20" iMac video questions

[woolensock]

I am on the verge of springing for a 20" iMac. However, I'm trying to carefully weigh the performance of the 2.4 versus the 2.66 model. The local stores seem to keep their 2.4 display models pretty crippled. However, they load the 2.66 ones pretty well and they run great.

I'm concerned about real world performance and whether the 2.66 is really worth the extra 250 dollars. That money could well be spent on more ram or put in the bank. I'm upgrading from a c2d mini so either video card will be a huge improvement.

I've seen benchmarks comparing the two, but they seem to focus on first person shooters. Would the 2.4 be capable of running x-plane with any degree of success? Are there any 2.4 owners out there who have regrets and wish they had gotten the faster card and chip?
Thanks for the help.

 

[Carrot007]

As I see it (and I am thinking of getting the 2.4 myself to repalce my core solo mini).

The differences are.


CPU: This is going to be unnoticable in general usage.

GFX: Yeah this will be noticable on stuff that uses it but they are both real cards with their own memory (which despite what people say is the main reason the "onboard" non "real" gfx solutions are bad, if they had their own seprate memory they would be 100* better) and are going to be ok. i'm sure the lower card would run x-plane though probably not as nice as the other but certainly ok. (these days there is not as much beetween all the cards as some would lead you to believe!)

Memory: This is where the diffences in the base machines is going to show. 1gb vs 2gb will make a world of difference. But as long as you are going to upgrade the 1gb you will be onto a winner anyway.

And that would be it for the performace altering spec differences.

 

[Sun Baked]

As pointed out ... they 2.4 aren't crippled, they just have 1gb of memory.

Which tends to slow things down a lot.

A cheap 1x1GB or 2x2GB SoDIMM should even things up a lot.

 

[woolensock]

Whichever one I get will get 4gig thrown at it before it first starts up. I guess it all comes down to whether the video card is worth the price difference.

I will also probably hook up a dell 20" flat panel to this machine. Would the 2.4's base video card be able to drive this combination without artifacts, or would I be asking too much of it?

Thanks again for your help.