NEW iMac w ATI X600 PCI-e & DDR2 RAM woot!

[bousozoku]

A very good idea, too! The benchamrks I've read (mostly dealing with Halo and UT2K4) seem to show that the 5200 is roughly equal to the 9600 on paper but on the Mac the 9600 does better rendering, and the drivers are simply better all round.

NVIDIA made a lot of better cards contemporary with the 5200 but for whatever reason Apple never chose to implement any of the other GeForce5xxx cards.

Heat is the enemy of tight spaces. The 5200 was quite good as a low power, low heat chipset and low performance was a by product. nVidia is still great at producing top end cards but anywhere else, they shouldn't bother. ATI seems to have implemented a good range of equipment and Apple cares enough about the drivers to make sure that they work well. Supposedly, on Windows, the ATI drivers are even getting better.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Heat is the enemy of tight spaces. The 5200 was quite good as a low power, low heat chipset and low performance was a by product. nVidia is still great at producing top end cards but anywhere else, they shouldn't bother.

A friend of mine has a GeForce59xx and in comparison to a Radeon 9800 it is physically huge, loud and hot. But when new it was the last word in FPS. NVIDIA always seems a little more bleeding edge while ATI is more polished, and we know that Apple is all about polished.

 

[micvog]

The mid plane would have been majorly redesigned-for PCI E (U3L with DDR2-plus say Shasta with PCIE support) and for the built in iSight.

Looks like you are right. The ports are horizontal on the back, instead of vertical. And, I forgot which thread mentioned this, but memory is added through a small access door on the bottom of the case. It looks like the rest of the Mac isn't designed to be opened by the user.

All I want to know is if it is quieter than my rev. A.

 

[FoxyKaye]

Yeah, they could have gone 1.7-2.0/ 2.0-2.3Ghz...

Not so sure about that - I think any G5 speed bumps beyond what's currently in the new iMacs would require a major cooling overhaul. I dunno, to me this is overall more of a "flash" upgrade where Apple fit in the extra horsepower where it could. I'm also wondering if these new iMacs are going to start cropping up with cooling problems as they currently are configured a la the Rev. A iMacs... I still think that Apple's using these new iMacs to float the line until the Intel chips arrive. Although, by making the iMac more of a "home media center" it does allow them to add more features without putting it in direct competition with low-end PowerMacs, which the previous revisions were approaching.

Also, I'm not sure how I feel about having only two choices in the iMac lineup. Sure, they both have a lot of everything built in, but here's what I'm wondering: how does the new 1.9GHz 17" stack up against the old 2.0GHz 17" in terms of overall speed (base models), my suspicion is that they're on par, or perhaps the new iMac is only slightly faster. And, are the G5s in the new iMacs overclocked, underclocked or new chips?

 

[bousozoku]

A friend of mine has a GeForce59xx and in comparison to a Radeon 9800 it is physically huge, loud and hot. But when new it was the last word in FPS. NVIDIA always seems a little more bleeding edge while ATI is more polished, and we know that Apple is all about polished.

I know that the GeForce 5900 certainly cleaned up with UT2004 but then, it should since there is an advertisement for the company as you start the game. I think that's a lousy thing to do to consumers. However, I have a modified Radeon 9600 (ex-G5 card) and it displays the game quite well.

I'm in hopes that the next PowerBook revision will see the mobile X800 although the mobile 9700 is quite good. Apple need to do whatever they can to help the 3D modeling industry and the gamers at the same time. This new iMac is a next step since they discontinued the ADC cabling system.

I think they finally get that their cleverness doesn't always help.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

I know that the GeForce 5900 certainly cleaned up with UT2004 but then, it should since there is an advertisement for the company as you start the game. I think that's a lousy thing to do to consumers. However, I have a modified Radeon 9600 (ex-G5 card) and it displays the game quite well.

I have that same 9600 Pro in my G4, and it works great with everything I've tried except Doom 3 (and in that case the CPU is equally to blame).

I'm in hopes that the next PowerBook revision will see the mobile X800 although the mobile 9700 is quite good. Apple need to do whatever they can to help the 3D modeling industry and the gamers at the same time.

Fortunately those two groups can be serviced by almost the same hardware.

The Mobility 9700 is a very good GPU. It is less of a performance bottleneck in the Powerbook than the CPU and bus speeds are. Still, it wouldn't hurt to put an X800 in the last PPC Powerbooks. They can use all the power they can get until Intel comes to the rescue. I know it's too much to ask but dual-core chips from Freescale would be a revelation.

 

[Josh396]

And, are the G5s in the new iMacs overclocked, underclocked or new chips?

My guess is they are underclocked. I'm sure they would have loved to put 2.3 Ghz in the iMac but with the smaller size it would have gotten too hot. Or maybe they just wanted to hold that out for the last PPC iMac because they couldn't get anything higher then 2.3 in it. It'll be interesting to see how the next PPC revision stacks up against this one.

 

[Dont Hurt Me]

My guess is they are underclocked. I'm sure they would have loved to put 2.3 Ghz in the iMac but with the smaller size it would have gotten too hot. Or maybe they just wanted to hold that out for the last PPC iMac because they couldn't get anything higher then 2.3 in it. It'll be interesting to see how the next PPC revision stacks up against this one.

I dont think you will see another PPC in iMac, 10 months from now will be update time and that should mean Intel plus the Intel Powerbooks should show by then. My guess is this is the last PPC iMac.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

I dont think you will see another PPC in iMac, 10 months from now will be update time and that should mean Intel plus the Intel Powerbooks should show by then. My guess is this is the last PPC iMac.

If Apple decides to stagger the new Intel releases it is inevitable that some products will stay PPC for perhaps an extra update cycle. It will probably be the iBooks and Mac Mini that stay PPC longest, but who knows? It wouldn't be terribly hard to cook up a small speed bump/GPU upgrade in 6 months to keep people interested in the G5 iMac.

 

[BrianKonarsMac]

Yes, it took a while but they're up to date. The newest iMac actually might play games well, although Doom 3 might still be a reach.

which is pretty sad considering how old Doom 3 is, and how old these iMacs are.

 

[risc]

which is pretty sad considering how old Doom 3 is, and how old these iMacs are.

Don't you mean it just goes to show how bad the Doom 3 port actually is?

 

[Mac_Freak]

Bad news guys, Apple no longer supports VESA mounts on the new iMac G5
link

 

[MacsRgr8]

If Apple decides to stagger the new Intel releases it is inevitable that some products will stay PPC for perhaps an extra update cycle. It will probably be the iBooks and Mac Mini that stay PPC longest, but who knows? It wouldn't be terribly hard to cook up a small speed bump/GPU upgrade in 6 months to keep people interested in the G5 iMac.

Me thinks the "G4 stuck" Macs wil get updated first to the Intels (duh).

But I also assume the G4-Stuck-Macs which are in need the MOST wil get x86 first!.. i.e the PowerBooks.

IMHO Steve 'n the rest are having the most issues with the PowerBooks. He admitted not being able to get the G5 into the PowerBook, and the performance <> watt ratio was 'all important'.

So, as for my "which Mac gets x86 first" line-up:

1) PowerBook (summer '06)
2) Mac mini (summer '06)
3) iBook (fall '06)
___________________________________________________

4) Power Mac (winter '06-'07)
5) iMac (winter '06-'07)


We can expect some G5 updates along the line. MP or not... the Power Mac has the longeste life in it. It's all about the PowerBook.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

IMHO Steve 'n the rest are having the most issues with the PowerBooks. He admitted not being able to get the G5 into the PowerBook, and the performance <> watt ratio was 'all important'..

The Powerbook is far and away the highest priority, I agree. Since the G5 has more life in it, I suspect that the G4 computers will get the Intel chips first.