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GPU questions

M

m1stake

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 17, 2008
1,518
3
Philly
I was considering a Mac Pro before the update, but I'll be sticking with Windows for serious work this time around. However, my G4 PowerMac is falling apart, the hard disk in particular. Not to mention that I can't do what I want to do on it anymore. I want to replace it.

I did some searching around the forums and found some older threads with issues like not being able to switch GPUs in Windows. Is this still a problem? If if it is still a problem, which GPU is automatically used?

Thanks for your assistance.
 
The 9600M GT is all you get under Windows on the MacBook Pro.

I believe there was one thread on some time back on someone being stuck on the 9400M G though.
 
I was hoping that'd be the answer. :D

Games won't be it's main function, but I'd like to have a few on there.

Thanks!

Edit:

Another question while I've got your attention. The .26Ghz difference between the 2.4 and 2.66 is negligible. Is there any reason to spring for the $2499 model? It certainly doesn't look like it.
 
m1stake said:
Another question while I've got your attention. The .26Ghz difference between the 2.4 and 2.66 is negligible. Is there any reason to spring for the $2499 model? It certainly doesn't look like it.
Click to expand...
It depends on how much more money you can make with 266 MHz more of CPU power.

Otherwise DIY RAM and hard drive upgrades are dirt cheap nowadays. Don't forget to take a look at the refurbished models. ;)
 
I'm losing $40,000 a year, and at the moment I don't think I'll be using it for CS4. Now, I haven't read to much on FAFSA yet, but I don't think this thing can make me any money. :p
 
m1stake said:
I'm losing $40,000 a year, and at the moment I don't think I'll be using it for CS4. Now, I haven't read to much on FAFSA yet, but I don't think this thing can make me any money. :p
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I wish I could empathize more but it was about $3,000 for me to attend my instate university.

I used to by a new Mac every year with the money I used to make on campus. Now it's just bills. Hard drives are cheap and that Power Mac G4 might just have enough life left in it for about $40.

It's March, get that FAFSA filled out now! They paid for about 2/3 of my tuition.
 
Most of the places I'm looking at are throwing $10,000 of there own money at me, but I won't be able to do FAFSA until Saturday. (Woo ego post!)

I actually have a spare drive lying around (4GB, :rolleyes:), but while the HDD is the only thing failing ATM, choppy YouTube playback and choppy... word processing, would have me just buy a new computer. I've gotten 8 years of use out of this thing, which weighs in at about 61 cents a day. I think it's time to retire the thing. :eek:
 
YouTube is going to be miserable on an old G4. Maybe get a cheaper Mac laptop? :D

I've only have my current Mac for 499 days now.
 
Price is not an issue, I originally got this retail job to pay for a new computer. The 15 inch screen is important to me, the 9600GT is important to me.
 
Eidorian said:
It depends on how much more money you can make with 266 MHz more of CPU power.

Otherwise DIY RAM and hard drive upgrades are dirt cheap nowadays. Don't forget to take a look at the refurbished models. ;)
Click to expand...



DDR3 memory is not cheap... Apple sells it roughly for the same price elsewhere. And the 266Mhz of processing power is incorrect. The 2.4Ghz only has 3MB of shared L2 cache, while the 2.66Ghz not only has more power, but double the L2 cache size (6MB). L2 cache is important for stuff like CS4, video render, encode/decode, etc.
 
SnowLeopard2008 said:
DDR3 memory is not cheap... Apple sells it roughly for the same price elsewhere.
Click to expand...
Maybe if it was still 2008.

SnowLeopard2008 said:
And the 266Mhz of processing power is incorrect. The 2.4Ghz only has 3MB of shared L2 cache, while the 2.66Ghz not only has more power, but double the L2 cache size (6MB). L2 cache is important for stuff like CS4, video render, encode/decode, etc.
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L2 is nice but not at much as raw clock speed over 3-4 MB of it.

You'll learn this very quickly when overclocking components with lower cache sizes.
 
I believe I forgot the part where I can get a 20% discount on the computer and even more on Apple Care in May. :D I am going to look at the refurbs though, we've bought refurbished before and had great experiences both times.

I feel kind of dumb buying the Apple Care, but I would imagine that if I need the thing, I need the thing. We'll see, but I don't buy warranties unless the thing is guaranteed to fail outside of it's initial warranty (Don't take that 100% literally :D).

Edit:

I looked through the refurb store, and they didn't have exactly what I was looking for. On the upside, my price is better by a hundred bucks or so.
 
Eidorian said:
Maybe if it was still 2008.

L2 is nice but not at much as raw clock speed over 3-4 MB of it.

You'll learn this very quickly when overclocking components with lower cache sizes.
Click to expand...
so is it worth the extra $300 for 256mb more vram, 3mb more L2 cache and 0.26ghz more processor speed?
 
J DILLA said:
so is it worth the extra $300 for 256mb more vram, 3mb more L2 cache and 0.26ghz more processor speed?
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If your life depends on those seconds shaved off on CPU dependent tasks and you just have to game on the MacBook Pro with higher settings.

Otherwise, no.
 
The card is underclocked, and 256mb of extra memory isn't going to make a difference in a mid range card. I will be playing a few games on it, but I've got a real computer for that. :p
 
Eidorian said:
If your life depends on those seconds shaved off on CPU dependent tasks and you just have to game on the MacBook Pro with higher settings.

Otherwise, no.
Click to expand...
well as far as lifetime of the computer goes... would it be better to just get the upgraded version now? i would be planning on keeping the computer for at least 4 years.. right now i'm still using my powerbook g4 i bought in 2005:D
 
J DILLA said:
well as far as lifetime of the computer goes... would it be better to just get the upgraded version now? i would be planning on keeping the computer for at least 4 years.. right now i'm still using my powerbook g4 i bought in 2005:D
Click to expand...

The performance difference is negligible today, and will be negligible four years from now. However, there is one difference: I'll have spent $500 less on it.
 
Sorry if I misread your post, but you want to buy a MacBook Pro and run mostly Windows through Boot Camp? Cause if yeah, the battery life is hooooorrrrriiiiiiibbbbblllllleeeee!
And I would say just go for the 2.4. There really is nothing on the 2.66 (except for 500$ more) unless you need 3 or 4 more FPS :p
 
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