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Yixian

macrumors 65816
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Jun 2, 2007
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http://crave.cnet.co.uk/laptops/0,39029450,49297243,00.htm

This card is vastly superior to all other candidates for the new Montevina MBPs and any iMac updates. The only other alternatives to the 8600M GT offer a mere 15 to 20% increase in performance, as opposed to this card which offers, according to ATI, %300.

It's 55nm, it's lowish wattage, it's in the price range of cards that could feasibly be fitted in the iMac and MBP. The only thing I am unsure of is heat, and ofc, is Apple is bothered justifying the "Pro" in MacBook Pro and providing us with a cutting edge rather than yesterdays tech GPU.

Anyone have any idea how likely it is we'll see this in our Macs come the Montevina updates? Or will we have to wait another year before we're using what PC owners will be able to buy in a week.
 

Rivix

macrumors 6502a
Oct 13, 2005
527
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That would be awesome. It would also be awesome if Apple gave us more options when it comes to GPUs.
 

Whiternoise

macrumors member
Jun 28, 2008
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If Apple were going to go ATI, i would have thought they'd for for the HD3600. Simply because it's that all important battery saver.
 

Yixian

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If Apple were going to go ATI, i would have thought they'd for for the HD3600. Simply because it's that all important battery saver.

But.. but.. but.. it's more than 300% less powerful and barely an upgrade to the current card :(



Anyone know if the 3800 is cool enough? Screw battery life, Montevina and LCD will increase battery life and with enough underclocking there'll be np. Then I can OC it and my MacBook will be worthy of it's "Pro" title.
 

alphaod

macrumors Core
Feb 9, 2008
22,183
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I hope they use Quadro or FireGL cards next time and then it will be a true professional's computer.
 

hitnrun7

Guest
Jul 3, 2008
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so between Montevina and the possible HD3800, how big is the performance gain going to be?

Looking at getting a MBP, thinking about not waiting, but wanting to wait:confused:
 

Yixian

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If they used an HD 3800 in the new MBPs the performance gain in graphics would be astronomical.
 

Whiternoise

macrumors member
Jun 28, 2008
37
0
Well, to be honest, yes.

Regardless of what they do with the graphics, unless you need it right now, you would be a fool to buy so close to the next update - which should be any time from July 14th - September. In any case, there should be a release for Uni/College students.

Simply waiting for Centrino 2 would be wise, so you get the best value for money. And i would also expect a RAM upgrade - for a top end laptop with DDR2 so cheap, i would have thought they'd give you 4GB as standard. And for what it's worth, the graphics aren't incredibly bad for a mobile system. Granted at this price point you'd expect better - but the increased battery life is much more preferable in my opinion. Just be thankful it's not got Intel integrated. It's been said time and again, if you want good gaming performance, get a desktop - it's cheap enough these days, especially with the HD4870 coming out real soon. You're barking up the wrong tree if you want crysis to run well on a laptop - i mean you can run it on the current MBP's, but not anywhere near on full.

But hey, rumours are rumours.

Obviously you don't want to get into the "i'll wait another month" cycle, but no one likes to buy a product and then have the company update a month later.
 

raymondu999

macrumors 65816
Feb 11, 2008
1,009
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How about the 9xxx nVidia cards? Which is actually stronger, between the HD38xx cards and the 9xxx cards?
 

Yixian

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ManWithhat

macrumors regular
Jun 24, 2008
220
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I don't have much experience with higher end laptop cards, as they run too hot for me, but the new radeons that are being discussed in this thread are supposed to be hybrid cards. From the article:

Another new development from ATI is called PowerXpress. An evolution of ATI's earlier Hybrid Graphics technology, with PowerXpress you can set your laptop up to use a dedicated graphics card while plugged in, and seamlessly switch over to integrated graphics when you're using the battery, thereby extending battery life. AMD says you can double or even triple battery life this way -- but mostly because dedicated graphics cards are such a power drain.

That sounds exactly like something I would be looking forward to. I don't mind a laptop running hot while I'm playing games, but when I'm surfing the web or doing something non-intensive, I don't want a fire in my lap. CPU temps are also in play there, but along with the new graphics cards (hopefully) will come the penryn 2nd-gen with cooler temps.
 

Yixian

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I will seriously consider switching for the first time EVER and installing OS X on a PC laptop with this card if Apple don't provide it. There's no reason not to put it in the Pro and it's just phenomenal.
 

Erasmus

macrumors 68030
Jun 22, 2006
2,756
298
Australia
Nice, especially that PowerXpress feature.

But we can't know for sure what Apple will use until either Apple come out with it, or we get our hands on some TDP numbers! Apple are not going to put a card in the MBP that draws 90W. 20-30W is more likely, and more likely 15-25. I believe the X1600 was about 17W, and I don't know how much the 8600M uses, probably similar.

Personally, I'm looking forward to the Mobility HD 4870 existing. That would be awesome. But I'm still waiting until at least 2010 for my next purchase, and I'm wondering what the hell I can expect then. 6870? Intel Larrabee? We'll see. I bet it will play Crysis plenty well though.
 

Yixian

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Jun 2, 2007
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As a Pro owner I'd rather not have to wait a year to play 6 month old games...

EDIT: Toshiba announced this back in Nov 07. A 15" laptop, doesn't look hugely thicker than a MBP, and it has an HD 3800. This card is MXM-III so it's gonna be small have lowish power consumption.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/27/toshiba-readying-radeon-hd-3800-equipped-dynabook-txw-69dw/

And this is 3.5cm compared to 2.59cm in the MBP, has a 4.5h battery and also has the 3800:

http://www.memory-express.co.uk/ind...Business/XP+Pro+(nVidia+Quadro+FX+570M+512MB)
 

Erasmus

macrumors 68030
Jun 22, 2006
2,756
298
Australia
As a Pro owner I'd rather not have to wait a year to play 6 month old games...

If you're complaining about not being able to play Crysis on a MBP, then I apologise for this, but you are a fool. If you want to play Crysis on High or Very High with a decent resolution and maybe some FSAA to boot, you NEED a desktop, and you also really need at least two, if not 3 or 4 top of the line GPUs. A graphics card that can play Crysis well is not going to find its way into any notebook anywhere near as thin and light as the MBP for at least a few years yet. Well being on the highest graphics settings at native res with about 4x FSAA, and frame rates never dropping below 30. Maybe native res on all high with no FSAA sometime next year, but not this year. I doubt whether even a Mobility HD 3870 could do that.

Realistically, I'm hoping the Mobility HD 4600 series give some good numbers, because I honestly don't see a 3800 part finding its way into a MBP, although I would love to be wrong. It all depends on the TDP.

EDIT: OK, that notebook doesn't look all that thick, but it's certainly not as thin as the MBP. But that's irrelevant. You could theoretically put any GPU in a MBP if you were willing to sacrifice battery life and noise enough. If it generates lots of heat, a notebook manufacturer could just stick in an absolutely massively powerful fan to pull off that heat. But it would be incredibly noisy, and Apple wouldn't do it. I guess this notebook gives us a faint glimmer of hope, but realistically not much. Apple likes using GPUs with a "6" as their third last number.
 

Yixian

macrumors 65816
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Jun 2, 2007
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I can't find any info at all on a "Mobility HD 4600" but I don't think the 3800 is quite as unrealistic as you think, there are plenty of 15"ers around with 3800s in now, plenty coming, and most of them are thin, although obviously not 1" thin. But with underclocking...
 

Yixian

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 2, 2007
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Europe
EDIT: OK, that notebook doesn't look all that thick, but it's certainly not as thin as the MBP. But that's irrelevant. You could theoretically put any GPU in a MBP if you were willing to sacrifice battery life and noise enough. If it generates lots of heat, a notebook manufacturer could just stick in an absolutely massively powerful fan to pull off that heat. But it would be incredibly noisy, and Apple wouldn't do it. I guess this notebook gives us a faint glimmer of hope, but realistically not much. Apple likes using GPUs with a "6" as their third last number.

It has a 4.5 hour battery life though, and that's without Montevina or LED benefits. It's still a faint glimmer of hope perhaps, but slightly less faint then people thought I reckon.

Still.. yeah... I mean, for as long as I can remember the MBPs have had *6** cards :(
 

Inconsequential

macrumors 68000
Sep 12, 2007
1,978
1
It has a 4.5 hour battery life though, and that's without Montevina or LED benefits. It's still a faint glimmer of hope perhaps, but slightly less faint then people thought I reckon.

Still.. yeah... I mean, for as long as I can remember the MBPs have had *6** cards :(

I'd love a card that could do 10k 2005 in a MBP before the year is out, then I wouldn't have to get a new PC...

Im seriously close to selling it as it is, sometime install bootcamp and see if Sim City 4 and Live For Speed runs nicely on my MBP :eek:
 
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