Radeon HD 3870 for Mac coming end of May

[barefeats]

I have received confirmation from a reliable source that ATI will definitely offer a retail version of the Radeon HD 3870 with 512MB DDR4 that will boot OS X Leopard on both current and legacy Mac Pros. It will be "on the shelves" by the end of May.

It will, of course, boot Windows XP or Vista in your Boot Camp partition. And, like the 2600, I expect it to support CrossFire mode under Windows if you have two installed and jumpered.

My source also confirmed that the Radeon 2600 (and 3870) drivers in Leopard 10.5.3 will provide surprising performance enhancements for 3D gamers. And just in case 10.5.3 gets delayed, they will ship the enhanced drivers with the card.

[Tallest Skil]

Originally Posted by barefeats

I have received confirmation from a reliable source that ATI will definitely offer a retail version of the Radeon HD 3870 with 512MB DDR4 that will boot OS X Leopard on both current and legacy Mac Pros. It will be "on the shelves" by the end of May.

It will, of course, boot Windows XP or Vista in your Boot Camp partition. And, like the 2600, I expect it to support CrossFire mode under Windows if you have two installed and jumpered.

My source also confirmed that the Radeon 2600 (and 3870) drivers in Leopard 10.5.3 will provide surprising performance enhancements for 3D gamers. And just in case 10.5.3 gets delayed, they will ship the enhanced drivers with the card.

I love how long this thread has gone blindly on about possible features without someone asking for proof. History states that Apple leaves the professional Mac line to die for want of graphics until the next processor update. What should make me believe that they're actually doing this?

[Rankrotten]

I have the 3870x2 installed in my Mac Pro for Windows gaming alongside a failing x1900XT for Mac OS X

Questions, questions:

1. Currently the 3870x2 is not recognised in 10.5.2
2. Is this a stock ATI card or specifically engineered for Apple?
3. Can the Apple/ATI 3870 ROM be copied and flashed twice onto the x2?
4. Will the 10.5.3 drivers also support the x2 version?
5. Happy days..

[Cindori]

Originally Posted by Rankrotten

I have the 3870x2 installed in my Mac Pro for Windows gaming alongside a failing x1900XT for Mac OS X

Questions, questions:

1. Currently the 3870x2 is not recognised in 10.5.2
2. Is this a stock ATI card or specifically engineered for Apple?
3. Can the Apple/ATI 3870 ROM be copied and flashed twice onto the x2?
4. Will the 10.5.3 drivers also support the x2 version?
5. Happy days..

1. Of course it isnt.
2. Every card must be specifically enginnered because only Apple use EFI
3. Of course not. It is different hardware.
4. Probably no. You won't get anywhere without EFI anyway.

[mmulin]

Originally Posted by Rankrotten

I have the 3870x2 installed in my Mac Pro for Windows gaming alongside a failing x1900XT for Mac OS X

Questions, questions:

1. Currently the 3870x2 is not recognised in 10.5.2
2. Is this a stock ATI card or specifically engineered for Apple?
3. Can the Apple/ATI 3870 ROM be copied and flashed twice onto the x2?
4. Will the 10.5.3 drivers also support the x2 version?
5. Happy days..

Which MacPro do you have? Bear in mind, at least to my knowledge, that the the pre-08 MacPro's motherboard does not support X2, even under windows.

[Rankrotten]

Originally Posted by mmulin

Which MacPro do you have? Bear in mind, at least to my knowledge, that the the pre-08 MacPro's motherboard does not support X2, even under windows.

It's a 2006 Mac Pro 1,1

The 3870X2 works like a champ with windows and is also detected as a 512MB "Radeon 3800" in Mac OS X after some plist editing in the current 10.5.2 ATI drivers.

Note: this is the 1GB x2 version of the card and not two separate cards linked in crossfire.
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardw...0x2-review.ars

[mmulin]

Originally Posted by Rankrotten

It's a 2006 Mac Pro 1,1
...
Note: this is the 1GB x2 version of the card and not two separate cards linked in crossfire.
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardw...0x2-review.ars

in that case i concur

[Roy]

Originally Posted by Tallest Skil

I love how long this thread has gone blindly on about possible features without someone asking for proof. History states that Apple leaves the professional Mac line to die for want of graphics until the next processor update. What should make me believe that they're actually doing this?

Agree. Totally un-Apple like. Wishful thinking with no Apple history (as you pointed out) to offer multiple "options" for buyers. Too confusing. Too PC like.

[ildondeigiocchi]

Actually I have a strong feeling that Apple wants to start selling video cards to people because when they offer high end ones people get real interested.

[Roy]

Originally Posted by ildondeigiocchi

Actually I have a strong feeling that Apple wants to start selling video cards to people because when they offer high end ones people get real interested.

And what can you point to that supports your strong feelings that "Apple wants to start selling video cards......."?

[CWallace]

So I take it this will be an OEM card sold by ATI?

I wonder if Apple only wanted to offer the 3750 and 34x0 as BTO options (based on the leaked data in the 10.5.3 seeds) and thus ATI has decided to enter the market themselves?

[ildondeigiocchi]

Originally Posted by Roy

And what can you point to that supports your strong feelings that "Apple wants to start selling video cards......."?

They've never done it before and Apple is all about surprises. Heck when's the last time we thought they would stick a high end video card like 8800GS in the iMac? Apple is on a mission to make the dreams of its customers come true.

[mdriftmeyer]

Crysis? Wow! A Mac Pro graphics options being measured by Crysis?

I want to know how it does CAD/CAM, Real-time Kinematics, Fatigue, Fracture Analysis, Heat Transfer, but oh nevermind!

This bad boy kicks on Crysis!!

[Jethryn Freyman]

At first I thought it was nothing, but I may as well add to the speculation:

I saw the Radeon 3870 as an option on the Mac Pro on the Apple Australia store on the day that the new Mac Pro was introduced. The tooltips for it weren't complete, however, and merely said that it had "XXX" pixel shaders or whatever, and its performance was "XXX" compared to that of the Geforce 8800 GT.

The next day the message was gone.

[macz1]

I think the ATI is a bit more power efficient than the 8800. It's manufactured in 55nm process and has better power saving features in idle mode. If you don't game all the time, peak power consumption should not be very important.
A cool and balanced card. I think I will get one... (if it's true)

[Cindori]

Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer

Crysis? Wow! A Mac Pro graphics options being measured by Crysis?

I want to know how it does CAD/CAM, Real-time Kinematics, Fatigue, Fracture Analysis, Heat Transfer, but oh nevermind!

This bad boy kicks on Crysis!!

Kinda hard to find because almost no pro-app users test with a 8800GTvs3870. You'll just have to wait for Barefeats results. You are free to check out the specs of the both cards yourself.

[BornAgainMac]

What is the performance like with Crysis with the NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 card?

[kabunaru]

I heard that ATI graphics cards produce a better quality image/video than NVidia cards. Is this true? Do games and the Operating System actually look better with ATI cards than NVIdia ones?
If that's the case, why get the 8800 GT card other than for a better gaming perfomance?

[BenRoethig]

There was a major programing goof from the Apple programing team that did the 8800 drivers. Should be fixed in 10.5.3.

[bpepers]

Originally Posted by BenRoethig

There was a major programing goof from the Apple programing team that did the 8800 drivers. Should be fixed in 10.5.3.

Any details on what the goof was and what will be corrected in 10.5.3? I'm hoping that this will fix the issue with COD2 being so slow on the Mac with the 8800 and just generally make the UI faster with the 8800.

[Roy]

Originally Posted by bpepers

Any details on what the goof was and what will be corrected in 10.5.3? I'm hoping that this will fix the issue with COD2 being so slow on the Mac with the 8800 and just generally make the UI faster with the 8800.

Is everyone just wishing and hoping for a fix in 10.5.3 or it on the agenda for upcoming fixes to 10.5.2? Wishing and hoping "don't make it so".

[Rankrotten]

Installed 10.5.3 but it still doesn't have the drivers to recognize the 3870x2 in slot 1, in fact the ATI kext versions are unchanged from the previous system. If ATI have drivers for the 38XX series please release them now.

[Edd.Dantes]

Originally Posted by barefeats

I have received confirmation from a reliable source that ATI will definitely offer a retail version of the Radeon HD 3870 with 512MB DDR4 that will boot OS X Leopard on both current and legacy Mac Pros. It will be "on the shelves" by the end of May.

It will, of course, boot Windows XP or Vista in your Boot Camp partition. And, like the 2600, I expect it to support CrossFire mode under Windows if you have two installed and jumpered.

My source also confirmed that the Radeon 2600 (and 3870) drivers in Leopard 10.5.3 will provide surprising performance enhancements for 3D gamers. And just in case 10.5.3 gets delayed, they will ship the enhanced drivers with the card.

Swing and a miss

[portishead]

Originally Posted by Edd.Dantes

Swing and a miss

To be fair, he still has 2 days. I'm also eagerly waiting...

[macz1]

The end of may is getting closer and closer... but no news about the 3870. If ATI is putting so much effort into the upcoming 4800 series they could develop the mac version as well at the same time...