NVIDIA Quadro K1200

The NVIDIA Quadro K1200 is an end-of-life professional graphics card built on the 28 nm Maxwell architecture, featuring the GM107 chip with 1,870 million transistors on a 148 mm² die. Its average benchmark score of 8,265 places it in the 41st percentile of all GPUs, indicating a modest mid-low tier position in the current landscape. The data shows a card that was designed for professional CAD and visualization workloads at a time when Maxwell was NVIDIA’s leading architecture, but its performance today is narrowly bracketed by entry-level consumer and mobile parts.

Benchmark Performance

Benchmark results for the Quadro K1200 are drawn from two synthetic tests: Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan, yielding scores of 8,831 and 7,698 respectively. The average of these two figures, 8,265, serves as the card’s composite performance metric. Against its nearest rivals, the K1200 sits in a tight cluster where percentage differences are minimal. The AMD Radeon RX 6400 matches the K1200 exactly with an average score of 8,265, representing a 0% delta — these two cards are statistically identical in aggregate performance, despite being from different generations and market segments. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M scores 8,289, which is 0.3% higher, a negligible margin that falls well within run-to-run variance. Similarly, the AMD Radeon RX 550 edges ahead by 0.7% with a score of 8,324, while the NVIDIA GeForce 945M trails by 2% at 8,099.

Interpreting these deltas, the K1200’s performance is effectively tied with three of its four nearest rivals. The 2% lead over the GeForce 945M is the only meaningful separation in this group, suggesting that the K1200 holds a slight advantage over that particular mobile-oriented part. However, the 0.3% deficit to the GTX 950M and the 0.7% deficit to the RX 550 are within noise, meaning the K1200 neither wins nor loses decisively against those cards. The parity with the RX 6400 is notable because that AMD card is a modern discrete GPU, yet the older Maxwell-based Quadro matches it in these synthetic workloads. The FP32 compute throughput of 1,057.8 GFLOPS, combined with a texture rate of 33.06 GTexel/s and a pixel rate of 16.53 GPixel/s, provides the raw arithmetic that underpins these scores. For professional applications that rely on OpenCL acceleration, the K1200’s 8,831 Geekbench OpenCL score indicates competent compute capability, while the 7,698 Vulkan score shows that API-level performance is slightly lower, likely due to driver maturity on a Maxwell-era architecture.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The Quadro K1200 does not include dedicated ray tracing cores or tensor cores; the fact pack lists both fields as null. This absence is a defining characteristic of the Maxwell architecture, which predates NVIDIA’s RTX series and its hardware-accelerated ray tracing capabilities. Consequently, any ray tracing workloads on this card would be handled through software fallbacks or compute shaders, which would be prohibitively slow for real-time applications. The card’s API support includes DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The DirectX 12 support is feature level 11_0, which means it lacks the higher-tier features like conservative rasterization and rasterizer-ordered views that are available on newer architectures. OpenGL 4.6 is a mature specification and provides solid compatibility for professional CAD and DCC applications, many of which rely heavily on this API. Vulkan 1.4 support is present, but without tensor or RT cores, the card’s Vulkan performance is limited to traditional rasterization and compute workloads. The 512 shading units, 32 texture mapping units, and 16 ROPs define the fixed-function and programmable pipeline capabilities. For the professional market at the time of its release, the absence of RT cores was standard, but from a modern perspective, this card is entirely unsuitable for any ray-traced workflows. The feature set is further defined by four mini-DisplayPort 1.2 outputs, which support multi-monitor setups but lack the bandwidth of DisplayPort 1.4 or newer standards.

Who Should Consider It

Given its benchmark scores and 41st percentile ranking, the Quadro K1200 is positioned for specific, narrow use cases. At 1080p resolution, the card can handle older or less demanding professional applications, such as 2D CAD drafting or basic 3D modeling with moderate polygon counts, where the 16.53 GPixel/s pixel rate and 33.06 GTexel/s texture rate are sufficient. However, the 0.3% deficit to the GTX 950M and the 0.7% deficit to the RX 550 indicate that for gaming or general-purpose 3D rendering, there is no performance advantage over those cheaper consumer alternatives. The parity with the RX 6400 suggests that if a user already owns that AMD card, swapping to the K1200 yields no measurable performance gain. For 1440p or higher resolutions, the K1200 is not recommended; its 80.19 GB/s memory bandwidth and 4 GB VRAM would become a bottleneck in texture-heavy scenes, and the 2% lead over the GeForce 945M is insufficient to compensate for the higher memory pressure. The card is best suited for legacy professional environments where NVIDIA’s Quadro driver certification for specific ISV applications is required, and where the workload is primarily 2D or light 3D. Users running multi-monitor setups with four displays via the mini-DisplayPort outputs would find the card adequate for desktop productivity and data visualization, but not for real-time 3D rendering or simulation. The 41st percentile ranking places it below the median GPU, meaning it outperforms roughly 41% of all GPUs tracked in the database, but is outperformed by the majority.

FAQ

Q: How does the Quadro K1200 compare to the AMD Radeon RX 6400?

A: The two cards have identical average benchmark scores of 8,265, indicating a 0% performance delta. In aggregate synthetic tests, they are statistically indistinguishable.

Q: What is the card’s performance relative to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M?

A: The GTX 950M scores 8,289, which is 0.3% higher than the K1200’s 8,265 average. This difference is negligible and falls within typical benchmark variance.

Q: Does the Quadro K1200 support hardware ray tracing?

A: No. The card has no dedicated ray tracing cores, as its Maxwell architecture predates NVIDIA’s RTX line. Ray tracing would require software-based methods, which are impractical for real-time use.

Q: What is the card’s memory bandwidth and how does it affect high-resolution performance?

A: The memory bandwidth is 80.19 GB/s, provided by 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus. This bandwidth is a limiting factor at resolutions above 1080p, where texture and geometry data demands exceed what the card can feed to the GPU cores.

Q: What APIs does the Quadro K1200 support?

A: It supports DirectX 12 with feature level 11_0, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The DirectX 12 support is limited to the 11_0 feature level, which omits newer features available on subsequent architectures.

Q: Is the Quadro K1200 faster than the NVIDIA GeForce 945M?

A: Yes, the K1200 has a 2% higher average benchmark score (8,265 vs. 8,099). This is the largest performance margin among its nearest rivals, but still a modest advantage.

Memory Subsystem

The Quadro K1200 is equipped with 4 GB of GDDR5 memory operating at an effective speed of 5 Gbps, with a memory clock of 1,253 MHz. The bus width is 128 bits, which yields a total memory bandwidth of 80.19 GB/s. This memory configuration is modest by modern standards, and its implications are most pronounced at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the 4 GB capacity is generally sufficient for professional applications that do not require large texture atlases or high-detail 3D scenes. However, at 1440p or 4K, the combination of limited capacity and narrow bandwidth becomes a bottleneck. The 80.19 GB/s bandwidth must feed 512 shading units and 32 TMUs, and when texture-heavy workloads exceed this throughput, frame rates or viewport responsiveness will degrade. The 128-bit bus width is a key constraint; GPUs with wider buses, such as 256-bit, can move data more efficiently, but the K1200 is limited to this narrower path. For multi-display setups using the four mini-DisplayPort 1.2 outputs, the memory subsystem must also handle framebuffer data for each display, further taxing the available bandwidth. In practice, the K1200 is best suited for 1080p or lower resolutions with moderate texture quality settings. The 4 GB capacity is not expandable, and the GDDR5 type, while adequate for its era, is slower than modern GDDR6 or GDDR6X. The effective 5 Gbps data rate is fixed, so there is no headroom for overclocking the memory beyond the specified 1,253 MHz clock without risking stability. For professional workloads that involve large datasets, such as scientific visualization or complex CAE simulations, the 80.19 GB/s bandwidth will be the limiting factor, not the compute performance.

Power and Cooling

The Quadro K1200 has a thermal design power (TDP) of 45 W, which is exceptionally low for a discrete graphics card. This low power draw allows for a single-slot cooling solution, and the card requires no external power connectors; it draws all its power from the PCIe slot. The suggested PSU rating is 200 W, which is a modest requirement that makes the card compatible with a wide range of systems, including small form factor or OEM desktops with limited power supplies. The card’s length is 160 mm (6.3 inches) and its height is 69 mm (2.7 inches), making it a compact option that can fit in most chassis. The single-slot design is a significant advantage for dense workstation builds where space is at a premium. The absence of power connectors simplifies installation, as no additional cables are needed. The 45 W TDP means that cooling is relatively easy to manage; a passive or low-speed fan can dissipate the heat generated, and the card does not contribute significantly to system thermal load. This is in stark contrast to high-end GPUs with TDPs exceeding 200 W, which require dual or triple-slot coolers and multiple power connectors. The suggested 200 W PSU is a conservative recommendation, and most systems with a modern CPU and motherboard will have sufficient headroom. The PCIe 2.0 x16 bus interface is older but provides enough bandwidth for the K1200’s data transfer needs, given its modest compute and memory capabilities. For users upgrading from an older Quadro Fermi card, the K1200’s 45 W TDP represents a significant efficiency improvement, allowing for quieter operation and lower system power consumption. The end-of-life production status means that cooling solutions are no longer manufactured by NVIDIA, but third-party replacements or used parts are the only options for maintenance.