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EVGA GTX 285 Mac edition being phased out?

D

DualShock

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 29, 2008
570
124
I'm wondering if this card is being phased out so soon.

Newegg no longer stocks it:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130500

And EVGA's site doesn't stock it.

I currently have a 3870 in my mac pro. It doesn't support OpenCL (and probably never will according to netkas's site). I know nothing uses OpenCL yet, but probably soon some apps will.

I'm thinking of waiting to see if ATI releases a 5870 Mac edition, but if they don't, or cripple it in some weird way (like no DVI ports), I'd be totally stuck if the GTX 285 is discontinued.
 
Would be a shame if they stopped selling it. It was nice to have another OEM making Mac cards...
 
Peace said:
Even if the GTX-285 is stopped that doesn't mean Apple won't support it. It's one of the very few cards that actually take advantage of OpenCL.
Click to expand...

I think I might have been a bit confusing with my original post.

I am currently debating whether or not to get the GTX 285 or wait for a *possible* 5870 Mac Edition to come out. Currently the price of the 5870 for the PC is a lot cheaper than the GTX 285 Mac version. This would probably mean that the Mac 5870, if it comes out, would be cheaper (and more powerful according to reviews) than the GTX 285 is now.

The issue I'm having is the apparent phasing out of the GTX 285, meaning production may be slowing, or it may have already been discontinued. If the 5870 never comes out, I'll be stuck paying way too much $$$ for a GTX 285 (or a 4870 Mac edition) from eBay.

Yes I know I could probably buy a PC version and flash the ROM, but it seems to be a bit hit or miss as of right now.
 
I think the best advice anybody can give you on graphics cards at the moment is to wait if at all possible - so little software really uses the card, especially GPGPU and there aren't any OpenCL or GPGPU apps out commercially yet.

The longer you can wait this upgrade, the better. We still don't really know what the best cards are going to be until software designed for Snow Leopard hits.

Also, thanks to Cindori, flashing a PC 4870 is easier and more painless than ever before. Certainly much easier than it was back when those threads were started.
 
Only the gtx 295 hasn't been phased out on the pc market.
I wouldn't buy it, the radeon is getting new drivers in 10.6.2 and it'll be pretty much on par with the gtx.
A new card will come out, most likely the hd 5870 when the next mac pro rev hits.
 
TheStrudel said:
I think the best advice anybody can give you on graphics cards at the moment is to wait if at all possible - so little software really uses the card, especially GPGPU and there aren't any OpenCL or GPGPU apps out commercially yet.

The longer you can wait this upgrade, the better. We still don't really know what the best cards are going to be until software designed for Snow Leopard hits.

Also, thanks to Cindori, flashing a PC 4870 is easier and more painless than ever before. Certainly much easier than it was back when those threads were started.
Click to expand...
Very good point. Flash or use injectors on the HD4870 until more information is available. The 4870 isn't exactly "dog food" either, and should be able to suffice for a year or so. ;) :p
 
dukebound85 said:
nvidea is like going under
Click to expand...
I wouldn't be so sure on that. The GT300 GPU's are due out soon, assuming they're not behind schedule.

I remember a time when IBM was thought to be dead with CPU's, yet they've recently released the Roadrunner (fastest supercomputer out there). The Power line of processors has continued after Apple cut thier ties with them.
 
nanofrog said:
Very good point. Flash or use injectors on the HD4870 until more information is available. The 4870 isn't exactly "dog food" either, and should be able to suffice for a year or so. ;) :p
Click to expand...

Definitely something to think about. I know there's a long 4870 flashing thread I should check, but, briefly, can any make/model PC 4870 be flashed? Or only the ones that look similar to the official Mac one (minus the mini displayport, of course)? I'd hate to buy a graphics card only to screw up the flashing.

And how does the injector stuff work? Do I need to flash the ROM first? (Again, briefly, if you would be so kind. I can check the injector threads for more details later, don't have time right now.)

ungraphic said:
Source?
Click to expand...

see below

DualShock said:
I currently have a 3870 in my mac pro. It doesn't support OpenCL (and probably never will according to netkas's site).
Click to expand...

http://netkas.org/?p=182

Technically, netkas is interpreting what has been said by some AMD folks, but it seems to make sense.
 
DualShock said:
Definitely something to think about. I know there's a long 4870 flashing thread I should check, but, briefly, can any make/model PC 4870 be flashed? Or only the ones that look similar to the official Mac one (minus the mini displayport, of course)? I'd hate to buy a graphics card only to screw up the flashing.

And how does the injector stuff work? Do I need to flash the ROM first? (Again, briefly, if you would be so kind. I can check the injector threads for more details later, don't have time right now.)
Click to expand...
For flashing (swapping the existing ROM for an EFI version), not any card will suffice. It has to have a large enough Flash ROM on it, and there can be some other issues. So this is where you want to check out the threads on this carefully, or even on other sites that specialize in hackintosh systems.

Injectors are much easier, as you don't mess with the firmware at all. It's just software, and is a little more accomodating as far as hardware.

Ideally, in both cases, you'd want a card that is the GPU makers reference design. Otherwise some of the additional features may not be available, such as larger memory not being fully recognized (i.e. shows up as a 1GB card if it's a 2GB card).
 
DualShock said:
Right, but they also stop selling stuff eventually if the mfr stops making them. Like the 8800GT.
Click to expand...

I ordered a GTX 285 on September 28th and Apple will let me know whether it is available or not next week. I will keep you posted.
 
Because my 285 gtx is faulty, Apple will send on 15th october a new EVGA 285 gtx. I think this thread is nonsense, why should evga take the 285 (mac edition) from the market. It's available since june and I don't see any realistic sense in it taking the card from the market 4 months later. They need to make profits.
 
DualShock said:
Definitely something to think about. I know there's a long 4870 flashing thread I should check, but, briefly, can any make/model PC 4870 be flashed? Or only the ones that look similar to the official Mac one (minus the mini displayport, of course)? I'd hate to buy a graphics card only to screw up the flashing.

And how does the injector stuff work? Do I need to flash the ROM first? (Again, briefly, if you would be so kind. I can check the injector threads for more details later, don't have time right now.)



see below



http://netkas.org/?p=182

Technically, netkas is interpreting what has been said by some AMD folks, but it seems to make sense.
Click to expand...

That is a bummer......im starting to get this feeling i should sell my 3870s and upgrade to a 4870. but the 5870 will be out eventually as well...
 
ungraphic said:
That is a bummer......im starting to get this feeling i should sell my 3870s and upgrade to a 4870. but the 5870 will be out eventually as well...
Click to expand...

Like I said, wait until you can't any more. There's no point in upgrading right now if you can wait, because the 3870's lack of OpenCL is completely irrelevant right now.

If you can hold out till the next Mac Pro, there's a fair to decent chance that a 5870 will be a BTO option and people will be on to flash them again. If not, 4870s will be dirt cheap at that time.
 
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