ATI Radeon HD 3870 Video Card for the Mac Pro in May?
Barefeats and Xlr8yourmac report that the ATI Radeon 3870 video card will make its debut for the Mac Pro by the end of May.
The Mac Pro currently only offers 3 video card options to buyers: ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT, NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT and the high end NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600. The new 3870 card should offer a price and performance that falls roughly between the current 2600 XT and 8800 GT options for gaming. However, there have been benchmarks that suggest that even the low end ATI 2600 XT card renders Core Image effects faster than the more expensive NVIDIA 8800 GT, potentially making the upcoming ATI 3870 a better choice for "pro apps" than the NVIDIA 8800 GT (further comments from barefeats).
Available benchmarks on the internet show that the 3870 is 2.1x to 2.8x faster than the 2600 XT in some benchmarks, while the 8800 is about 1.2-1.3x faster than the 3870 in Crysis (game).
If the rumors are true, this would also provide another upgrade path for older Mac Pros besides the $279 NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT.
We have received confirmation from a reliable source that a ATI will definitely offer a retail version of the ATI Radeon HD 3870 with 512MB DDR4 that will boot OS X on both current and legacy Mac Pros. It will, of course, boot Windows XP or Vista in your Boot Camp partition. And, like the 2600, we expect it to support CrossFire mode under Windows if you have two installed and jumpered.
Early evidence of the upcoming ATI Radeon HD 3870 option came from the Singapore Apple Store which briefly listed the ATI Radeon HD 3870 as a build-to-order option for the Mac Pro. The page was shortly corrected.The Mac Pro currently only offers 3 video card options to buyers: ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT, NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT and the high end NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600. The new 3870 card should offer a price and performance that falls roughly between the current 2600 XT and 8800 GT options for gaming. However, there have been benchmarks that suggest that even the low end ATI 2600 XT card renders Core Image effects faster than the more expensive NVIDIA 8800 GT, potentially making the upcoming ATI 3870 a better choice for "pro apps" than the NVIDIA 8800 GT (further comments from barefeats).
Available benchmarks on the internet show that the 3870 is 2.1x to 2.8x faster than the 2600 XT in some benchmarks, while the 8800 is about 1.2-1.3x faster than the 3870 in Crysis (game).
If the rumors are true, this would also provide another upgrade path for older Mac Pros besides the $279 NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT.
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49 months ago
I have received confirmation from a reliable source that ATI will definitely offer a retail version of the Radeon HD 3870 with 512MB DDR4 that will boot OS X Leopard on both current and legacy Mac Pros. It will be "on the shelves" by the end of May.
It will, of course, boot Windows XP or Vista in your Boot Camp partition. And, like the 2600, I expect it to support CrossFire mode under Windows if you have two installed and jumpered.
My source also confirmed that the Radeon 2600 (and 3870) drivers in Leopard 10.5.3 will provide surprising performance enhancements for 3D gamers. And just in case 10.5.3 gets delayed, they will ship the enhanced drivers with the card.
It will, of course, boot Windows XP or Vista in your Boot Camp partition. And, like the 2600, I expect it to support CrossFire mode under Windows if you have two installed and jumpered.
My source also confirmed that the Radeon 2600 (and 3870) drivers in Leopard 10.5.3 will provide surprising performance enhancements for 3D gamers. And just in case 10.5.3 gets delayed, they will ship the enhanced drivers with the card.
49 months ago
That's good. I'll bet they run the hardware-accelerated non-3D apps faster than the other ATI cards too, further separating it from the 8800 GT in this regard.
49 months ago
So all my concerns regarding which card to buy with my upcoming mac pro purchase are out the window now? Does this mean I should just get the stock and wait for this bad boy to come out and get it instead of getting the 8800 and waiting [hoping] for the 8800 to get an "upgrade"?
49 months ago
Apple needs to offer the FireGL cards. The 7600 is a great card at a very reasonable price.
49 months ago
Will this be the X2 version? And if not, will MR forum members declare it an outrage?
49 months ago
From a pure performance standpoint, NVIDIA's card is the victor. For the more price-conscious, ATI's HD3870 is an excellent deal.
If it is the single card we are talking about and not the double one. But since you claim it is a 512MB card, it must be the single one.
However, IF it does support Crossfire, you can get two of these and it will smoke the 8800GT. But that is unconfirmed, and it wont work in pre 08 Macs.
I think you get it :)
If it is the single card we are talking about and not the double one. But since you claim it is a 512MB card, it must be the single one.
However, IF it does support Crossfire, you can get two of these and it will smoke the 8800GT. But that is unconfirmed, and it wont work in pre 08 Macs.
I think you get it :)
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