$30 Quadro M4000 8GB from 2015 plays Cyberpunk 2077 at almost 60 FPS with an overclock

NVIDIA's professional Quadro graphics cards are not what you would typically think of as gaming graphics cards. But a YouTuber has discovered that NVIDIA's Maxwell-based Quadro M4000 from 15 years ago makes for one of the most potent used bare-minimum entry-level gaming GPU buys in 2026. YouTuber Budget-Builds Official benchmarked the card, with an overclock, and found the GPU regularly outperforms the GTX 970 and RX 580 4GB thanks to its 8GB memory capacity, allowing the card to approach GTX 1060 performance. Best of all, he picked up the card for just $30 on the used market.

The YouTuber benchmarked the M4000 (with a hefty manual overclock) in a variety of games, including GTA V, Counter-Strike 2, Arc Raiders, Oblivion Remastered, Samson, Cyberpunk 2077, Fortnite, PUBG, Baldur's Gate 3, Red Dead Redemption 2, S&Box, BeamNG, Fallout 4: Anniversary, M&B Bannerlord, and Crysis Remastered.

The 15-year-old card couldn't play all of these games at a perfect 60 FPS, but all the aforementioned games were at the very least capable of achieving 30 FPS, including the aforementioned titles running on Unreal Engine 5. Oblivion, a title that demands 8GB of VRAM at a minimum, was able to run at 30 FPS using a 900p resolution.

Cyberpunk 2077 ran at a far more comfortable 49 FPS average at 1080p on the M4000 using a mixture of medium and high graphics settings with FSR 3 upscaling set to balanced mode. Similarly, Red Dead Redemption 2 ran at 49 FPS average at native 1080p with a mixture of medium and high settings paired with Ultra Textures.

What makes the M4000 so special is its combination of 8GB of GDDR5 memory and current-day driver support. Being a Quadro card, the M4000 has more memory than any of NVIDIA's GTX Maxwell-based graphics cards ever got (the GTX 980 Ti had 6GB). NVIDIA is also still supporting the M4000 with professional-grade graphics drivers, which the YouTuber revealed are surprisingly good as a substitute for proper NVIDIA game-ready drivers that are capable of playing virtually any modern game. As for raw specs, the M4000 is an identical clone of the GTX 970, save for the difference in memory capacity, clocks, and TDP. Both feature 1,664 CUDA cores, 104 TMUs, 64 ROPs, and a 256-bit bus. The M4000 features a 773MHz clock speed and 120W TDP. The GTX 970 features a 1,178MHz boost clock and 148W TDP.

For the tests, the YouTuber overclocked the M4000 significantly to match the GTX 970's clock speed and power consumption using BIOS modding. Despite increasing clock speeds by around 50%, the YouTuber reported that the card was stable, with the only side effect being higher temperatures. He also boosted the card's power consumption to match the GTX 970's, at the cost of high GPU temperatures. Surprisingly, the M4000's single-slot blower cooler was capable of pushing the GPU core all the way to 1,350 MHz, albeit at above 90C.

Frequently Asked Questions

TweakBot answers common questions about this news using TweakTown's own coverage from this page and related content from our archive. Tap a question to reveal the answer, or type your own below.

Question #1

What performance did the Quadro M4000 achieve in Cyberpunk 2077 at 1080p and which settings/upscaling were used?

The Quadro M4000 averaged 49 FPS at 1080p in Cyberpunk 2077. It used a mixture of medium and high graphics settings with FSR 3 upscaling set to Balanced mode.

Answered

Question #2

How did the M4000 compare to the GTX 970 and RX 580 in the benchmarks mentioned?

The article says the Quadro M4000 regularly outperforms the GTX 970 and the RX 580 4GB in the YouTuber's benchmarks, largely thanks to its 8GB of GDDR5 memory and current driver support. With a hefty manual overclock the M4000 could approach GTX 1060 performance, and the tester even modded the BIOS to match GTX 970 clock and power targets while remaining stable.

Answered

Question #3

Which games and engines were tested with the M4000, and did any require lowering resolution to reach 30 FPS?

The YouTuber tested the M4000 in GTA V, Counter-Strike 2, Arc Raiders, Oblivion Remastered, Samson, Cyberpunk 2077, Fortnite, PUBG, Baldur’s Gate 3, Red Dead Redemption 2, S&Box, BeamNG, Fallout 4: Anniversary, M&B Bannerlord, and Crysis Remastered. The article also notes the card played titles running on Unreal Engine 5, though it does not specify which listed games used that engine. One game explicitly required lowering resolution to hit 30 FPS: Oblivion Remastered ran at 30 FPS using a 900p resolution.

Answered

Question #4

How did temperatures and cooling behave after the M4000 was overclocked, and were there stability issues?

After the hefty manual overclock and increased power draw, the M4000 ran significantly hotter, with the single-slot blower cooler pushing the GPU core to 1,350 MHz but temperatures climbing above 90C. The YouTuber reported the card was stable after the overclock, with the only noted side effect being the higher temperatures.

Answered

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Unfortunately, used prices on the Quadro M4000 have gone well above $30 at the time of writing, with average prices on eBay going for more than a GTX 980 Ti at around $55 to $100. The higher prices make the M4000 significantly harder to justify, as the Quadro card is now competing with cards such as the RX 480 8GB and even the RX Vega 56 8GB on the used market. But if the M4000 does drop back to $30 on the used market, it could be a compelling option for entry-level gamers thanks to its 8GB memory capacity being enough to (barely) play the latest titles.