Do you think the Mac Pro will get the Radeon HD2900XT soon (if at all)?

V

vincent-x

macrumors newbie
At the moment I am working in Japan and because of my job I can get the educational discount and I am thinking about getting a Mac Pro before I leave because the price differences between here and the UK are huge. (I will need to order before the end of May, realistically).

What I am wondering is do you think that the Mac Pro is going to get the Radeon HD2900XT anytime soon? The Inquirer says the card is going to be coming out on 2nd May (http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=39223) and if you chose the the X1900 in the store at the moment delivery can take up to ten days.

Do you think that we are going to be getting anything new or d'you think I am clutching at straws? :confused:
 
/What ever Steve wants ok.:p

Yes Steve I would like a top up.
 

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Do you need the Radeon HD2900XTX or are you just wanting it?

I would say there is a fair chance Apple Inc. will include the Radeon HD2900XTX in their Mac Pro line.

Rumors floated around that Apple Inc. were getting the 11.5" OEM card specifically for them.
 
Pressure said:
He should wait a bit before calling it an inefficient card then ;)

Different sources, different scores. Who knows which ones are true...

But where it really will shine is in professional applications with its 320 Stream Processing Engines :D
Click to expand...

Umm, they are all using different benchmarking programs. 3Dmark01, 03 and 06. They cannot be compared with one another.

And I'm sure they are all very impressive numbers.
So... They are on a 65nm process... Maybe we'll see a mobility HD2900XT in the new MBP??? (joke) (still seriously hoping for Mobility HD2600XT : )
 
Erasmus said:
Umm, they are all using different benchmarking programs. 3Dmark01, 03 and 06. They cannot be compared with one another.
Click to expand...

lol. Yes it CANNOT be compared, completely different 3dmark versions.

Anyway the 06 score seems to be around that of an mildly overclocked 8800gtx. In other words, around 6 months late. I'm disappointed, hoping that ATI would bring something radical and new, rather then something very late which *just* manages to best the 8800gtx.

I wish apple would hurry up and make the 8800gtx available.
 
booksacool1 said:
lol. Yes it CANNOT be compared, completely different 3dmark versions.

Anyway the 06 score seems to be around that of an mildly overclocked 8800gtx. In other words, around 6 months late. I'm disappointed, hoping that ATI would bring something radical and new, rather then something very late which *just* manages to best the 8800gtx.

I wish apple would hurry up and make the 8800gtx available.
Click to expand...

They are very different in design though, and although I don't know much about graphics cards, if I had to guess, I'd say we might get a lot more performance in games out of the HD2xxx series than benchmarks show. Remember unified architecture... I don't think the nvidia series uses it, but I could be wrong.

EDIT: OK, Maybe it does, but still...
 
I'm sure over time with new drivers coming out each month from ATI the card will improve. Its amusing how people always think upon first release graphic cards are a disaster when they always run with beta drivers that are not fully optimized for the card.

Look at this for example. When the X1950XTX got released the first official driver for it was 6.12, if I mind correctly. ATI is currently on 7.4, not many drivers for it since its release.

When the 8800GTX came out sure it was fast but they also had crap drivers. I mind hearing all the bitching about it. Now that it seems to be all sorted people love their 8800GTX's.
 
Pressure said:
Do you need the Radeon HD2900XTX or are you just wanting it? ...
Click to expand...

I would prefer to have the HD2900XT becuase I am doing some work in Maya and I have started to learn Shake and I am also interested in getting into FCS2. If something is going to last longer and I only have to wait a bit in order to be able to get it then I don't mind waiting a few weeks.

It would also be nice to have the HD2900XT for Boot Camping and Windows gaming because it's a DX10 part.

Although the XT and the XTX are different I would be satisfied with the XT if that were all Apple were going to provide. Yes, I know the XTX is the one with the 12" board that people are expecting to go to OEMs but that is also the one that people are looking at to be delayed, although I hope that it wouldn't be.
 
Erasmus said:
Umm, they are all using different benchmarking programs. 3Dmark01, 03 and 06. They cannot be compared with one another.

And I'm sure they are all very impressive numbers.
So... They are on a 65nm process... Maybe we'll see a mobility HD2900XT in the new MBP??? (joke) (still seriously hoping for Mobility HD2600XT : )
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know. But you could try and look up scores for the Geforce 8800GTS/GTX on FutureMark and compare.
 
I'm not sure if they'll release that soon, but I assume, where they had that patent for Leopard (we're guessing) for different DPI resolutions, that they will be releasing an HDVC (High-Def. Video Card). I wonder how Tiger would incorporate this, probably downscale the resolution right cause that's how HDTV's work, correct? Plus what about a monitor that supports HD... wait there are some out there, nvm.
 
vincent-x said:
It would also be nice to have the HD2900XT for Boot Camping and Windows gaming because it's a DX10 part.
Click to expand...

Remember: you only get DX10 drivers in Vista, not XP.
We were hoping that after Vista flopped we would see DX10 on XP. :p

/And, the 8900 will rock the 2900. ;)
But only if nVidia and Apple get their **** together. :rolleyes:
 
Only a couple of days to see what AMD/ATi are going to pull out of their hat.

Some people (in other threads) have also made mention about the extra length of the card. If you look at this page http://www.apple.com/macpro/graphics.html the Quadro also looks like it has an extension and a little handle.

I know that DX10 is only going to come in Vista. The XP that I am working in is used under the license of the place which I work for, but when I leave I have to get rid of it and so I will probably be getting an OEM Vista (probably Home Premium as that is the cheapest version that seems complete and I would be Boot Camping, not using VMWare etc).
 
Erasmus said:
They are very different in design though, and although I don't know much about graphics cards, if I had to guess, I'd say we might get a lot more performance in games out of the HD2xxx series than benchmarks show. Remember unified architecture... I don't think the nvidia series uses it, but I could be wrong.

EDIT: OK, Maybe it does, but still...
Click to expand...

Rofl. The unified shader model is what the G80 is all about - to be compatible with direct x 10. That way the once separate pixel shaders, vertex shaders etc are able to be dynamically allocated as per demand. The R600 will also support this (obviously).

While its true that benchmarks poorly reflect gaming performance (better then they used to however, no longer as vendor biased), there have been preliminary gaming comparisons/benchmarks using the same settings etc and the 8800gtx appears to have to upper hand.

I'm thinking the R600 will be a burning hot disappointment.
 
booksacool1 said:
I'm thinking the R600 will be a burning hot disappointment.
Click to expand...

Think again, it has a lot more to offer. Granted it may not beat the Geforce 8800GTX but it supports HDMI (including sound) but then again, they are currently only testing these cards with DirectX 9 which is fast enough (and not supported in Mac OS X).
 
iW00t said:
Who cares about power efficiency? You are putting it into a Mac Pro FFS!
Click to expand...

True, the Mac Pro is not the most power efficient machine out there. Although it certainly uses less energy than the Power Mac G5 Quad does. :)
 
booksacool1 said:
I'm thinking the R600 will be a burning hot disappointment.
Click to expand...

It may or may not beat the 8800 Ultra, but even if it doesn't, what are the prices? Is not the R600 significantly less expensive than the 8800's? Maybe an 8800 Ultra will beat an R600, but it sure won't beat two in Crossfire (now hoping Apple allow people to do at least dual HD2900XT in Crossfire in new Mac Pro) :D
 
Pressure said:
Think again, it has a lot more to offer. Granted it may not beat the Geforce 8800GTX but it supports HDMI (including sound) but then again, they are currently only testing these cards with DirectX 9 which is fast enough (and not supported in Mac OS X).
Click to expand...

Meh. DVI + Audio > HDCP infections.
Honestly, great the Ati card can render sound. <sarcasm> Because its going to sound soo much better coming from the video card then the sound card </sarcasm>

Anyway, being serious now. Yes you make a good point. All tests, regardless of synthetic or otherwise, are DX9 so far. Few people (other then Ati/Nvidia and Microsoft) know how these cards will comparatively handle DX10.
However this is a moot point to most mac users because we don't have DX :D
 
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