ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro vs NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS

[tongzilla]

Is the NVIDIA graphics card (24" model) in the new iMac that much better than the ATI (24" model) one?

Will I notice the difference?

This will help me decide whether I get the maxed out version of the new iMac or the second best one (both 24").

Thanks!

 

[Eidorian]

What do you plan on using the iMac for? Keep in mind the base 24" model can be upgraded with the 8800 GS.

 

[tongzilla]

What do you plan on using the iMac for? Keep in mind the base 24" model can be upgraded with the 8800 GS.

For all the usual stuff (work, email, music, surfing), photo and video editing/encoding. I have lots of applications open at the same time.

Is it cheaper to buy the base 24" model and upgrade to 8800 GS myself?

But I thought the 8800 GS cannot be bought separately, since it's made specially for apple.

 

[Muncher]

Is the NVIDIA graphics card (24" model) in the new iMac that much better than the ATI (24" model) one?

Will I notice the difference?

This will help me decide whether I get the maxed out version of the new iMac or the second best one (both 24").

Thanks!

It's actually an underclocked 2600 xt. If you go to http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php you'll see the difference. Keep in mind we have no idea what apple did to the 8800's clock speeds.

 

[Aegelward]

hmm, rather than start a new thread...

I'm having trouble deciding between a 2.8 updated with an 8800, or the 3.0, the difference is pretty significant, in the region of £250

i think i can manage on 320 gigs for system/apps/music, i'd be using external drives for everything else

 

[Scott-n-Houston]

hmm, rather than start a new thread...

I'm having trouble deciding between a 2.8 updated with an 8800, or the 3.0, the difference is pretty significant, in the region of £250

i think i can manage on 320 gigs for system/apps/music, i'd be using external drives for everything else

I'm in a similar boat. The HD space is almost a non issue. You can upgrade to 1TB from OWC... same for RAM,

but I'm trying to decide of the 8800 + more processing speed is worth the $400 price bump.

 

[WhiteNoiseMaker]

the specs page says its 2.2x faster than the ATI.