NVidia 7800 GT Option, More Dual Core G5 Benchmarks

[Chacala_Nayarit]

Not a bad deal for EDU customers:

Subtotal $4,192.00

Estimated Ship:
6-8 weeks
Free Shipping

Specifications


* 2.5GHz Quad-core PowerPC G5
* 1GB 533 DDR2 Non ECC SDRAM- 2x512
* 250GB Serial ATA - 7200rpm
* NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT 256 MB SDRAM
* Apple Cinema Display (20" flat panel)
* Bluetooth Module + AirPort Extreme Card
* 16x SuperDrive DL (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
* Apple Keyboard & Mighty Mouse - U.S English
* Mac OS X - U.S. English
* Accessory kit

Anybody remember circa 2001? The 4,000USD PowerMac G4 dual without a monitor, was a "supercomputer"! It's all about the gigaflop. 🙄

 

[Multimedia]

Still not an option on the Educational Store

To my surprise, this 7800 GT Option is still not listed in the Educaitonal Store's Quad G5 Order form. 😕

 

[JCT]

To my surprise, this 7800 GT Option is still not listed in the Educaitonal Store's Quad G5 Order form. 😕

Are you sure? I just sent my order down to my purchasing agent and it had the 7800GT listed...

JT

 

[Multimedia]

I was wondering if either of the new Duals would be a worthy upgrade from my 1st gen Dual 2.0. It doesn't seem like I would be getting a significant speed increase going to the 2.3GHz config. I wonder if the Quad will be the way to go?

Definitely only the quad would be significantly faster. I have dual 2 AND dual 2.5 and am trying to sell both to turn them into one quad.

You will not see any advantage with either of the single dual core models.

Are you sure? I just sent my order down to my purchasing agent and it had the 7800GT listed...

JT

They must have just added it. + $315 quite the bargain. Thanks for the update.🙂

 

[Eevee]

Is it worth the wait (6-8 weeks) for the 7800 card?

I am planing to get the G5 for Illustrator, Photoshop, web, and some games like Halo.

Or should I just get the 6600 256 MB with the G5 (7-10 days).

 

[JCT]

They must have just added it. + $315 quite the bargain. Thanks for the update.🙂

LOL, no problem, the minute I saw it I hit "order" . And just yesterday my Apple EDU rep said he didn't know when they would be released. Par for the course.

The Quad plus that card will be some fast beast!

JT

 

[Multimedia]

Well Worth The Wait

Is it worth the wait (6-8 weeks) for the 7800 card?

I am planing to get the G5 for Illustrator, Photoshop, web, and some games like Halo.

Or should I just get the 6600 256 MB with the G5 (7-10 days).

Worth the wait for sure. This card will cost a lot more to buy later and adds to the overall performance of the Quad considerably. So this is really almost Christmas first delivery at best. So waiting for MacWorld Expo to see what else drops in the January 10 SteveNote besides iLife '06 wouldn't hurt either. I would wait to order after iLife '06 ships then. But that's just me being cheap. 😛

 

[Eevee]

Worth the wait for sure. This card will cost a lot more to buy later and adds to the overall performance of the Quad considerably. So this is really almost Christmas first delivery at best. So waiting for MacWorld Expo to see what else drops in the January 10 SteveNote besides iLife '06 wouldn't hurt either. I would wait to order after iLife '06 ships then. But that's just me being cheap. 😛

Thanks Multimedia. I have a budget from my grant that has to be spent by the end of this month (!), and thus, I can't wait for MacWorld Expo. My original order of the G5 2.0 Ghz with the 6600 card was placed this morning. I think I'll cancel it, re-order the G5 2.0 Ghz with the 7800 card.

 

[csimon2]

Well the 7800GT I have in my PC is certainly not silent! It's not massively noisy but as soon as there is a quieter cooler available (Arctic Cooling have one coming), I'll be replacing it. I would not be surprised if the Quadro card is worse.

Actually, the nVidia 4500 and 3400 Quadros we use in our HP xw9300s are quieter than the 7800GT and GTXs we also use in-house on the same systems. Funny thing is, if it weren't for the nVidia card at all, this PC would be almost totally silent.

For those of you wondering how a Quadro 4500 compares to the 7800 GT, on the PC they are essentially the same initial board. Only, the Quadro line is the professional line and has a much lower error tolerance level and is built to last a minimum of three years without ever needing a checkup. Whereas, by even some of nVidia's partners own admissions, the consumer line of cards are only built to last one year under heavy stress.

The big difference on the PC side is driver support. The Quadro drivers are usually a few releases behind and use primarily OpenGL. The 7800 drivers are updated more often, and rely upon DirectX. Its because of this that our developers run with the 3400 and 4500, and our demos and turnkey solutions run with the 7800. nVidia's OpenGL drivers for rendering Windows Media on the PC are much worse than the 7800's DirectX drivers.

 

[AidenShaw]

put that grant money to good use

😱

Thanks Multimedia. I have a budget from my grant that has to be spent by the end of this month (!), and thus, I can't wait for MacWorld Expo. My original order of the G5 2.0 Ghz with the 6600 card was placed this morning. I think I'll cancel it, re-order the G5 2.0 Ghz with the 7800 card.

You must have great skills at writing grants to justify an extravagance like this....

 

[vassillios]

Definitely only the quad would be significantly faster. I have dual 2 AND dual 2.5 and am trying to sell both to turn them into one quad.

You will not see any advantage with either of the single dual core models.

I must disagree:

1) faster clock
2) up to 16gb mem (ddr2 at that)
3) pci-e


from the looks of the benchmarks thus far, the DC 2.3 is faster than the DP 2.3 i just returned. so any move up would be worth it....of course the quad would be the best choice.

 

[phd]

I purchased the Quad the day of the announcement. I would love to change my order but I am afraid I can not wait for the extra delivery time.
My question is will the 7800 plug right in if I purchase it at a later date? Or is it a special installation?

 

[JCT]

I purchased the Quad the day of the announcement. I would love to change my order but I am afraid I can not wait for the extra delivery time.
My question is will the 7800 plug right in if I purchase it at a later date? Or is it a special installation?

Oh no, it should be straightforward to replace the stock 6600 with a 7800GT . I replaced the stock video card in my current Dual G5 -- no problem whatsoever.

I've decided to deal with the extra wait ...but it will be tough.

JT

 

[gugy]

hopefully the extra wait won't be too long.
Yeah, it seems a great deal to get this card. It's much more powerful than the 6600.
wow, the quad with this card will rock!😀

 

[ksz]

hopefully the extra wait won't be too long.
Yeah, it seems a great deal to get this card. It's much more powerful than the 6600.
wow, the quad with this card will rock!😀

I was waiting for the 7800GT to appear as a BTO option. We get Employee Purchase Pricing with Apple so our price is very close to educational prices. If I place my order now, it might arrive by the time I'm back from my business trip. Decisions decisions.

 

[greenstork]

I was waiting for the 7800GT to appear as a BTO option. We get Employee Purchase Pricing with Apple so our price is very close to educational prices. If I place my order now, it might arrive by the time I'm back from my business trip. Decisions decisions.

I've been waiting too for the 7800 as a BTO. There was no way that I was paying for the 4500 FX, that thing was just ridiculously priced. I'll likely continue to wait 6-8 weeks before placing my order however, but I'm psyched!!

 

[MacTruck]

Its better to buy the 6600 card now and get your quad quick and then upgrade later. That way you get the 7800 and the 6600 card for quad monitors. Thats what I am doing. Besides I am waiting for a 512mb card for under $500

 

[gugy]

the wait it's terrible. I have 2 cinema displays that I received this week sitting here in their boxes. I hope we can get this by end of November/first week of December. if later, I hope Apple will give us a copy of Ilife 06 for free.

But I'm glad I changed my order. the 7800 GT seems to be an awesome card with a very reasonable price.

 

[Modano]

Its better to buy the 6600 card now and get your quad quick and then upgrade later. That way you get the 7800 and the 6600 card for quad monitors. Thats what I am doing. Besides I am waiting for a 512mb card for under $500

Are you sure they will both fit in the Quad? Don't both these cards require the only available 16x PCI Express slot in this machine?
I agree it's better to get the machine sooner and add the 7800 later, which is what I'm doing. It's worth the (say) $200 not to have to wait an 4-6 additional weeks, in my opinion.

 

[gugy]

how much is the 7800 card stand alone?

 

[twoodcc]

i would like to see some benchmarks against an intel and amd pc.

 

[ksz]

the wait it's terrible. I have 2 cinema displays that I received this week sitting here in their boxes. I hope we can get this by end of November/first week of December. if later, I hope Apple will give us a copy of Ilife 06 for free.

But I'm glad I changed my order. the 7800 GT seems to be an awesome card with a very reasonable price.

The wait is terrible, but wanting and having can be equally fun. It was a 6 week wait for my Build-To-Order 545i and you can imagine my anticipation in the final 2 weeks before delivery.

I have waited before and I can wait again.

 

[Zoowatch]

my only worry about the PM Quad is the loud fan noise (+ beeping sound)

the lack of liquid cooling system and addition of NVidia 7800GT will probably makes the system even louder...

i am looking forward to Quad's first review to see if Apple has managed to make this machine a lot quieter than those PM of previous generations.

this is the consideration right now that's holding back my purchasing decision

why are some of u guys talking about the possible shipment (of the PM Quad) only just before Christmas?

i thought Apple will make this machine available in Nov onwards....

so if i add 3 weeks of building the system + 1 week of delivery... that should be before the end of November right?

 

[andiwm2003]

why are some of u guys talking about the possible shipment (of the PM Quad) only just before Christmas?

i thought Apple will make this machine available in Nov onwards....

so if i add 3 weeks of building the system + 1 week of delivery... that should be before the end of November right?

shipping for systems with the nvidia 7800 gt graphics card is 6 to 8 weeks.

plus 1 week of delivery is 7-9 weeks.

unpacking is 25 sec.. setting it up is 5 min..

that gets you close to christmas.

 

[Modano]

my only worry about the PM Quad is the loud fan noise (+ beeping sound)

the lack of liquid cooling system and addition of NVidia 7800GT will probably makes the system even louder...

I thought I read that the Quad is, in fact, liquid cooled. Am I misremembering this?