I normally don't post negatively about Apple, so I'm not trolling.
That said, I discovered today, while researching the ATIcceleratorII utility, that the 9600XT in the PM G5 is running the GPU @ 400 MHz and the graphics memory @ 310 MHz. The utility mentioned above lets you change these clocks on the fly, but people are reporting that they really can't get stable operation much above 460/355 MHz GPU/memory, respectively. OK, now I go to the ATI page for the 9600xx family, and I find that a standard 9600XT runs the GPU @ 500 MHZ and memory @ 600 MHz! Not only is the GPU and memory down-clocked, but the relationship between the GPU and memory clocks are inverted! Since the stock (ATI) card runs the memory clock faster than the GPU, one would conclude that the GPU is stalling badly on the Apple 9600XT due to a *much* lower memory bandwidth.
All this would be fine and dandy if Apple didn't make a point of calling this card a 9600XT. Again, going back to the ATI page for the 9600xx, I find that the 9600SE, the *really* cheap one, runs the GPU @ 400 MHz and memory @ 325 MHz. The only difference between the ATI 9600SE and the Apple 9600XT is that the Apple card has a 128-bit memory path vs. 64-bit for the SE, although Apple runs that at an even slower clock speed. In my mind, this is simply false advertising, since Apple is very clearly *not* providing a 9600XT, but rather something with *much* less performance.
Comments? If I'm missing something, I'd really like to hear about it (benchmarks, for instance). I'm seriously considering pitching a hissy fit with Apple over this. After all, we're talking about a US$ 3000 machine here!
That said, I discovered today, while researching the ATIcceleratorII utility, that the 9600XT in the PM G5 is running the GPU @ 400 MHz and the graphics memory @ 310 MHz. The utility mentioned above lets you change these clocks on the fly, but people are reporting that they really can't get stable operation much above 460/355 MHz GPU/memory, respectively. OK, now I go to the ATI page for the 9600xx family, and I find that a standard 9600XT runs the GPU @ 500 MHZ and memory @ 600 MHz! Not only is the GPU and memory down-clocked, but the relationship between the GPU and memory clocks are inverted! Since the stock (ATI) card runs the memory clock faster than the GPU, one would conclude that the GPU is stalling badly on the Apple 9600XT due to a *much* lower memory bandwidth.
All this would be fine and dandy if Apple didn't make a point of calling this card a 9600XT. Again, going back to the ATI page for the 9600xx, I find that the 9600SE, the *really* cheap one, runs the GPU @ 400 MHz and memory @ 325 MHz. The only difference between the ATI 9600SE and the Apple 9600XT is that the Apple card has a 128-bit memory path vs. 64-bit for the SE, although Apple runs that at an even slower clock speed. In my mind, this is simply false advertising, since Apple is very clearly *not* providing a 9600XT, but rather something with *much* less performance.
Comments? If I'm missing something, I'd really like to hear about it (benchmarks, for instance). I'm seriously considering pitching a hissy fit with Apple over this. After all, we're talking about a US$ 3000 machine here!