Nvidia 9800GX2 - Damn it Apple! - Page 2

What the heck do people dislike about the case? Have you ever seen the inside of the current Mac Pro, it hardly get's any better...

4 drive bays - just slide in, works. Double-width PCI-Express slot for a fat graphic card. Enough FW & USB Ports, option to out the SATA connection to "create" your eSata with an $18 dollars optional "card"/cable.

I want no other case, I want this exact machine.

Each to his own I guess :-)

I suspect a lot of them come from the iMac/ Mac Mini school of design. A small footprint is more important than features. Doesn't work that way with professionals. It could use a re-skinning to differentiate itself from the cheese grater G5, but they finally got the insides right, don't screw it up now.

As opposed to pulling it out my mouth? More swearing please. And shout louder. Are you always this aggressive? Still, after all your years of waiting I can understand how it drove you to the edge.

As for the Mac drivers thing. I refer you to the problems Programmer has highlighted. And he did it far more eloquently than I can.


You only just found that out? Just about any mainstream site could tell you that. Where have you been?

You have your GT, because, if you have any ideas about running Crysis in all its glory then a SLI GT would be about the minimum.

Mind you, not that I want to run Crysis. I don't rate it. Nice though the 'fluff' is.


Indeed, the Mac Pro internals are best in the industry. State of the art. And the external skin is kinda timeless. But it aint sexy...but it is industrial.

Still waiting. But hopefully not too much longer.

I just hope Apple refresh the Mac Pro line with the new GPUs from Ati and Nv' when they become available or offer the options online.

I may even be able to run Crysis comfortably on a G100/R700...

Fingers crossed. Oh, and 'rarrrgh.' And...uhm, 'Rage!'

Lemon Bon Bon.

Hey Onlooker,

Did you get your MacPro with the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT card on it?
I am still waiting for mine.

Thanks,

That's what I heard. Even though they say 2 to 3 weeks on the Apple store.
I wonder if the delay of 10.5.2 is because of that.

LBB was likely referring to my dissertation on why MacOSX seems to underperform relative to WindowsXP. This is not a short-coming of the drivers per-se, it is instead a result of the overall MacOSX OpenGL architecture.

There have been various issues with nVidia and ATI drivers in the past. It is not simply a matter of Apple compiling the nVidia-provided source code, which is something that the nVidia guys complain about if you get them alone and ply them with booze. But there aren't any major outstanding faults that I've heard of with drivers for either GPU company's hardware. Writing OpenGL code for that Mac (or Windows, for that matter) that maximizes performance on all available hardware and takes advantage of all their various features is a non-trivial task. I recently acquired the new book "OpenGL Programming on MacOS X" and it spends a fair number of pages and just hits the tip of the iceberg.

You'll not run it too great on yer GT. Great though the card is for buck. Good but not powerful enough for Crysis. But what is? You don't get SLi for the Mac. A shame? Meh. When Nvidia and ATI push out the latest tech' instead of repacked year old tech' then things may change.

Bitch slap? I'll pull yer fringe out.


I was, venerable Programmer.

Well, if you found the GL book hard going, no wonder everybody is going for M$'s much superior Direct X, eh?

Heh.

Anyway. That's enough baiting for today...



Lemon Bon Bon.

PS. Support the campaign to save Windows XP.

Didn't we go over all of this stuff? The SLI, the DirectX10, the XP or VIsta the this the tha, the Crysis or whatever?

I mean honestly for games that are basically where you running thru an OpenGL-ish map over and over the current cards do the job, I mean please.

That 8800 even ranks on some benchmarks as good as those $4000 Quadros now, I mean come on. And I know the next thing someone will bring up is 3D rendering and etc

Honestly I think Apples stand point is pretty good. Like the old days they had a soldered vIdeo chip, now days they offer like 4 options. Not like windows machines with 100+ options. Having a base standard is much better than worrying about all these different cards and such.

God Damn It ONLOOKER, get a PS3, XBox, or Wii, and bitch about that video card...

Hehe

Laters...

Why do I keep having to say this console gaming and computer gaming are NOT the same thing. It would be like telling you to go get a pc because its generically a computer or a baseball player to go play soccer because they're both sports.

<Warning OT>


Now that's vff

Where do I sign up ?
Do I send an email to the Squirter or Billy ?


re-edit: Unbeleivable, seek and ye shall find
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=11892
+1 lol

<Warning OT>

Yeah, that's so true, I can't stand unreal on a console, compared to playing with a keyboard on a mac, but there's like 1 game on a mac (boot camp) or even windows, compared to 10 on consoles. I don't play games really like 1% of my time. But my brother does and he used to be a really big PC gamer, but now he has all 3 main consoles, and the PC got to hot one day and he replaced it with a laptop. All he does with his PC (laptop) is internet/web. I just see playing games on a PC like 5% activity versus 95% activity where you can just for the amount of headaches do without PCs. The games have really never been all that great. I mean you know the argument, why spend $1500 so you can play 2 or 3 games on PC, when you can play 40 games in a year, renting and what not. If you like to play games. It's like being Shaquile O'neal with a ping-pong desire, just drop the ping-pong from your life, it's not all that important.

The main problem is that as soon as some guy goes OH MAN you have to see the new DirectX15 game with whatever special graphics and features, then some guy has to spend $1000 more and then check the game out for 15-30 minutes and then never even play the game... And go right back to his console...

I'd know I guess I could go on for hours about this because of the practicality, but don't get me wrong I love Diablo II and Unreal with a keyboard. If I had to play games anymore I would rather have a PS3 without having to have spent any of the money I did on Desktop games. I mean my PC history is sick. Remember when Star Wars Galaxies came out? Well that is when I first decided to get a PC (my brother is a PC guy mainly I am a Mac guy). My bro was using his PC for gaming mostly. This was right about 2 years after the time XBox came out. I thought I was going to get into PC gaming heavily. But to make a long story short. That machine went thru a ton of system re-installs and eventually fried. $2000 I spent on that thing. DAMN

I don't know, if somebody even asked me about getting a computer, I would ask them what for? Three things really exist: Games, Internet Usage (reading web pages day and night), and Work/Hobby Programs. If someone really wanted to be a quote un quote Gamer, I wouldn't even waste a single breath on a Desktop Gaming Rig... I could care f$%kin less if there is 1 super game that is so cool dood per year. Unless I made $100,000 a year. But even then, forget that...

ah laters...

Oh one other thing, completely bag on the grammar and spelling and all the other things you guys want to do. I am babbling off the top and I am not going to proof read this. Just get the main idea...

$2000 gaming rigs that have to be rebuilt every year SUCK, To myself I know this is why Apple HONESTLY could care less about gaming in OS X, I mean yeah they are like could you guys make a couple feel good games for people. But it's stupid. I like role playing, I like playing Basketball, I like Board Games, and honestly if there were no headaches involved in PC gaming I would do that too, I like golf a little but not enough to spend $1,000 on clubs and clothes and the $50 a week to play on weekends, I can live without have golf in my arsenal of things to do just like I can live without PC Gaming.

Laters...

^ Actually, I believe the Mac Pro with 8800GT will play this game very well.

You can check my thread at:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=427764

With the ATi HD2600XT, I can plat at 1440 x 900, All Very High and High at 15-20 fps, and all Medium at 30 fps.

So I guess the server architecture of the Mac Pro helped a little.

If the 2600 can play the game this well, then there won't be a need for for SLI unless you want to play above 1920 x 1080 with AA.

Youtube links (quality not too great):

http://youtube.com/watch?v=a0N3CVb5yMI

Heresy? I think not! Applying booze to developers is almost always effective at getting the real story. But you're right, there aren't any "real" driver issues lurking about, just the usual assortment of bugs found in software.

Baiting is right. Did I say I found it hard going? No, I did not. Did I compare it to DirectX? No, I did not.

Take your words out of my mouth, LBB.

Look, all I am saying is...

you have been going over this same crap in like 10+ different forum threads dude, just cause I haven't been posting, I have been reading (for the past 30 days even), get over it

you want a billion dollar corporation to bend to your wishes asap so you can play a GAME, give me a damn break

gees

No giggling, it's just like damn dude, 10+ separate threads.

oh and another thing you're an idiot build a hackintosh

I mean honestly do you see what you are doing?

There is this motherboard out there that you want, right? "Skulltrail", but instead of just buying it and putting in the cards, drives, ram, and etc, and then putting your own cpus and installing OS X and Windows, you want apple to custom build you one and put there little friggin apple logo on it so you can buy it then.

What's the big idea? Just buy what you want IT'S RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF YOU. HACKINTOSH duh!!!

what a dork

hehe now I am giggling, I am so right haha

don't get mad k?

but seriously Hackintosh

Alright, I'll stop.

It just seems like all I have been reading lately is:

SLI, Skulltrail, Crysis, Onlooker, SLI, Skulltrail, Crysis, Onlooker, SLI, Skulltrail, Crysis, Onlooker, SLI, Skulltrail, Crysis, Onlooker, SLI, Skulltrail, Crysis, Onlooker, SLI, Skulltrail, Crysis, Onlooker, SLI, Skulltrail, Crysis, Onlooker...

It's like 6 months ago when all I kept seeing was:

MacBook, Santa Rosa, GMA3100, MacBook, Santa Rosa, GMA3100, MacBook, Santa Rosa, GMA3100, MacBook, Santa Rosa, GMA3100, MacBook, Santa Rosa, GMA3100...

It's gets a little annoying...

I don't know, like I said just buy/build what you want... ok

this is my last post to this thread... I swear, have fun

Right now the 8800GT is just nice for Mac Pro going into, say middle-2009. For hardcore graphics, the Quadro etc. for Mac Pro.

The 9800 or 8800GT's SLI-ed is an interesting proposition, but more for gaming on PC, going into the end of 2008.

I am running HL2: Ep2 and Team Fortress 2, on pretty much Max settings for 1280x1024 with about 4x AA (MSAA or 8xQSuperSAA) etc. etc. 8500GT 256mb OC'ed. Unreal3 on maximum settings.

XP2Pro. Do not touch Vista unless you are seriously enthusiastic about games. 3ghz Quad, dual 8800GTX, 4GB RAM, etc. and a 22" 1900x1200 monitor.

DirectX9.0c and maybe 9.0d(?) on XP2Pro should be fine for me going to the end of 2008.

I will get another 8500GT for SLI, or dual 8800GT 512mb for my PC, if there is a significant need, if say I go up to a 22" 1900x1200 monitor. At which stage I might as well f*king get a PS3.

Ah, the graphics treadmill. That said, I am happy for nVidia's GP GPU push, and buying of Ageia. A fanboy, yes. However, HL2 and Portal has been quite interesting, Unreal3 Engine as well.

Intel quad-core mainstream in 2009, nVidia GPU + GP + Physics, going to be a nice PC gaming scene in 2009. Again, that said, this should be the combination for the next-generation consoles. PS3 and XBOX360 have issues of their PowerPC/Cell (I know I am going to get flamed for saying it)... and Wii of course is the casual gamer scene, maybe a Wii 2 could be what the PS3 should have been?

Of course. It's outrageous. A game has to be friggin super good for me to throw ULTRA SUPER MAX gear at it. And Crysis isn't. I'm a Unreal/HL2/NeedForSpeed/DawnOfWar/StarCraft2 kinda guy.

Ooh. That reminds me. Going to play demo of new DawnOfWar (SoulStorm) demo.
/runs off


The ATI HD2600XT is okay, I guess, I would place it in between my 8500GT and an 8600GT, almost but not quite? 8600GT. I must be getting old, I don't bother with hardcore benchmarking reviews nowadays.

Ha ha. Yes. ...The thing is that when all the games went 3D from all those beautiful 2D sprites, I was quite apprehensive.

However, the state that things have reached, with Source, Unreal3, NFS:MostWanted, DawnOfWar engines, truly there is an emotive, engaging aesthetic quality to "3D graphics" nowadays. Some engines though I dislike aesthetically, eg. Doom3/Quake4, Crytek, NFS:Carbon, C&C3...

Unreal3+ and Source+, Real Time Strategy games, with serious hard and soft-body physics, looking forward to that...

nVidia is not just about graphics now.

But is this not what actually happened?

Onlooker: if you want a computer that games really well, why don't you consider a gaming PC that runs Windows and supports SLI. If you love OS X so much, throw it on there. Stop bitching about how Apple doesn't cater to 1/100th of the computer buying market. Intel holds 75 percent market share in GPUs for a reason.

By that logic we should be all using windows. The Apple I knew wasn't concerned about that 75%, they built great products like the B&W G3 to meet the needs of the other 25% who are above and beyond the average user. I didn't join this platform so I could get pretty looking family machines like the iMac. Apple used to be on the cutting edge for professionals and semi-professionals alike.