Entry-level workstation cards

I had this weird idea of mixing a Nvidia GeForce and a Quadro card for my next build, as I am starting to invest in a higher-than-8-bit display for my post-production work (basically, the Quadro card will handle the display while the much-newer GeForce card will handle CUDA). Upon looking through a simple Google search, there are a lot of affordable entry-level cards for sale, even old ones like the Quadro 4000 from PNY. I am, admittedly, tempted to try this one out as I am not really into the idea of spending a lot for the latest of the Quadro/FirePro line.


Is it worth it, performance-wise, to buy the entry-level ones?

That's actually a pretty interesting idea. I can't tell you if this is going to work that way, but I can tell you that we're running some last-gen FirePro W5000s here and they perform very well, at least in our CAD-applications.

When it come to the newer generation of both FirePro and Quadros, the W4100 and the PNY K620 both have an appealing price-point and should be suitable for the scenario. Only the DDR3 memory on the PNY worries me a little. So the K2200 might be a better choice and is still cheaper than the last-gen K4000