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Am I the only one excited about nVidia chipsets?

post #1 of 19
10/6/08 at 6:55pm
Thread Starter 
Hey all, just joined.

I've been waiting for these new macbooks for aaaages now, don't actually have a mac yet.

Anyway I've had many PCs and almost all of them have had nvidia chipsets and graphics.

One thing you all need to understand about nvidia chipsets is, yes they get hot and use bulk power but thats just the extreme high end boards. Something like the GeForce 8200 intergrated chipset uses far less power (it actually uses a little less power than an AMD/ATI 780G which is touted for its awesome power saving).

I've owned an nForce 2 Ultra 400 with an Athlon XP, that is over 5 years old and still running. I currently have a 750i SLI and I have had zero issues with it, I overclock my 1.8ghz core2 duo to 3ghz and I run 2x 9800GTs in SLI. Two of my friends have 650i SLI boards, also no issue....

I have no idea why nvidia chipsets get such a bad reputation.
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post #2 of 19
10/6/08 at 7:36pm
Nvidia's current bad rep comes mainly from the 680i and 780i boards. They overheat to the point of instability, unless you use the whiny little fan they come with. And their Windows drivers have been very hit-or-miss lately.

I wouldn't worry about an Nvidia chipset Macbook, though. Their IGP and mobile stuff is fine, and have some advantages in being a single-chip solution. Apple would be conservative with the driver in favor of stability.

I don't necessarily believe this rumor is true, but it is certainly plausible.
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post #3 of 19
10/6/08 at 8:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by FuturePastNow View Post

Nvidia's current bad rep comes mainly from the 680i and 780i boards. They overheat to the point of instability, unless you use the whiny little fan they come with. And their Windows drivers have been very hit-or-miss lately.

I wouldn't worry about an Nvidia chipset Macbook, though. Their IGP and mobile stuff is fine, and have some advantages in being a single-chip solution. Apple would be conservative with the driver in favor of stability.

I don't necessarily believe this rumor is true, but it is certainly plausible.

Given Apple's penchant for going with the cheapest possible LCD, putting GPUs without drivers that even function, etc. in their laptops, I for one am NOT going to be a guinea pig for whatever crap they are putting in the next MBP. I'm sure it will run iLife '08 and Mail, but GOD FORBID you try and run any games or virtual reality stuff or anything written by, oh, someone other than Crapple.

But I'll believe it when I see it.
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post #4 of 19
10/6/08 at 8:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by darkgoob View Post

Given Apple's penchant for going with the cheapest possible LCD, putting GPUs without drivers that even function, etc. in their laptops, I for one am NOT going to be a guinea pig for whatever crap they are putting in the next MBP. I'm sure it will run iLife '08 and Mail, but GOD FORBID you try and run any games or virtual reality stuff or anything written by, oh, someone other than Crapple.

But I'll believe it when I see it.

Cheapest possible LCD? GPU's without drivers?

Not sure what you were using but I ran WoW fine on my MBP before it was stolen.

Crapple? Really?
meh
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meh
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post #5 of 19
10/6/08 at 10:18pm
GPU's without drivers. Sounds like intel there build in gups look good on paper but there drivers suck.
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post #6 of 19
10/6/08 at 10:36pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by FuturePastNow View Post

Nvidia's current bad rep comes mainly from the 680i and 780i boards. They overheat to the point of instability, unless you use the whiny little fan they come with. And their Windows drivers have been very hit-or-miss lately.

I wouldn't worry about an Nvidia chipset Macbook, though. Their IGP and mobile stuff is fine, and have some advantages in being a single-chip solution. Apple would be conservative with the driver in favor of stability.

I don't necessarily believe this rumor is true, but it is certainly plausible.

I've owned a 680i once as well, sold it a while ago. Never caused issues.

I've found drivers to be brilliant for nvidia, they have lots of features and never seemed unstable.

And you raise a good point about single chip design.

I think all signs point to yes on this rumor though, I mean look how long the monteniva/centrino2 platform been out for, surely it doesn't take them forever to make a metal chassis, they've been waiting on the nvidia chip imo.
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post #7 of 19
10/7/08 at 8:52am
crappy drivers

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post...a-drivers.html

overheating

http://www.slashgear.com/nvidia-gpu-...sktop-1012483/
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post #8 of 19
10/7/08 at 6:57pm
I am with you, I am a long time pc user, and I have always been a fan of nvidia over ati, and i have always gotten better results with most popular games.
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post #9 of 19
10/7/08 at 9:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MacNub View Post

I am with you, I am a long time pc user, and I have always been a fan of nvidia over ati, and i have always gotten better results with most popular games.

Quoting your response to the OP and not just following up the last responder helps in clarification. Take your comment as the follow-up to the previous poster and you'll get my point.
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post #10 of 19
10/7/08 at 11:02pm
I've noticed a few postings from the PC side of life here and let me tell you guys to not get too wrapped up in drivers when it comes to Macs.

First Apple is very conservative with respect video drivers, as such you won't see the same performance as you get on the PC side. Second Apple distributes it's driver updates in it's own sweet time, frankly their is not a ravenous interest like their is with PC drivers. Third gaming just isn't a big part of the MacOS world.

It is certainly interesting to speculate about future Apple hardware but in the end interest in the details of the hardware drops off after the product is delivered. At least it seems that way. Frankly I wouldn't be surprised if they went the AMD route for something like the mini's replacement.


Dave
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post #11 of 19
10/8/08 at 5:44am
Im hoping they improve gaming a bit

_________________

iPhone, iPod
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iPhone, iPod
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post #12 of 19
10/9/08 at 12:26am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by bbwi View Post

crappy drivers

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post...a-drivers.html

overheating

http://www.slashgear.com/nvidia-gpu-...sktop-1012483/


Those "crappy drivers" are problems with Vista they don't reflect how drivers will be on a unix based system.

Overheating, well thats an issue, But the G80, G84 and G86 are 65nm parts.

If the new macbooks have an nvidia chipset it'll be the 55nm MCP79.

As an owner of a 9800GT/G92b which is a 55nm chip, I can tell you it runs a good 30 degrees C lower than my mates 8800GT which is a 65nm chip.

Whatever the issue is with those older dies shouldn't be in the newer ones.
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post #13 of 19
10/9/08 at 2:45am
Well the sole main purpose of Nvidia Chipset would be CUDA aka OpenCL. ( I expect OpenCL to adopt quite alot from CUDA )

Which suit Apple really well since the current G92b are very CUDA based. That is why ATI has the edge for gaming right now.

I hope Nvidia 's PureVideo HD will be better this time around and apple provide some support for it.

If everything goes well. It could be the best Nvidia product this year, if Tegra doesn't sudden pop out in 08.
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post #14 of 19
10/9/08 at 9:21am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mav View Post


Whatever the issue is with those older dies shouldn't be in the newer ones.


Only if they learn from their mistakes
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post #15 of 19
10/9/08 at 7:56pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by bbwi View Post

Only if they learn from their mistakes

Yeah true, but what I'm saying is my 55nm 9800GT runs at about 50 degrees C compared to the 65nm 8800GT at 70-80 degrees C.

So the improvements in fabrication are already apparent considering the problem was overheating.
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post #16 of 19
10/10/08 at 1:59am
I like nVidia stuff.
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post #17 of 19
10/10/08 at 7:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mav View Post

Yeah true, but what I'm saying is my 55nm 9800GT runs at about 50 degrees C compared to the 65nm 8800GT at 70-80 degrees C.

So the improvements in fabrication are already apparent considering the problem was overheating.

By that logic there should have been no heat issues with the 65nm chips because the manufacturing process is better than 90nm

If you don't put a fan or heat sink on your 55nm chip it will burn up. Heat issues have nothing to do with nanometers and everything to do with heat dissipation.
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post #18 of 19
10/10/08 at 7:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bbwi View Post

By that logic there should have been no heat issues with the 65nm chips because the manufacturing process is better than 90nm

If you don't put a fan or heat sink on your 55nm chip it will burn up. Heat issues have nothing to do with nanometers and everything to do with heat dissipation.

I've only used Nvidia GPUs and Mobos in overclocking scenarios.

Asus 6600GT : overclocked using Zalman (air)
No heat issues, got good gaming experience especially Need For Speed: Most Wanted

Gigabyte 8500GT : factory overclocked, used Zalman aftermarket cooler (air)
Good stuff

XpertVision 8500GT : factory overclocked, stock fan
Good stuff

Used the two 8500GT's on a nVidia n650i SLI board (Gigabyte DS4)
Good stuff

The Nvidia chipset mobo southbridges can get a bit hot, with a small noisy fan, depending on the motherboard manufacturer... That's why always go for a motherboard with passive-cooled (with decent heatpipes etc) southbridge.
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post #19 of 19
10/10/08 at 9:05am
This rumor seems very plausible to me. I give it a 50/50 chance of being true.
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