AMD Announces ATI Radeon HD 3870 Card For Mac and PC

MacRumors · Jun 12, 2008, 11:43 PM

AMD today announced the new ATI Radeon HD 3870 for Mac & PC Edition. AMD says the card is "designed exclusively for Apple's Mac Pro systems" and includes two dual-link DVI ports, 512 MB of GDDR4 graphics memory, and 320 stream processors.

Quote:

“AMD is introducing the ATI Radeon HD 3870 Mac & PC Edition to enhance the Mac experience to maximum levels of 3D gaming and HD performance,” said Matt Skynner, vice president of marketing, Graphics Products Group, AMD. “Mac users demand the best when it comes to HD graphics performance, and the ATI Radeon 3870 Mac & PC Edition is designed to meet and exceed that need by delivering The Ultimate Visual Experience™ to our customers’ displays.”

Delivers More Power for Professional Applications
Superior performance and visual quality make the ATI Radeon HD 3870 Mac & PC Edition ideal for creative and professional applications on Apple Mac Pro systems, including Aperture™, Motion and Final Cut Studio®. Users can take advantage of the latest graphics features and drive productivity at an extraordinary price.

The release has been anticipated and is expected to give unrivaled Core Image processing power for its price class, largely confirmed by an early review by Xlr8yourmac.com. Unlike the NVIDIA 8800 GT which had two separate models for older and newer Mac Pros, the Radeon HD 3870 Mac and PC Edition will work in any Mac Pro.

AMD says the card will be available in late June for a manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of USD $219.

Article Link

flopticalcube · Jun 12, 2008, 11:45 PM

Just in time for the 4850/70 to make an appearance.

Only one gen behind now.

kabunaru · Jun 12, 2008, 11:46 PM

Let the "HD 3870 or 8800 GT" threads begin.

If I were to buy a Mac Pro, I would buy it with this card. I think ATI serves Apple better than Nvidia and ATI cards have better drivers.

LloydBraun89 · Jun 12, 2008, 11:46 PM

oh thank you very much

bobertoq · Jun 12, 2008, 11:56 PM

This is great news!

- Snow Leopard
- Nehalem Processors (higher GHz, more cores?)
- Better video card (With Snow Leopard GPU acceleration!)

If only I could get my hands on a Mac Pro about this time next year

What's next? Large SSD's and DDR3 RAM?

1st page!

kabunaru · Jun 13, 2008, 12:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobertoq

What's next?

256 core processor, 1 Terabyte of RAM, 1000 Terabyte Hard Drive, 1TB video card Mac Pro. See you in 15 years.

Peace · Jun 13, 2008, 12:04 AM

I'd be interested to see the side by side comparisons between the 3870 and the 8800.

kabunaru · Jun 13, 2008, 12:06 AM

I have a quick question.

Why does AMD still call their graphics cards: "ATI Radeon"? Shouldn't it be: "AMD Radeon" now? Didn't AMD buy/acquire ATI?

Sun Baked · Jun 13, 2008, 12:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kabunaru

256 core processor, 1 Terabyte of RAM, 1000 Terabyte Hard Drive, 1TB video card Mac Pro. See you in 15 years.

Aren't you aiming for the IBM Roadrunner which hit 1,000 trillion calculations per second and has 80TB of memory ...

flopticalcube · Jun 13, 2008, 12:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peace

I'd be interested to see the side by side comparisons between the 3870 and the 8800.

Its there in the XLR8yourMac link.

Silencio · Jun 13, 2008, 12:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peace

I'd be interested to see the side by side comparisons between the 3870 and the 8800.

Read the above-linked Xlr8yourmac article for a start.

I'm sure Barefeats will have something up shortly as well.

My other big question would be to compare the fan noise from both cards. That might be the factor that tips the scales for me.

mdriftmeyer · Jun 13, 2008, 12:11 AM

about time.

Nvidia, your turn.

cloudnine · Jun 13, 2008, 12:13 AM

Great... but will it blend?

iindigo · Jun 13, 2008, 12:16 AM

So is this card more multipurpose (i.e. good for both gaming and production) or is it more focused in nature?

Rocketman · Jun 13, 2008, 12:17 AM

Is it just me or is that a commodity price with turn-key support?

I remember paying $1299 for semi-crippled graphics cards and being happy to get it!

Rocketman

P.S. Can I put 6 of them in one of those external PCIe boxes and use them as a world class co-processor under Snow Leopard?

For less than the price of an upper end Mac . . . . . . . . . .

twoodcc · Jun 13, 2008, 12:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kabunaru

1000 Terabyte Hard Drive

wouldn't that be a petabyte? or whatever is after terabyte

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peace

I'd be interested to see the side by side comparisons between the 3870 and the 8800.

i would also.

i wonder if i could put this in my mac pro, along with my current ati x1900?

iVoid · Jun 13, 2008, 12:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kabunaru

I have a quick question.

Why does AMD still call their graphics cards: "ATI Radeon"? Shouldn't it be: "AMD Radeon" now? Didn't AMD buy/acquire ATI?

ATI is a well known name in video cards, so it makes sense for AMD to keep it as a brand name for the video cards.

darthraige · Jun 13, 2008, 12:35 AM

Fantastic, MORE POWERRRRRRRR! Can't wait for this thing!

ventro · Jun 13, 2008, 12:39 AM

Would it be possible to put both this card and 8800GT and use the 3870 for OSX and the 8800GT for windows?

kjs862 · Jun 13, 2008, 12:41 AM

Article says the 8800 is better for games and the ati is better for pro aps.

lostngone · Jun 13, 2008, 12:45 AM

Does anyone know if OpenCL in the preview version of Snow Leopard will utilize this card?

NRose8989 · Jun 13, 2008, 12:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ventro

Would it be possible to put both this card and 8800GT and use the 3870 for OSX and the 8800GT for windows?

I wouldn't even bother...... I'm gonna go with two 3870's in cross fire under windows... so you get better performance in os x with one card, then even better gaming under windows with two..

http://www.barefeats.com/harper18.html

ckurowic · Jun 13, 2008, 01:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lostngone

Does anyone know if OpenCL in the preview version of Snow Leopard will utilize this card?

It damn well better support everything made within the last year or its pretty useless.....

ckurowic · Jun 13, 2008, 01:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cloudnine

Great... but will it blend?

LMAO. Lets test it!!!!

Nermal · Jun 13, 2008, 01:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iVoid

ATI is a well known name in video cards, so it makes sense for AMD to keep it as a brand name for the video cards.

Indeed. You don't want people saying "AMD video? That'll be as bad as Intel video"!

Jun 12, 2008, 11:45 PM	#2
flopticalcube macrumors 601 Join Date: Sep 2006	Just in time for the 4850/70 to make an appearance. Only one gen behind now. __________________ iThink therefore iAm.

Jun 12, 2008, 11:56 PM	#5
bobertoq macrumors 6502a Join Date: Feb 2008	This is great news! - Snow Leopard - Nehalem Processors (higher GHz, more cores?) - Better video card (With Snow Leopard GPU acceleration!) If only I could get my hands on a Mac Pro about this time next year What's next? Large SSD's and DDR3 RAM? 1st page! __________________ ALTER BRIDGE is the greatest rock band of today

Jun 13, 2008, 12:11 AM	#12
mdriftmeyer macrumors 6502a Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Pacific Northwest	UEFI/PC BIOS ready... about time. Nvidia, your turn.

Jun 13, 2008, 12:16 AM	#14
iindigo macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Rainelle, WV	So is this card more multipurpose (i.e. good for both gaming and production) or is it more focused in nature? __________________ My Blog - My Software - My 3D Art - Mac OS Through the Years

Jun 13, 2008, 12:17 AM	#15
Rocketman macrumors 68020 Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Claremont, CA	Is it just me or is that a commodity price with turn-key support? I remember paying $1299 for semi-crippled graphics cards and being happy to get it! Rocketman P.S. Can I put 6 of them in one of those external PCIe boxes and use them as a world class co-processor under Snow Leopard? For less than the price of an upper end Mac . . . . . . . . . . __________________ Think Different-ly! Looking for an iPhone dev with way too much time on her hands for BASIC programs I have.

Jun 12, 2008, 11:46 PM	#3
kabunaru Guest Join Date: Jan 2008	Let the "HD 3870 or 8800 GT" threads begin. If I were to buy a Mac Pro, I would buy it with this card. I think ATI serves Apple better than Nvidia and ATI cards have better drivers.

Jun 12, 2008, 11:46 PM	#4
LloydBraun89 macrumors member Join Date: Jun 2007	oh thank you very much

Jun 13, 2008, 12:04 AM	#7
Peace macrumors Demi-God Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: On top of the Storm Peaks waiting for the Time-Lost Proto Drake	I'd be interested to see the side by side comparisons between the 3870 and the 8800.

Jun 13, 2008, 12:06 AM	#8
kabunaru Guest Join Date: Jan 2008	I have a quick question. Why does AMD still call their graphics cards: "ATI Radeon"? Shouldn't it be: "AMD Radeon" now? Didn't AMD buy/acquire ATI?

Jun 13, 2008, 12:13 AM	#13
cloudnine Banned Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: San Francisco, CA	Great... but will it blend?

Jun 13, 2008, 12:35 AM	#18
darthraige macrumors 65816 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Boston, MA	Fantastic, MORE POWERRRRRRRR! Can't wait for this thing! __________________ MacPro 2 x 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon "Harpertown" 6GB RAM, 4TB, 2600XT, 1 SuperDrive, 1 Blu-Ray Burner MacBook 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

Jun 13, 2008, 12:39 AM	#19
ventro macrumors 6502a Join Date: Sep 2006	Would it be possible to put both this card and 8800GT and use the 3870 for OSX and the 8800GT for windows?

Jun 13, 2008, 12:41 AM	#20
kjs862 macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Long Island	Article says the 8800 is better for games and the ati is better for pro aps. __________________ Power Mac G5 Dual 2.0Ghz (1 Gen), 6.5GB Ram, X800XT, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Jun 13, 2008, 12:45 AM	#21
lostngone macrumors 6502 Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Anchorage	Opencl Does anyone know if OpenCL in the preview version of Snow Leopard will utilize this card?

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