Workstation-level graphics coming to a (new) PowerMac near you?!?

macroninmacronin
Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
From our good buddies over @ ThinkSecret...



<a href="http://www.thinksecret.com/news/macosx1024.html"; target="_blank">http://www.thinksecret.com/news/macosx1024.html</a>;



The pertinent bit:



As for video cards, Apple is planning to support several workstation-quality graphics cards in 10.3, that weren't previously supported, including full support for NVidia Quadro 980, 900, and 750XGL. Support will also be added for ATI's top-end Fire GL series.



Knock on wood, I say!



Now, where is my Quad PPC970 workstation to stuff one of these mamba jambas into?!?



;^p
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 33
    screedscreed Posts: 1,077member
    Hm, wonder what bus architecture Apple has been waiting on for these cards?



    Screed



    [ 01-20-2003: Message edited by: sCreeD ]</p>
  • Reply 2 of 33
    outsideroutsider Posts: 6,008member
    Hmm, Apple splitting off their PowerMac line? One for professional graphics and video and 3D while the other line will be a smaller consumer based line? No more eMac and get the iMac back to one config.
  • Reply 3 of 33
    lemon bon bonlemon bon bon Posts: 2,383member
    [quote]Hmm, Apple splitting off their PowerMac line? One for professional graphics and video and 3D while the other line will be a smaller consumer based line? No more eMac and get the iMac back to one config. <hr></blockquote>



    No. If you mean 'power'Mac G4 duals and a separate 970 workstation range. I doubt it. They're too far behind in performance and set to slip further behind as AMD launches the Hammer. The pending dual 1.4 gig G4s in March/April(?) suggest another desperate stop gap. The sooner the upper G4 speeds hit the iMac2 the better.



    If you mean Apple will be able to add a Workstation range by virtue of the 970s scalability in multiprocessor configs'..? Then I'd be in full agreement.



    Singles and dual 970s from £1000-£2500. A chance to make the 'power'Mac line more competitive.



    Quads and up from £3500 and upwards...with yer Nvididia Quadro...



    As for the imac...I'd like to see it driven down into the classic iMac's former price range of £695-£1195 (for the top end...)



    The 970 gives Apple loads of options to bring a dose of performance to the machines and reality for the specs and pricing.



    Good rumour news about the highend graphics cards.



    Lemon Bon Bon



    [ 01-20-2003: Message edited by: Lemon Bon Bon ]</p>
  • Reply 4 of 33
    macroninmacronin Posts: 1,174member
    Okay, even though we have yet to see ANY nVidia Quadro boards (or ATI FireGL) in PowerMacs yet, I am disappointed...!



    Oh how quickly the Internet jades some folks!



    Where is my Quad PPC970 w/16GB DDRII SDRAM (8 @ 2GB DIMMs) & an all-new nVidia Quadro FX2000 OpenGL card (128MB 400MHz DDRII RAM & &lt;special, just for Apple&gt; dual ADC ports - attached to dual 23" Apple Cinema Displays)!?!



    Where damnit, WHERE!?!



    ;^p



    [ 01-22-2003: Message edited by: MacRonin ]



    [ 01-22-2003: Message edited by: MacRonin ]</p>
  • Reply 5 of 33
    costiquecostique Posts: 1,084member
    [quote]Originally posted by MacRonin:

    <strong>Where is my Quad PPC970 w/16GB DDRII SDRAM (8 @ 2GB DIMMs) & an all-new nVidia Quadro FX2000 OpenGL card (128MB DDRII RAM & &lt;special, just for Apple&gt; dual ADC ports - attached to dual 23" Apple Cinema Displays)!?!



    Where damnit, WHERE!?!</strong><hr></blockquote>

    Oh, just don't take it too hard, I beg you!
  • Reply 6 of 33
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,425member
    Hahahah more support for those of us who said Apple would be coming out with High End 970 based machines.



    The Vindication is sweet! It's only natural that Apple produces a $5k plus machine. Even though it'll be more than the top P4 system it will "exist" and therefore be our champion!



    I'm thinking Dual 970

    Quadro4

    and some other nifty stuff to make us drool.
  • Reply 7 of 33
    costiquecostique Posts: 1,084member
    When the 970 is available, Steve will build a mega tower like this: quad PPC970 @ 1.8GHz, 256MB DDR2 RAM, 80 GB 5400 RPM HD on ATA RAID, QuadroFX 2000, Apple Pro half-a-button mouse, HK speakers etc. and sell it for $25 000. Just think of it: 75% profit margin! 30 units sold in Q4! Apple makes a revolution in workstations again!
  • Reply 8 of 33
    macroninmacronin Posts: 1,174member
    For US$25,000.00 I would expect a bit more than 256MB of RAM and a slow-arse 5,400rpm HDD...



    And looking closer at the specs for the nVidia Quadro FX2000, I see that it can run a single digital display up to a rez of 3840x2400!!! With stereo viewing functionality!



    Now, where's my new Apple MegaCinema HD Display to go with that!?! WHERE!?! Imagine running Maya/Shake/FCP on that, or monitoring your WAN...!



    Man, Stev-o has me mighty steamed this time! That bastard!



    ;^p



    [ 01-22-2003: Message edited by: MacRonin ]</p>
  • Reply 9 of 33
    nevynnevyn Posts: 360member
    [quote]Originally posted by MacRonin:

    <strong>For US$25,000.00 I would expect a bit more than 256MB of RAM and a slow-arse 5,400rpm HDD...</strong><hr></blockquote>



    One of the key features of any such 'Macintosh Extreme' would be its inherent 64-bitness -&gt; there would be support for more than 4GB of physical RAM. Any (clearly overboard $25,000 Mac would ship with more than 4GB installed.
  • Reply 10 of 33
    lemon bon bonlemon bon bon Posts: 2,383member
    [quote] The Vindication is sweet! <hr></blockquote>



    Well, DurH! I think most people agree that there will be high end options for the 970 purely by virtue of the fact the 970 can dual, quad, octo etc. Elementary.



    I seem to recall your original assertions were that the 970 would be pitched above the geriatric G4 'power'Macs. And on that I beg to differ.



    I think the G4 will swifty be relegated to iMac2 and eMacs only.



    'power'Mac and uber'Mac will co-exist by virtue of the number of 970s in each range.



    I think Apple would be nuts to offer a 970 range starting at £4k when the 'power'Mac towers have a massive hole in their performance.



    Lemon Bon Bon :cool:
  • Reply 11 of 33
    reidreid Posts: 190member
    [quote]Originally posted by MacRonin:

    <strong>For US$25,000.00 I would expect a bit more than 256MB of RAM and a slow-arse 5,400rpm HDD...

    </strong><hr></blockquote>



    Um, yeah... I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark and say the guy was poking fun at Apple's consistent policy of short-changing customers on RAM and drives. Sarcasm, ain't it great?
  • Reply 12 of 33
    macroninmacronin Posts: 1,174member
    Yeah, it usually runs rampant through all of my postings...



    ;^p



    [ 01-22-2003: Message edited by: MacRonin ]</p>
  • Reply 13 of 33
    rbrrbr Posts: 631member
    Multiple 970s? The 970 is a very slimmed down Power 4 intended for the desktop, if one is to believe press releases. By the time the 970 is implemented the Power 5 should be nearly ready. What will come of that? Slimmed down Power 5s might be available with single or dual cores as the process should be below 130 nm by that time which should free up a lot of space. Getting the logic board optimized to use NEW technology needs to be done or it may come to little benefit.
  • Reply 14 of 33
    serranoserrano Posts: 1,806member
    No mention of the Parphelia 512.
  • Reply 15 of 33
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,425member
    [quote]Originally posted by serrano:

    <strong>No mention of the Parphelia 512.</strong><hr></blockquote>





    Barely worth the effort. Parhelia was behind the day it was announced. Nice featureset though...just too expensive.
  • Reply 16 of 33
    rhumgodrhumgod Posts: 1,289member
    970s on 55th (day, that is).
  • Reply 17 of 33
    willywalloowillywalloo Posts: 408member
    Future bus's for the newer GPU's? AGP is fast, but are there other tech's out there that aren't being fully used?
  • Reply 18 of 33
    costiquecostique Posts: 1,084member
    Frankly speaking, a workstation class graphics card doesn't mean anything. Apple just may offer it for BTO configurations. Think Maya.

    [quote]Originally posted by Rhumgod:

    <strong>970s on 55th (day, that is).</strong><hr></blockquote>

    More details, please?
  • Reply 19 of 33
    jaredjared Posts: 639member
    [quote]Originally posted by costique:

    <strong>Frankly speaking, a workstation class graphics card doesn't mean anything. Apple just may offer it for BTO configurations. Think Maya.



    More details, please?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    I think what they are getting is that an able to use these cards there needs to have a different AGP architecture, thus a new mother board to support it, thus a 970 processor on that board...
  • Reply 20 of 33
    kurtkurt Posts: 225member
    If Apple is sending out software updates for these faster graphic cards that means either:

    1. It is up to the tester to go buy one of these boards and install it themselves.

    2. Apple already has test hardware to developers with these boards installed.



    If #2 is the case I would guess that they are 970 machines.



    How compatible would these boards be in the existing motherboards? I guess they would just work at the 4x speed.
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