Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

ATI inside next refresh...maybe. AND 9600mGT may be faulty?

RiCEADDiCTBOY

RiCEADDiCTBOY

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 26, 2007
699
1
Oh boy...this just won't end will it? Word is ATI has a direct competitor against the 9400m in the works - in time for pending refresh...

Looks like ATI has its own 9400M competitor in the works. According to information leaked to The Inquirer, AMD plans to release a chipset, dubbed RS880, with integrated Radeon 4200M graphics around August. That would be in plenty of time for Apple to have new iMacs or MacBooks using Nehalem process ready for fall, assuming the chipset is compatible with Intel's newest offerings. It should be OpenCL compatible and have a 15 percent speed advantage over NVIDIA's similar offerings.
Click to expand...

link
 
I actually prefer ATI GPU's, but AMD mobile processors aren't that great compared to intel's.

Their desktop CPU's are pretty good bang for the buck but not mobile, no.
And using RS880 means they'd have to switch to AMD processors which is a big no-no.
 
neteng101 said:
Chipsets are built to support a certain CPU type - the RS880 is for the AMD AM3 socket chips.

http://www.guru3d.com/news/amd-rs880-chipset-details-revealed/

Moving to AMD CPUs would be a horrible, unmitigated disaster, of epic proportions, for Apple.
Click to expand...

I get what you are saying but, there is nothing to report that the RS880 can support /or be made to support Nehalem. As we all know money talks and I am more than certain that ATI is itching to bite the hook if it has the chance to take NVIDAs spot. Lately more ATI offerings are taking the place of NVIDA as other companies (example Dell) are phasing out NVIDA gpu equipped computers.
 
goMac said:
Yes, in the past before AMD bought ATI.

ATI is now part of AMD, and they stopped producing Intel chipsets. The RS880 is already known to only support AMD chips.
Click to expand...

Well, nothing to do but wait and see. All I know is that if NVIDA is dropped and ATI isn't an option and we go back to Intel graphic solutions...

...God I don't even want to think about that...
 
bad signs!!

There is an Ati driver download at the bottom of the page!! its a bad warning sign i dont want amd, Ati doesent bother me though
 
I do not want to see AMD processors in Macs; I really like Intel's mobile processors a lot better.

I highly doubt that the 9600M GT GPU's have the same issue. If they did, there would be no chance of NVIDIA staying with Apple.

Anyway, at first it seems really unlikely being NVIDIA's 9400M is the base of every Mac save the xServe and Mac Pro. However, according to SemiAccurate, the two companies have a horrible relationship. Also, keep in mind that ATI is working on a new GPU that's to be 15% faster than the 9400M...
 
MacAndy74 said:
Apple already use ATI chips - in the iMac and Mac Pro. ;)
Click to expand...

Right, but no NVidia chipset. :p

The RS880 wouldn't work in since it's not just a GPU it's an entire chipset...

Apple could go back to using a discrete card, but that could get expensive...
 
goMac said:
Right, but no NVidia chipset. :p

The RS880 wouldn't work in since it's not just a GPU it's an entire chipset...

Apple could go back to using a discrete card, but that could get expensive...
Click to expand...

Good point. I just don't understand why Apple went to Nvidia chipsets. My past experiences with Nvidia chipsets (on Windows PC's) resulted in nothing but pain and angst. Apple should have really stayed with Intel chipsets (with ATI or AMD GPU's) IMHO.
 
MysticMage said:
Four years ago, AMD did not own ATI.
Click to expand...

It's a discrete card.

On the new machines, the graphics card and the processor controller are one in the same. Which means NVidia had to make an agreement with Intel to make their graphics card talk directly to the processor. The 9400m is really just like integrated graphics.

A discrete card is more expensive, but in since it doesn't have to talk directly to the processor, it doesn't have to care what the processor is.

Apple could go back to using ATI graphics in Intel notebooks, but it would require them to use two separate chips again, one to control the processor, and one to do graphics. Could be more expensive.

This is why the 9400m chipset may not work with Neleham. Intel isn't licensing NVidia the ability to talk with the Neleham chips.

Of course back in the PowerPC days everything was a discrete graphics chip, so it's not like it's never been done...
 
goMac said:
Yes, in the past before AMD bought ATI.

ATI is now part of AMD, and they stopped producing Intel chipsets. The RS880 is already known to only support AMD chips.
Click to expand...

Lol? I think you'll find Apple shipped computers with ATI CPUs before AMD bought out ATI... and uh... actually they still ship them.

The difference is that they weren't integrated GPUs, which yeah, can be chipset-specific.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back