Quadro K420 vs Quadro M3000M

If you are going to buy a new graphics card and are choosing between Quadro K420 and Quadro M3000M, there are a couple of things to consider. Cards with more VRAM in general perform better and allow you to play on higher graphics settings. Size also makes a difference. A model with a large heatsink can occupy up to three expansion slots on a motherboard. Be sure you have enough room in your PC case. When comparing GPUs with different architectures, more processing cores and even higher TFLOPS will not always translate to better performance. To help you decide which GPU you need, we have measured frame rates in a number of popular games. For more on how the Quadro K420 stacks up against Quadro M3000M, check out specs charts below.

Quadro M3000M is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Quadro M3000M is only used in laptop graphics. It has lower GPU clock speed compared to the desktop variant, which results in lower power consumption, but also 10-30% lower gaming performance. Check available laptop models with Quadro M3000M here:

Main Specs

  Quadro K420 Quadro M3000M
Power consumption (TDP) 41 Watt 75 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors None None
Memory type 128 Bit GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB/2 GB 4 GB
Display Connectors 1x DVI, 1x DisplayPort No outputs
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  • Quadro M3000M has 82% more power consumption, than Quadro K420.
  • Quadro K420 is connected by PCIe 2.0 x16, and Quadro M3000M uses PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.
  • Quadro M3000M has 3 GB more memory, than Quadro K420.
  • Quadro K420 is used in Desktops, and Quadro M3000M - in Mobile workstations.
  • Quadro K420 is build with Kepler architecture, and Quadro M3000M - with Maxwell.
  • Core clock speed of Quadro M3000M is 174 MHz higher, than Quadro K420.
  • Quadro K420 and Quadro M3000M are manufactured by 28 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Quadro M3000M is 3218 MHz higher, than Quadro K420.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 0−1 35−40
ultra / 1080p 0−1 21−24
QHD / 1440p 0−1 16−18
4K / 2160p 10−11
low / 720p 9−10 60−65
medium / 1080p 1−2 40−45
The average gaming FPS of Quadro M3000M in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 940% more, than Quadro K420.

Full Specs

  Quadro K420 Quadro M3000M
Architecture Kepler Maxwell
Code name GK107 GM204
Type Workstation Mobile workstation
Release date 22 July 2014 2 October 2015
Pipelines 192 1,024
Core clock speed 876 MHz 1050 MHz
Transistor count 1,270 million 5,200 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 14.02 67.20
Floating-point performance 336.4 gflops 2,150 gflops
Length 160 mm
Memory bus width 128 Bit 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 1782 MHz 5000 MHz
Memory bandwidth 160 GB/s
Shared memory -
DirectX 12 12
Shader Model 5 5.0
OpenGL 4.5 4.5
OpenCL 1.2 1.2
Vulkan + 1.1.126
CUDA 3.0 5.2
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 11 Mh/s 253 Mh/s
Laptop size large
Optimus +
Display Port 1.2
3D Vision Pro + +
Mosaic + +
nView Display Management +
Width 1" (2.5 cm)
Number of simultaneous displays 4
nView Desktop Management +
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