New Graphics Cards!

[ildondeigiocchi]

I love my 9 month old octo core 2.8GHZ Mac Pro which has a 8800GT which got a 3DMark06 score of 14*** something like that. Played Crysis, COD4, Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Medal of Honor Airborne, FS2004 and FSX, HL2 on max settings with even some of these games running on my native resolution of 2560 by 1600 on my 30" ACD. I am running a 150 GB Windows XP Pro 32bit partition on my Western Digital 500GB HD with 2GB of RAM. With the coming of Far Cry 2 and Call of Duty 5, I would like to have more gaming graphics power. I would love that Apple would release a new graphics card top of the line for our early 2008 Mac Pro. And I'm sure that many of you's would too so please give your opinion on which one you like for Apple to make their EFI version of!

[richard.mac]

probably the GTX280 as the Mac Pro and OS X arent SLI compatible yet… let alone quad SLI compatible! http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/exclusive-nvidia-geforce-9800gx2,1755.html

[Dont Hurt Me]

A 8800 GT and you want more? I dont get it and really whats it going to do for you anyways? The tech has hit a plateau in my view. Cpu's offer more then anyone can use unless your running the starship enterprise and the graphics are gettin to the point when even a 9400m puts you into almost every game ever made. I think your bored.;)

[ildondeigiocchi]

A 8800 GT and you want more? I dont get it and really whats it going to do for you anyways? The tech has hit a plateau in my view. Cpu's offer more then anyone can use unless your running the starship enterprise and the graphics are gettin to the point when even a 9400m puts you into almost every game ever made. I think your bored.;)

It shows you don't play much games under windows. My 8800 GT struggles with the new Crysis Warhead so I dont know where your hearing that the MBP can max out anything. If you are referring to COD4 which isnt demanding at all then thats a different case but trust me the 8800GT is outdated for games and lots of ppl can tell you this.

[ildondeigiocchi]

probably the GTX280 as the Mac Pro and OS X arent SLI compatible yet… let alone quad SLI compatible! http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/exclusive-nvidia-geforce-9800gx2,1755.html

I also think the GTX 280 is great since it requires less power but from review point 4870X2 has been beating it in almost 90% of games.

[richard.mac]

also i think Apple is moving entirely to NVIDIA. theyve probably seen a roadmap and theyre looking pretty damn good.

[ildondeigiocchi]

also i think Apple is moving entirely to NVIDIA. theyve probably seen a roadmap and theyre looking pretty damn good.

Now that I think of it, it's quite possible.

[Rankrotten]

Now that I think of it, it's quite possible.

Well they better optimise their driver for pro apps then :mad:

[Pressure]

Radeon HD 4670, Radeon HD 4870 and some high-end nVIDIA graphic card no one can use for anything.

[ildondeigiocchi]

Well they better optimise their driver for pro apps then :mad:

I agree with you!

[Umbongo]

also i think Apple is moving entirely to NVIDIA. theyve probably seen a roadmap and theyre looking pretty damn good.

I don't think that will happen. It may be that the Mac Pro recieves only Nvidia cards, but it hasn't been the case so far and the 4600 series cards look ideal for the low end GPU in the Mac Pro.

[Wild-Bill]

I'd like to see the Radeon HD 4870. But I won't hold my breath.

I am sure that they have the Mac Pro on "back burner" status, where it will languish until such time as Jobs and crew decide to discontinue it, along with all the pro apps, and focus solely on the quick and easy consumer buck. :(

[costabunny]

I really wnt the 280 series - with cuda support and the upcomming openCL it should be beastie for Mac OS X

[ildondeigiocchi]

Gee, I guess so far ppl agree with me that the 4870X2 is the best choice. Hope Apple is looking at this post!:rolleyes::):apple:

[OneHump]

A 8800 GT and you want more? I dont get it and really whats it going to do for you anyways? The tech has hit a plateau in my view. Cpu's offer more then anyone can use unless your running the starship enterprise and the graphics are gettin to the point when even a 9400m puts you into almost every game ever made. I think your bored.;)

I disagree and I'm quite sure this is not a matter of opinion. The 9000 series Nvidia boards are an incremental improvement over the 8800, but the 280 is significant. As an earlier poster pointed out, games exist and are in the pipeline that will stress the 8800GT, especially when paired with an ACD 30" and it's 4,000,000 pixels.

[peskaa]

I'd like a GTX280 or even a 260. Apple seem to have switched to nVidia, so that's the way to go.

[dan768902]

I love my 9 month old octo core 2.8GHZ Mac Pro which has a 8800GT which got a 3DMark06 score of 14*** something like that. Played Crysis, COD4, Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Medal of Honor Airborne, FS2004 and FSX, HL2 on max settings with even some of these games running on my native resolution of 2560 by 1600 on my 30" ACD. I am running a 150 GB Windows XP Pro 32bit partition on my Western Digital 500GB HD with 2GB of RAM. With the coming of Far Cry 2 and Call of Duty 5, I would like to have more gaming graphics power. I would love that Apple would release a new graphics card top of the line for our early 2008 Mac Pro. And I'm sure that many of you's would too so please give your opinion on which one you like for Apple to make their EFI version of!

I LOVE HL2 LOL ;)

[m1stake]

I would expect the GTX 260, or one step below it.

From ATI, the 4870 obviously.

[ildondeigiocchi]

Ok the winner is... the 4870X2!

[grue]

A 8800 GT and you want more? I dont get it and really whats it going to do for you anyways? The tech has hit a plateau in my view. Cpu's offer more then anyone can use unless your running the starship enterprise and the graphics are gettin to the point when even a 9400m puts you into almost every game ever made. I think your bored.;)

Unfortunately, it's not really open to debate or personal opinion. It's a fact that the 8800GT is not anywhere near "plateau" status, because the GTX280 or HD4870 absolutely blow it out of the water. It USED to be a good card. Now it's simply decent.

As for the "getting into almost every game ever made", yes. Just as a Ford Fiesta can race against a Formula 1 car, but it'd be a joke. Being able to launch the game and having it be playable are vastly different situations. If you can't run max resolution and max detail without dropping frames, there's room for improvement.

[cherry su]

The upcoming Quadro 6600 (99% it will be BTO option for the next Mac Pro) should be based on the GTX280 core (and will cost a crapload of $$$).

[grue]

As for the original poll question, I'd rather see nVidia and ATI release the cards on their own, rather than waiting for Apple to do their own Financial Anal Rape Edition that costs twice as much as the PC version.

[nanofrog]

As for the original poll question, I'd rather see nVidia and ATI release the cards on their own, rather than waiting for Apple to do their own Financial Anal Rape Edition that costs twice as much as the PC version.
Dream on. :rolleyes: :p

[Slimdude22]

AtI i think would be the best but how much would the 4870 cost?

[cherry su]

AtI i think would be the best but how much would the 4870 cost?

$250 - $300. see newegg

[grue]

$250 - $300. see newegg

I'm sure the Mac Edition will be significantly more. Why? Because people will pay it.

[nanofrog]

$250 - $300. see newegg
It would be more $$$, unfortunately. :(

For example, take the 3870. The PC version can be had for $130 (or so), and the Mac version is $218 (OWC). That works out to ~167% or PC cost x 1.67.

Assuming this would be consistent between models, we'd see the 4870 in the range of $500 to $520. :eek: Hopefully, it won't be quite that much, but I wouldn't expect it to be much lower. :(

[ildondeigiocchi]

$250 - $300. see newegg

4870 world be good for a mid-range card. But hardcore gamers like me need either GTX280 or 4870X2 without all the hastle of messing around in our Mac Pro.

[Umbongo]

4870 world be good for a mid-range card. But hardcore gamers like me need either GTX280 or 4870X2 without all the hastle of messing around in our Mac Pro.

Apple probably won't be using SLI or Crossfire (X2 cards) anytime soon. They may be beneficial for some games in windows, but it would require driver development for OSX that I doubt could be financially justified.