Often do I smile at a witty post... rarely do I chuckle out loud. That, my friend, was funny
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
AMD Announces ATI Radeon HD 3870 Card For Mac and PC
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Often do I smile at a witty post... rarely do I chuckle out loud. That, my friend, was funny
Let's see an Nvidia 9900 GT in the next Mac Pros then along with ATI Radeon HD 4870:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/249744-33-nvidia-gt200-geforce-9900-9900
16 cores and over is kinda old-hat mentality, and in itself was directed at CPU cores, not GPU streams (also known as pipelines.)
Graphics operations are highly repetitive. Many operations are fairly simple, but are just carried out a LOT. Simple enough, anyway, that the GPU could handle several at a time especially when there are steps that can be combined in a single step (like throwing a handful of rocks instead of one at a time.) It's just setting up the structure so you can have a larger working set per cycle rather than a serial queue.
Pipelines and optimizing the memory structure of video cards has been responsible for a lot of the gains in graphics performance the last few years. The ATI 9800 pro had 8 pipelines (introduced in 2003). My nVidia 8800 GTX I bought in September has 144. It helps.
Multiple GPU core video cards (eg build-in crossfire) are here now. Check out the nVidia 9800 series.
I'm personally not interested in dual card. They're hotter, more expensive, take much more power to run, depreciate faster.. etc. I'll take mine single, thanks. I'll leave the dual card whizzbang gear for the ricer gamers and for the professionals who honestly have a need for that kind of thing.
HI Guys...
I have last years Mac Pro (quad core, July 2007). When I ordered, there was a bit of a bungle with the order and I ended up with 3 x standard graphic card when I wanted the ATI option.
I have been thinking of getting that old ATI card ... and now this new one is out.
Just to make sure (I don't know much about how these cards compare)... is this new card better than the older card? I am guessing it is - just want to make sure!
I use the mac pro for print design work - and occasionally for video work.
Thanks in advance for all the advice
S
No one responded ... *wahhh wahhh* Cry...
Check this:No one responded ... *wahhh wahhh* Cry...
http://www.barefeats.com/harper17.html
http://www.barefeats.com/harper16.html
How sure are you? Do you have a source?
*EDIT*
Nevermind, i missed sentence in the original post! THANKS!
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/Graphics/ATI_3870_Mac_PC_review/radeonhd3870_review.html#storytop
Some people read the article and its links.
But... but... but, I just got the 8800 GT. Dang... sucks to be me
Can't you return the 8800GT or exchange it?
Will Apple accept this?
SOLD.
Since SLI is not supported on the Mac Pros, and the performance is very close to that of a Geforce 8800GT, the cheaper and future safe 3870 is a better deal, considering Crossfire works on all platforms, so adding a second card and nearly doubling performance shouldnt be a problem at all. Plus, the initial cost of said card is cheaper.
YES!
Since SLI is not supported on the Mac Pros, and the performance is very close to that of a Geforce 8800GT, the cheaper and future safe 3870 is a better deal, considering Crossfire works on all platforms, so adding a second card and nearly doubling performance shouldnt be a problem at all. Plus, the initial cost of said card is cheaper.
YES!
Is apple going to pull the 1900XT off its shelves? AMD suggested retail price is 219. The 1900XT is *STILL* selling for $399.
For $219 ill take a 3870.....but with apple always charging a ridiculous price premium, im a bit uneasy.......unless of course, and hopefully, apple is not the one selling these?
For $219 ill take a 3870.....but with apple always charging a ridiculous price premium, im a bit uneasy.......unless of course, and hopefully, apple is not the one selling these?
X1900 ATI versus newer
I can't comment on specs... hard to believe the new card is anything but faster, but I can say I would NOT buy the x1900... a lot of them (including mine) had overheating eventual burn out problems. A lot of people think they are dogs. I am sure some will disagree. I hear though the newer cards run cooler.
No one responded ... *wahhh wahhh* Cry...
I can't comment on specs... hard to believe the new card is anything but faster, but I can say I would NOT buy the x1900... a lot of them (including mine) had overheating eventual burn out problems. A lot of people think they are dogs. I am sure some will disagree. I hear though the newer cards run cooler.
The 1900XT looks like an Apple product and not something AMD released.
AMD lists the ATI Radeon HD 3870 Mac & PC Edition on their own site, so I would assume the card will be sold like the old ATI X800XT that you could buy from pretty much any ATI reseller. Unless something has changed, you won't be restricted to buying this from Apple. In fact, if it's like the ATI X800XT was, I don't think you'll even have a Build To Order option from Apple-you'll only be able to get it aftermarket.
Perfect. I dont want to buy it from apple. And usually the case is that suggested retail price is never that much, the card will probably sell for less.
I was hoping that, too. Maybe things will get better. It would be nice to have the full range of Nvidia and ATI cards available for a pro machine instead of just four consumer cards and one $2,800 pro card.
Nvidia does have the 8800Ultra and the whole 9-series to smoke ATi's offerings. It's time these are made available... but god forbid we get any options in the graphics card department.
Lazy manufacturers. ALl that has to be added for a GPU to be Mac Compatible is an EFI capable ROM. After that, if you get some drivers, it's done. I find it funny that AMD is making mac compatible cards when Macs don't have AMD CPU's and likely never will.