Nvidia GTX 285 - What's going on?

[Spanky Deluxe]

They won't do it as BTO because it hasn't got that silly
miniport nonsense on it

How are you defining Apple branded, by the way? I don't
see Apple's name on the BTO 8800GT, for example.

As in they're sold by Apple and manufactured by Apple (or a direct Apple supplier). They're basically stock nVidia cards but with a BIOS and EFI written by (it would seem) Apple. Think of it like all the stock cards that third party PC manufacturers make. They're basically identical except they have a different sticker on the cooling unit. If Apple were to have a GTX 285 as a BTO, it would be their own modified version with a mini display port.

 

[turtlebud]

first benchmarks

xlr8yourmac has put together the first review of the GTX 285 that I've seen. They say it's a work in progress, so there may be more to come, but from what I've seen, the gist is that with the current drivers, the GTX 285 doesn't perform that impressively overall (though it does do considerably better in gaming in Windows).

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/Graphics/mac_EVGA_GTX285_review/index.html

 

[tinycg]

Interesting

This is interesting, I just placed an order and I'm pretty shocked to see the drivers doing so poorly esp against the stock GT120.

 

[macuserx86]

This is interesting, I just placed an order and I'm pretty shocked to see the drivers doing so poorly esp against the stock GT120.

Ya, it's more than a little disconcerting. I think I'm going to sit this one out for now and see if the drivers get any better.

 

[tinycg]

Yeah, part of me wants to cancel and ride it out with my new mac for a little bit longer, I'm just kinda in shock I thought this should be smoking the benchmarks for the most part.

 

[macuserx86]

Yeah, part of me wants to cancel and ride it out with my new mac for a little bit longer, I'm just kinda in shock I thought this should be smoking the benchmarks for the most part.

I'm sure the drivers will get better, but for now, the stock GT120 is faster

 

[imacdaddy]

I'm sure the drivers will get better, but for now, the stock GT120 is faster

I hope we see new drivers soon not later (Sep) when Snow Leopard comes out. What a bummer!

 

[justflie]

I'm sure the drivers will get better, but for now, the stock GT120 is faster

That's not ridiculous at all. Oh, wait...

 

[Topper]

.
The GTX 285 will work just fine for me.
I especially need the 1GB of vram.
And it will have 5.0 GT/s Link Speed.
I will also be using it in Boot Camp so the Window's drivers can kick in.
I do hope they keep improving the drivers though.
.
p.s. I am looking forward to Barefeats test of the GTX 285.
.

 

[10THzMac]

There is something very odd about those benchmarks. I have a PC 285 loaded and its OpenGL scores are very good indeed and it is running CUDA calculations more than twice as fast as an 8800, despite a link speed of 2.5, not 5.

 

[Cuda]

Same old sad tale, 285GTX + $100 "Mac Tax".

Drivers are crap, No FSAA past 4x( Is this a Geforce2?), No way to control the card( From EVGA ), Lacks Advanced feature set API's( Pure Video ).

Dump the Rom, Send it back, Flash a PC card.

At $100 less, You'll get the "Support" you are paying for.

Shame on EVGA

On the bright side, at least you did not Pay for a Quadro, and get a GeForce with Din port for Stereo 3D.

Really, if you buy this card, your just supporting this same old crap. If you already got one( See Dump the Rom), if you ordered one, Cancel Your Order( And tell them(EVGA) Why)

I don't think $100 is overpriced, if they had spent some time, or any at all, to offer value for it.

We all know the "PC" EVGA 285GTX will be <$250 in 5 weeks, while the "Mac" card will still be $400+.

Only Apple Gets to Milk this "Cash Cow".

 

[macuserx86]

This so called "GTX" is turning out to be a real piece of crap. I know a lot of it is drivers, but as Apple's always banging on about, great hardware needs great software!

Let's

Please EVGA?

 

[justflie]

From a Mod at the EVGA forums:

If you own a MAC and you are experiencing performance issues with the GTX 285 for mAC please telephone our EVGA customer support at the phone number located in the support section at the top of this page and let them know.

 

[xgman]

If you keep an eye on:

http://www.evga.com/support/drivers

You should see the drivers show up there soon too

- Stan

You think they will ever post mac drivers there? I doubt it. I would think that would only come from Apple software update, no?

 

[xgman]

From a Mod at the EVGA forums:

They aren't going to do anything. It's a Nvidia reference design and nvidia/apple drivers. It's either Nvidia or Apple that will end up having to address this if at all. EVGA just packages the products more or less. And by the way, do yourself a favor and avoid that evga forum thread. It's the usual mac bashing mac vs pc crap.

 

[justflie]

haha. xg, i didnt realize that was you over there Well, I'm assuming that EVGA passes our concerns onto Nvidia if they can't solve an issue themselves. I'll be sure to report the immature OS X drivers. It can't hurt.

 

[barefeats]

Bare Feats Benchmarks

Posted my first set of GeForce GTX 285 benchmarks (3D) using max settings, 4X AA, and 2560x1600 rez:
http://www.barefeats.com/nehal11.html

Conclusion: Pricey but effective.

 

[justflie]

Posted my first set of GeForce GTX 285 benchmarks (3D) using max settings, 4X AA, and 2560x1600 rez:
http://www.barefeats.com/nehal11.html

Conclusion: Pricey but effective.

Thanks for the work, bare.

 

[Topper]

Posted my first set of GeForce GTX 285 benchmarks (3D) using max settings, 4X AA, and 2560x1600 rez:
http://www.barefeats.com/nehal11.html

Conclusion: Pricey but effective.

I've got X-Plane for both Windows XP (Boot Camp) and OS X.
I am using a Mac 8800 GT.
Under the exact same conditions and rendering, X-Plane gets 3 times better frame rates under Boot Camp than it does under OS X.
That tells me that NVIDIA has better drivers for Windows than they do for OS X.
Well, of course it could be that X-Plane just plain works better with Windows.
.

Thanks for the work, bare.

That should make you feel better.

.

 

[justflie]

That should make you feel better.

.

lol, a little

 

[xgman]

That proves to me that NVIDIA has better drivers for Windows than they do for OS X.
.

I think that that is pretty much always the case though even with ati cards. And drivers come out almost monthly on the windows side. What, maybe 2 mac updates per year at most if Apple even bothers? Just the way it is.

 

[Topper]

I think that that is pretty much always the case though even with ati cards. And drivers come out almost monthly on the windows side. What, maybe 2 mac updates per year at most if Apple even bothers? Just the way it is.

Hey! Are you trying to say that I'm a second-class citizen?

On my gaming forum, the PC people seem to have more problems with ATI than they do with NVIDIA especially with OpenGL.
.

 

[grue]

Posted my first set of GeForce GTX 285 benchmarks (3D) using max settings, 4X AA, and 2560x1600 rez:
http://www.barefeats.com/nehal11.html

Conclusion: Pricey but effective.

Have you guys had a chance to try it in a 2006/2007 Mac Pro, or are we taking their word that it doesn't work?

 

[Cuda]

Posted my first set of GeForce GTX 285 benchmarks (3D) using max settings, 4X AA, and 2560x1600 rez:
http://www.barefeats.com/nehal11.html

Conclusion: Pricey but effective.

Nice job, at higher rez the 285GTX does show some good numbers.

Rob, I think a few people have 1 GB 4870's, it would be nice to see how it stacks up in those tables.

Goog work none the less.

 

[barefeats]

Rob, I think a few people have 1 GB 4870's, it would be nice to see how it stacks up in those tables.

AppleMacanix.com has agreed to send me one for testing. So stay tuned.