Latest AMD/ATI Graphics Chip Destined For Mac Pro? Crossfire?

[MacRumors]

According to The Inquirer, ATI's (now merged with AMD) upcoming R600 graphics processor may be destined for the Mac Pro.

We can now reveal to you that the board you have been seeing around the web is actually a specific design which has only one customer right now. The name of that customer is Apple and it will also be available in Crossfire mode.

Though multiple GPU-solutions, such as nVidia's SLI and AMD/ATI's Crossfire, have now been on the market for some time, Apple has never adopted them. To this point, claims of multiple-GPU solutions from Apple have been regarded as completely baseless, and given The Inquirer's past reliability (see note below), we continue to view these claims as without merit.

However, with a Mac Pro revision reportedly waiting in the wings, we post this for interest's sake. The aforementioned picture of the new, powerful graphics card can be found here. The R600 based cards will power ATI's upcoming X2900 series, which will compete with nVidia's Geforce 8800 series. Neither card has yet to be offered for the Mac.

Reliability Note: While The Inquirer should not to be confused with tabloid publication The National Enquirer, the reliability of the two may be similar. The site has had repeated claims go unfounded over the past year.

 

[BenRoethig]

As much as I'd like this to be true, like they said the Inquirer has a rep similar to MOSR.

 

[Laslo Panaflex]

Also won't the current Mac Pros not see the best performance from a crossfire configuration since the PCI Express lanes can't support 2 16x slots at once? These will probably be a new offering for the Mac Pro Octo when is it released at WWDC. Perhaps that's a moot point since from what I read, most video cards can't saturate a 16x bus anyway.

 

[Digital Skunk]

Hmmm

I can remember having a conversation with a bunch of Windoze users, they kept mentioning that the ATI cards in the Macs suck and tha nVidia cards are much better. In all the experience I have had with youthful computer gaming and professional video editing I cannot tell the difference between the two companies products. I know when a card sucks and I know when there is a good one. But when it comes to the difference between an ATI with 256mb and an nVidia with 256 I don't see a difference. Can anyone fill me in....?

On the other hand, I have heard a lot of good things with SLI with the Dell workstation. I haven't been able to tell the difference between the Dell with SLI and the MacPros (at my school) with one nVidia FX Quadro card. I don't know if it will be a major advantage but if the industry is accepting it as the gold standard then I guess Apple should do it to remain competitive.

 

[KindredMAC]

I've always wondered why we haven't seen a 1 GB Video card and the price of 512MB cards go down further sooner?

I would love to see the MacPro go with a 512MB as standard with a 1GB as a $400 option.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

I think it's a given that the R600 will come to the Mac Pro...the question is when and in what trim level. Will we get an XT or XTX model, or both? will it be offered with Crossfire? Will it run at the same speeds as the PC model, or will it be downclocked? Will it launch simultaneously with the PC version, a month later, or six months later?

Furthermore (perhaps most importantly), what about availability? Will ATI offer a retail version that we can buy from Newegg, OWC or even brick-and-morter stores like Microcenter? Will you be able to buy one retail at an Apple Store or will they be impossible to get without ordering with a new Mac, like the GeForce 7800 was? I hope Apple learned from their mistake with that one.

In my opinion, this could be an important transition point for Apple - they need to give us more video card options and make them easy to get as well as competitively priced with the PC world, even if that means eating ROM development costs to keep the price down.

Frankly, I'm not too excited about Crossfire/SLI. They don't represent a big cost savings or big jump in performance except at the extreme high end. One very high end card is usually the best setup in terms of performance, cost and power consumption. Still, I won't complain one bit if they add crossfire/SLI capability to Mac Pro video cards!

Also won't the current Mac Pros not see the best performance from a crossfire configuration since the PCI Express lanes can't support 2 16x slots at once? These will probably be a new offering for the Mac Pro Octo when is it released at WWDC. Perhaps that's a moot point since from what I read, most video cards can't saturate a 16x bus anyway.

Most PCI Express cards wouldn't even saturate an 8X AGP bus. It's only with the last DX9 cards that we began to get to that point.

 

[LaDirection]

"While The Inquirer should not to be confused with tabloid publication The National Enquirer, the reliability of the two may be similar. "

ROFLMAO

 

[odedia]

I don't know, a dual-GPU sounds like the perfect companion to the latest features in Leopard and Tiger 10.4.8, with the OpenGL running in a seperate thread. I think that Apple may have reached a breakthrough in this area, and multipule GPUs would benefit from this automatically (unlike DirectX for example).

Oded S.

 

[BenRoethig]

Also won't the current Mac Pros not see the best performance from a crossfire configuration since the PCI Express lanes can't support 2 16x slots at once? These will probably be a new offering for the Mac Pro Octo when is it released at WWDC. Perhaps that's a moot point since from what I read, most video cards can't saturate a 16x bus anyway.

The only way I see crossfire being remotely possible is if they release a single Dore 2 Duo model based on the crossfire compatible 975x chipset. AMD doesn't make a crossfire solution for their opterons, there is zero chance they'll make one that works with Intel's Xeons. The only multi-gpu platform available is Nvidia's nforce pro which is neither for xeon or crossfire.

By the way, just so nobody asks using a Xeon is not possible. They use socket 771 which limits them to the non-crossifre 5000 series as used in the mac Pro and xServe. The 975x is socket T and is the only Intel Chipset with crossfire

 

[twoodcc]

As much as I'd like this to be true,

yeah me too, but i just don't think it will happen. but i hope it does though

 

[Peace]

This monster uses 230W power.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

By the way, just so nobody asks using a Xeon is not possible. They use socket 771 which limits them to the non-crossifre 5000 series as used in the mac Pro and xServe. The 975x is socket T and is the only Intel Chipset with crossfire

True. This little rant is interesting, the author is almost describing a Mac Pro with his setup. I disagree with his assertion that you need Crossfire/SLI for "serious" gaming though...yes, you'll often get better framerates, but we're talking about the absolute bleeding edge here, and most gamers can't afford to put together a CPU/RAM/HDD/Display combo that really pushes an SLI setup over one high-end card.

Intel could do a Xeon mobo that supports Crossfire/SLI if they wanted to - and maybe if Apple asks for one, they will.

 

[Eric5h5]

I can remember having a conversation with a bunch of Windoze users, they kept mentioning that the ATI cards in the Macs suck and tha nVidia cards are much better.

Mindless fanboys. Hardware-wise, there generally isn't a huge difference between graphics cards of the same generation, and whether ATI or nVidia have the upper hand in that area goes back and forth. I think ATI might have the edge in the current generation, but I'm not sure...maybe that was last generation. On Macs, the drivers for ATI cards have been better anyway.

--Eric

 

[EagerDragon]

Sounds like the Mac Gamer was just born.
Happy Birthday.

 

[Umbongo]

True. This little rant is interesting, the author is almost describing a Mac Pro with his setup. I disagree with his assertion that you need Crossfire/SLI for "serious" gaming though...yes, you'll often get better framerates, but we're talking about the absolute bleeding edge here, and most gamers can't afford to put together a CPU/RAM/HDD/Display combo that really pushes an SLI setup over one high-end card.

Intel could do a Xeon mobo that supports Crossfire/SLI if they wanted to - and maybe if Apple asks for one, they will.

With the the next chipset definatly supporting multiple full x16 lanes it's quite likely SLI and crossfire will be supported in the comming months.

 

[iW00t]

I was kinda hoping we can see Mac Pros with the new AMD "Barcelona" chips.

 

[Bregalad]

With the the next chipset definatly supporting multiple full x16 lanes it's quite likely SLI and crossfire will be supported in the comming months.

It doesn't make much sense, however, for Intel to put Crossfire/SLI into a chipset designed for servers. They know who wants Crossfire and what kind of machines they buy. Expect to see it show up in a mainstream chipset aimed at gamers. You won't see a Xeon or high latency piece of RAM anywhere near Crossfire.

That, more than the endless forum threads "demanding" a non-Pro Mac tower, tells me that Apple will replace the current Mac Pro with two boxes.

The first will be an 8 core version of the current Mac Pro built with server components for the high end content creator who'll pay whatever it costs to get the very best. Those customers generate such high profits that computer designs just for them can be justified.

The second box will be a return to the G3/G4 days when there were a range of towers, some affordable enough for mere mortals. This higher volume motherboard will have Crossfire support, a single CPU socket and use DDR2 RAM. I expect it will be offered in one standard design, much like the Mac Pro is, with many custom options. I expect it to cost a little more than the superficially equivalent HP or Dell and that suits me fine; I'll gladly pay a bit more for an Apple box.

 

[Umbongo]

It doesn't make much sense, however, for Intel to put Crossfire/SLI into a chipset designed for servers. They know who wants Crossfire and what kind of machines they buy. Expect to see it show up in a mainstream chipset aimed at gamers. You won't see a Xeon or high latency piece of RAM anywhere near Crossfire.

Stoakley is a Workstation platform, not a server platform as far as I know. I wouldn't really expect Crossfire support, but Nvidia's Quadro cards in SLI offer vast benefits for some applications which makes SLI suitable for workstations.

The gamerbox is still rather unlikely in my opinion (sadly), iMacs are Apple's consumer desktops and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

 

[Erasmus]

Awesome!

I'm still not 100% sure I believe this, but I sooo want it to be true...

I've thought it was possible that Apple was going to hold out on releasing the 8-core MP until ATI released its "R600". This could well mean that the Mac Pro series will split! If Apple do make a gaming tower (Which I have no idea if they will or not, and wouldn't want to fathom a guess!) then it would have to run on the Conroe/Kentsfield platform with normal (not ECC) memory. No probs. Conroe Extreme or Kentsfield option, with fast low latency RAM, and the option of a few different GPUs, with a Crossfire up the top, or maybe a quad? Nah, let's not push our luck too far...

Conversely, Apple could just have Intel make them a motherboard that has 4 x16 PCI lanes that can all work at full speed simultaneously, and boost the available power from 300W to at least 600W or even over 1000W for quad setups, and put in a PSU that can supply the system with, well we'd have to be looking at over 1500W, closer to 2000W with dual Clovertowns and a quad X2800XTX setup...

Basically, I think Apple will have to choose between splitting the Mac Pro line, or making a superbeast, do-anything juice chugger. Split the MP into multiple processors and single high power GPUs, or single processor multi GPU versions, or boost the available power to insane levels.

Of course, you get to practicality issues with 2000W PSUs, as the limit (at least in Australia) of your standard house circuit is 2400W... So you'd better hope your Mac Pro's on a different circuit to anything else in your house, or you might be encountering many unpleasant scenarios, very often.

Just some thoughts. Take them or leave them.

Of course the Crossfire part of the rumour could be bull, in which case this is all a non-issue. I would say I'm confident that Apple will use something from the X2800 line in the Mac Pro.

Personally I'm looking forward to the mobile versions of the X2800... Coming to a Macbook Pro near you... AHAHAHAHAHA! Ah, sometimes I make myself laugh...

 

[Zwhaler]

Sounds like the Mac Gamer was just born.
Happy Birthday.

One would hope...

 

[EagerDragon]

As much as I'd like this to be true, like they said the Inquirer has a rep similar to MOSR.

I heard of a guy that walked on water, this is possible, it is a matter of wanting to do it and having the cash, Apple has plenty..


Besides we dont know what chips are being put together by Intel for Apple.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Besides we dont know what chips are being put together by Intel for Apple.

...And that can slice both ways. I'm not saying it's likely, just possible. If Apple really pushed Intel for an SLI/Crossfire-capable Xeon Mac Pro, Intel has the capability to build it - then again they're also fairly likely to respond by telling Apple to go with an off-the shelf chipset that supports SLI/Crossfire. Only time will tell.

 

[EagerDragon]

...And that can slice both ways. I'm not saying it's likely, just possible. If Apple really pushed Intel for an SLI/Crossfire-capable Xeon Mac Pro, Intel has the capability to build it - then again they're also fairly likely to respond by telling Apple to go with an off-the shelf chipset that supports SLI/Crossfire. Only time will tell.

Yup, just keeping an open mind, but not loosing sleep over it. For some reason Steve seems to play to his own tune and we need a better cristal ball, LOL.

Then again if we knew what he was bringing out, that would take away the fun of guessing.

 

[DMann]

230w

This monster uses 230W power.

I wonder what size fan will be whirring behind it?

 

[SPUY767]

I've always wondered why we haven't seen a 1 GB Video card and the price of 512MB cards go down further sooner?

I would love to see the MacPro go with a 512MB as standard with a 1GB as a $400 option.

I dont' know where you've been, But before I put the 8800 in my mac Pro I had a 7950 GX2, a 1 GB Single Slot Card, 90% of SLI performance, 60% of the price. The 8800 is a much faster card tho, and it only has 768 MB of VRAM.