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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 Mac Version Due in June

Being one of the few that bought a Mac Pro to replace my former computer to play games on, I love to have this GTX 285 in my Mac Pro (Early 2008).

I have a 8800GT at the moment, and at 1920x1200 with 2xAA and most settings at max or almost at max, it makes the machine almost crawl in heavy graphics fights in WoW during raiding.
If the GTX 285 can handle that better, it's good for me.

And do I have money to burn? Nope, just wanted it so saved the money for it.
The iMac last wasn't up to the task last year at all, and trading in my 27" screen wasn't a real option too.

So yes: I am a games on a Mac Pro, and proud of it :D
 
Tallest Skil said:
I hope you realize that the Quadro doesn't exist for games.
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I hope you realize that first class OpenGL drivers are the thing that make a card like the Quadro "professional" and OpenGL is the only 3D graphics API for games on Macs. Gaming cards usually focus on Direct3D on Windows and implement OpenGL drivers only as an afterthought, usually in an "OpenGL over Direct3D" way. (Just like Vista itself implements OpenGL.)
 
If you think about it

If you think about it, market wise making more money is the solution so the new mac pros only been out for a few months now. I believe and the early 2008 models and ones before that should make this card compatible with most of the mac pros = More money.:apple::D
 
Looking forward to that, the 512mb 8800 GT I've got at the moment is fine I guess, but I could do with more VRAM, if I can get a much more powerful card as well to-boot then it's a good option.
 
jnc said:
I know it's easier for you to call him an idiot and feel good about yourself, but maybe you could instead point out where he went wrong? Otherwise you're just saying "hurr I know and you don't", which is no help.
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This thread isn't a school. He wants to learn he can read on his own time.
 
Eidorian said:
If there were only more Macs that could use this.
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Amen! Still ... I am encouraged at the possibilities when I finally purchase a Mac Pro. As for the price, I would expect to pay about $300-$400 for a top-of-the-line gamer/consumer graphics card.

:apple:
 
DELLsFan said:
Amen! Still ... I am encouraged at the possibilities when I finally purchase a Mac Pro. As for the price, I would expect to pay about $300-$400 for a top-of-the-line gamer/consumer graphics card.

:apple:
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Then you would be wanting the GTX295....
 
Colossus said:
So far there is no information that this card will be available on the 1st Generation of Mac Pro.

"Both 2008 and 2009 Mac Pros will be supported." see link below.


http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/04/29/nvidia_prepping_geforce_gtx_285_for_mac_pro.html
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I purchased my dual quad Mac Pro in May 2007 and upgraded to the 8800 GT when it came out. I am going to be ticked off if Apple doesn't make the Nvidia 285 card available for a 2 year old Mac Pro and will buy one immediatly if they do.

A friend has the Asus Nvidia ENGTX285 on his PC and for fun we put it in my Mac Pro running boot camp. It ran great in Vista 64 and all the apps and a couple games I tried had no issues. My 3d apps viewports were improved and I was able to run Crysis at 1900x1200 on the highest settings.
 
Og Oggilby said:
I purchased my dual quad Mac Pro in May 2007 and upgraded to the 8800 GT when it came out. I am going to be ticked off if Apple doesn't make the Nvidia 285 card available for a 2 year old Mac Pro and will buy one immediatly if they do.

A friend has the Asus Nvidia ENGTX285 on his PC and for fun we put it in my Mac Pro running boot camp. It ran great in Vista 64 and all the apps and a couple games I tried had no issues. My 3d apps viewports were improved and I was able to run Crysis at 1900x1200 on the highest settings.
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At an average of 20fps?
 
Winni said:
I hope you realize that first class OpenGL drivers are the thing that make a card like the Quadro "professional" and OpenGL is the only 3D graphics API for games on Macs. Gaming cards usually focus on Direct3D on Windows and implement OpenGL drivers only as an afterthought, usually in an "OpenGL over Direct3D" way. (Just like Vista itself implements OpenGL.)
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Those OpenGL drivers aren't for OSX though. On the Windows side the GTX 285 is slightly a faster GPU but has less memory and the drivers of the Quadro card will give massive performance gains for certain OpenGL (and some D3D) applications. When it comes to OSX that doesn't translate unless Nvidia go and heavily optimize the Quadro card. This hasn't happened in the past and Apple never touted the Quadro cards as showing performance differences like you'd see under Windows.

Still, these cards are ideal for those who want to do CAD, CAM, DCC, have apps that can use the power or want to play games under windows and still get some power in OSX. I just wouldn't expect much performance difference between them and the 4870 under OSX. Maybe Nvidia will suprise us though.
 
Mad Mac said:
In Windows, you can use Rivatuner to softmod a GeForce card into a Quadro quite easily and get similar SPECapc test numbers. At least this was true for older gen cards. I believe Nvidia has closed that loop.

The only reason a regular Nvidia card doesn't perform as well as a Quadro card in professional opengl is because Nvidia cripples it. There really is no reason why it costs x amount more than a regular card. Same applies to ATI.

I'm surprised somebody hasn't figured out how to hack a regular Nvidia card into a Quadro (or regular ATI into FireGL) to be used on a Mac Pro. The cards that Apple provides are garbage in comparison to gaming and professional graphics available on the Windows side.
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Thanks for the info! I may try doing it on my next build which should be a core i7 with 12 or 24 GB. I plan to run Siemens NX6 so that will be a good test. (I may even dual boot to a Hackintosh disk just to test how the i7 would do between the iMac and a Mac Pro. It would be like BootCamp but in reverse!:D)

Does Rivatuner update its software frequently? Workstation graphic drivers have profiles so you can easily set antialiasing, various buffers and filters to whatever software you run and it is super picky. Up to date drivers and speedy fixes are required because graphics issues on a workstation can render a rig useless at worst.

What happened to the Quadro Apple used to offer? If I remember it was an upper end Quadro and also a bit pricey. I suppose there wasn't enough demand so they dropped it. They never did offer a midrange workstation card. To be honest when I do my build I will probably do a midrange Quadro, something like a FX1800 or slightly better.
 
Synthetickiller said:
Whats the point? The most demanding game on OSX is what, WoW?

IF someone is going to be using a mac for gaming, they'd be using a mac pro and spending 2500+ in addition to this card which is $320 or more.

Owning a mac mini for regular stuff + a strictly gaming pc is far cheaper.

For people who own the mac pro and only running OSX, what are you guys going to use this for?
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Then there are those of us who need a Mac Pro, and also want to play games. I game under Windows, since gaming on the MacOS is a waste of time. HEnce, I want a good video card for my machine so I can game in boot camp. I used to have a GTX 260/216SP that I had to physically swap cables to every time I wanted to game, this will make my life much easier.
 
QuantumLo0p said:
Does Rivatuner update its software frequently? Workstation graphic drivers have profiles so you can easily set antialiasing, various buffers and filters to whatever software you run and it is super picky. Up to date drivers and speedy fixes are required because graphics issues on a workstation can render a rig useless at worst.
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To be honest I haven't fiddled with Rivatuner in ages since I use a Dell Precision for work which already has a Quadro. But go here and you can get all the latest info: http://www.guru3d.com/index.php?page=rivatuner

As for setting anti-aliasing, etc. I never run it via the video card's control panel. I set my AA, shade quality, etc. from within the program (I use Pro/E). I find it looks better this way. I'm sure you can do the same for all the other programs like SW, UG, etc.
 
This is great news and I hope a trend for Apple to release new and more current video cards for the Mac Pro in a more timely manor.

Since I bought the Mac Pro to be an all out workstation, I did not care about the price since I do a lot of work in 3D apps and hardly ever game. It seems a bit high compared to the PC, but hey, that's just the way things are on the Mac. I will gladly take the price difference so long as we get much more current video cards.

Thanks Apple and nVidia for the support, keep it current with high-end cards and I'll keep buying the Mac Pro.
 
Whats the point? The most demanding game on OSX is what, WoW?

IF someone is going to be using a mac for gaming, they'd be using a mac pro and spending 2500+ in addition to this card which is $320 or more.

Owning a mac mini for regular stuff + a strictly gaming pc is far cheaper.

For people who own the mac pro and only running OSX, what are you guys going to use this for?
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Another clear use is for those that of us that work with high-end 3D applications. The render times and other aspects would help with the performance increase. I could care less about gaming on my Mac Pro workstation. But a current high-end video card under $1K is what is really appealing. Plus the nVidia cards sometimes have faster and better performance with certain 3D apps (Maya, C4D, etc.) compared with ATI.
 
MacFanJeff said:
This is great news and I hope a trend for Apple to release new and more current video cards for the Mac Pro in a more timely manor.
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I hope it's a trend for third party vendors to release the cards on their own, not sell them through Apple only.
 
MacFanJeff said:
This is great news and I hope a trend for Apple to release new and more current video cards for the Mac Pro in a more timely manor.

Since I bought the Mac Pro to be an all out workstation, I did not care about the price since I do a lot of work in 3D apps and hardly ever game. It seems a bit high compared to the PC, but hey, that's just the way things are on the Mac. I will gladly take the price difference so long as we get much more current video cards.

Thanks Apple and nVidia for the support, keep it current with high-end cards and I'll keep buying the Mac Pro.
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So you bought a Mac Pro to be an all out workstation and yet you're happy they're are releasing a non-workstation gaming card? How does that work?
 
BMWFan said:
So you bought a Mac Pro to be an all out workstation and yet you're happy they're are releasing a non-workstation gaming card? How does that work?
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Well if he is only using OSX then a GeForce is really no different to a Quadro except for the slight hardware differences. You buy such cards for optimized drivers, certification and support. You get all three with any OSX graphics card. Maybe not to the same level as you get with a Quadro for windows, but you haven't gotten better optimization, certification or support with previous Quadros under OSX to my knowledge.
 
Umbongo said:
Well if he is only using OSX then a GeForce is really no different to a Quadro except for the slight hardware differences. You buy such cards for optimized drivers, certification and support. You get all three with any OSX graphics card. Maybe not to the same level as you get with a Quadro for windows, but you haven't gotten better optimization, certification or support with previous Quadros under OSX to my knowledge.
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Correct.

Also, it's NOT just a "gaming card" that some people keep referring to it as. I could care less about gaming. If you read my post you will see I do a LOT of 3D application work. According to 3D World and some other benchmark sites you can see the improvements over the 8800GT for render times and other areas. The "Quadros" may or may not be a solution depending upon the 3D app you are using in terms of better results with some 3D applications (again as mentioned before). Certainly not something that is priced under $1K.

That is why I am REALLY glad to see some better support finally and I hope 3rd parties will join too and give even more options with their new cards as they come out. One can hope.
 
max1018 said:
Yes! I was going to get one of these anyway to chuck in my Pro for MS Flight Simulator in Windows, over the default ATI 2600 HD that came with it. This is awesome news!
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This is the same reason I am in the market for a better video card. So is the new 285 worth waiting for over the 8800 series or an ATI upgrade model?
 
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