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Rafalski24

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 27, 2009
100
0
Denver, CO
I may buy an 08' Mac Pro that comes with a 8800GT is the GT120 a step up at all? if I decide to get a new graphics card (which I really may not since I don't game at all) would the GT120 be an upgrade or would I have to go to 4870? Those two cards are both compatible right?
 
I would think so. Both cards will run in a MP3,1. The GT120 is more modern than the 8800 and will support the newer SW features like open CL.
 
I wouldn't think so. The GT120 is a rebrand of the 9500 GT, which in turn is only slightly better then an 8600GT, which was stomped by the 8800GT, IIRC.

-EDIT; but.... Gugucom brings up the point that the GT120 is more "modern", and thus probably will have a longer period of Apple support then the 8800GT.
 
I would think so. Both cards will run in a MP3,1. The GT120 is more modern than the 8800 and will support the newer SW features like open CL.

Errr no. The 8800 is not only a better card, but it also supports OpenCL.

I have both in my machine, and the 8800 pwns the 120 GT, even at OpenCL.
 
I don't think the GT120 is faster than the 8800 GT at all. The 8800 uses a high end chip of the last generation, and the GT120 uses a low end chip from the new generation. The clockspeed is surely less on the GT120 than the 8800...
 
Apologies for getting that wrong. I'm not that familiar with the Nvidia line up. I have mostly used ATI in the past 10 years. Nvidia manage to confuse me with their nomenclature.
 
112 shaders @ 1.5Ghz vs 32 shaders @ 1.4Ghz. 256-bit memory bus vs 128-bit memory bus. Same microarch, same kind of RAM. You do the math.

Oh, and they both support CUDA and OpenCL just fine, the 8800 is just a heckuva lot faster.
 
It's indeed no contest in favour of the 8800, though it might be worth pointing out that the 8800 needs one PCI 6-pin power supply while the 120 (I think) needs none, so you could e.g. use a 120 to boot an injected PC 285, or use multiple 120s without needing any fiddling with PCI power. So in that respect it has one small advantage.
 
It's indeed no contest in favour of the 8800, though it might be worth pointing out that the 8800 needs one PCI 6-pin power supply while the 120 (I think) needs none, so you could e.g. use a 120 to boot an injected PC 285, or use multiple 120s without needing any fiddling with PCI power. So in that respect it has one small advantage.

Yeah, this is why I have the 120 in my machine as a second card, I plan on adding the 285 as the first card to replace my 8800...
 
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