MacPro Graphics Update? WWDC 07
Has this been beaten to death already? Sorry if it has. Has there been any confirmation of updated Graphics Cards in MacPros? I've seen a few wildly speculative rumors but nothing from any trusted sources.
I hear rumors about new ATI stuff. I just sold my G5 and was simply going to walk into the store and buy an off the shelf setup. Then I started reading about options and possible future upgrade as early as the 11th, and now here I am.
I've never had the opportunity to be one of the douche bags that doesn't just buy hardware when he needs it. So it turns out that it's kind of a lame situation to be in.
The events that have led to my unfortunate situation were completely unexpected. After running tests on FCS2 and my shiny new HDcam, I was disgusted with the performance of my G5 vs the MacPro. Do you realize that there is a 58 minute difference in rendering time for some video filters on HD content? As in 2 minutes vs 1 hour. That's what started this whole thing, I was almost in disbelief and ran it multiple times to confirm on different machines.
I could easily be happy with current MacPro config, but if a new GPU is being introduced that will allow even better graphic performance I would rather have that. (Well no shit huh?)
Is there even that much of a difference between the 1900 and whatever the newest card would be?
Sorry for the rant. I'm going crazy without a real workstation at home right now, but I'll kick myself if an update comes only a week after I buy.
I hear rumors about new ATI stuff. I just sold my G5 and was simply going to walk into the store and buy an off the shelf setup. Then I started reading about options and possible future upgrade as early as the 11th, and now here I am.
I've never had the opportunity to be one of the douche bags that doesn't just buy hardware when he needs it. So it turns out that it's kind of a lame situation to be in.
The events that have led to my unfortunate situation were completely unexpected. After running tests on FCS2 and my shiny new HDcam, I was disgusted with the performance of my G5 vs the MacPro. Do you realize that there is a 58 minute difference in rendering time for some video filters on HD content? As in 2 minutes vs 1 hour. That's what started this whole thing, I was almost in disbelief and ran it multiple times to confirm on different machines.
I could easily be happy with current MacPro config, but if a new GPU is being introduced that will allow even better graphic performance I would rather have that. (Well no shit huh?)
Is there even that much of a difference between the 1900 and whatever the newest card would be?
Sorry for the rant. I'm going crazy without a real workstation at home right now, but I'll kick myself if an update comes only a week after I buy.
Comments
Final Cut's "Color" doesn't play well with Nvidia.
Anyhow, I guess it's the waiting game countdown to the 11th.
The MBP are meant to be the higher end notebooks so graphics is an issue for them. The ati x1600 mobile card thats being used now launched with the original MBP the only difference has been the original had the 128mb card and now the second tier 15' and the 17' have an x1600 with 256mb of memory. The new 1900 cards and 1800 cards have the same memory amount but allow 512 memory ring-bus compared to 256 and have more vertex shaders if my memory serves right. It would be a significant step up but then again there are the new 2000 series recently released but I have not looked into those cards at all. As for the nvidia side of cards I couldnt tell you every Nvidia I have owned burned out on me (I guess I just always found the lemons).
I hadnt looked at the cards that where available but taking a peak now I can see the reason to grumble. But no worries, Im sure theyll get a boost in card types, I mean can you imagine 4x736mb 8000 Nvidia cards (or whatever the newer ones are) or 4x1950xt ATI's, wowzers!!
there's been no official reports to my knowledge about this, again, just people wishing and guessing. But there's another option. The MacPro is designed with upgrading in mind. You can always go out and buy another graphics card on your own, too. Who knows what kind of performance it might get, but it's an idea. Though I'd say at least wait for WWDC, maybe even a week after.
I don't think it's quite as simple as you seem to indicate.
I don't think it's quite as simple as you seem to indicate.
Probably not
Do you realize that there is a 58 minute difference in rendering time for some video filters on HD content? As in 2 minutes vs 1 hour.
58 minutes difference is not necessarily as in 2 minutes vs 1 hour (30 times faster). It could be as in 10 hours vs 10.97 hours (about 1.1 times faster), unless your testing is indeed the first case.
Probably not
#1 issue is finding an EFI graphics card. That's why Apple should support both BIOS, and EFI in Leopard.
Even worse is you can't just dump any graphics card in there to game with in Windows - it won't even boot with many higher end PC cards in there because there's only 1 16x lane.
They need to get off their duff and get some drivers for the 8800GTX - the Mac Pro is a seriously high-end machine and it's pretty embarrassing how far behind they are in the GPU. I've currently got a Mac for work and a PC for play, and would love to consoladate the two, but I think I'm going to dump 1k into a new motherboard, CPU, 4GB of RAM and an 8800 instead of three times that to get one machine that will serve both purposes.
It's sad, but I don't see many options at this point
Even worse is you can't just dump any graphics card in there to game with in Windows - it won't even boot with many higher end PC cards in there because there's only 1 16x lane.
What graphics card uses more than 16X? Most graphics cards can not even saturate a single 16X lane.
What graphics card uses more than 16X? Most graphics cards can not even saturate a single 16X lane.
Is it possible to have more than 16X in one lane currently? I was just referring to the fact the Mac Pro only supports one 16X lane - you can't boot the machine with multiple cards that need 16X. Here's a list of ATi cards that need 16X, but really I'm interested in the 8800 GTX myself...
Here's a thread about a guy trying to get an 8800 in a Mac Pro. He ends up having to swap out cards when he wants to go from OS X to Windows
You should have said multiple 16x graphics cards. You just said Higher end 16X graphics cards. Which is why I thought it made little sense. BTW those cards that are listed as using 16X lanes, but I doubt most of them can saturate a single 8x lane. But I guess they could. And if they truly do it's an issue Apple should be working on. But the last card I was interested in that actually needed a 16X lane was the GeForce 7950 GX2, and that card is a lot more powerful than most of the cards in that list which is why I don't think they actually use it. I think it's a marketing ploy that makes them look faster.
I seem to remember reading (xlr8yourmac?) that the x1900xt runs quite happily in an 8x slot (I s'pose I could reconfig my machine to test that, but I've got a compile running and can't reboot right now, which I believe I would need to do)
Has this been beaten to death already? Sorry if it has. Has there been any confirmation of updated Graphics Cards in MacPros? I've seen a few wildly speculative rumors but nothing from any trusted sources.
I hear rumors about new ATI stuff. I just sold my G5 and was simply going to walk into the store and buy an off the shelf setup. Then I started reading about options and possible future upgrade as early as the 11th, and now here I am.
I've never had the opportunity to be one of the douche bags that doesn't just buy hardware when he needs it. So it turns out that it's kind of a lame situation to be in.
The events that have led to my unfortunate situation were completely unexpected. After running tests on FCS2 and my shiny new HDcam, I was disgusted with the performance of my G5 vs the MacPro. Do you realize that there is a 58 minute difference in rendering time for some video filters on HD content? As in 2 minutes vs 1 hour. That's what started this whole thing, I was almost in disbelief and ran it multiple times to confirm on different machines.
I could easily be happy with current MacPro config, but if a new GPU is being introduced that will allow even better graphic performance I would rather have that. (Well no shit huh?)
Is there even that much of a difference between the 1900 and whatever the newest card would be?
Sorry for the rant. I'm going crazy without a real workstation at home right now, but I'll kick myself if an update comes only a week after I buy.
Of course the Mac Pro is going to be faster, any Mac Pro you buy will be twice as fast as a PowerMac G5 as they have twice the cores, unless you have the Quad G5. I've never been happier with my Mac Pro and the difference between it (Mac Pro Dual 3.0 Dual-Core) and the PowerMac G5 DP 2.5, is like light and day.
As for Graphics cards, I can understand the concern of paying the price Apple asks for the older Radeon X1900XT, but you haven't really gave any reason you need the graphics power. You mention using Final Cut which really won't benefit much from a faster video card. Do you use Motion, Aperature or some 3-D apps? Motion and Aperature tend to use the newer features of graphics cards and 3-D apps like Maya and Cinema 4D are where you'll really see the performance difference.
I frankly wouldn't have sold your PowerMac G5 this early, but would have waited till the end of July or August. Lower Xeon prices are supposed to come in July - http://digitimes.com/mobos/a20070521PD201.html . This should then mean lower Mac Pro prices.
Of course the Mac Pro is going to be faster, any Mac Pro you buy will be twice as fast as a PowerMac G5 as they have twice the cores, unless you have the Quad G5. I've never been happier with my Mac Pro and the difference between it (Mac Pro Dual 3.0 Dual-Core) and the PowerMac G5 DP 2.5, is like light and day.
As for Graphics cards, I can understand the concern of paying the price Apple asks for the older Radeon X1900XT, but you haven't really gave any reason you need the graphics power. You mention using Final Cut which really won't benefit much from a faster video card. Do you use Motion, Aperature or some 3-D apps? Motion and Aperature tend to use the newer features of graphics cards and 3-D apps like Maya and Cinema 4D are where you'll really see the performance difference.
I frankly wouldn't have sold your PowerMac G5 this early, but would have waited till the end of July or August. Lower Xeon prices are supposed to come in July - http://digitimes.com/mobos/a20070521PD201.html . This should then mean lower Mac Pro prices.
Not sure about that. Could mean more profit for Apple.
BUT... of course it also just happened to be around WWDC, so I thought I would ask if anybody had any news about new Graphics cards being part of a relatively quiet update.
I'll wait til Monday, but thats all the waiting I'll do.