Cost Differential Between (Mac) Radeon 9800 and (PC) Radeon 9800

[Gymnut]

From ATI's website:

RADEON 9800 128MB AGP
Product:__100-435012 US
Unit:__EA

Price:__$299.00

RADEON 9800 PRO 128MB AGP
Product:__100-435002 US
Unit:__EA

Price:__$299.00

RADEON 9800 PRO 256MB AGP
Product:__100-435005 US
Unit:__EA

Price:__$399.00

RADEON 9800 PRO MAC EDITION 128MB AGP
Product:__100-435050 US
Unit:__EA

Price:__$399.00

I'm not in the hunt for a new graphics card since I'm quite satisfied with my Geforce4Ti, but for the life of me I cannot understand why ATi would mark up their Mac edition cards in comparison to its PC counterpart. Is the developmental costs for Macintosh drivers for these cards justifying these incurring costs? I've heard that certain cards can be "flashed" to operate inside an Apple computer but I for one wouldn't plunk down $300.00 and test fate risking having a $300 silicone paperweight. As you can see, someone with a PC can get twice the VRAM, 256MB, for the same cost as someone purchasing the 9800 Radeon Pro Mac Edition w/128MB. When will the day come that the Macintosh platform as a whole stop being treated as second class citizens? That day, being said, cannot come soon enough for this lifelong Macintosh user.

[Dont Hurt Me]

from what i understand the cards(retail) are identical part for part, only the drivers are Mac. i have been using a geforce 3 and have been wanting to bump the video card but will wait for prices to come down or ati to introduce a stronger adc card then the 9000. Im glad ati has mac products but the handouts we get seem allways half hearted. I think after the first of the year nvidea & ati will be introducing even stronger stuff so ill just sit back and wait.

[bousozoku]

The last time we got cards from ATI with the same connections, it would only be a few months later, not something like a year. I'm surprised that drivers would take so long, even for them. No one has seen any of their professional line for Mac either. Of course, Apple wanted the ADC/PCI-X compatible version first to draw people to the G5.

The PC 128MB card was $399 as well, but dropped about the same time that the Mac card became available.

[Dont Hurt Me]

lets hope the mac card go's to 299, heck we still have to buy a 100 dollar adapter if you have a adc display.

[Fender2112]

Keep in mind that the Mac cards have an ADC port which has to supply power for Apple monitors. It seems this would cause the cards to be different from the PC versions which only support DVI.

This would justify some cost difference, but not 33%.

[bousozoku]

Originally posted by Fender2112
Keep in mind that the Mac cards have an ADC port which has to supply power for Apple monitors. It seems this would cause the cards to be different from the PC versions which only support DVI.

This would justify some cost difference, but not 33%.

The G5 oem Radeon 9800 cards have the ADC connector. The retail cards do not.

[Doraemon]

Originally posted by Dont Hurt Me
from what i understand the cards(retail) are identical part for part, only the drivers are Mac.

No. It's the ROM chip on the card that makes the difference.

But what I cannot understand is why they cannot (or will not?) make cards, compatible with both Macs and PCs. I should be possible.

[bousozoku]

Originally posted by Doraemon
No. It's the ROM chip on the card that makes the difference.

But what I cannot understand is why they cannot (or will not?) make cards, compatible with both Macs and PCs. I should be possible.

It's not really ROM, the firmware is stored in non-volatile RAM, so that it can be corrected. That's how some people have been able to use PC cards in Macs.

I believe that many of the non-ADC cards have been compatible with both, other than firmware and drivers. In the VGA connector days, the cards were very close, but often named differently. There were never any $79 cards though. :(

If you're looking for complete compatibility then, PCs or Macs are going to have to change. The boot information, as well as the operating systems and processors, are too different.