Nvidia/Cider deal promises better gaming on Intel Macs

[BuzWeaver]

I thought this was an encouraging story:

Source (http://www.macworld.com/news/2007/02/06/cider/index.php)

[greatdevourer]

Yaaay!

[MacRumorUser]

But it's only encouraging if you have an nvidia gpu in your mac.

Since the top of the line card Apple has is an ATI - it doesnt really help. :(

[whooleytoo]

Strange choice of name though.. choosing the name of an alcoholic drink doesn't exactly inspire thoughts of 'great performance'!

That said, this could be great news for Mac gamers - and bad news for Mac porting companies (as if they needed any more).

[MacRumorUser]

Strange choice of name though.. choosing the name of an alcoholic drink doesn't exactly inspire thoughts of 'great performance'!

That said, this could be great news for Mac gamers - and bad news for Mac porting companies (as if they needed any more).

I suppose they were thinking of the other technology for virtulization and stuff 'wine' and thought they had to come up with an appropriate drink based title :)

[Eric5h5]

But it's only encouraging if you have an nvidia gpu in your mac.

No, cg runs on anything. It doesn't matter if you have Nvidia or ATI/AMD.

As for Cider, I'm sure it's a WINE reference, but just to be nitpicky, it's not actually alcoholic. Look it up in the dictionary. ;) (Hard cider, on the other hand....)

--Eric

[greatdevourer]

I suppose they were thinking of the other technology for virtulization and stuff 'wine' and thought they had to come up with an appropriate drink based title :) I guess that makes the next version Calvados :D

[bousozoku]

But it's only encouraging if you have an nvidia gpu in your mac.

Since the top of the line card Apple has is an ATI - it doesnt really help. :(

I think it's more leverage than cooperation. Cooperation would have been if ATI had been included.

Still, it's enough that it might get ATI's attention to do more for Mac OS X.

[Eric5h5]

Still, it's enough that it might get ATI's attention to do more for Mac OS X.

They already do a lot more for OS X than Nvidia ever did. (ATI Displays software, working with Apple on OpenGL, etc.)

I repeat, this does not mean Cider-ized games won't work on ATI cards. Cg runs on everything. ATI cards will plays these games just fine. No need to panic. ;)

--Eric

[bousozoku]

They already do a lot more for OS X than Nvidia ever did. (ATI Displays software, working with Apple on OpenGL, etc.)

I repeat, this does not mean Cider-ized games won't work on ATI cards. Cg runs on everything. ATI cards will plays these games just fine. No need to panic. ;)

--Eric

I just remember how odd the performance was with UT2004 and the Radeon 9800. I'd hate to see something like that happen again as Apple will likely continue with ATI cards as their highest performance cards.

[eXan]

I just remember how odd the performance was with UT2004 and the Radeon 9800.

Was it bad? :eek:

[Eric5h5]

I just remember how odd the performance was with UT2004 and the Radeon 9800.

I've never heard of anything "odd" regarding that. Typically ATI cards have had somewhat better drivers on Macs. Indeed, nothing odd here (http://www.insidemacgames.com/reviews/view.php?ID=548&Page=2). (If you turn on FSAA and AF, the 9800 is nearly as fast as a Nvidia 6800, which is supposed to be a generation newer, and the Radeon X800--the same generation--walks all over it.)

--Eric

[Martin.]

maybe they called it cider because "apple cider" and it runs on apples?? yes? :)