“ATI’S coming R600 launch is causing fevered speculation and engendering widespread confusion,” Theo Valich reports for The Inquirer.
Valich reports, “We can now reveal to you that the board you have been seeing around the web is actually a specific design which has only one customer right now. The name of that customer is Apple and it will also be available in Crossfire mode. While we have zero doubts that Dell XPS/Dellienware and some other parties will pick it up as well, right now, the nice red cooler design is just Apple’s and Apple’s alone.”
“The current estimate is that the memory will float between 1 and 1.1GHz GDDR-4 memory in DDR mode (2.0-2.2 GHz), while the GPU clock will be set around 800MHz. Some say 826MHz, but we’re not sure how far the Overdrive will go. We’d say not beyond 850 MHz, but that is just my personal opinion,” Valich reports.
Valich reports, “Our sources tell us that the clock bump should be around 10 per cent for the GPU and 14 per cent for the memory, bringing the total clock to 880/2400-2600. It is insane to see a 700M+ 80nm transistor chip run at such a high clock, especially given the limitations the G80 had with sub-700M chip and 90nm process, but this is an industry where anything that can happen will happen.”
“So, the R600XTX has a special OEM/SI design mostly for Apple, the retail versions won’t come with water cooling, but rather advanced vapour chamber technology, and the board has 8/6-pin config but can be used with two 6-pin ones – in which case you’ll lose the Overdrive feature and stay inside a 225W power envelope, just like Nvidia Geforce 8800GTS,” Valich reports.
Full article here.
Related MacDailyNews article:
RUMOR: ATI Radeon X2800XT (’R600XTX’) with CrossFire to appear first inside Apple’s next Mac Pro – February 14, 2007
Um.. yay.
I’ll take the Quadro, thank you.
Does someone have a geek to english translation widget?
Oh goody, a 8 core Mac Pro gaming box FINALLY!
So it’s water cooled? Doesn’t that mean the water should be changed every now and then? That’s what must be done with CPU water coolers.
That’s just what we need! For the Mac to become known as a gaming machine, rather than a work horse. Games are for children, non working welfare recipients and general layabouts. Flame away– if you can break away from playing around.
Does someone have a geek to english translation widget?
No need to understand.
If your a serious 3D Mac gamer, buy the 8 core Mac Pro with two ATI R600 video cards, more than 4 MB of RAM and you should be set for the next several years.
With a bit of tweaking, one can run all of Vista’s 3D games as well, although without DirectX (M$) the games will run a quite a bit slower. But one can lower the games resolution or features to gain speed. Only really matters if your a online competitive 3D gamer really.
Yes, and preferably much more than 4 MB of RAM.
OK if you’re a gamer I guess-but I bet the price tag will be 50% of the average third world country’s GNP.
That’s just what we need! For the Mac to become known as a gaming machine, rather than a work horse. Games are for children, non working welfare recipients and general layabouts. Flame away– if you can break away from playing around.
I have a well paying job watching a mental and physically handicapped person nearly 24/7 in a one on one enviroment.
Now if there are several million Mac people in a situation just like me….
I agree. Games are for people (99% of the time) who want to escape life and don’t have the imagination required for books, nor the finances required for comic books.
It’s all not games (though look what they did for the PC market)
This card would make Motion work faster than the current crop of cards, which means I can work better.
I’m sure 3D modelers and animators would also see a nice boost from this card.
If your a serious 3D Mac gamer, buy the 8 core Mac Pro with two ATI R600 video cards, more than 4 MB of RAM and you should be set for the next several years.
Sure, now all I need is a cool $10,000 for that MacPro you are talking about.
No problem. Do you take cash?
it looks cool thats the most important thing.
Rumour has it that they’re shooting a TV ad for the card. Robert Novak has been cast to intro the card saying: It’s here. It’s for Macintosh only. It’s the Crosss Fyurrrre !!!
The big thing is that for the time being it’s Mac-only, which probably boils the blood of “hardcore” PC gamers. So long story short- this is good news!
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MW: red. haha I love how these are always associated with the topic at hand.
can’t wait to slam one of these into a Mac Mini…
MW:what, as in “what?”
That contraption looks like a mess.
I hope they hide it deep within the Mac Pro enclosure.
Couldn’t care less. I’m not the least interested in “gaming”, I’m too busy managing my professional life.
“That’s just what we need! For the Mac to become known as a gaming machine, rather than a work horse. Games are for children, non working welfare recipients and general layabouts.”
I take offence to that… I am a non-working layabout day-trader, but I would never be caught dead playing stupid video games!
On the other hand, seeing Apple expand their market share this way is very good, and I welcome it… It means my Apple stock, which is one of the few I hang onto long term, will just go up in value.
“it’s Mac-only, which probably boils the blood of “hardcore” PC gamers.”
Gamers can buy it and use it to run Windows.
The point is they will have a Mac in their hands. You know where it goes from there.
OzzysCross101 … THIS model is Apple-only. Other models will be introduced, either when this is Officially Available or not long after. I’m not certain if you will be able to buy the “Apple model” anywhere except at an Apple Store, but there will be a model available for nearly everyone with enough of a Yen (or Euro) and a desire to game out.
DLMeyer – the Voice of G.L.Horton’s Stage Page
“The big thing is that for the time being it’s Mac-only, “
“the nice red cooler design is just Apple’s and Apple’s alone”
Wow, yes a Mac only heatsink design. I guess you guys are looking for small differences today.
The actual graphics chipset will be in high end gaming PCs before Apple ships a Mac that contains it.
MDN: Didn’t you already post this story on the day it was published (February 14, 2007), in fact here’s the link: http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/12624/
Why the repost?