Sapphire Launches Radeon HD 7950 Mac Edition Graphics Card for Mac Pro

[MacRumors]

After previewing its Radeon HD 7950 Mac Edition graphics card at CeBIT earlier this month, Sapphire Technology today officially announced the launch of the new card.

Exclusive to SAPPHIRE, the HD 7950 Mac Edition is based on AMD's latest Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture. This highly acclaimed architecture delivers a significant graphics performance boost for Mac Pro users in a wide range of applications including gaming, audio or video editing and content creation. For example, gaming frame rates are increased by over 200%, general benchmark performance increased by around 30% and graphics intensive benchmarks increased by as much as 300% compared with the NV 8800GT commonly used in these machines (SAPPHIRE internal data).

The SAPPHIRE HD 7950 Mac Edition is equipped with 3GB of the latest GDDR5 memory, and its Dual Asynchronous Compute Engines (ACE) deliver up to 2.87 TFLOPS Single Precision compute power. It provides hardware support for Open GL 4.2 and Open CL 1.2 as well as AMD HD3D technology and APP acceleration.

The new Mac Edition card contains a switchable BIOS that allows it to be used in either a Mac or a PC, and offers an HDMI port with 3D support, two Mini DisplayPort connectors, and a dual-link DVI port.

Newegg.com is offering the Radeon HD 7950 Mac Edition for $479.99 and has posted a video overview of the new card.

Article Link: Sapphire Launches Radeon HD 7950 Mac Edition Graphics Card for Mac Pro

 

[jav6454]

Ohhh, shinny...

Now this makes the Mac Pro, "Pro" again.

 

[keysofanxiety]

Mac Pro will be released during WWDC 2013 (June 10th). Can't wait.

 

[Peace]

Nice card. Too bad Apple doesn't support OpenGL 4.2

 

[92jlee]

Any news if this will work in our ancient 1,1s with 32bit EFI?

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Just out of curiosity, is there any practical way to have this work with any Mac other than a Mac Pro? (Currently all my apps in development don't call for much graphics-wise, but it seems feasible that someday within the next 3 years I might want to make something more.)

 

[jav6454]

Any news if this will work in our ancient 1,1s with 32bit EFI?

Theoretically it should work. Software wise... dunno.

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Just out of curiosity, is there any practical way to have this work with any Mac other than a Mac Pro? (Currently all my apps in development don't call for much graphics-wise, but it seems feasible that someday within the next 3 years I might want to make something more.)

Yes and no. Yes because you would need a external PCIe slot with a direct connection to the Mac's motherboard. No, because in terms of space and connectivity, only the Mac Pro can.

 

[Spacedust]

Long screws on the back so it will fit only in slot 2.

 

[dannyp1996]

Am I the only person that noticed that the Saphire badge is upside down is this is installed in a Mac Pro? Seems that the cooler shroud is simply a PC version in a different colour!

 

[Shirke]

That would be great for Hackintosh

 

[tdtran1025]

Just out of curiosity, is there any practical way to have this work with any Mac other than a Mac Pro? (Currently all my apps in development don't call for much graphics-wise, but it seems feasible that someday within the next 3 years I might want to make something more.)

What do u mean? If not Macpro, what Mac line would this fit in? If u have PC, Pc version is cheaper ny $100

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Thiseans new MP will retain physical form

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This means

 

[bassfingers]

Just out of curiosity, how does this compare to the card included in the mac pro?

 

[Sneakz]

That would be great for Hackintosh

Hackintosh community has had 7950/7970 up and running since last weeks 10.8.3 update.

 

[jav6454]

Just out of curiosity, how does this compare to the card included in the mac pro?

4 year old card vs year old card

 

[melgross]

Yikes!

This is awfully expensive for a 7950, 3GB memory notwithstanding.

 

[DevoAtari]

Yeah, the "Sapphire" name on the shroud being upside down is a pretty stupid decision in my opinion.

Normally I wouldn't care, because I'm usually the guy that removes the stock cooling shrouds with anything more efficient. But I've been wanting a slick, slim, powerful and cool-running GPU for a long time now.

If this runs quiet and cool, under load, I may just buy it.

 

[Midphase]

Yey, time for AMD to charge Mac users an $180 penalty tax for no particular reason (the drivers are already built-into OS 10.8.3).

Makes me glad that I switched to a Hackintosh!

 

[eva01]

It's cheaper on amazon incase anyone was curious. 450 with free shipping. They just don't currently have it in stock.

 

[jav6454]

Yey, time for AMD to charge Mac users an $180 penalty tax for no particular reason (the drivers are already built-into OS 10.8.3).

Makes me glad that I switched to a Hackintosh!

.... aaaand Apple doesn't charge a tax?

 

[leman]

Almost 60% premium for some white paint and a custom ROM?

 

[anedwar]

it's in my cart. just have to press buy

Getting a dog and a new graphics card while my wife is out of state.
Kids, this is what living on the edge is like when you get old.

 

[e-coli]

I can't be the only person who thinks these giant, power hungry, heat producing beasts are going the way of the dinosaur.

We need a graphics processing revolution similar to the ARM revolution.

 

[HurtinMinorKey]

Too bad everyone uses Nvidia these days...

It'll make a nice paperweight though.

 

[BigJohno]

EFI Boot screen?

 

[Peace]

I can't be the only person who thinks these giant, power hungry, heat producing beasts are going the way of the dinosaur.

We need a graphics processing revolution similar to the ARM revolution.

Might want to read this then :

http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/19/nvidia-roadmap-volta-gpu/