How bad is ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT graphics ?

[asphyxiafeeling]

i think you guys are being over skeptical-

you'll be able to touch up photos FINE on iPhoto with the baseline iMac. for what you'll be using it for, you'll be perfectly fine.

do you really think your brand new computer would come with programs it couldn't use?

 

[kabunaru]

i think you guys are being over skeptical-

Agreed.
Why do people always think they need the high-end stuff just to edit photos, edit videos, check email and browse the web when a low-end Mac will do that just fine?

What's wrong with you people?

 

[DoFoT9]

Agreed.
Why do people always think they need the high-end stuff just to edit photos, edit videos, check email and browse the web when a low-end Mac will do that just fine?

What's wrong with you people?

i agree with you on this one, a G4 iMac can do even all of those basic tasks quite quickly.. i spose if you have the money, people will spend it though so you cant really stop it.

 

[Bubba Satori]

Agreed.
Why do people always think they need the high-end stuff just to edit photos, edit videos, check email and browse the web when a low-end Mac will do that just fine?

What's wrong with you people?

Because with an iMac and it's non upgradable video card you'll be stuck with it for the life of the computer. Ever heard of people wanting to do new things with their computers after they've bought them ?

 

[kabunaru]

Because with an iMac and it's non upgradable video card you'll be stuck with it for the life of the computer. Ever heard of people wanting to do new things with their computers after they've bought them ?

I don't think a HD 2600 or 8800GS is going to last that much longer than the HD 2400XT. Do you still see people using graphics cards from 7-10 years ago?
Hmmm. I am afraid not.

 

[Nevpaurion]

Now that i read all these things about the 2600 i feel so stupid in ordering my iMac with it. Is there a way to put that nvidia card that apple sells with the high end iMacs in it? I know that trying to do anything with an iMac internally on your own is supposed to be dangerously difficult, and warranty voidable as well, so could I just take my iMac to the apple store and ask if they'd put that better video card in it?

And now that I read the post above mine, i feel even more stupid =\ But still is it possible for apple to do the upgrade?

 

[upsguy27]

Now that i read all these things about the 2600 i feel so stupid in ordering my iMac with it. Is there a way to put that nvidia card that apple sells with the high end iMacs in it? I know that trying to do anything with an iMac internally on your own is supposed to be dangerously difficult, and warranty voidable as well, so could I just take my iMac to the apple store and ask if they'd put that better video card in it?

And now that I read the post above mine, i feel even more stupid =\ But still is it possible for apple to do the upgrade?

Nope, you can't do that. Apple won't upgrade it for you. If you want the 8800 you will have to buy a new iMac.

 

[airjuggernaut]

Dear god :|

I've been watching this thread for a while, and have just been waiting to post.

You guys are insane and extremely over skeptical.

The 2400xt isn't a card made out of sticks and spit, it's an actual decent card that runs everything perfectly fine, infact it was made to rival another decent card, the nVidia's 8400GT.

This card run TF2, HL2, CS Source, and Portal with settings on either all high or high with lower levels of anti-aliasing on. It's not a gaming DEAMON but it is decent enough to run pretty much any game you throw at it with atleast 30fps, just don't expect Crysis with everything maxed out.

It also handles movie and photo editing marvelously.

The reason why some older cards are out performing it right now is mainly because of drivers.

All hardware performs better as drivers mature, a good example of this is how the GMA 950 outperformed the GMAx3100 (when it first came out) which is a card that was supposed to be 3 times better than the 950, and this was all due to driver maturity.

Some of you people really need to get your head out of your ass and realize that not everyone can afford or needs that 8800 to run iPhoto to edit their grandkid's photos.

And me being a teen myself I know that reading crap like this is discouraging when you've been saving for months, working your butt off to get enough money to buy a mac, only to find out that "THE 2400xt BLOWS, IT WONT RUN ANYTHING, IT BARELY RUNS SAFARI!" stupid and extremely overblown statements.

Not everyone has mommy and daddy's pocketbook at their disposal.

Just because you ponied up the money to buy the top of the line, doesn't mean you need to ridiculously undervalue anything below your machine.

And to the person who said that the 2400xt is a step up from a GMA 950, obviously does not know anything about computer hardware and they should learn to keep their misinformation to themselves.

So to anyone that needs a mac and doesn't want to, or does not have the ability to pay the extra money for the high-end macs, this is a perfectly fine card that will run photoshop, games and other applications just fine.

Don't listen to some of the pretentious trolls that roam MacRumors and the PC gaming community.

 

[passingXstorm]

*snip*

Thanks for that post... I was reading this thread and starting to question my decision to buy the low-end iMac.... but you convinced me that there's no problem with it.

 

[Nevpaurion]

You know I completely forgot about how most hardware is only as good as the drivers that follow it. I just got a whole lot of games back from my trip home and I see that my iMac with the ati card in runs them much better. I can have almost any game I like to play on the highest settings and still it's quite smooth. There are only a couple of games that run a bit sluggish, like Oblivion but that's to be expected at certain settings because they're pretty graphics intensive. I do see that the whole bootcamp thing needs to be worked on to get some kinks here and there with drivers and such but, it's to be expected. Over all, I think that most people will be happy with the video card that is in my iMac. BTW it's a ATI Radeon 2600, not 2400 in my computer.

 

[Jack Flash]

eh?? so the hd 2600 pro is worse than the older Imac's GPU
if it's true..then why ¤%&/ did they make it thinner????? for what??? the look? oh comon the previous Imac was good, they should have not make it thinner.

Ok this needs to be put in perspective.

Team Fortress 2, with Mobility Modder enhanced drivers and original clock speeds restored via ATI Tool, runs at an average 50+ FPS for me. This means 1680x1050 resolution, every setting maxed except for AA which is disabled.

Half Life 2, using the same approach except for the inclusion of 6x AA runs at constant 110+ FPS.

The mobility 2600 XT isn't a bad graphics chip, it's a bad chip for hardcore PC gamers.

Oh, and Call of Duty 4 with all settings save AA maxed at 1440x900 runs at a constant 45+ FPS as well.

 

[darkshine]

hahaha


Well, I have enough money for a MBP or a 24" iMac.

I was reading around, and apparently the 8600gt cards are defective, I don't know if its true, but I'm not willing to gamble as I need something to last me at least 4 - 5 years.

Anyway, I was thinking on whether I should get it with the 2600 HD PRO or the Nvidia 8800GS?
I will be video editing in final cut express and possibly final cut pro in the future. Possibly playing diablo 3 when it comes out, some light photoshop, audio recording on Logic and just internet browsing and itunes.

Thanks people

(sorry if I'm going off topic, its about GPUs, so what the heck)

 

[mattcube64]

hahaha


Well, I have enough money for a MBP or a 24" iMac.

I was reading around, and apparently the 8600gt cards are defective, I don't know if its true, but I'm not willing to gamble as I need something to last me at least 4 - 5 years.

Anyway, I was thinking on whether I should get it with the 2600 HD PRO or the Nvidia 8800GS?
I will be video editing in final cut express and possibly final cut pro in the future. Possibly playing diablo 3 when it comes out, some light photoshop, audio recording on Logic and just internet browsing and itunes.

Thanks people

(sorry if I'm going off topic, its about GPUs, so what the heck)

Ah, no problem.

From the benchmarks out there, it seems that the ATI card is better in Core apps and in programs such as you mentioned. However, the 8800 card is definitely a superior card, and as new drivers are released from Nvidia, and OSX updates are released through Apple, the 8800 is closing the gap, and I'm sure the 8800 will eventually come out on top.

As for gaming, the 8800 is DEFINITELY the way to go. The ATI card isn't as big of a slouch as people like to think (Check out the vids on Youtube of the card running Crysis, Battlefield, HL2, and such with cranked settings), but the 8800 is certainly more future proof.

I think the ATI card is fine, but if you have the money, I'd *definitely* opt for the 8800. That's what I'll be getting as soon as I find out how I'm paying for my spring semester of college.

 

[kaiwai]

I don't think a HD 2600 or 8800GS is going to last that much longer than the HD 2400XT. Do you still see people using graphics cards from 7-10 years ago?
Hmmm. I am afraid not.

Well, lets look at it from this angle; Apple is selling machines with the Intel integrated video card; so it isn't as though they (Apple) are going to make it so GPU heavy that it makes purchasing MacBooks a bad choice.

The HD2400XT will do the trick for anyone, but the problem is that how many are going to, in 6months time want to do more than just editing a 1mb image. When I originally bought a Mac I thought I'd never make videos, well, here I am making videos for for my YouTube account. People change, and thus, one needs to look at future proofing ones investment.