Desired Graphics Cards

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
All right, what sort of graphics cards are there? Obviously Macintosh does not use the best ones of all--quoting, "Graphics boards fitted with the new chips will sell for $2,300 to $3,000."



http://news.com.com/2100-1006_3-5052975.html?tag=cd_mh



and the manufacturer's comments



http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?PAGE=quadrofx



Graphics technology that expensive would render a computer impossible to afford in a general market. The new Macintoshes start out with the nVidia FX 5200, which is a very nice card for a computer: except aren't these supposed to be more than just nice?



ATI is obviously looking for Mac users, at least enough that their website will dynamically advertise the Radeon 9800 Pro Mac edition, "The world's fastest graphics, now available for your Macintosh."



http://www.ati.com/products/radeon98...ome/index.html



Of course, both companies are absurd in their claims: like ATI, which states, "to deliver real-time, Hollywood-calibre graphics," in a portion of their seemingly incomplete web page (or maybe it does not work with Safari?). Anyone who knows things would know that it takes Hollywood to make "Hollywood-calibre graphics," not a graphics card, just like it takes a programmer to develop software, not a computer.



ATI tried to hijack the 4th of July arrival of the nVidia FX5900, the nv35-based card, which was associated with the odd rumor of being twice as good as its predecessor, even though they hit stores within about three months of each other. ATI's "Pro" version of their 9800 had new DDR memory, and it was announced just the day before nVidia's flagship product.



The price of new systems with high-end graphics is starting to show.



http://forums.appleinsider.com/showt...threadid=27927



Apple should have one of those cards, or the nv40 if it is out, by the next revision of the G5, and by the next time they should have a better chip as well: the G5 is down in state-of-the-art, and is not as efficient, nor as optimized as the G4e.



Next time Apple should get their graphics loaded to match the best of everything else, and hopefully they can time it to be in sync with the release of the latest graphics cards.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    I'm not sure exactly what you're trying to say, but it seems as if you're disappointed that Apple isn't loading their best-of-the-best G5s with the best graphics cards available (like the GeForce FX5900 or the Radeon 9800). Instead they have the FX5200 or the Radeon 9600, both of which are good but not awesome cards.



    I think the reason why is that they want a lower cost option for people who don't need their G5s for awesome graphical performance. Benchmarks have shown that the G5s are amazingly good at math calculations. Does a mathematician need the best graphics card available? No, they don't. So why pay for it? If Apple included Radeon 9800s or GeForce FX5900s with the G5s, then they'd cost probably $200 more. It's just how things work... you put more stuff into a computer, it costs more. They do offer the option to upgrade your graphics card to a really powerful one, though, in case you need that kind of power. Now, it would be easy for Apple to equip the Radeon 9800 as standard equipment in the Dual 2.0 GHz G5, and then allow you to downgrade to a 9600 to cut off part of the price, but they wanted a $3000 price point rather than a $3200 or $3300 one.
  • Reply 2 of 5
    airslufairsluf Posts: 1,861member
    Those high priced cards are borderline fraudulent rip-offs. What do they have? A driver that has been QAed against a couple high end applications and a fat price tag. Essentially the same chip/board as the so-called gamer cards. I agree driver QA may be important, but these cards are for visual display, not a safety of engineering function, so the unbelievably elevated prices are ludicrous in the current market. 5 years ago thee was a real difference, now...
  • Reply 3 of 5
    dstranathandstranathan Posts: 1,717member
    ATI clarifies new Radeon lineup

    A week ago, we reported that ATI had unveiled its Radeon 9800 Pro Mac Edition as a BTO option on Apple's new Power Mac G5. ATI has clarified its original press release, now stating that is Radeon 9800 Pro Mac Edition is a retail product, with a price tag of $400. It features 128MB of DDR memory and an AGP 4x/2x interface allowing it to work in any G4 or G5 computer. During WWDC, Apple announced the Radeon 9600 Pro and Radeon 9800 Pro OEM products. Both these solutions will ship in the G5 directly from Apple. They both feature ADC and DVI connectors. The 9800 has 128MB of DDR memory and is an 8x AGP-Pro card. The 9600 has 64MB of DDR memory and is an 8x AGP card
  • Reply 4 of 5
    cookiescookies Posts: 61member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by AirSluf

    Those high priced cards are borderline fraudulent rip-offs. What do they have?



    I like the 5200 a lot.
  • Reply 5 of 5
    cookiescookies Posts: 61member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Luca Rescigno

    I'm not sure exactly what you're trying to say







    Lol, you are very funny.
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