Well we can safely say across the board (with exception for the high end) will be Core i3 cpus. I'm wondering about the GPU though, will Apple most likely ship low and mid tier units with 320m(s) or will ATi continue to lead the iMac line up w/ 5 series cards?
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GPU for next iMac?
- Thread starter Red Comet
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320M can't be used if Apple uses Core i3 or i5 as they have IGP which means 320M can't be used as it's integrated as well (it can't access the RAM).
I would guess ATI 54xx in low-end 21.5", ATI 56xx in high-end 21.5" and low-end 27" and then ATI 58xx in high-end 27".
If Apple uses nVidia, then I'm not so sure.
I would guess ATI 54xx in low-end 21.5", ATI 56xx in high-end 21.5" and low-end 27" and then ATI 58xx in high-end 27".
If Apple uses nVidia, then I'm not so sure.
Now that they have Steam, they'll certainly use ATi due to low power consumption for high end cards. It'd be pretty sweet to get a 5870 in the 27" iMac.
Probably not 5870 as Mac Pro will likely get it and that would be confusing as iMac uses mobile GPUs (even though Apple doesn't say it in tech specs). Of course anything can happen and 5870 would be the only upgrade as 5850 is as fast as 4850
The 5850 is in a completely different world in performance. I know some ASUS and MSI notebooks already using 5870s but you could be right about Apple using the 5850, it'll be more than adequate while using less electricity.
That's the case for desktop GPUs. iMac doesn't use desktop GPUs, it uses mobile which are NOT comparable to desktop ones. Mobile 5850 isn't faster than mobile 5850, maybe couple FPS in some games but I would count that as an upgrade. See this thread for more (and edit your post as those have nothing to do with iMacs)
Yeah, the buyers guide is good for seeing when things were updated, but don't put too much in it as far as new products coming out. It includes Power PC products for example which have no relevance now that Apple are more on Intel's schedule. The average time between Intel iMac updates is 60 days more than the overall iMac average lifecycle.
I don't understand how that can happen. It'd be more acceptable for PowerPC to get a delayed update cycle but not for Intels.
My sons' iMacs (2007 Alu) are approaching 3 yrs old in October and I was thinking of replacing them. Given, however, that the 4670 is only about 50-80% faster than the 2600 they already have and that the 5770 will probably not be much faster, I may wait another year. Things have moved very slowly for iMacs GPU-wise in the last 3 years especially if you are not interested in anything like Grand Central.
Yeah, it's VERY misleading unless you have done your research. 5850 runs a lot cooler though which is not bad thing for iMac. As I've said in the other thread, it's due the fact that mobile 5850 is based on desktop 57xx and mobile 4850 is based on desktop 48xx and desktop 57xx is similar to desktop 48xx in performance.
Yeah, but the high-end won't get an update because it's already using the best components
Shouldn't AMD change their numbers schemes for the Mac version of their GPUs?
This is way more misleading than what nvidia has been doing (i.e rebranding)
Performance wise it's misleading but it's based on whole new chip. nVidia renames exactly the same chips, like 2xxM became 3xxM but only change was the 3 instead of 2. Other 5xxx cards are faster than 4xxx, it's just the high-end