Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

ATI Radeon 2600 HD Pro & Snow Leopard

C

cc1995

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 27, 2009
11
0
I just purchased an older Imac with this dedicated card figuring it would be better than the Nviia 9400 due to it not being intergrated and having the same 2.66 Ghz CPU. Now i keep hearing about issues Snow Leopard has been having with drivers issue and ATI cards (especially the 2600 which i think they issued a driver update on a while back) and I was wondering if these issues have been resolved yet? or is it still an issue since I see that the New 21.5 Imacs seem to be having issues with ATI cards as well. Just wondering if I made the wrong choice going with the ATI 2600 HD Pro rather thAN THE nVIDIA 9400. I plan on using my computer for some movies and also Adobe CS4. Am I better off staying with the ATI 2600 and hoping that Apple fixes the snow leopard issues or should i get the Nvidia 9400 instead. I still can bring it back. Looking for some advice if anyone knows more about this or knows if what I'm planning to use this computer for work work better with the 9400 rather than the ATI GPU.

Thanks.
 
The Nvidia drivers on Snow Leopard are just horrible. If people with ATi cards are having issues too, then I think that Snow Leopard graphics drivers are universally suck-y.
 
So do you think it's just the fact that Snow Leopard is just so new and as it matures these things will all get resolved? I also know that the ATI 2600 is compatible with OpenCL in Snow leopard, and I hope that won't really effect me since there really aren't any programs that are utilizing it or programing for it right now, probably with the exception of a future Ilife or something like that So hopefullly the ATI 2600 will be more than enough for Adobe CS4 and my movie needs for a while.
 
cc1995 said:
So do you think it's just the fact that Snow Leopard is just so new and as it matures these things will all get resolved? I also know that the ATI 2600 is compatible with OpenCL in Snow leopard, and I hope that won't really effect me since there really aren't any programs that are utilizing it or programing for it right now, probably with the exception of a future Ilife or something like that So hopefullly the ATI 2600 will be more than enough for Adobe CS4 and my movie needs for a while.
Click to expand...
"OpenCL requires one of the following graphics cards or graphics processors:

NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, GeForce 9600M GT, GeForce 8600M GT, GeForce GT 120, GeForce GT 130, GeForce GTX 285, GeForce 8800 GT, GeForce 8800 GS, Quadro FX 4800, Quadro FX5600
ATI Radeon HD 4670, ATI Radeon HD 4850, Radeon HD 4870"
-Apple Specs page

As far as I know, the ATI 2600 is NOT supported by openCL, which is odd, considering Apple was still shipping NEW macs with 2600's until March 2009, whereas the 8600M GT was introduced in summer 2007! I get the impression that Nvidia was more cooperative with the project than ATI, perhaps because Apple gave them some great business by replacing the intel chipset with the 9400M chipset.

Personally, unless you're gaming, I'd take a 20" iMac with a 9400M over one with a 2600. The 9400M iMac will have DDR3 1066 Mhz RAM, vs. DDR2 667 Mhz, and will also take advantage of OpenCL, and perhaps even maintain its resale value a little longer.

But I wouldn't worry about it too much. There really aren't a lot (if any) applications out there that are currently taking advantage of OpenCL, and the 2600 IS a little more powerful than the 9400M.
 
So if I plan on using this computer for graphic design (Adobe CS4), you think I won't see any advantage to going with the dedicated 2600. The 9400 would work just as good with that? What about 720p & 1080P mkv's?
 
I have no problems with my 2600PROs

running the entire Creative suite, Quark 8, and everything else that goes along with a design studio -- plus movies

running dual screens as well...

which iMac did you get? how much?
 
flopticalcube said:
By "some games" you mean "one game": Quake 4. Note also the error in the legend.
Click to expand...

Well, I guess that depends how you define similarly. The way I look at it is as follows: Neither will perform very well at all in newer games. The 2600 will perform up to twice as fast in some older titles. But if you're gaming, I wouldn't really consider either of the computers. If you're NOT planning on gaming, the 9400M is a better buy, since it'll be able to take advantage of GCD in the future, and it can take advantage of faster memory today.
 
So I am having trouble with the 2600

You see I am a train fanatic and the only thing my simulator will run on is a Windows. So I've tried Boot camp and Parallels and both freeze up the simulator and the computer. This 'game' uses open GL and it seems the 26oo doesn't
I have an IMAC 20'' a year old. 2.66 GHz
Any suggestions
and on these IMACs how do you change the graphics card even if you want to?

Help?
http://images.macrumors.com/vb/images/icons/icon7.gif
Ron
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back