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6970m 2gb v 5870
- Thread starter jetjaguar
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Tests indicate that the Radeon HD 6970M shows an impressive performance. AMD's old top model, the Radeon HD 5870, is surpassed in every benchmark by about 50% – a testament to the new model's formidable performance. Even Nvidia's rugged GeForce GTX 480M winds up a whopping 33% behind the Radeon HD 6970M.
The benchmarks you listed don't include the Radeon 5870. The 5870 they've got listed is the Mobility version, which doesn't even come close to the performance the desktop version offers.
Totally wrong. The 6970m is based on the 6850 architecture. A good 20-40% slower than a 5870. Would have been nice but like always, iMac is not equipped with "pro" or even "Gamer" graphics. The key is in the little "m". It is a mobile chip on a mobile logic board. iMac is a big laptop with a 3.5" HDD.
From the GPU point of you are right, but concerning CPU performance the new iMac i7 should be on par with the 2010 Hex MacPro...
On par is relative. On single threads the 2600 beats the W3680. On heavily multi threaded the 6-core pulls ahead. In mixed environment it may be a wash with more wins for the 2600 ever so slightly. So yes., relatively, the iMac i7 will be as fast as the hex on paper. So win! But if you don't need expandability the iMac is a hell of a deal in price vs. performance.
Larger buffer does not mean a faster card. Sometimes it may even decrease performance. Unless you are rocking 2560x1600 with 8XFSAA. Then the extra buffer will help. Games are all about shader speed and memory speed. The larger the screen the more memory you may need but a 512 MB card with fast core clocks can beat a 1GB card with lower shader performance. I'd much rather have 512GB DDR5 than 1GB DDR3 for example. Kinda stupid to offer a 2GB option on a card that can't push the 27" natively anyway regardless of memory. Pro apps could use the extra memory but if Apple was on point they would offer a 2GB Nvidia so we can actually use current GPGPU accelerations since most all the devs have sold out to CUDA.
I would guess the 2gb option is to enhance opencl which has been confirmed by apple to be included in at least fcp x.
This is all pretty true. It's kind of like how adding RAM into a machine won't magically make it faster. It helps if you're using up the RAM you have, but if you aren't it's kind of a waste.
I haven't ever seen a game which can even use more than 1 gig of VRAM.
Last iMac had a 128mbit bandwidth, new one has a 256mbit bandwidth. It will help out a lot with the 2560x1440 resolution. And add the fact that everything else is faster, your looking at a 45% increase in speed over the old iMac's graphics card. All of the iMac's graphics cards are mobile. Every one of them ever released
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I got the same feeling when I saw the new specs... But then realised I'm daft because 6*3.33 is a hell of a lot of power. Maybe the new top of the line iMac can play toe to toe in CPU but that's about it.
I can't wait for the MacPro refresh, especially on the GPU side in regards of the iMac refresh.
jetjaguar said:already making me regret my recent mac pro purchase
after my 2010 i7 imac i swore i wasnt buying another one because of the hd noise etc but i dunno
I got the same feeling when I saw the new specs... But then realised I'm daft because 6*3.33 is a hell of a lot of power. Maybe the new top of the line iMac can play toe to toe in CPU but that's about it.
I can't wait for the MacPro refresh, especially on the GPU side in regards of the iMac refresh.
The iMac has a mobility GFX card on it, 6970m is not a desktop card. http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-6970M.43077.0.html
Based on a 6850 desktop card it is less capable than a 5870 Mac Pro version.
If it was a 6970 proper the iMac would be 4" thicker or have cooling pipes sticking out the back.
The i7 CPU in the iMac is a fantastic piece of kit though, look to the end of this year for Sandy Bridge Mac Pro loveliness to hammer it firmly back into line.
Based on a 6850 desktop card it is less capable than a 5870 Mac Pro version.
If it was a 6970 proper the iMac would be 4" thicker or have cooling pipes sticking out the back.
The i7 CPU in the iMac is a fantastic piece of kit though, look to the end of this year for Sandy Bridge Mac Pro loveliness to hammer it firmly back into line.
The AMD Radeon 7000 Series may come out as early as this summer.
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20110411PD227.html
It might not be impossible to see it in the next MP, depending on when the Xeons are available.
That's GREAT news! (I do fractal creation, VMs, and some 3D rendering, so a desktop CPU's performance is going to be better. I don't need the highest end graphics, though Photoshop filters will make use of the extra VRAM. (e.g. PixelBender filters will use it). If the latest iMac is on par with the desktop 4870, I'm as happy as a kid in a candy shop.)
Good to know, thanks!
(Still teetering my next desktop to be an iMac or Mac Pro, but that's next year to be sure...)