quadro

[cmaier]

http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/04/20/nvidia.quadro.fx.4800.mac/

direct link
http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_quadro_fx_4800_for_mac_us.html

[McShizzel]

No mini display port? :confused:

[Umbongo]

No mini display port? :confused:

Well it isn't via Apple so it isn't suprising. I doubt many people are going to be connecting a 24" display intended for notebooks to such a card anyway.

[Gen]

$1999?

[cmaier]

$1999?

article claims $1800

[ltldrummerboy]

My fantasy Mac just got a pretty sweet upgrade.

The lack of miniDisplayPort (or however it's written) isn't really a very big deal. The people who will be using this card are people who will be running two 30" ADCs.

[Cynicalone]

I still want to know what Apple is going to do with the 30" ACD, it is long long overdue for an update.

[DeepCobalt]

Thank goodness no display port... two 30" ACDs and no flicker issues!!! :D:D:D

[cmaier]

I still want to know what Apple is going to do with the 30" ACD, it is long long overdue for an update.

Does anyone make 30" led panels?

[Umbongo]

Does anyone make 30" led panels?

Samsung have the XL30.

[Cynicalone]

Does anyone make 30" led panels?

Yes and they are still very expensive.

[10THzMac]

Anybody got one up and running? How many 6/8 pin Power connectors does it need? Wants 10.5.7 according to NVIDIA web site.

A lot of money for a 192 core box with 1.5G. Palit do a 2Gig 285 for a lot less. Anybody understand the pricing?

So how about a ROM dump.....

[cmaier]

Anybody got one up and running? How many 6/8 pin Power connectors does it need? Seems to want 10.5.7 OS X as well.

So how about a ROM dump.....

It was just announced. No one will have one until May.

[Glen Quagmire]

Yet another high-end video card that's incompatible with the 1,1 and 2,1 Mac Pros.

[cmaier]

Yet another high-end video card that's incompatible with the 1,1 and 2,1 Mac Pros.

If it makes you feel any better, I've experienced the same thing in the PC world. Once the motherboard mfg stops rolling out firmware updates, often times you're left on the side of the graphics road.

[-SD-]

Hurrah! Finally a professional GPU for the Pro.

Hopefully ATI will decide to release something like the FirePro 3D V8700 as competition. More GPU options is always a good thing.

:apple:

[nick9191]

We need some FireGL goodness ATI.

[TheStrudel]

I have to wonder, given that I know the last quadro was a bit...underwhelming, as to whether or not (extra VRAM and 3D-glasses aside) anything about this card will make it more powerful in such a way that OS X can use it. Of course, all bets are off when it comes to Snow Leopard, but in the here and now, is it likely to really crank things up in apps like FCS, Maya, etc.? Or is a lot of that dependent on VRAM, etc.?

[Bokes]

will this speed up real time performance and effect renders?
And will it work in the 2008 Mac pro?

[Umbongo]

I have to wonder, given that I know the last quadro was a bit...underwhelming, as to whether or not (extra VRAM and 3D-glasses aside) anything about this card will make it more powerful in such a way that OS X can use it. Of course, all bets are off when it comes to Snow Leopard, but in the here and now, is it likely to really crank things up in apps like FCS, Maya, etc.? Or is a lot of that dependent on VRAM, etc.?

Depends on how much effort Nvidia have put in. If Nvidia have developed the drivers and not Apple maybe they have made them more optimised. The VRAM may also help some people I guess.

will this speed up real time performance and effect renders?
And will it work in the 2008 Mac pro?

Will have to wait for benchmarks and yes it says it works in a 2008 Mac Pro. Typically these cards just offer better viewport performance with complex 3D models for CAD and DCC.

This may also lead to GTX 260s working with the Mac Pro (same chip).

[grue]

well, it's clear at this point that I need to sell my 8x3.0 EFI32 machine and buy an EFI64-based machine. Otherwise I have several more years of being ignored by manufacturers ahead of me… sigh…

[cmaier]

well, it's clear at this point that I need to sell my 8x3.0 EFI32 machine and buy an EFI64-based machine. Otherwise I have several more years of being ignored by manufacturers ahead of me… sigh…

Unfortunate price of progress.

[grue]

Unfortunate price of progress.

Cost of laziness is more like it.

But whatever. I'm actually far more likely to just continue swapping video cards when I go between MacOS and Windows. I don't need a good video card for Final Cut Pro, and gaming under the MacOS is an unfunny joke. I'd just like even generic Windows GPU support under MacOS… I don't need quartz extreme or any of that other fluffy crap… I just don't like having to physically swap my video cable every time I reboot :D

[Amethyst]

Oh God!! Rom dump and use with GeForce GTX 260 (192 shaders) please!

[grue]

Oh God!! Rom dump and use with GeForce GTX 260 (192 shaders) please!

I'd rather have the 216, personally…

[illegallydead]

Holy crap that thing looks like a beast :D

Sounds like the first truly kick-ass, professional card for the new Pro's! For $1800, it better be, lol!

[commander.data]

I'd rather have the 216, personally…
I don't believe ever released a Quadro with 216 shaders. Still it's kind of disappointing they didn't release the FX 5800 (240 shaders like the GTX 280 and GTX285) since that is really the direct replacement for the previous Mac FX 5600. The FX 4800 (192 shaders like the original GTX 260) is an impressive card, but it still means the Mac Pro is dropping a speed class in it's Quadro GPU option. This is kind of like the 512MB HD4870, which is a mid-range GPU, and not a higher-end performance class GPU like the 8800GT was when it was released. I'm still holding out that Apple will release a true consumer high-end GPU for the Mac Pro like a 1GB HD4890, GTX 275 or GTX 285, all safe single GPU options so Apple doesn't have to go to the bother of supporting SLI or Crossfire.

[Topper]

I'd rather have the 216, personally…

Absolutely!
The 260 C192 is on par with the 4870 1GB. In some bench tests the 4870 512MB will beat it.

The 260 C216 is on par with the 4890.

I'm still holding out that Apple will release a true consumer high-end GPU for the Mac Pro like a 1GB HD4890, GTX 275 or GTX 285

Yep, but add to that list the HD 4870 X2.

[fleshman03]

Holy crap that thing looks like a beast :D

Sounds like the first truly kick-ass, professional card for the new Pro's! For $1800, it better be, lol!

LoL. Nvidia sells a $4,000 card that has 4gb worth of vRAM, Display Port, 240 cores and a 512-bit memory interface.
(http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_quadro_fx_5800_us.html)

Imagine that with Snow Leopard!

Honestly, both will be awesome with GPU acceleration.

[motulist]

I wonder what type of speed boost this will give to Snow Leopard with it's videocard-as-processor feature.


OpenCL

Another powerful Snow Leopard technology, OpenCL (Open Computing Language), makes it possible for developers to efficiently tap the vast gigaflops of computing power currently locked up in the graphics processing unit (GPU). With GPUs approaching processing speeds of a trillion operations per second, they’re capable of considerably more than just drawing pictures. OpenCL takes that power and redirects it for general-purpose computing.

http://www.apple.com/macosx/snowleopard/

[Umbongo]

I don't believe ever released a Quadro with 216 shaders. Still it's kind of disappointing they didn't release the FX 5800 (240 shaders like the GTX 280 and GTX285) since that is really the direct replacement for the previous Mac FX 5600. The FX 4800 (192 shaders like the original GTX 260) is an impressive card, but it still means the Mac Pro is dropping a speed class in it's Quadro GPU option. This is kind of like the 512MB HD4870, which is a mid-range GPU, and not a higher-end performance class GPU like the 8800GT was when it was released. I'm still holding out that Apple will release a true consumer high-end GPU for the Mac Pro like a 1GB HD4890, GTX 275 or GTX 285, all safe single GPU options so Apple doesn't have to go to the bother of supporting SLI or Crossfire.

It's about catering to the market. They will sell a lot more $1,800 cards than $3,000 cards. The 4x00 cards always outsell the 5x00 cards. Apple probably only switched to the FX 5600 from the FX 4500 because the 8800GT would have out performed the FX 4600. Unless Nvidia have changed how things have been done the biggest advantage here is not the OSX performance for 3D CAD and DCC applications.

I wouldn't hold out much hope for an official highest end consumer card either as the market is tiny and it seems clear that graphics options for the mac pro are going to be very limited so having high end cards that offer the best bang for the buck is the way to go.

[SandynJosh]

well, it's clear at this point that I need to sell my 8x3.0 EFI32 machine and buy an EFI64-based machine. Otherwise I have several more years of being ignored by manufacturers ahead of me… sigh…

To live on the cutting edge means bleeding money.

[lostngone]

How well does this card perform with games???

[grue]

To live on the cutting edge means bleeding money.

Cutting edge? I'm asking for compatibility with 2 year old video cards.

[chubad]

This card is mainly for the scientific market. NASA used the previous version for 3-D display's of the Mars Rovers. Minimal performance increase for the average Mac User. (Except for bragging rights!);)

[iPhoneNYC]

Would this be the best for FCP on a MacBook Pro? If not what would be???

[grue]

Would this be the best for FCP on a MacBook Pro? If not what would be???

Uh...

[cmaier]

Uh...

ditto that.

huh?

[eXan]

How well does this card perform with games???

Bad.

[Mac Kiwi]

So I am wondering,is this the only Quadro Nvidia will sell Apple,or do Apple only want the one model? Why???? no other models....hell they would sell loads of cheaper ones,let alone Fire Gl also.


I would love to know how many high end Quadros Apple actually do sell.

[PeterQC]

How well does this card perform with games???

It's not a gaming card. Not much I would say, if any better better then the current ATI.

But on the other side, it will be really fast with 3D Apps.

[ehurtley]

What's really dopey is that the "PC" Quadro FX 4800 has two DisplayPort connectors plus a dual-link DVI connector.

So... Bringing it to the Mac ditches the to DP connectors for one DL-DVI? When Apple is a proponent of DP now? Come on, you don't think the next 30"er will have DP? (mini or otherwise.) If you're willing to drop nearly $2000 on the video card, you're probably willing to shell out the extra $100 for a mini-DP-to-DL-DVI adaptor. And even then, it would only be for the secondary monitor, the primary could still run off the DL-DVI.

[DeepCobalt]

You know, this is actually quite interesting... by not including a mini-display port for a Mac-focused product, Nvidia are basically anticipating the following:

(1) Apple will not release an update to the 30" ACD any time soon -- for such an update would surely transition the display to mini-display port, or,

(2) Pro users no longer look to Apple for their displays for the most part; hence they don't care what Apple releases.

[shwc]

I am very glad to see Apple's continued stereo glasses support--a capability many of us science types petitioned for a few years back. "3D in window" with stereo glasses support is (mostly) a non-consumer specialty niche. However, many branches of science and engineering use 3D extensively. I commend Apple for insuring that the Mac remains attractive scientific computing platform.

[macuserx86]

This was my exact expression and utterance when I read this news
http://www.narutomania.com/gallery/data/1117/house-do-want_thumbnail.jpg

[TMay]

Quadro drivers are fine tuned and certified for specific applications. If your application isn't supported, you might very well be wasting your money.

I'm running Pro/Engineer WF 4, CfDesign V10, and Solidworks 2009 on a PC. In order to run these applications glitch free and at maximum performance on a Mac Pro, I need something that supports these apps via BootCamp, and the Quadro 4800 does just that.

Some of you into rendering may want to check out the Caustic RT board from some ex Apple folks. There is supposed to be an announcement the 24th of this month with details.


http://www.caustic.com/industries_intro.php

[iMaggot]

Wow this better blow people away for $1799.

[TheStrudel]

This may also lead to GTX 260s working with the Mac Pro (same chip).

Now there's an interesting thought. If flashing a GTX 260 were possible, I think everybody here would be on that in a jiffy. Except the people who already flashed their 4870, but hey - if it's possible, all those people who were clamoring for the GTX might be in luck. Can anybody speak to the possibility of this?

[Digital Skunk]

Would this be the best for FCP on a MacBook Pro? If not what would be???

1) NO

2) The stock GFX card that came with your macbook is the best choice. Or getting a new MBP.

[grue]

What's really dopey is that the "PC" Quadro FX 4800 has two DisplayPort connectors plus a dual-link DVI connector.

So... Bringing it to the Mac ditches the to DP connectors for one DL-DVI? When Apple is a proponent of DP now? Come on, you don't think the next 30"er will have DP? (mini or otherwise.) If you're willing to drop nearly $2000 on the video card, you're probably willing to shell out the extra $100 for a mini-DP-to-DL-DVI adaptor. And even then, it would only be for the secondary monitor, the primary could still run off the DL-DVI.

Probably not, since those pieces of crap are flakier than a leper colony in a sandstorm, apparently.

Known-to-work >>>>> might work.

[Pika]

No mini-display port = Epic Fail! :mad:

[Tesselator]

Would this be the best for FCP on a MacBook Pro? If not what would be???

For MacBook?? Ummm... :confused: But if you meant MacPro then maybe - it depends. For Motion and other 3D aspects of FC studio yes, it would be the best card by far. For the 2D video editing and GUI bits I doubt you would notice much difference.

How well does this card perform with games???

Open GL games? Fantastically! Tho more on the beauty marks than the frame-rates. For DirectX Games in a PC - it would kinda suck! Not "bad" though... just not great.

Wow this better blow people away for $1799.

It depends what you want out of a card. Workstation grade Quadros are balanced more for stability than break-neck frame rates in HL2 and etc. This card will kick total ass in OpenGL based games tho and be much MUCH more beautiful at the same time. Games like Quake4 and ut2k4 become just drop-dead gorgeous when tuned for beauty at maximum screen sizes. At that end the Quadros can achieve FPS rates that are very playable while Gaming cards would either choke or not actually render all the features you turned on correctly.

For gameplay it's certainly not worth the added (10x) expense tho. And for directx based games like HL2 performance (FPS) will be lower than many or most current $200 cards. I'll admit that it's pretty fun to turn on every beauty setting and max out all the quality levels on a 3840x1200 screen stretched across dual 24" LCDs and still get 65FPS in Quake 4. :)

Game/Consumer grade cards are designed from the ground up with a focus toward direct3d applications like 90% of the games. Workstation graphic cards are clocked slower for stability reasons, and focus heavily on OpenGL applications with more advanced rendering capabilities. Makers of apps like Maya, 3DS Max, and AutoCad and MicroStation actually tune their applications for use on Quadro cards and Quadro cards offer special features (plug-in API, etc.) just for those applications.

If you're working in Maya or your business is AutoCAD there is no substitute and the performance advantage to this card and others in it's class is astounding. If not, then this card is kind of a waste of money for you.


EDIT: Hehehhe I like this quote from the product page:
If your system OS X is not 10.5.7 you need to upgrade. Your system must be running OSX 10.5 (Leopard) in order to upgrade to 10.5.7.

Use the following procedure to get your system OS to 10.5.7:

a) Click on the Apple icon in the upper left corner of the screen and select Software Update.
b) Select the 10.5.7 System Update and click Install.
c) Reboot your system when the update is complete.
d) Click on the Apple icon in the upper left corner of the screen and select Software Update.
e) Select the Leopard Graphics Update and click Install.
f) Reboot your system when the update is complete.

:D

[nanofrog]

Your system must be running OSX 10.5 (Leopard) in order to upgrade to 10.5.7
Somehow it reminds me of the warning labels "DO NOT STICK HEAD IN BAG...SUFFOCATION..." :eek: ;) :p

[grue]

No mini-display port = Epic Fail! :mad:

Are you part of the target market for this video card?

[beats]

For MacBook
If you're working in Maya or your business is AutoCAD there is no substitute and the performance advantage to this card and others in it's class is astounding. If not, then this card is kind of a waste of money for you.
:D


I've been looking for good video card options for my Mac Pro for use with Maya. I can never seem to get straight answers regarding whether or not the mac version of Maya takes advantage of the various video cards. You mentioned other cards in this 'class'. What are you referring to? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Brian

[netkas]

looks at memory bandwidth and size(compare to gtx260 with 448-bit memory bus and 111 G/s), it clearly shows card will use 256-bit memory interface.

4870 will win.

[10THzMac]

I'd rather have the 216, personally…

Indeed, or even 240 cores. Which brings me to why I do not understand the price-performance of this card. It may be very good for folk doing high end 3D graphics. But my latest setup consists of an 8800GT and a 2Gig GTX 285 in an 08 Pro, with the latter sitting quietly doing no harm under OS X 10.5.6 and both cards zooming along under Bootcamp. The 285 has 240 cores, 2G RAM and the shader clock just under 1.5GHz. The Quadro may well have some good memory bandwidth and 3D stuff, but why does anyone imagine I want to spend 1800 dollars on it just to get the OS X boot of a mere 192 cores and only 1.5G RAM (for my purposes this is no better than the obsolete first gen 260 with a bit more memory). The 8800GT already has 112 cores. I just hope Nvidia fill the gap - if they have figured out the ROM and EFI64 for a Quadro under 10.5.7 they can do it for a 285/295 in hours. The 295 presents power issues but a decent 285 Mac version would be easy for them to ship with the right ROM and two PCI power cables. I would buy that card tomorrow - and probably several more if it works OK. Meantime credit card stays in wallet while I see what the ROM hackers get up to.

[babyjenniferLB]

Indeed, or even 240 cores. Which brings me to why I do not understand the price-performance of this card. It may be very good for folk doing high end 3D graphics. But my latest setup consists of an 8800GT and a 2Gig GTX 285 in an 08 Pro, with the latter sitting quietly doing no harm under OS X 10.5.6 and both cards zooming along under Bootcamp. The 285 has 240 cores, 2G RAM and the shader clock just under 1.5GHz. The Quadro may well have some good memory bandwidth and 3D stuff, but why does anyone imagine I want to spend 1800 dollars on it just to get the OS X boot of a mere 192 cores and only 1.5G RAM (for my purposes this is no better than the obsolete first gen 260 with a bit more memory). The 8800GT already has 112 cores. I just hope Nvidia fill the gap - if they have figured out the ROM and EFI64 for a Quadro under 10.5.7 they can do it for a 285/295 in hours. The 295 presents power issues but a decent 285 Mac version would be easy for them to ship with the right ROM and two PCI power cables. I would buy that card tomorrow - and probably several more if it works OK. Meantime credit card stays in wallet while I see what the ROM hackers get up to.

Keep your gaming cards i want a Quadro that i can use my apps on OSX and boot camp into 3D Max.

[Pressure]

looks at memory bandwidth and size(compare to gtx260 with 448-bit memory bus and 111 G/s), it clearly shows card will use 256-bit memory interface.

4870 will win.

To my knowledge the Quadro FX 4800 uses a 384-bit memory interface, hence the lower memory bandwidth of 76.8 GB/s.

This isn't a new card after all.

One thing that strikes me as odd is that the BIOS equivalent comes with two DisplayPort connectors and one dual-DVI connector.

[netkas]

To my knowledge the Quadro FX 4800 uses a 384-bit memory interface, hence the lower memory bandwidth of 76.8 GB/s.

This isn't a new card after all.

One thing that strikes me as odd is that the BIOS equivalent comes with two DisplayPort connectors and one dual-DVI connector.

lets make some math, with 384-bus, memory should run on 1600Mhz ddr (800 mhz real), recent nv cards uses 2100-2200 Mhz ddr clock.

[uaecasher]

my little bro asked me if we can install this GPU in MBP unibody XD, wondering anyone know how big is it?

[Tesselator]

I've been looking for good video card options for my Mac Pro for use with Maya. I can never seem to get straight answers regarding whether or not the mac version of Maya takes advantage of the various video cards. You mentioned other cards in this 'class'. What are you referring to? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Brian

Mostly the Quadro line, yeah. But the ATI FirePro line too I guess. (?)

And yes, Maya takes full advantage of Quadro on Mac... Same as PC - and Linux too I think. (used to for Linux anyway.. I imagine they still do - tho I've partially dropped Maya since AutoDesk picked it up... I hate AutoDesk.)

For the hardware rendering I believe you still have to set some environment variables in the Maya.env file if you want the max performance from your Quadro (or GeForce too for that matter). I think the two are maya_enable_hwr_cg_programs and maya_hwr_cg_fragment_profile but you'll have to search a Maya forum to find out what to set them to as I forget just now. :)

Even without those set you'll get many times the performance in any quad-view, with all high-poly models, and anytime you use overlays of any kind - even menu drop-downs and stuff. Everything just feels more fluid and stable. It's a nice experience.

[PMR]

Anybody got one up and running? How many 6/8 pin Power connectors does it need? Wants 10.5.7 according to NVIDIA web site.

A lot of money for a 192 core box with 1.5G. Palit do a 2Gig 285 for a lot less. Anybody understand the pricing?

So how about a ROM dump.....

In gaming gfx cards you mostly pay for the hardware, here you pay for the driver capabilities.

[Tesselator]

In gaming gfx cards you mostly pay for the hardware, here you pay for the driver capabilities.

No one has one yet. It needs 10.5.7 just to operate.

10.5.7 has not been released yet.


Some one asked how big the card was:

http://images.nvidia.com/products/quadro_fx_4800_mac/Quadro_fx_4800_mac_med_3qtr.png
http://images.nvidia.com/products/quadro_fx_4800_mac/Quadro_fx_4800_mac_med_b.png

But do MBP's even have a video card slot??? No, right? :confused:

[Pressure]

lets make some math, with 384-bus, memory should run on 1600Mhz ddr (800 mhz real), recent nv cards uses 2100-2200 Mhz ddr clock.

Quadro cards are notoriously known to be clocked lower in regards to memory for stability reasons.

Instead of taking my words for it, why not get the words/text directly from the horses mouth - Quadro FX 4800 for Mac (http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_quadro_fx_4800_for_mac_us.html) ;)

[PMR]

No one has one yet. It needs 10.5.7 just to operate.

10.5.7 has not been released yet.


Some one asked how big the card was:

http://images.nvidia.com/products/quadro_fx_4800_mac/Quadro_fx_4800_mac_med_3qtr.png
http://images.nvidia.com/products/quadro_fx_4800_mac/Quadro_fx_4800_mac_med_b.png

But do MBP's even have a video card slot??? No, right? :confused:

And why did you quote me?

[nick9191]

What's really dopey is that the "PC" Quadro FX 4800 has two DisplayPort connectors plus a dual-link DVI connector.

So... Bringing it to the Mac ditches the to DP connectors for one DL-DVI? When Apple is a proponent of DP now? Come on, you don't think the next 30"er will have DP? (mini or otherwise.) If you're willing to drop nearly $2000 on the video card, you're probably willing to shell out the extra $100 for a mini-DP-to-DL-DVI adaptor. And even then, it would only be for the secondary monitor, the primary could still run off the DL-DVI.
I'm guessing those who are buying a $2k video card will be using something better and a lot more expensive than an Apple monitor, hence using DVI. You could use the MDP to DVI-DL, but have Apple got that working correctly yet?

[netkas]

Quadro cards are notoriously known to be clocked lower in regards to memory for stability reasons.

Instead of taking my words for it, why not get the words/text directly from the horses mouth - Quadro FX 4800 for Mac (http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_quadro_fx_4800_for_mac_us.html) ;)

Yeah , i saw.

[Tallest Skil]

Would this be the best for FCP on a MacBook Pro? If not what would be???

That isn't even physically possible. Please look at your computer and then look at the card. The card is three times as thick as your computer. Read before posting.

Not to mention the fact that it is a laptop and no laptops exist with changeable graphics cards.

[Chilz0r]

my little bro asked me if we can install this GPU in MBP unibody XD, wondering anyone know how big is it?

Facepalm.jpg

Seriously, some people.

[Glen Quagmire]

My goldfish's brother's owner's pet cat asked me if he could install this graphics card in a Mac Plus from 1986. Anyone?

[PMR]

My goldfish's brother's owner's pet cat asked me if he could install this graphics card in a Mac Plus from 1986. Anyone?

Yes. In fact, it will run crysis at 200fps maxed out while it kills terrorists in couter strike by itself.

[thejadedmonkey]

LoL. Nvidia sells a $4,000 card that has 4gb worth of vRAM, Display Port, 240 cores and a 512-bit memory interface.
(http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_quadro_fx_5800_us.html)

Imagine that with Snow Leopard!

Honestly, both will be awesome with GPU acceleration.

Doesn't Snow Leopard state that you need an Apple GPU to use it or something? How does that effect this..

"display attached to an apple supplied video card"

[10THzMac]

Keep your gaming cards i want a Quadro that i can use my apps on OSX and boot camp into 3D Max.

It's not about gaming for me (though it might well be for some) - it's about parallel scientific programming with CUDA and/or OpenCL, and getting value for money. Also, a noted already, Apple has a general OS/app GPU acceleration strategy with OpenCL - it won't exactly come to the masses with cards this far out on the price-performance graph.

[kornyboy]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5H11 Safari/525.20)

Wow. This is a great upgrade. I want one. I don't mind not having a mini display port.

[RichardI]

Wow. $1800 dollars? Are these cards really worth the money? What is in this card that is not in other "high end" graphics cards like the new 300 series?
Man, I just think that's an awful lot of money. Who would the target consumer be? I've been wondering that for some time now, when I noticed the new Mac Pro did not offer a Quadro (or at least they didn't advertise one).

Rich :cool:

[trancepriest]

Man, I just think that's an awful lot of money. Who would the target consumer be? I've been wondering that for some time now

What third world country are you from?

[Bubba Satori]

Who would the target consumer be?

Graphics professionals. Photoshop, After Effects, Cinema 4D users.

[Bubba Satori]

article claims $1800

Yep. PC workstation users can get it for $1,200.

http://www.compuvest.com/Desc.jsp;jsessionid=auyvfKRJcZnas85Pid?iid=990041

[xhambonex]

Graphics professionals. Photoshop, After Effects, Cinema 4D users.

haha Cinema 4D, great memories. I'll add Alias, 3DS Max and Maya to the list, I like them better. I could use that kind of power. Or just a MacPro in general. :)

[grue]

Yep. PC workstation users can get it for $1,200.

http://www.compuvest.com/Desc.jsp;jsessionid=auyvfKRJcZnas85Pid?iid=990041

retail vs MSRP are vastly different things.

[RichardI]

What third world country are you from?

Ha ha. One that included reading skills fairly early on in the education system. How 'bout yourself?:D

Rich :cool:

[Bubba Satori]

retail vs MSRP are vastly different things.

I know. I work in retail. Always avoid buying your memory, hard drives and video cards from Apple whenever you can.

[Tesselator]

And why did you quote me?

Yeah.. :D Guess I missed the right button. :D

I think someone on page 2 asked who had one or something. I forgot already. ;)

[Tesselator]

Wow. $1800 dollars? Are these cards really worth the money?

I used to ask the same question. If you're at a workstation 8, 10, 15 hours a day and making $6k ~ $12K a month then yes absolutely worth it!!! If you're just learning CG, are a hobbyist, or don't spend that much time in CG applications then nope! Not worth it!

[Bubba Satori]

I used to ask the same question. If you're at a workstation 8, 10, 15 hours a day and making $6k ~ $12K a month then yes absolutely worth it!!! If you're just learning CG, are a hobbyist, or don't spend that much time in CG applications then nope! Not worth it!

That's it in a nutshell.

[DELLsFan]

Cost of laziness is more like it.

But whatever. I'm actually far more likely to just continue swapping video cards when I go between MacOS and Windows. I don't need a good video card for Final Cut Pro, and gaming under the MacOS is an unfunny joke. I'd just like even generic Windows GPU support under MacOS… I don't need quartz extreme or any of that other fluffy crap… I just don't like having to physically swap my video cable every time I reboot :D

My next large Apple purchase may very well be the Mac Pro - and the idea of using two video cards (one for MAC OS X and one for Windows) is intriguing to me. I'd be very interested hearing folks' experiences with this notion. How do the cards' performances vary between Mac OS X apps and Windows games, for example? Thanks for your insight!

Meanwhile, it seems to me a graphics card that is roughly the price of a normal Mac is better left burning in a crucible at nVidia labs. Holy cow! Is there really a burning need out there for these?? :eek:

[trancepriest]

One that included reading skills fairly early on in the education system.
Rich :cool:

EPIC FAIL!

[trancepriest]

I used to ask the same question. If you're at a workstation 8, 10, 15 hours a day and making $6k ~ $12K a month then yes absolutely worth it!!! If you're just learning CG, are a hobbyist, or don't spend that much time in CG applications then nope! Not worth it!

Why do you have to make $6k ~ $12k a month? That's ridiculous... if you have an interest and you have the money and know how to use the features of the card... then its worth it. If you make $75 a month off this card then its worth it... will pay for itself in 2 years. Come on guys this is a tool for work... we are not living in rural China. Heck if you make $37.50 cents a month off this card then it will pay for itself in 4 years. :D

[babyjenniferLB]

Why do you have to make $6k ~ $12k a month? That's ridiculous... if you have an interest and you have the money and know how to use the features of the card... then its worth it. If you make $75 a month off this card then its worth it... will pay for itself in 2 years. Come on guys this is a tool for work... we are not living in rural China. Heck if you make $37.50 cents a month off this card then it will pay for itself in 4 years. :D

If you enjoy working with 3D modeling applications then this card does not need to pay for itself. Not everything is about how much money you can make at the end.

My shopping lists is a 2.26 Macpro, 12GB ram, this quadro and 2 old 20inch ACD if i can still find them or 1 30inch ACD. I plan on using it primarily for photo editing, web development, and a bit of video work which i make my money out of. More importantly for me i intend to get a boot camp partition with 3D Max or find a 3D modeling/animating tool that works for me on OSX for hobby modeling and animating.
I can do all of my work stuff on my Macbook quite well and will properly continue to do the bulk of it even when i have my Macpro as the lower energy requirements of the Macbook work out better than having a 1KW monster on all day.

[sparkie7]

No one has one yet. It needs 10.5.7 just to operate.

10.5.7 has not been released yet.


Some one asked how big the card was:

http://images.nvidia.com/products/quadro_fx_4800_mac/Quadro_fx_4800_mac_med_3qtr.png
http://images.nvidia.com/products/quadro_fx_4800_mac/Quadro_fx_4800_mac_med_b.png

But do MBP's even have a video card slot??? No, right? :confused:


Its possible.. with the expsnsion systems from Magam.. :D:D

http://www.magma.com/products/pciexpress/index.html

[trancepriest]

If you enjoy working with 3D modeling applications then this card does not need to pay for itself. Not everything is about how much money you can make at the end.

I'm with you. Don't know why others on here is making a big deal of it.. heck you have teenagers with $1800 30 inch displays. If you love 3D work and need this card and have the money... go get it.

[Cara1001]

It's kind of annoying that the MAC PRO is marketed at professionals as a top of the line system yet if you are a interested in working in the 3D arena, your crippled by poor support for the most advanced cards available to Windows users.

Hence pushing you towards windows when you make a purchase. As a graphics pro, I work from home as a freelancer a lot. I work in 3D, Video, Motion Graphics - as well as web and graphic design.

I use Mac based tools for 90% of my work, especially the video as I'm a FCP fan and trained on this package, but I don't want to have to buy a separate PC to do the 10% of high end architectural 3D work I do. I need a power user card as I use massive data sets and build very detailed models, so I don't really have many great options at the moment, and those options I get tend to be available months after their PC equivalents and are usually way more expensive.

:-/ come on apple - get your game together. Will there ever be a day when I can just plug in a PC graphics card and it will just work?

[powers74]

If you enjoy working with 3D modeling applications then this card does not need to pay for itself. Not everything is about how much money you can make at the end.

Sure it is, it's America! :p

My shopping lists is a 2.26 Macpro, 12GB ram, this quadro and 2 old 20inch ACD if i can still find them or 1 30inch ACD. I plan on using it primarily for photo editing, web development, and a bit of video work which i make my money out of. More importantly for me i intend to get a boot camp partition with 3D Max or find a 3D modeling/animating tool that works for me on OSX for hobby modeling and animating.

If your 3D modeling & animation requirements are primarily hobby, I would definitely suggest Blender (http://forums.macrumors.com/www.blender.org). Even at that, Blender is pretty much equal in it's feature set to 3DSMax/Maya, and next version should clean up the UI alot too, not that it's that bad once you get used to it.

[Umbongo]

If you enjoy working with 3D modeling applications then this card does not need to pay for itself. Not everything is about how much money you can make at the end.

My shopping lists is a 2.26 Macpro, 12GB ram, this quadro and 2 old 20inch ACD if i can still find them or 1 30inch ACD. I plan on using it primarily for photo editing, web development, and a bit of video work which i make my money out of. More importantly for me i intend to get a boot camp partition with 3D Max or find a 3D modeling/animating tool that works for me on OSX for hobby modeling and animating.
I can do all of my work stuff on my Macbook quite well and will properly continue to do the bulk of it even when i have my Macpro as the lower energy requirements of the Macbook work out better than having a 1KW monster on all day.

I agree with your first sentance, but be very aware of what you are getting with this card. There is a difference between buying an $1,800 graphics card and a $300 one if the $1,800 one isn't offering you anything extra. This card isn't going to probably offer you anything for photo, web and video and the consumer cards offer a lot of performance in 3D Max these days as it uses direct 3D. These cards aren't a prerequesite for high end DCC anymore especially on the amateur side of things.

When you have a budget think about where else you could spend that difference. You might get a better workflow from better displays, the 2.66GHz upgrade, SSDs, external raid and so on. All this card is likely to give you is faster viewport performance in your chosen 3D application and you may find that performance on a Radeon 4870 is more than enough for anything you intend to work on anyway.

[illegallydead]

I agree with your first sentance, but be very aware of what you are getting with this card. There is a difference between buying an $1,800 graphics card and a $300 one if the $1,800 one isn't offering you anything extra. This card isn't going to probably offer you anything for photo, web and video and the consumer cards offer a lot of performance in 3D Max these days as it uses direct 3D. These cards aren't a prerequesite for high end DCC anymore especially on the amateur side of things.

When you have a budget think about where else you could spend that difference. You might get a better workflow from better displays, the 2.66GHz upgrade, SSDs, external raid and so on. All this card is likely to give you is faster viewport performance in your chosen 3D application and you may find that performance on a Radeon 4870 is more than enough for anything you intend to work on anyway.

As numerous, VERY numerous amounts of people have pointed out, this is a "know you will need all of this things power or don't use it" kind of thing. No freaking duh you won't buy this if you have a small budget. For the price of this card you can buy a whole Macbook Pro. This is not designed for "dabblers", only for people who really, actually need all that it offers.

[Minocan]

I wonder the performance of this card vs 4870 under Apple Color because of the VRAM advantage.

BTW this needs only one power connector unlike ATI 4870 which needs two.

[trancepriest]

OK if someone wants to buy this card for "status" and doesn't know a damn thing about 3d pro apps... what are some of the cool things he can do with this card on day one? :D

[d525125]

[QUOTE=But my latest setup consists of an 8800GT and a 2Gig GTX 285 in an 08 Pro, with the latter sitting quietly doing no harm under OS X 10.5.6 and both cards zooming along under Bootcamp.[/QUOTE]

In latest 09 Mac Pro can one do the same with an Apple-installed 4870 card and a GTX 295? Alternatively, could one run the Quadro for OSX and a GTX 295 for Bootcamp in 09 MP? In both cases are there the right number of slots and adequate power available?

[JohnnyLemonhead]

I still want to know what Apple is going to do with the 30" ACD, it is long long overdue for an update.

Oh they'll slap a $5 webcam on it, too, and jack the price up to $2 grand. Don't worry. They're getting to it. You'll have your 200 to 300% overpriced 30" monitor in no time. Hell, they might even offer it in a matte version so professionals can actually continue to use it.

[Bubba Satori]

My goldfish's brother's owner's pet cat asked me if he could install this graphics card in a Mac Plus from 1986. Anyone?

:D

http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/funny-picture-cat-fail.jpg

[markiv810]

One thing I have noticed is that none of the Apple graphics card have HDMI port, how long before us mac users also can get our hands on HDMI. How does DVI compare with HDMI.

[Tallest Skil]

One thing I have noticed is that none of the Apple graphics card have HDMI port, how long before us mac users also can get our hands on HDMI. How does DVI compare with HDMI.

Does Apple sell TVs? No. Then no HDMI.

Seriously. HDMI is not a computer standard. It's DisplayPort without as many supported resolutions. That's all that it is.

[nanofrog]

When you have a budget think about where else you could spend that difference. You might get a better workflow from better displays, the 2.66GHz upgrade, SSDs, external raid and so on.
This is the ideal way to analyze need to maximize a budget. ;) Solving bottlenecks can help tremendously for overall performance. :D

[Stephen123]

I can do all of my work stuff on my Macbook quite well and will properly continue to do the bulk of it even when i have my Macpro as the lower energy requirements of the Macbook work out better than having a 1KW monster on all day.

One thing to consider with a MacPro is to have it running Folding@Home continuously in the background. That way your extra hardware and energy costs become a donation to the Nation Institutes of Health. It's an efficient donation to curing disease because it costs less per Gigaflop than the comparable supercomputing, and it runs in 'Nice' mode so Darwin takes care of keeping it out of the way of your own use of you computer automatically.

[briansolomon]

That thing is so massive its ridiculous.

[ehurtley]

One thing I have noticed is that none of the Apple graphics card have HDMI port, how long before us mac users also can get our hands on HDMI. How does DVI compare with HDMI.

HDMI is just encrypted single-link DVI with audio in the same cable. If you don't care about the audio (as in: you're not plugging it in to a TV whose speakers you want to use,) then DVI is exactly equal, if not better. (HDMI can't handle the resolution of a 30" display.)

You can get a physical adapter to convert DVI to HDMI, if you really want. Here (http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=207662061) you (http://www.pcconnection.com/IPA/Shop/Product/Detail.htm?sku=8483941) go (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/572493-REG/Iogear_GHDMIFDVIMW6_HDMI_Female_to_DVI.html).

[ehurtley]

That thing is so massive its ridiculous.

You haven't hefted a 4870X2 or GTX 295, then, I take it? Those things could kill someone if dropped on their head from a stepladder. Not to mention they both put out an insane amount of heat. A pair of 4870X2s could heat a decent size house in New England.

[Tesselator]

My next large Apple purchase may very well be the Mac Pro - and the idea of using two video cards (one for MAC OS X and one for Windows) is intriguing to me.

If I could run both Windows (or Linux) at the same time on each of it's own video cards then that would be intriguing. This way is more of a waste IMO.


Is there really a burning need out there for these?? :eek:

Yes.


Why do you have to make $6k ~ $12k a month? That's ridiculous...

No, that's the going rate for a CG artist. Modelers, matt artists and texture artists are on the lower end of that while animators and SFX specialists are on the higher end of that range - generally - there are exceptions on both sides of that rage of course. That's for film work and hustling free-lancers. TV work and corporate/industrial CG is about half that - again generally speaking. One of the reasons salaries are decent (I call that normal myself!) is because the tools are costly.

To a race car driver two million dollars for an indy car is dirt cheap and just part of the normal expected expenses. To outsiders it seems as you put it, ridiculous but actually, it's not. :)

[babyjenniferLB]

One thing to consider with a MacPro is to have it running Folding@Home continuously in the background. That way your extra hardware and energy costs become a donation to the Nation Institutes of Health. It's an efficient donation to curing disease because it costs less per Gigaflop than the comparable supercomputing, and it runs in 'Nice' mode so Darwin takes care of keeping it out of the way of your own use of you computer automatically.

Unfortunately i can not put my backing behind anything that helps prolong human life, not when the world is so over populated it does not make logical sense to fight natural process.

[Dr.Pants]

Unfortunately i can not put my backing behind anything that helps prolong human life, not when the world is so over populated it does not make logical sense to fight natural process.

Don't worry about overpopulation, the U.N. project the world's population to level off in 2050 at 8 or 9 billion. Nevermind that humankind has to feed itself. I'm sure before you and I die off we'll see several problems caused by overpopulation and I'm sure you will be pleased to know will have plenty of people die off. [/rant]

Anyways, on my end it is about economy. I keep my machines off either when I am sleeping or at the college, just because it saves money. Maybe if I had an apartment with electricity paid, then I'd keep my machines folding... in fact, I would be pretty interested since chem is my major. Organic molecules FTW!

I take it folding programs make use of OpenCL, thus the pro-graphics card has comparitivly more bang?

[Bye Bye Baby]

I would like to see what Apple is going to do with the apple displays.

Will they go LED or not.

I also hope that they will normalise the display connector issues. Do we have to have mini-display, mini-dvi and dvi? Not to mention HDMI?

Enough already of keeping connector manufacturers in business.

[Tesselator]

Unfortunately i can not put my backing behind anything that helps prolong human life, not when the world is so over populated it does not make logical sense to fight natural process.

The world is NOT overpopulated. That's propaganda put out by the eugenists who think there should only be 500 million slaves on the planet and them.

Don't fall for it!

[Dr.Pants]

The world is NOT overpopulated. That's propaganda put out by the eugenists who think there should only be 500 million slaves on the planet and them.

Don't fall for it!

xD

Tessleator, I take it you read Wired? Or do you just know about the Guidestone?

[Tesselator]

xD

Tessleator, I take it you read Wired? Or do you just know about the Guidestone?

Hehehe the Georgia guidestones. WTH?!?! How strange huh? But no, I'm talking eugenic societies and foundations who publish such nonsense over and over and over again - for the past 100 years or so. There's not even any real science behind it - just corporate junk science from corporations hooked up with the self-same societies and foundations. (as just one example: go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockefeller_Foundation and then look at #1 in the Notes section. It goes on and and on...). But we better stop before it goes too OT. Yeah?

[Bubba Satori]

Does Apple sell TVs? No. Then no HDMI.

Seriously. HDMI is not a computer standard. It's DisplayPort without as many supported resolutions. That's all that it is.

About a third of the non-Apple laptops I sell now have HDMI ports on them. People like being able to use their computers on their tv screens. I sell a lot of DVI-HDMI adapters to my Mac customers.

[mohaukachi]

this card is actually an answer to our prayers at my office. this means that we can run framecycler on a mac instead of a PC for our 3d stereoscopic confidence rig (where we test our stereo renders). until now we were screwed because the old card had no way to do conversions to sdi and couldn't get signal to our DLP system

[branjosef]

That thing would be soooooo sweet in the iphone :rolleyes:

[10THzMac]

In latest 09 Mac Pro can one do the same with an Apple-installed 4870 card and a GTX 295? Alternatively, could one run the Quadro for OSX and a GTX 295 for Bootcamp in 09 MP? In both cases are there the right number of slots and adequate power available?

A 295 needs an 8-pin power connector which AFAIK is outside the scope of the motherboard, unless you maybe draw together power from the optical drive and both 6 pin PCI supplies on the mother board. A 285 uses two six pin and is therefore easier to do. I am still using external power for all my experiments, and that would work well with 285 or 295. An easy solution is to have the GT120 (no extra supply) and a 285 for bootcamp - closed case and no extra power. A Quadro and a 295 would definitely need external power, but it is easy to do.

[Pika]

Are you part of the target market for this video card?

I could not get it because i only have the 24" LED Cinema Display. :(

It's not that i want it... The question is... Will new Mac compatible graphic cards support the mini-display port in the future?

[grue]

I could not get it because i only have the 24" LED Cinema Display. :(

It's not that i want it... The question is... Will new Mac compatible graphic cards support the mini-display port in the future?


Irrespective of your display, I restate the question:

Are you in the target market for this card? What sort of work do you do?

[W1LLk]

don't worry, this will be out dated in a month or so anyways...

[Tallest Skil]

don't worry, this will be out dated in a month or so anyways...

The 5800 has been out for months.

[clownjuggles]

my little bro asked me if we can install this GPU in MBP unibody XD, wondering anyone know how big is it?

Bigger than your MBP. This is intended for a Mac Pro tower.

[xbjllb]

Bad.

Good.

:apple:

[Dr.Pants]

Well, its not like it won't run games (since we got back on this tangent), but it would only run slightly better then the GeForce equivalent. In this case, one of the 200-series cards.... Hopefully Apple doesn't make a huge EFI file for the card so we can flash out 200-series cards :D

[d525125]

A Quadro and a 295 would definitely need external power, but it is easy to do.

Can u point me to a reference on what supplies work and how to do? Thanks

Also assume same arrangement would work for 4870 for OSX and 295 for Bootcamp?

[nanofrog]

Can u point me to a reference on what supplies work and how to do? Thanks

Also assume same arrangement would work for 4870 for OSX and 295 for Bootcamp?
There may be another option as to the PSU. A few companies make internal models that install in a 5.25" bay.

VisionTek (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817206001) has one, as do a few others.

If you decide to use an external unit, here's a How To (http://www.directron.com/2powersupplies.html) on it).

Hope this helps. :)

[10THzMac]

Can u point me to a reference on what supplies work and how to do? Thanks

Also assume same arrangement would work for 4870 for OSX and 295 for Bootcamp?

nanofrog's suggestion is very useful. I have a completely external cheap ATX supply from my local PC store. It says HiPoint on the box and I asked for the cheapest thing that has 2 6-pin connectors. I run it with the pins shorted as per nanofrog's link.

With an eye on the future and possibly trying a 295, I have just got a ToughPower 1000W supply with several 6- and 8-pin connectors. This is totally over the top for a single card, but will run a 295 and if I build a hackintosh later it will power several cards.

The main thing, if you want a 295, is to get a supply with one of the newer 8-pin supplies. AFAIK, all the other GTX 200 series need at most 2 6-pin.

The 4870 is an official Apple Mac Pro design so should use up at most two (i.e. all) of the built in connectors - your external PSU will take care of the 295.

[shinchook]

I've posted here before about my issue with apple and their video card selections and would like to take this opportunity to bring it up again.

I don't understand why apple doesn't get more into the game market. I know so many people that love apple and have multiple OS X computers but still have to hold on to their Windows computer to play games. Now, I do understand that it isn't entirely Apple's fault and there is a lack of game developers willing to port games over to macs. But I was thinking, is there a possibility that they won't because of a lack of gaming hardware on Apple's part.

I do enjoy playing games on my Mac Pro. Of course I have windows installed so I can play most of the games I enjoy. The problem that I'm running into is the lack of a good mid or high end gaming video card. I have the 512 GT8800 but it just isn't cutting it. A nice 1GB high end video card would make me cream my pants. The only option I have for an upgrade is a $1800 card that isn't really made for gaming. I can build a gaming windows box for less than that. I know that I could swap my video card every time I boot into windows but I don't feel that this should be the case (plus I'm a bit lazy). All I'm saying is that for the money I spent on the computer I should be able to upgrade it effectively less than a year later to keep up with what I like to use the computer for.

The computer is great for my graphic programs and 3d apps but sometimes I want to blow off some steam and get my game on.

[Pressure]

I've posted here before about my issue with apple and their video card selections and would like to take this opportunity to bring it up again.

I don't understand why apple doesn't get more into the game market. I know so many people that love apple and have multiple OS X computers but still have to hold on to their Windows computer to play games. Now, I do understand that it isn't entirely Apple's fault and there is a lack of game developers willing to port games over to macs. But I was thinking, is there a possibility that they won't because of a lack of gaming hardware on Apple's part.

I do enjoy playing games on my Mac Pro. Of course I have windows installed so I can play most of the games I enjoy. The problem that I'm running into is the lack of a good mid or high end gaming video card. I have the 512 GT8800 but it just isn't cutting it. A nice 1GB high end video card would make me cream my pants. The only option I have for an upgrade is a $1800 card that isn't really made for gaming. I can build a gaming windows box for less than that. I know that I could swap my video card every time I boot into windows but I don't feel that this should be the case (plus I'm a bit lazy). All I'm saying is that for the money I spent on the computer I should be able to upgrade it effectively less than a year later to keep up with what I like to use the computer for.

The computer is great for my graphic programs and 3d apps but sometimes I want to blow off some steam and get my game on.

Or you could get the Radeon HD 4870 which is more than decent. It is the fastest graphic card ever on a Mac after all :p

[Umbongo]

I've posted here before about my issue with apple and their video card selections and would like to take this opportunity to bring it up again.

I don't understand why apple doesn't get more into the game market.


Apple offer systems that can play every game out there. The only thing that offers significant increased performance over the 4870 is multiple cards and that would require a lot of effort from Apple to cater to a tiny, tiny market.

Granted Apple could have offered a card with more memory, but most of their customers wouldn't use it and it keeps costs down for everyone.

Basically there is no real market for Apple to bother.

[10THzMac]

Granted Apple could have offered a card with more memory, but most of their customers wouldn't use it and it keeps costs down for everyone.

Basically there is no real market for Apple to bother.

There are a growing number of CUDA programmers who cannot use ATI cards. More importantly for the market, if Apple wants GPU acceleration to come to the masses, they need to provide more affordable options. Maybe OpenCL will use the 4870/maybe not, but there are plenty Mac Pro owners who will shell out today for a GTX-200 series NVIDIA card but never for a Quadro. I just hope it gets sorted out soon.

[shinchook]

There are a growing number of CUDA programmers who cannot use ATI cards. More importantly for the market, if Apple wants GPU acceleration to come to the masses, they need to provide more affordable options. Maybe OpenCL will use the 4870/maybe not, but there are plenty Mac Pro owners who will shell out today for a GTX-200 series NVIDIA card but never for a Quadro. I just hope it gets sorted out soon.

I'm with you. As I did shell out the extra money to the 512 video card because I wanted the performance, I will never pay for the Quadro. The card isn't geared towards gamers anyway and I'm not a doctor who needs to use that 3D function. Anyway, I would pay more money to get a card that is a major increase in power but I wouldn't pay for an increase that I probably wouldn't notice (aka the 512 card that apple just released).

Maybe I'm the only computer art person who likes his Macs and gaming at the same time and can't afford to buy another windows computer.

[10THzMac]

While I am still fuming about the non-existent Mac version of the GTX series, I have calmed down after reading this comparison of a 280 vs the PC 4800 Quadro on tomshardware:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/quadro-fx-4800,2258-10.html

It seems the performance on certain high end apps of the quadro is massively better, and there is spectacularly good support from NVIDIA, including custom problem solving. If that has all translated to the Mac the price begins to make more sense, though the absence of the 275/285 etc still does not (IMHO).:confused:

[Umbongo]

While I am still fuming about the non-existent Mac version of the GTX series, I have calmed down after reading this comparison of a 280 vs the PC 4800 Quadro on tomshardware:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/quadro-fx-4800,2258-10.html

It seems the performance on certain high end apps of the quadro is massively better, and there is spectacularly good support from NVIDIA, including custom problem solving. If that has all translated to the Mac the price begins to make more sense, though the absence of the 275/285 etc still does not (IMHO).:confused:

The 4800 and 280 use the same chip, but Quadro drivers are heavily optimised for other OSes. In the past they haven't been on OSX like they are for others. Now, if you want the Quadro power for Windows and just a powerful graphics card for OSX then it's a great choice. If you want it soley for OSX then it will depend on whether OSX gets such optimised drivers or not. Which seems unlikely.

[Topper]

Granted Apple could have offered a card with more memory

That would be a very big plus for me.
I would really love to have a 4870 1GB card or a HD 4890 or a HD 4870 X2.
Snow Leopard or 10.5.7?

[ArkaPro]

OK - So after a lot of research I came to the conclusion that I want to buy an Quadro FX4800 Card
Tried to find it in OSX86 HCL table - no luck..

I use mainly Premiere Pro, After effects CS4 on Vista 64bit but want to use it on my new i7 OSX86 rig that I'm installing!

Question time!

1. will it work right out of the box?
2. Do I need to ROM flash it or something?
3. If I will flash it will Leopard recognize it immediately?
4. Will I still be able to use the Card on my Vista 64 OS? (Very important!)


Also I was thinking of buying the QUADRO CX (for adobe CS4) which is the same card but with the RapiHD Encoder included.
Is it possible to run in on OSX86.
I heard that there is a MAC version too so maybe it will also be possible to hack it? if so same questions as above.

thank ppl!

also thank you aqua-mac I read a lot of your threads!