.8x on VID graphic cards!!!!!!

S

SoulCollector

Registered
So does this mean we can just put a third party Card in there and it would work.. like A Qaudro or somthing like that for high end workstations????
 
Yes and no.

Yes - because (like previous PowerMacs) it has an AGP slot so you can swap the video card for another one.

No - it still has to be a video card made specifically for the Mac. I've said this in one of the other threads. The problem isn't driver support, but hardware support. All video cards have a BIOS much like motherboards (BIOS for PCs, OpenFirmware for Macs). The BIOS found on PC video cards is not compatible with Mac hardware so a different video BIOS has to be soldered onto the video card for it to work in a Mac. It will all depend on the support Macs get from third party hardware companies. ATI manufactures their own video cards but also with help from third parties, and ATI has been making Mac video cards. Nvidia on the otherhand does not. They just produce the chips and sell them to other companies to assemble the final product. If you want a Quadro video card, you'll have to wait for a third party, or even Apple, to manufacture it. ATI will or already have FireGL cards for Macs I believe.
 
Err... I think I was wrong about FireGL on the Mac. I'm searching around and can't find any info on it. But given ATI's dedication to Apple I would think it will be made. Here's some scores comparing G5 with ATI's 9800 chip to a Quadro4 500 GoGL (laptop chip). http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/chimera/benchmarks.html
The 9800 is the best video card for the Mac that you can buy right now. Whether it's a workstation class GPU... it's debateable.

The situation in PC land (I know, being a PC users for many years before I bought a Mac, and worked with 3D modeling apps) is that the difference between a "workstation" GPU and a consumer GPU like the Quadro vs the GeForce line is mostly in the driver. At the hardware level, Quadros are designed for accuracy because in engineering applications like CAD accuracy is more important than drawing things as fast as possible. Consumer GPUs are designed for faster framerates. But if you're doing 3D modeling and you're not too picky, the ATI's 9800 is as close as you'll get for now.
 
That BIOS/OpenFirmware thing, you've got it a _bit_ wrong, though. GPUs, like other things, just have a flash-firmware (often, at least) that can be flashed with newer versions - or, thankfully, with Mac/PC versions, as you like. ATi has started to hinder this, though. However, just wanted to point out that you don't need a different chip soldered. It's a software problem.
 
Thanks for correcting me. I think I could have reworded what I said to something like: "Mac compatible video cards are sold the way they are because not everyone is able to flash the video BIOS themselves."

Eugenia, an editor over at www.osnews.com, tried to flash the video BIOS once to convert a PC video card into a Mac video card, the operation did not work out but she was able to get a Mac compatible video card from someone else in order to use Jag and QE on her G4 Cube. Just an example of why it's usually safer to just buy them ready for Mac.
 
Thanks for the reply guys, Well So having the 9800 pro out it wouldnt matter what the latter..would have out???(meaning the PC side of things) is the 9800pro the fastest out there now?? for PC?? I was a PC head my self...years ago but not having a taste for it no more??/

basically like every mac head we want a fast machine....
 
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