GeForce GTX 285 Appears in Apple Online Store

[MacRumors]

Earlier this week, the EVGA GeForce GTX 285 graphics card appeared in Apple's online store in the U.S. and Canada. Compatible with the "Early 2008" and "Early 2009" Mac Pro models and currently listed as shipping in 1-2 weeks, the GTX 285 is priced at $449.95 in the U.S. Plans for a June launch of the card were revealed in late April, and the appearance of the card in Apple's store suggests that it should begin shipping within the scheduled timeframe.

Benchmarks on the PC version of the GTX 285 revealed that it consistently outperforms the ATI Radeon HD 4870, which is currently available as a $200 build-to-order upgrade on the 2009 Mac Pro. It remains to be seen if Apple will be adding the GTX 285 as a build-to-order upgrade for new orders once the card begins shipping.

Article Link: GeForce GTX 285 Appears in Apple Online Store

[niuniu]

I wouldn't mind one of those in a new uMBP I tell ya

[appleguy123]

Originally Posted by niuniu

I wouldn't mind one of those in a new uMBP I tell ya

I was using apple store chat and they told me that there were external graphics cards tht go through the express card... Where do i get them and what is the performance like?

[dagamer34]

Originally Posted by niuniu

I wouldn't mind one of those in a new uMBP I tell ya

There are cheaper ways to carry around a portable oven.

[Renji]

as i posted in a different thread, they sell it a newegg too.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130500

[J the Ninja]

Originally Posted by dagamer34

There are cheaper ways to carry around a portable oven.

Who wants 20 minutes of battery life?

[theBigD23]

That is pretty expensive. I hope the price drops soon, since this seems to be the only new card that will be available from Nvidia for a while. There is also no mini display port so you can't make it work with the LED monitor.

[peskaa]

Apple Store US you mean. Nothing in the EU!

[niuniu]

Originally Posted by appleguy123

I was using apple store chat and they told me that there were external graphics cards tht go through the express card... Where do i get them and what is the performance like?

now now...

Originally Posted by dagamer34

There are cheaper ways to carry around a portable oven.

settle down boys

[winterspan]

Remember, guys, this is an excellent gaming card for dual-booting to windows, but the ATI cards have vastly superior performance in OSX's graphics systems like Core Image et al. The Apple pro applications and professional OpenGL applications perform much better with ATI cards even if you compare a much more powerful Nvidia card. At this least this has been the case in the recent past, I haven't heard of anything changing on this front. I think it has to do with Nvidia always crippling the OpenGL drivers of their Geforce cards to force pro OpenGL apps users to get a Pro Quadro card.

[Michael73]

I've been looking for some increased graphics performance on my early '08 MP e.g. an upgrade for my 8800GT. I noticed this in the Apple store and called AppleCare to ask some questions. I'd be a bit hesitant about buying this yet as it's not listed as one of the supported cards for SL. After making it to tier 2 support, the guy put me on hold and rang up engineering and was told the list of cards on the SL page are only the ones they've tested so far and don't represent a final list of all compatible cards.

Can anyone tell me whether the Mac OS can take advantage of multiple video cards for improved video processing performance even if only one card is actually driving a monitor? I guess the other way of saying this is, can the Mac OS spread video intensive processing tasks across multiple cards if they are present for increased speed and performance?

[twoodcc]

too bad i can't put one in my 2006 mac pro

[fixmdude]

I tried loading Call of Duty 4 on Windows XP in Bootcamp on my 2007 Aluminum iMac 2.8 Extreme and it ran without any frame freezes or jumps, played just fine. I gave away my PC with dual SLI cards because it was loud, huge, guzzled electricity, and wasn't necessary anymore after getting the iMac. I had to buy that monster in 2006 to play COD because the jumpy screen and pauses kept getting me killed, but I don't see a need to spend $450 on a video card upgrade anymore now that the games are running smooth.

"Benchmarks on the PC version of the GTX 285 revealed that it consistently outperforms the ATI Radeon HD 4870"

What program do people need this newer faster card for? Can someone even tell the difference while running anything other than a special benchmark program to measure it?

[RemarkabLee]

Originally Posted by winterspan

Remember, guys, this is an excellent gaming card for dual-booting to windows, but the ATI cards have vastly superior performance in OSX's graphics systems like Core Image et al. The Apple pro applications and professional OpenGL applications perform much better with ATI cards even if you compare a much more powerful Nvidia card. At this least this has been the case in the recent past, I haven't heard of anything changing on this front. I think it has to do with Nvidia always crippling the OpenGL drivers of their Geforce cards to force pro OpenGL apps users to get a Pro Quadro card.

Not true, according to BareFeats tests on release of the 2009 Mac Pro with the 4870, they are quite close. Previous to this, the ATi had the edge over Nvidia for pro apps, but not as far as your suggesting.

[Tallest Skil]

Originally Posted by Michael73

Can anyone tell me whether the Mac OS can take advantage of multiple video cards for improved video processing performance even if only one card is actually driving a monitor? I guess the other way of saying this is, can the Mac OS spread video intensive processing tasks across multiple cards if they are present for increased speed and performance?

Not possible.

It remains to be seen if Snow Leopard will let us, though.

[mixel]

Originally Posted by fixmdude

What program do people need this newer faster card for? Can someone even tell the difference while running anything other than a special benchmark program to measure it?

COD4 is a couple of years old and even when it came out it had pretty modest requirements. No iMac card I know of (I have a 2008 2.8 8800 iMac which i love for gaming) can come close to maxing the detail level in games like Crysis. And the games do look very VERY nice with everything ramped up to their maximum settings.

Games will always demand faster and faster hardware.. In 4 years time all our hardware will be pants and incapable of running even middling tech latest games well. I agree most gamers could get by with an 8800 level card for years to come but a lot of people I know wouldn't be satisfied with that at all.

Aren't DirectX 11 cards coming out soon, thinking about it? Would that make it a daft time to invest in an expensive graphics card?

[RebootD]

Does NVIDIA put magic into the Mac edition of this card to justify a 35% markup over the Windows version? I know we get shafted on gfx cards but it's hard to justify upgrading to this for the price don't you think?

Anyone successfully hacked a PC version yet?

[RemarkabLee]

Originally Posted by fixmdude

What program do people need this newer faster card for? Can someone even tell the difference while running anything other than a special benchmark program to measure it?

Subjectively the differences may be negligible today, but who's to say what they will be like in the next 12-24 months? The next generation gaming middleware/rendering engines will most likely cause older technology to suffer slower frame rates while the 285 will be very capable.

Therefore it requires theoretical benchmark tools to differentiate between generations of graphics cards to tell them apart. In a year or so, the next 'killer game' will more than likely justify the purchase of the latest and greatest pixel cruncher.

[Peace]

Originally Posted by Tallest Skil

Not possible.

It remains to be seen if Snow Leopard will let us, though.

The GTX 285 gets a good performance increase under SL. It can and does utilize CL.

Currently you can use both cards but not together. Two GTX 285's though.. Whoa!!

[champ01]

Where is the love for the first Mac Pro users???

Give us the compatible stuff to or are the first Mac Pro's crappy ****???

You tell me apple you tell me...

[BornAgainMac]

What is with the new numbering system? Where do they come up with these model numbers?

[akm3]

Originally Posted by champ01

Where is the love for the first Mac Pro users???

Give us the compatible stuff to or are the first Mac Pro's crappy ****???

You tell me apple you tell me...

I thought I read somewhere that this DOES work with the older Mac Pro, but Apple isn't advertising it that way. It might have been barefeats. I hope I'm not spreading false information.

/edit: I am proven incorrect later in the thread. The barefeats article praised the AMD card for being able to do this, but confirms the Nvidia cannot. Sorry if I got anyone's hopes up.

[BongoBanger]

Now that's more like it!

[Eddyisgreat]

VERY telling that this does not include a mini displayport. Apples unification of the display line, yet they don't include it on the latest graphics cards? DVI still works for their highest end display, and we all know the MDP -> dl DVI simply don't work.

I guess the 30" "classic" is staying around for a little while longer boys.

[danbirchall]

I've heard of EGA and VGA, but not EVGA... this is 640 by what?