Next Generation Mac Pro Video Card?

[Topper]

What scares me is here we are talking about nVidia 8800 and ATI 2900 cards when the current Mac Pro has nVidia 7300FT and ATI x1900XT cards.
Does anyone really believe that Apple will go from a Hyundai to a Ferrari in just one generation?

 

[Umbongo]

What scares me is here we are talking about nVidia 8800 and ATI 2900 cards when the current Mac Pro has nVidia 7300FT and ATI x1900XT cards.
Does anyone really believe that Apple will go from a Hyundai to a Ferrari in just one generation?

Yep. When the Mac Pro came out the 1900XT was the second best consumer card behind the 1900XTX, not including the 7950X2.

 

[dartzorichalcos]

Yep. When the Mac Pro came out the 1900XT was the second best consumer card behind the 1900XTX, not including the 7950X2.

Why didn't Apple use the ATI Radeon X1900 XTX in the Mac Pro?

 

[Umbongo]

Why didn't Apple use the ATI Radeon X1900 XTX in the Mac Pro?

I guess because when you get to the highest end the performance over cost goes down quite a bit reducing potenial buyers. As Apple seem to want as few options as possible the XT makes sense, also means they don't have to carry different stock and what not. I'm sure they do a fair bit of market research, and despite how many vocal buyers want high end cards I doubt Apple's research shows that they would probably sell that many of them.

 

[Dreadnought]

I really hope PCIe2 will be here for a while and that it is really backward compatible if Apple puts it in the new MacPro's. Not that we have the things with the PCI-X slots in the G5's, just the one that I ordered... I doesn't even take a PCI card, and I have tried several

 

[Topper]

Yep. When the Mac Pro came out the 1900XT was the second best consumer card behind the 1900XTX, not including the 7950X2.

Why don't you include the 7950X2? Because it is SLI?
When the Mac Pro came out I believe there were four nVidia cards more powerful than the X1900XT: 7950 GX2, 7900 GX2, 7800 GTX(512MB), 7900 GTX.

 

[Umbongo]

Why don't you include the 7950X2? Because it is SLI?
When the Mac Pro came out I believe there were four nVidia cards more powerful than the X1900XT: 7950 GX2, 7900 GX2, 7800 GTX(512MB), 7900 GTX.

I guess really I discounted them all mainly due to price, though the 7800 and 7900 GTX cards were often out performed by 1900XTs from benchmarks I've seen, while being more costly. While I could have explained my point better, it remains the same. The 1900XT was the best option for Apple assuming only one GPU was a valid choice for BTO.

 

[Topper]

I guess really I discounted them all mainly due to price, though the 7800 and 7900 GTX cards were often out performed by 1900XTs from benchmarks I've seen, while being more costly. While I could have explained my point better, it remains the same. The 1900XT was the best option for Apple assuming only one GPU was a valid choice for BTO.

Actually, your point is well taken.
At the time that the Mac Pro came out in August the X1900XT was one of the best cards available.
There seemed to be a whole slew of high-end video cards that came out later in the year.