The truth revealed about the iMac's Radeon 4850...

[Willie Joker]

If this gallery is to be believed:

http://picasaweb.google.com/NikonDahl/NewIMac

Photo number 9 shows a device ID of 0x944a.

That belongs to the Mobility Radeon HD 4850, aka the M98 and not the desktop version.

Sorry to pop your bubble.

 

[GonzoRob]

If this gallery is to be believed:

http://picasaweb.google.com/NikonDahl/NewIMac

Photo number 9 shows a device ID of 0x944a.

That belongs to the Mobility Radeon HD 4850, aka the M98 and not the desktop version.

Sorry to pop your bubble.

Good snooping ! But I already knew this

Apple told me it was a mobility, I dont think they've been hiding it ...

 

[Hellhammer]

Good snooping ! But I already knew this

Apple told me it was a mobility, I dont think they've been hiding it ...

Actually no-one knew this before 100 percently. Many people told that their Apple rep told 'em that it's desktop model.

Let's wait for benchmarks!

 

[iMacmatician]

The iMacs have used mobile cards for at least some time now. This was expected.

 

[Willie Joker]

Considering the size of the iMac now it's possible a large enough heatsink for the video card could have fit. Perhaps the thermal/power requirements couldn't be met.

At least if it's really a mobile version Apple should advertise as such.

 

[Hellhammer]

The iMacs have used mobile cards for at least some time now. This was expected.

I heard that GT120 and GT130 are desktop cards.

 

[GonzoRob]

Actually no-one knew this before 100 percently. Many people told that their Apple rep told 'em that it's desktop model.

Let's wait for benchmarks!

There were mixed signals, I agree. However, as i posted on another thread, I got this a while back :

"Hello,

Thank you for your email,

I have asked for your order to be put on priority, which is only in production, as we do not have a priority shipment option.

Kind Regards,"


That was good enough for me

 

[iLog.Genius]

I always thought the iMac's had mobile cards as well only because I thought they handled the heat much better than desktop cards.

 

[Willie Joker]

Many times there is little to no difference in software other than speed between the desktop and mobile verson of a card. Other times the mobile version lacks certain features of the same desktop card because of cost, etc.

The HD 4850 and Mibility HD 4850 will support most of the same features as far as software goes with the exception of the Mobility 4850 losing one RAMDAC and the HDTV encoder in hardware.

http://ati.amd.com/products/mobilityradeonhd4800/specs.html

http://ati.amd.com/products/radeonhd4800/specs.html

Speedwise should be close.

I just figured that with the 24" enclosure there could have been a well-designed cooling system in there. Guess not this time around.

 

[L0s7man]

How much faster is is than the GT130 version?

 

[Hellhammer]

How much faster is is than the GT130 version?

We don't know before benchmarks but my guess is something like 5-15%

 

[definitive]

i don't see why they wouldn't be mobile cards.. after all, 9400m is a mobile version, so why would a system that uses mobile chipsets use desktop cards? makes no sense.

all that i really care about are the benchmarks. hopefully we'll get a few people to post them up next week, or sooner, though i have a feeling that we'll see a good amount of performance increase over the gt130.

 

[flopticalcube]

As expected then. If they had stuck with the white iMac cases, then perhaps they could have fitted a (perhaps downclocked) variant of the desktop card but not with the current aluminum cases. It would be nice to at least be able to swap cards.

 

[jmpage2]

I heard that GT120 and GT130 are desktop cards.

No, those are also mobility cards. No recent iMac has used a desktop card and it's a certainty that the 4850 is a mobility card too.

What would be great is if one of the people who have received these would be generous enough to run a couple of basic benchmarks on them.

 

[L0s7man]

We don't know before benchmarks but my guess is something like 5-15%

That's weird; what's the point then? Extra 10-15% might be something, but why offer so similar options? Apple was never about choice. So why?

 

[sgtbilko28]

I heard that GT120 and GT130 are desktop cards.

This wouldn't be improbable, same possibility really because they are low and medium performance cards. The desktop ship of the GT120 is puny.

How much faster is is than the GT130 version?

4850 will be noticeably faster in benchmarks, plus ATI rocks when it comes to software reliability.

It is basically the fastest card they could shove in without the imac melting.

 

[svalentine]

Looking forward to some benchmark results. Once they are posted I will most likely place my order!

 

[jmpage2]

Looking forward to some benchmark results. Once they are posted I will most likely place my order!

I agree, it's driving me nutz that X number of people have these, and not a single one can take 20 minutes to give us some benchmark test results. I really do want to know if this card is as fast as Apple and ATI says it is, because if it is not I will cancel my order.

 

[IrishBritish]

Yes please benchmarks!!

 

[MacAndy74]

No burst bubbles or huge surprises for me.

It makes sense that the ATi 4850 chip on iMac would have been a Mobility solution; at least in my mind.

 

[L0s7man]

plus ATI rocks when it comes to software reliability.

No, it doesn't. For Linux users, ATI is a joke. Their drivers are a joke. If you even get the damn thing working, forget about 3d support...

 

[Hellhammer]

No, it doesn't. For Linux users, ATI is a joke. Their drivers are a joke. If you even get the damn thing working, forget about 3d support...

No-one uses Linux as a gaming platform, don't know about graphic designing. And you can't buy a computer with Linux installed. ATI writes a lot better drivers than nVidia does

 

[TheBearman]

And you can't buy a computer with Linux installed.

Sorry but Dell and several others wouldn't agree. Although they don't seem to be using anything more than the Intel installed graphics.

 

[Plutonius]

No-one uses Linux as a gaming platform, don't know about graphic designing. And you can't buy a computer with Linux installed. ATI writes a lot better drivers than nVidia does

Apple writes the nVidia drivers for Macs which is why ATI drivers are better .

 

[jmpage2]

Apple writes the nVidia drivers for Macs which is why ATI drivers are better .

I thought that there were huge problems with a couple of the ATI mobile chipsets on Macs not delivering the promised performance, which is why many of us are trying to get more information to determine whether or not we should keep our orders in for 4850.