Powermac with Radeon X850XT

[toomuchstereo]

Gonna be getting a new powermac once the paris show is over....just in case.
on the apple site now you can upgrade the video card to a 6800 or the X850.
The X850 is not listed as a mac card at all on the ATI website, is there a reason for this or is apple really listing a X800.


By the way, should you be trying to download drivers from ATI or do they come in the OSX updates, i should know this since I've had a 1ghz powerbook, for some time now.

 

[Makosuke]

There's no mistake on either end; Apple sells the X850 BTO, and reason you're not finding it on ATI's site is that they're not selling it as a retail card (yet, anyway). Why, I'm not quite sure (although the X800 they do sell retail aren't a lot slower and can easily be overclocked to basically the same speed).

In either case, I *think* the built-in drivers will handle aftermarket cards, but if you do buy a retail card you'll probably want to install ATI's drivers even if you don't have to. BTO cards will only use the built-in drivers; ATI Monitor extension provides some extra control to them (per-app 3D overrides, finer TV out control), but the drivers won't do anything.

 

[combatcolin]

expect new PM's at around Feb March time.

If you can wait then Dual Core goodness awaits the true believer.

 

[Eric5h5]

By the way, should you be trying to download drivers from ATI or do they come in the OSX updates, i should know this since I've had a 1ghz powerbook, for some time now.

The drivers are part of the OS. However, you would download ATI Displays from ATI, which adds a bunch of cool stuff (mostly screen rotation, and 3D overrides for games). Although, version 4.5.5 seems to have problems with the X850 so you might want to wait for 4.5.6. Also you'd download ROM updates for the card from ATI as well.

--Eric

 

[crazzyeddie]

Basically, just buy the X850 from Apple.

 

[toomuchstereo]

Thanks alot

Thanks for the answers, i greatly appreciate it.

february or march for dual core mac's......goodness i hope not.

 

[andiwm2003]

expect new PM's at around Feb March time.

If you can wait then Dual Core goodness awaits the true believer.

where do you get the feb march time from? the buyers guide points more toward october.

 

[combatcolin]

True, but Apple have never been totally reliable on the time scale of thir new computers.

October would be nice, but the Powermac is aimed at a very different market to the consumer Macs and therefore the rush to get a product out for Christmas is simply not an issue.

But, yes, October would be good.