Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MacAztec

macrumors 68040
Oct 28, 2001
3,026
1
San Luis Obispo, CA
Graphics

Get the Radeon Mac Edition. It is an awesome card, and I have one. I am selling it, so let me know if you want to buy it.

I get like 100FPS in Quake III on my G4 400 with it. Its pretty good!
 

panphage

macrumors 6502
Jul 1, 2003
496
0
I think the radeon is faster than the radeon 7000. And I know the 8500 is faster than the 9000.
 

actionslacks

macrumors regular
Jul 25, 2003
129
0
LA
Originally posted by panphage
I think the radeon is faster than the radeon 7000. And I know the 8500 is faster than the 9000.

I have the 9000 and I bet you are right. Anybody know why?
 

Delenn

macrumors newbie
Dec 18, 2001
18
0
Bozeman, Montana
The Radeon 9000 is based on the same chipset/architecture of the 8500, but with less features and a lower GPU Clock Speed in order to be more affordable.
 

panphage

macrumors 6502
Jul 1, 2003
496
0
The Radeon Mac Edition has a 166MHz clock, is available in AGP flavor, and looks to have better refresh rates.

http://www.ati.com/products/radeon/radeonmacedition/specs.html
The Radeon 7000 Mac Edition is available in PCI only. I can't find anything on it's clock.
http://www.ati.com/products/radeon7000/radeon7000me/specs.html

Consider this:
"The Radeon 7000 differs in interesting ways from the 2001 Radeon. While it boasts a faster clock speed and dual-head capabilities, the card has been pared down with one less rendering pipeline and no Charisma Engine™ to perform Transform, Clipping, and Lighting (TCL) instructions. While these features are used in relatively few games on the Mac (or even the PC), those who like running their titles in 1600x1200 will want to read through the rest of the review closely to see how the FPS scores pan out. The Radeon 7000 isn’t necessarily targeted at hardcore gamers though, and --excluding a few nagging issues-- the $50 price drop from the 2001 Radeon will certainly increase its appeal across the board."

and "As a primary gaming card, you won’t be able to push as many FPS out of it as you would with the 2001 Radeon, but the $50 price difference and ability to run two monitors will likely be more important to many people."

from: http://www.insidemacgames.com/reviews/view.php?ID=232

So, like most video card comparisons, it kinda depends on what you want to use the card for.
 

ZildjianKX

macrumors 68000
May 18, 2003
1,610
0
ATI (intentionally) fudged up their whole line of product names (to confuse the consumer I presume, they did a great job), since the 8500 is faster than the 9000... but its a higher product number... go figure.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.