New mobile graphics chips ATI + NVIDIA

[willg43]

What do people think, Radeon 9200/9600 in upcoming Powerbooks? Or will Apple stick with Nvidia and use the new GeforceFXgo 5200/5600. Both are fully directx 9 and opengl compatible and can have up to 128mb ram. Either would rule, hopefully we'll see them soon.

The ATI cards have the benefit that they are now built to be upgradeable, ie: they will use same pin structure in the future mobile chips, at least for the next revision.

The Nvidia cards match the neglected 4200go for pin structure but nothing has been said of future compatibility. They have finally matched ATI's low 1volt power use and do seem to have better powermiser settings than previous cards.

any thoughts?

 

[occam]

ATI 9600/128M would be a dream for next PB(s)

The ATI would be a dream. I would be overjoyed if the next 15" PB used that chip with the built-in 128M of memory. That would go a long way toward softening the blow when a 970 based PB arrived. Unfortunately, Apple seems (unnecessarily?) to drag its feet on the GPU's in its machines. They're always about a generation behind where they could be. I do not really understand why the bother to drag behind, but it would be great if they would catch up there (as well as CPU's) especially since it's just a matter of drivers (not an entire architecture change, e.g., Intel) and Aqua Extreme could use the juice no problem.

 

[willg43]

Yeah they are a year behind now with the switch back to geforce4go mx's. The 9000 was the first time we were as current as pc's back in december. Guess the 4200go was to power-hungry and inconvenient with the extra adapter for lcd displays, hopefully these lower powered better designed chips will help them grap the mobile gpu market by the balls and keep us in the present.

 

[TEG]

I like that Idea of being able to upgrade my video card of my TiBook. I only have 8MB ram in mine, and I'll be SOL when SimCity 4 comes out, they want at least 32MB. So being able to upgrade would be a good thing.

TEG

 

[junkionxl]

I just watched a video on Cnet.com about the new card. This looks great and i hope promising for the future of Powerbooks for apple. I would like to see the ATI cards preferbly the 9600 soon since I will be receiving a Powerbook for graduation. I am glad that one graphics company is making an upgrade card for laptops. I have been asking about this too for a upgrade in laptops and now there is just apple needs to get on the ball now with this and ditch the damn Nvidia cards…

 

[GiantXX5]

Could these work with current powerbooks?

These chips are upgradable right? Or you can use them to upgrade what you have now? After watchcing the video I'm wondering If I can swap my graphics card in my current PowerBook 500? That would be so sweet and would hold me over with this machine. If someone knows If you could possibly do this or a place to get more information on it, I would appreicate it.

 

[willg43]

From what I understand, the new ATI cards will be pin compatible with the 9000mobile series, not with older 7500 or previous models. For the Nvidia, they will only be pin compatible with the 4200go, not the 420-440-460 series.

 

[Anecdoter]

Still waiting for the ATI 9700

I've been ready to buy a new Power Mac for quite some time - I've only been holding off due to the ATI 9700. It looks like I'll be buying a "G5" by the time that happens.