best specs for new imac in prep for snow leopard

[snailboy]

I hope I'm not repeating any other posts, but I will be in the market for a new 24" imac by mid august. I know Snow Leopard is just around the corner, but can't hold off for any refresh in the imac line. Because all imacs now have 2 cores, they will benefit from SL, but I am still confused as to what specs to get, specifically graphics card options. I know I should shell out for the 3ghz, but I have read conflicting information that with some apps, the ATI Radeon actually outperforms the higher end Nvidia (specifically pro apps like photoshop and illustrator that I use alot). Then again, i think i read somewhere that an update now makes the Nvidia faster?? I think the Nvidia speeds up openGL processes but not so much core processes? I also plan on using Carrara which i believe uses openGL to render. Does anyone know which processes benefit from the Nvidia option? All processes? If so, what are the specific benefits, just a little snappier? faster video encoding? by how much? a few seconds, or many minutes? etc. I just want to get the best option that will benefit the most from SL, and if I can save a few $$s by skipping the higher-end graphics card, that would be swell. Thanks

 

[macsander]

I hope I'm not repeating any other posts, but I will be in the market for a new 24" imac by mid august. I know Snow Leopard is just around the corner, but can't hold off for any refresh in the imac line. Because all imacs now have 2 cores, they will benefit from SL, but I am still confused as to what specs to get, specifically graphics card options. I know I should shell out for the 3ghz, but I have read conflicting information that with some apps, the ATI Radeon actually outperforms the higher end Nvidia (specifically pro apps like photoshop and illustrator that I use alot). Then again, i think i read somewhere that an update now makes the Nvidia faster?? I think the Nvidia speeds up openGL processes but not so much core processes? I also plan on using Carrara which i believe uses openGL to render. Does anyone know which processes benefit from the Nvidia option? All processes? If so, what are the specific benefits, just a little snappier? faster video encoding? by how much? a few seconds, or many minutes? etc. I just want to get the best option that will benefit the most from SL, and if I can save a few $$s by skipping the higher-end graphics card, that would be swell. Thanks

Yep The Nvidea is definitely better for gaming than the ATI, The ATI was maybe still is better in video/photo editing and rendering but in the very near future when the Nvidea get better drivers etc, the Nvidea will be way faster for everything.