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how often does mac upgrade their graphics card?
- Thread starter jdhatt
- Start date
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they usually have the same gpu for 2 revisions.
they had the:
X1600 in 2
8600m gt in 2
9600m gt in 2
now they have the 330m which prob wont be updated till sept 2011
they had the:
X1600 in 2
8600m gt in 2
9600m gt in 2
now they have the 330m which prob wont be updated till sept 2011
Ramphex
macrumors 6502
i guess that pretty much dropkicks me towards getting the i7 to gameproof me for a few years....and i doubt they'll put that much better of a graphics card, it is apple after all, look at the results theyve produced in terms of graphics cards so far lol
Eidorian
macrumors Penryn
Ramphex
macrumors 6502
i really have no idea what game proof means. the 330m can play games, just as long as you don't obsess about having the setting on high you will be fine.
I really think it takes decades until Macs begin to upgrade their GPUs themselves. Apple is the company, Mac is the computer. What's so hard on it? 😕🙄
the mac design doesnt let them go past 512mb, its physically impossible for them to go above it....soooo that wont be happening
haha fair enough, im just tryna see whats the best option for me to keep for 4-5 years....or if its worth it to get the i5 now and upgrade next year
Physical space. Battery life. Profit margin. Target Audience. Steve Jobs. Heat. NVidia/ATI options.
cluthz
macrumors 68040
1GB in a 330M would be, ehh, useless.
The 128-bit bus hardly benefits from having more than 256MB anyway.
i dont understand this whole 128-bit stuff, wanna explain? i thought for the high res 1650 screen the 512vram was supposed to help?
cluthz
macrumors 68040
The bus won't simply not push enough pixels thru to run at decent frame rates at things that require 512MB vram.
Let say a game that uses 256 MB VRAM will run at 30 FPS, it will still run at 30 FPS if you have 512MB, because it only uses 256MB. Lets say you increase resolution and textures the 256MB vram will require swapping, because you need more vram to not swap from ram, the FPS will drastically fall.
The 512MB card will not have to swap, but then again, the card is not fast enough to keep decent frame rates anyway.
Here is an example stolen from barefeats.com:
Dark bars are 1920x1200 res, the other is 2560x1600
Both cards have same performance at 1920x1200, when you turn up to 2560x1600 the 256MB falls drastically, the 512MB falls a lot too, so really both are unplayable.
The macbook pro is not fast enough to have any good use of 512MB vram, it will help, but you rather turn down resolution and textures within 256MB range to get decent frame rates anyway.
If you play at 1680x1050 res, you'll won't get anything extra out of 512MB vs 256MB.
You didn't really seem to get my point? My post had nothing to do with Apple's GPU policy or why they won't upgrade those.
With that attitude, my old SLI Voodoo 2 cards should be fine for gaming as well then right?
Apple's GPUs have always been subpar. To be honest, I think the best (not fastest) GPU they've had are the Nvidia integrated series (9400m, 320m) because at least they give you a nice balance between performance and battery life without turning the computer into a skillet.
Plutonius
macrumors G4
+1 ...
Nobody can say what Apple will be doing except that people will be disappointed.
iamrawr
macrumors 6502
Your SLI voodoo 2 won't run today's game. Not by a long shot. The 330m will.
Calling the 330m subpar GPU is at best uninformed. Nobody will argue that its a rocket or anywhere near high end but the 330m is a nice middle of the pack GPU in 2010. Period. Nothing more but also nothing less.
If somebody is buying a MBP for high end gaming they are clearly in the wrong brand.