Retail Radeon 9000 Pro Soon

[MacRumors]

Digit reports (http://www.digitmag.co.uk/news/display_news.cfm?NewsID=2219) that a retail version of ATI's Radeon 9000 Pro card will be available soon:

ATI Mac product manager Stan Ossias told Digit that his company anticipates the release of the Radeon 9000 Mac Edition card within the next few weeks.

Per the article, the retail version will sport the ADC interface.

[MacBandit]

Originally posted by Macrumors
Digit reports (http://www.digitmag.co.uk/news/display_news.cfm?NewsID=2219) that a retail version of ATI's Radeon 9000 Pro card will be available soon:

ATI Mac product manager Stan Ossias told Digit that his company anticipates the release of the Radeon 9000 Mac Edition card within the next few weeks.

Per the article, the retail version will sport the ADC interface.



I don't want the 9000! Bring on the 9700! :D

[ddtlm]

The 9000 should be just what the doctor ordered. Cheap, yet pretty powerful.

[esome]

1) what is the price likely to be?

2) can the card be used in a 2x AGP system (and if so, what kind of a performance hit would it take)?

[ddtlm]

MacMall had it listed for a few weeks at about $150, but no longer lists it.

[Mr. Anderson]

So anyone know the price of this thing - the PC version of the 9000 is 149 list, which is damn nice. But the mac prices are always higher.

D

[Ambrose Chapel]

I saw the Macmall $150 price in a couple of their ads. At MWNY an ATI Rep quoted it at "under $200," but that usually means $199...

:rolleyes:

[iN8]

I wonder which card performs better. Yesterdays high-end or todays low-end.
The 8500 is about $180-200. Which is the better price/performance value.

[BobVB]

Originally posted by iN8
I wonder which card performs better. Yesterdays high-end or todays low-end.
The 8500 is about $180-200. Which is the better price/performance value.

Tom's Hardware (http://www17.tomshardware.com/graphic/02q3/0207181/index.html) has a review of the 9000 in comparison with the 8500. Since the 8500 has more texture channels it is faster on many of the fps games. BUT...

I have one in my new dual 1 GHz and even the 9000 is fantastic. At the resolution my monitor is (LCD 1024x768) I can play all the FPS games out (RTCW, QIII, Max Payne) with every friggin' feature turned on as high as they go. Even with FSAA in UTXp3 turned up to 4, I never went below high 20's while playing, with the average being more in the high 30-50s. If I don't use the FSAA, then the frame rates are even high with the low FPS being in the 60's and usually running around 80's or 90's.

So if the card has enough omph even for my system, its probably going to be more than adequate for most with modest screen sizes as most Mac games are CPU bound anyway. As you get bigger monitor resolutions the values decrease so if you have a 22" you might want to wait for the 9700.

Personally I wouldn't go with the 8500 - there are some 'tweaks' with the 9000 and any driver improvements are going to be for the 9000 to take advantage of rather than the 8500. Its yesterday's child and will only be getting less support, not more, IMHO.

[RogueLdr]

Like most people who purchased the Apple 17" CRT with ADC, the only options to upgrade the video were Apple's own high end aftermarket cards. Since I have a Gigabit PowerMac (2x AGP), even those were not an "approved" option (they required 4x AGP slots). ATI's recent inclusion of ADC on cards rated for 2x systems is just what I have been waiting for. Just tell me where to sign!

RL

[Ambrose Chapel]

I wonder which card performs better. Yesterdays high-end or todays low-end.

The MWNY ATI rep said the 9000 was the better performing card. No details to back that up, so take it FWIW.

[esome]

Has anyone had any luck flashing the ROM on a PC version of this card to make it work in a mac?

[beatle888]

hilow, i was wondering if its at all possible to
upgrade the video card on my tibook. Im
concerned that in the future with osx that
16MB of video ram will eventually cripple
my machine especially if im in photoshop.
If apple keeps adding these GUI goodies my
systems gonna feel like a 7200.

[hvfsl]

About flashing the PC version of the card, there are a few things that need to be done.

-First get a PC with an AGP slot
-Next get the Mac bios image for the card
-It is best to try and use the cards made by ATI since people have had the most success with those. But I know it will work on others.
-Put the graphics card in a PC and find a flashing utility. Next flash the card, shut down the PC and put the card in the Mac. Always make sure you back up the current ATI bios.
-If it does not work, all is not lost. Put the ATI card back in the PC with a PCI graphics card. The PC should boot up on the PCI graphics card and the original bios can then be restored.

I tried to get an VIVO Radeon working in a Mac, but since there is no Mac VIVO Radeon bios, it would not work. This process will also work on nvidia cards. I know someone that has got a GigaByte Geforce 4 working in their Mac for a fraction of the cost of the Apple version.

The same proccess also works the other way around, converting Mac cards to PC.

[ddtlm]

The 8500 and 9000 are very very similar cards, and in fact as far as Linux is concerned, they are the exact same thing (the 8500 driver will run the 9000, and this was by accident not design). The 8500 has clearly been shown to be faster by PC sites such as Anandtech.

MacMall is offering the 8500 at $179.99. You can bet that the 9000 Pro will cost less.

mWave is offering a PC 64mb 9000 Pro for $95.00. You can bet that the Mac 9000 Pro will cost more.

[synergy]

Originally posted by beatle888
hilow, i was wondering if its at all possible to
upgrade the video card on my tibook. Im
concerned that in the future with osx that
16MB of video ram will eventually cripple
my machine especially if im in photoshop.
If apple keeps adding these GUI goodies my
systems gonna feel like a 7200.

Sorry you won't be able to upgrade the video card on your tibook. The video is soldered onto the board for both iBooks and powerbooks.

[solvs]

MacCentral just posted a story saying that ATI will not be making an All-In-Wonder card anytime soon. Guess that report from ThinkSecret wasn't so accurate. ThinkSecrets report was quoting an employee at ATI. Well, nobody's right all the time. Probably would have been expensive anyway.

The 9000 was supposed to be $149. That's what it was advertised as before. If it's more, you can find some great deals on the 8500, which can be a better card (that's not just opinion BTW). Plus it's got TV-Out. Unless you need ADC, or you're buying a new Tower, then get the 9000. Or the 9700 when it comes out, unless it has TV insted of ADC.

Wonder how much the 9700 will cost?

[Kid Red]

Well, when can we excpet the 9700? And by then will nividia's next card be out?

[MacBandit]

Originally posted by BobVB


Tom's Hardware (http://www17.tomshardware.com/graphic/02q3/0207181/index.html) has a review of the 9000 in comparison with the 8500. Since the 8500 has more texture channels it is faster on many of the fps games. BUT...

I have one in my new dual 1 GHz and even the 9000 is fantastic. At the resolution my monitor is (LCD 1024x768) I can play all the FPS games out (RTCW, QIII, Max Payne) with every friggin' feature turned on as high as they go. Even with FSAA in UTXp3 turned up to 4, I never went below high 20's while playing, with the average being more in the high 30-50s. If I don't use the FSAA, then the frame rates are even high with the low FPS being in the 60's and usually running around 80's or 90's.

So if the card has enough omph even for my system, its probably going to be more than adequate for most with modest screen sizes as most Mac games are CPU bound anyway. As you get bigger monitor resolutions the values decrease so if you have a 22" you might want to wait for the 9700.

Personally I wouldn't go with the 8500 - there are some 'tweaks' with the 9000 and any driver improvements are going to be for the 9000 to take advantage of rather than the 8500. Its yesterday's child and will only be getting less support, not more, IMHO.

Those are the same frame rates I get with my G4MX in my new dual. Obviously the frame rates quoted without AA.

About the drivers they are still creating better drivers for the original Radeon series so don't think just because it's an outdated model that it is no longer supported.

[MacBandit]

Originally posted by esome
1) what is the price likely to be?

2) can the card be used in a 2x AGP system (and if so, what kind of a performance hit would it take)?


First yes it will run in a 2x AGP bus. Second there is no way it will max out the 2x AGP bus. The ATI9700 is 8x AGP but it will also be backwards compatible down to a 2x AGP. Also the ATI9700 doesn't crank enough data out to saturate the 4x AGP let alone the 8x. Basically they're just adding the new technology to be ready for the future like new PCs with 8x AGP on board.

[bradbomb]

Question, would this be a worthwhile upgrade to my GeForce2MX twinview that came with my Dual 800?

[MacBandit]

Originally posted by bradbomb
Question, would this be a worthwhile upgrade to my GeForce2MX twinview that came with my Dual 800?

Yes it would nearly double your frame rates.

[MacKenzie999]

Excuse my ignorance, but are these cards of benefit to anyone other than gamers?

[iN8]

Originally posted by MacKenzie999
Excuse my ignorance, but are these cards of benefit to anyone other than gamers?

Yeah, if you're still runnin' a Rage 128 Pro card like me. Shoots, an original Radeon Mac Edition would be a great improvement over my card.

N8

[MacBandit]

Originally posted by MacKenzie999
Excuse my ignorance, but are these cards of benefit to anyone other than gamers?

Yes these cards can help out all graphics. The biggest boost will be seen if your running 10.2. That's because the system itself uses the graphics card to draw the system.