ATI's 4870 HD and 4850 HD Graphics Cards Coming for Mac

MacRumors · Aug 25, 2008

Mac4ever (french) received word from ATI that while the Radeon HD 4870 X2 will not be coming for the Mac, ATI has confirmed that both the Radeon HD 4870 and Radeon HD 4850 will be coming for the Mac "soon".

For those interested in benchmarks, AnandTech provides an extensive testing roundup of the two cards with benchmark comparisons to the ATI Radeon HD 3870 which was released for the Mac Pro in June.

BareFeats also provides more limited testing under Boot Camp between the Radeon 4870, Radeon 3870, GeForce 8800 GT, and (not available for Mac) nVIDIA GeForce GTX 280. While the GTX 280 beats the 4870 in most benchmarks, Barefeats still believes that the Radeon 4870 is the better choice for Apple:

Why? Because ATI has optimized their Mac Edition drivers and firmware for the Radeon 2600 XT and 3870 so that they run Core Image effects much faster than comparable nVidia cards including the GeForce 8800 GT and Quadro FX 5600.

In other words, if Apple is truly serious about optimizing their suite of Pro Apps (FCP, Motion, Aperture, etc.) for Core Image performance, then the Radeon HD 4870 should be the next CTO "shoe" they drop.

Article Link

dextertangocci · Aug 25, 2008

What is the current best card?

Wasn't it the ATI X1900 XT or something?

arn · Aug 25, 2008

dextertangocci said:
What is the current best card?

Wasn't it the ATI X1900 XT or something?

I think you're thinking of the Nvidia 8800GT. It's also benched in the Barefeats article.

highjumppudding · Aug 25, 2008

Can't wait!!! I just got the 3870 a few months ago... been great so far except for the occasional fan rev ups. I have always favored ATI chipsets. Looks like a good future ahead for gamers and professionals with the ATI!

Trip.Tucker · Aug 25, 2008

arn said:
I think you're thinking of the Nvidia 8800GT. It's also benched in the Barefeats article.

The x1900 XT is still considered the better quality card despite nVidia's newer offering. That poster is also speaking in context of the ATI range i.e. what is the current best ATI card.

hob · Aug 25, 2008

I was always an nVidia man back when I had a choice. But my last few Macs have all had ATI - and this news about CoreImage makes me think that my next few will as well!

Trip.Tucker · Aug 25, 2008

Rob, just tried to view your site on my non-Flash enabled device. Doesn't come up, how does the site degrade?

Aranince · Aug 25, 2008

Woot. The 4850/4870 will be a big improvement over the nVidia 8*00 in the current computers. I'm hoping for a 4850 in the Macbook Pro. ATI's cards are excellent this round compared to nVidia's offerings.

Eidorian · Aug 25, 2008

ATi (AMD) loves Intel.

Seriously!

BornAgainMac · Aug 25, 2008

No ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2?

ventro · Aug 25, 2008

Excellent. I haven't seen a slowdown in OSX with the 3870 yet, but this will be good in the future.

Trip.Tucker · Aug 25, 2008

Eidorian said:
ATi (AMD) loves Intel.

Seriously!

Not sure what that is supposed to mean, but ok, whatever.

fountaineer · Aug 25, 2008

Are these cards considered for the decktops or and as well as the macbook pros?

riversky · Aug 25, 2008

fountaineer said:
Are these cards considered for the decktops or and as well as the macbook pros?

Well I wouldn't put them out on a deck, I am sure they wouldn't weather well....But yes they are for the Mac Pro towers.

mudenza · Aug 25, 2008

Apple leaning more towards ATI cards then--good news for MBP owners suffering from their NVidia problems.

fountaineer · Aug 25, 2008

riversky said:
Well I wouldn't put them out on a deck, I am sure they wouldn't weather well....But yes they are for the Mac Pro towers.

Deck? meaning tower or laptop. But i guess your answer is that they are for the towers not the macbook pro? Just clarifying.

TMay · Aug 25, 2008

whither workstation cards?

I'm speaking of Quadro's and FireGL's, and they are near to a requirement for stable workstation apps (MCAD and such). The Quadro 5600, exceeds the requirements, and at $2800, a bit rich for most of us. Nvidia Quadro's 1700 and 3700 would be nice.

Eidorian · Aug 25, 2008

Trip.Tucker said:
Not sure what that is supposed to mean, but ok, whatever.

Intel and ATI have a better relationship then Intel and nVidia.

Trip.Tucker · Aug 25, 2008

fountaineer said:
Deck? meaning tower or laptop. But i guess your answer is that they are for the towers not the macbook pro? Just clarifying.

Yes, he meant for the tower units only, not the laptop series.

In case you missed it, (which you must have) he was playing on your misspelling of the word desktop, which was humorous at the time. Explaining what beating a dead horse means, however, takes all the fun out of it.

teh_pwnerer · Aug 25, 2008

And there is an ironic twist to that relationship now since AMD owns ATI.

alphaod · Aug 25, 2008

Mmm... Looking good.

Solid Raven · Aug 25, 2008

Since apple might be moving towards ati, would there be any chance of a mobile 46x0 in the MBP? Or isn't that one out yet?

Pressure · Aug 25, 2008

BornAgainMac said:
No ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2?

It would appear so but then you have the option to install two Radeon HD 4870s instead

teh_pwnerer · Aug 25, 2008

There is no mobile version of the RV700 series out yet.

And to anyone that might be confused, the 4850 (RV770) is not a laptop part. It ships on boards that use > 100 Watts.

Dejavu · Aug 25, 2008

I have the stock ATI Radeon HD 2600.

It would be nice if there was a comparison of this card with the 4870 or 4850.

ATI's 4870 HD and 4850 HD Graphics Cards Coming for Mac

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