8800GT will most likely be available Tue Jan 29

[cal6n]

*snip*

I even have my brother-in-law who works for NVidia who says the issue is not inventory related but SW related. That's all I know... i have no idea what that means.

*snip*

This is the only bit of your post that makes sense.

What it means is that Nvidia's engineers are in the process of writing, de-bugging, testing, re-writing and submitting code for approval in order to allow a second version of the 8800GT (Mac edition) card to run in an original Mac Pro. It's the software on the card that needs writing to support 32 bit EFI, not the drivers in 10.5.2. and the job will be done when it's done!

Is there a reason that so many people think that the holdup on the 8800 is 10.5.2? I mean, is there anything behind that or is it just speculation?

No. There is no reason. People are working themselves into a stupor just on the basis of speculation. I wish it were otherwise as I was one of the first to order an 8800GT for my "more mature" Mac Pro and one of the last to cancel in disappointment.

Do we know what 10.5.2 gets us in terms of making use of the new mac pro hardware?

No, but it'll most likely be nothing more than the same bug-fixes everyone else is getting. There may be improved drivers but it's not guaranteed.

 

[ErikAndre]

Stick a fork in this one it's done.

Speculation on 10.5.2 was for a release today, unrelated to 8800 delays.

It'll be done at the end of the week (try reading the original post). At that point, I'll bow out. Also, still no sign of 10.5.2, regardless of whether you believe the 8800 is related to it or not... it's still being held back and there are no new seeds out to developers.

One thing is for sure... Apple wants this 8800GT out as much as we do. As well as 10.5.2, the new AppleTV, the MBA, and everything else... They were all scheduled to be released today (at least the MBA's are shipping). Still... For whatever reason, it's still on hold.

 

[Mark Fletcher]

Perhaps the delay is because not only are NVidia re-writing the firmware, but then applying it to all the cards they currently have in stock?

To me, it just seems theres a lot of room for trouble by having two upgrade kits available, one for the 2006-2007 Mac Pro's, the other for 2008 only. I would imagine that with two kits, there would be a lot of people ordering the wrong card, because they didnt look at the requirements. Also seems easier from a production point of view to produce one card / one firmware, rather than two seperate batches.

 

[newtech]

It'll be done at the end of the week (try reading the original post). At that point, I'll bow out. Also, still no sign of 10.5.2, regardless of whether you believe the 8800 is related to it or not... it's still being held back and there are no new seeds out to developers.

One thing is for sure... Apple wants this 8800GT out as much as we do. As well as 10.5.2, the new AppleTV, the MBA, and everything else... They were all scheduled to be released today (at least the MBA's are shipping). Still... For whatever reason, it's still on hold.

The soft date for 8800's seems to be around Feb 12 based on MP's ordered with it. I think that is as completely reliable date as one can get for now.

10.5.2 for 1/29 was a good guess as it is the date for MBA that was announced at MWSF.

 

[Wild-Bill]

I don't think I've seen so much smoke and mirrors in a thread since MM departed...

That, my good man, wins "quote of the day" in my book.

 

[JesterDev]

Either way I am simply waiting for the 8800 to be released to place my order. But it's getting harder to withstand the wait. My Hard drives and extra ram is already here... Waiting.. crying themselves to sleep at night..

 

[rds]

Either way I am simply waiting for the 8800 to be released to place my order. But it's getting harder to withstand the wait. My Hard drives and extra ram is already here... Waiting.. crying themselves to sleep at night..

Why are you waiting to place your order? You are only going to add more time to the wait...

 

[newtech]

Perhaps the delay is because not only are NVidia re-writing the firmware, but then applying it to all the cards they currently have in stock?

To me, it just seems theres a lot of room for trouble by having two upgrade kits available, one for the 2006-2007 Mac Pro's, the other for 2008 only. I would imagine that with two kits, there would be a lot of people ordering the wrong card, because they didnt look at the requirements. Also seems easier from a production point of view to produce one card / one firmware, rather than two seperate batches.

A bit more convoluted than you make it sound.

nVidia does not build boards, just supplies GPU's and reference firmware. If nVidia is writing the firmware for Apple, then they must transfer it to Apple and in turn Apple must transfer it to the subcontractor building the boards ( Foxconn? ).

 

[Banacek]

Wait, they started selling the 8800GT before they even had it ready to go?

 

[newtech]

Wait, they started selling the 8800GT before they even had it ready to go?

It would seem so as there was a 5 week lead time on MP's ordered with the 8800GT on day 1 ( 1/08/08 ).

Also there is/was a lot of negative reaction to the 8800GT being only compatible with the new MP. So it may be that the firmware gets or is getting a major overhaul to make it more compatible.

 

[Banacek]

It would seem so as there was a 5 week lead time on MP's ordered with the 8800GT on day 1 ( 1/08/08 ).

Also there is/was a lot of negative reaction to the 8800GT being only compatible with the new MP. So it may be that the firmware gets or is getting a major overhaul to make it more compatible.

Ah. I wish I knew what the deal was. I am fine with pre-ordering something like this, I just want to know about it before hand.

 

[mac2maverick]

Some of my fellow Canadians are just starting to receive their Mac Pro's with the 8800 GT that they ordered back in the middle of January. What's the latest on this video card? Anyone? I just ordered a MP with the aforementioned and they gave me a ship date from 1-1 1/2 weeks. From what I've heard this sounds optimistic.