Vulkan functionality will not be fully supported. Ray tracing and tensor-accelerated workloads are not addressed by this card's documented feature set. The Rankine architecture, as named in the fact pack, is the generation identifier; the data does not specify additional architectural features beyond the API list.

Who Should Consider It

With the 50th percentile ranking and no benchmark scores, recommendations must be grounded in the documented specifications. The Quadro FX 3000 provides 256 MB of DDR memory on a 256-bit bus with 27.20 GB/s bandwidth. This configuration suits workloads with moderate texture and framebuffer demands. The 1.600 GPixel/s pixel rate and 3.200 GTexel/s texture rate define the fill-rate envelope; scenes that exceed these rates will bottleneck. The 50th percentile position suggests the card is a middle-tier option within the database's GPU population.

Users whose software operates within the DirectX 9.0a and OpenGL 1.5 (full) / 2.0 (partial) feature set are the target audience. The dual DVI outputs make it suitable for dual-monitor professional work. The 256 MB memory capacity is the limiting factor for high-resolution textures and large scenes; the 256-bit bus partially compensates by providing higher bandwidth per memory clock cycle. The card's end-of-life status means it is available only through used channels. The 200 W suggested PSU and single Molex connector make installation straightforward in legacy AGP 8x systems. For modern workloads, the missing Vulkan support and partial OpenGL 2.0 are hard constraints. The card is best considered by users with legacy software that matches its API profile and with resolution and texture demands that fit within 256 MB of VRAM and 27.20 GB/s of bandwidth.

How It Compares

The nearestRivals array in the fact pack is empty, so no rival-specific comparisons with percentage deltas can be made. The only comparative data is the 50th percentile against all GPUs in the database. The fact pack does identify a predecessor, the Quadro4 Celcius, and a successor, the Quadro FX Curie, but no scores, clock speeds, or specifications are provided for either. The Quadro FX 3000 is positioned between these two in the product lineage, yet the database records no quantitative relationship among them. The 50th percentile is a global ranking, not a head-to-head delta.

The Rankine architecture is shared with the generation name "Quadro FX Rankine (x000)" as listed in the fact pack. The transistor count of 135 million and die size of 207 mm² are physical attributes; the transistor density of 652.2K / mm² is derived from them. These figures place the card in a specific process-generation context but do not constitute a performance comparison. Without rival entries, the comparative section is necessarily brief: the Quadro FX 3000's position is defined by its global percentile and its place in the Quadro FX Rankine generation. Any assertion about how it stacks up against specific competitors would require data not present in the fact pack.

Memory Subsystem

The Quadro FX 3000 is equipped with 256 MB of DDR memory. The memory clock is 425 MHz, with an effective data rate of 850 Mbps — double data rate, hence the doubling from clock to effective rate. The memory bus is 256 bits wide, and the resulting bandwidth is 27.20 GB/s. This bandwidth is the product of the effective data rate and bus width, though the fact pack does not show the arithmetic. For high-resolution rendering, memory bandwidth governs how quickly textures and framebuffer data move between the GPU and VRAM. 27.20 GB/s is a modest figure within the database's full GPU range, but the 50th percentile ranking suggests the card is not an outlier in overall position.

The 256-bit bus is a deliberate design choice: a wider bus provides more parallel data paths, compensating for the relatively moderate memory clock. The 256 MB capacity is the total VRAM; textures, geometry buffers, and the framebuffer must share it. At high resolutions, the framebuffer consumes a substantial portion of 256 MB, reducing the space available for texture caching. The 4 ROPs cap pixel throughput at 1.600 GPixel/s, and each pixel write consumes memory bandwidth; the 27.20 GB/s ceiling therefore constrains sustained pixel throughput. The 8 TMUs, operating at 3.200 GTexel/s, also draw on the same bandwidth pool. In texture-heavy scenes, the 27.20 GB/s can become the limiting factor. The 256-bit bus mitigates this by allowing more data per clock cycle than narrower configurations at the same memory clock. For users targeting high resolutions, the memory subsystem is the defining constraint: 256 MB capacity and 27.20 GB/s bandwidth bound the scene complexity and resolution that the card can handle. The fact pack documents no larger memory configuration, so 256 MB is the only capacity available for this model.