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Was really hoping somebody would have tested that by now... with the deals on in Aus atm, there's about a $400 difference between the i5 1GB version and the i5 2GB version BTO.
 
Was really hoping somebody would have tested that by now... with the deals on in Aus atm, there's about a $400 difference between the i5 1GB version and the i5 2GB version BTO.

There currently isn't a working monitor to measure vram usage on the 6970m otherwise I would test it and report the results with the games I have.

I emailed the developers at atmonitor and they said there is a known issue and they're working on it. But I still need a monitor for windows as there are more games for me to test there.
 
Even FPS on native resolutions between the two cards would give a fair indication if the 1GB was bottlenecking though?

It's a case of finding the games that might push it to test though I guess.
 
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3rd party apple authorized repair shop

Been reading posts on this thread about people saying they're going to walk into the apple store and buy i7's and/or GPU's with 2 gigs on them. I think they're limited to the stock $1699 and $1999 versions, as the faster processors, SSDs and bigger hd's and gpu's are build to order options.

Bought the stock 'low end' 27" at the local apple store two days ago, after consulting with the business unit there. My white c2d 2.16 is still soldering on properly for basic office stuff, but will be used to a) help set up a rudimentary peer to peer network using time capsule, and b) help ween my office manager off of windows.

Owe mah Gawd, I love the 27" display! (Sorry, had to get that out of my system.) The faster chips and promise of thunderbolt connectivity are what convinced me to go with the current model rather than find a deal on the newly discontinued 2010's.

Talked to a long time local apple authorized repair shop, about an ssd install. He said he could do it, I'd bring my own SSD and he'd charge $80-100 for the install. Said that since he's apple certified, the install wouldn't void my warranty, and that if I was squeamish about my applecare, his shop could and would handle any applecare repairs. Guy's been around forever, so 1) I figure he knows what he's talking about, and he wouldn't blow his 2) standing as an apple repair authorization or 3) standing in the community by pulling something shady. Figuring I'll go this route for an ssd install in a few months; either performance and/or storage will improve with a little bit time (read that new drives are supposedly on the way). Think I'd rather throw this guy a benjamin rather than spend a whole afternoon and possibly break my machine by trying to DIM (do it myself).
 
I hate to break it to you, but I'm pretty sure the 2011 iMacs don't have upgradable hard drives. From what I've read, Apple is doing temperature sensing on the drive itself as opposed to using an external sensor. If you install a non-proprietary hard drive, the system can't tell how hot it's running, and the fans kick into permanent overdrive as a precaution against overheating. I think the only solution at that point is to install fan managing software in OSX.

I could be wrong, so you should read up on it, but think you might be out of luck when it comes to installing a custom SSD.
 
I hate to break it to you, but I'm pretty sure the 2011 iMacs don't have upgradable hard drives. From what I've read, Apple is doing temperature sensing on the drive itself as opposed to using an external sensor. If you install a non-proprietary hard drive, the system can't tell how hot it's running, and the fans kick into permanent overdrive as a precaution against overheating. I think the only solution at that point is to install fan managing software in OSX.

I could be wrong, so you should read up on it, but think you might be out of luck when it comes to installing a custom SSD.
I believe that was pretty much debunked. Many people have upgraded just fine.
 
I believe that was pretty much debunked. Many people have upgraded just fine.

Correct, although I believe the people who upgraded also had to install software to control their fans. Which isn't something everyone is willing to do.
 
This should help a lot of people sitting on the fence....

http://en.expreview.com/2010/08/08/exclusive-review-of-zotac-geforce-gtx-460-2gb-edition/9041.html/8

http://benchmarkextreme.com/Articles/GTX 460 ANALYSIS/P1.html

6970 is not really gonna handle 8xAA at native..... the GPU is going to be the bottleneck long before the memory.......


Thanks those definitely helped ! so the 2gb is a tiny bit faster and help eas the system so i will definitely go with 2gb so as I'm not planning to change my iMac for 4-5more year i would be better for just 100$
 
I've debated a long long time whether to go for 2GB or not and since I'm buying an expensive machine anyway, so why not?

But then I mean

In most gaming titles GTX 460 2GB just outperformed the 1GB version by 1.97% in average.
With a higher resolution of 2560×1600, the 2GB showed more significant advantage. It’s 2-7 frames faster than the other one in FarCry 2, Crysis Warhead and DiRT 2.

2-7 fps isn't really much or worth the £80. Plus that's when you're running 2560×1600 8XAA or 16XAA. Think the 6970M will struggle anyway.

I spent the money on Crucial 16Gb RAM instead (4 x 4Gb sticks) = £79.18 delivered (unless you want to pay Apple - "16GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4x4GB [+ £480.00]" option, or get a trackpad, or Apple Care even.

Anyway that's what I did and think.
 
2-7 fps isn't really much or worth the £80..

THIS ^^ .. like I said a couple of times .. Extra VRAM is the most useless BTO option come with iMac.

For extra $100, Apple should swap 6970M with 6990M instead, now that's what I call an UPGRADE .. but then again when iMac 2011 released, 6990M hasn't released to the market yet. Well .. we're SOL about iMac GPU, as always :D
 
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