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Better GPU Possible?

S

Sambo110

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Mar 12, 2007
1,686
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Australia
So I hope to have enough money to get a 27" iMac by September, which hopefully the iMac's get refreshed by/around then. The 4850 is good, but I was wondering, is it likely to get a better GPU? I know the ATI Radeon Mobility 5xxx series is out, but what are the chances of Apple putting them in the iMac's, is it even possible? Thanks.

EDIT: I remember Steve Jobs saying something about Mac's in 2010, that they would be really good or something, hopefully that includes the iMac's performance.
 
Sambo110 said:
So I hope to have enough money to get a 27" iMac by September, which hopefully the iMac's get refreshed by/around then. The 4850 is good, but I was wondering, is it likely to get a better GPU? I know the ATI Radeon Mobility 5xxx series is out, but what are the chances of Apple putting them in the iMac's, is it even possible? Thanks.
Click to expand...

My personal view is by September the 4850 GPU will be a bit long in the tooth to include in a revision (some would say it was a little disappointing in this revision but the 5xxx series hadn't been released and it's a decent enough GPU). So I reckon a GPU bump, using a mobility card, would more than likely be on the cards.
 
For the past couple of years, the iMacs have followed a pretty reliable pattern of alternating between significantly bumping the CPU and bumping the GPU -- that is, every other revision has upgraded the graphics card. The current refresh didn't (primary upgrade being the quad core CPUs), so I'd be very surprised if the next one doesn't upgrade the GPU.
 
So long as Apple doesn't do what they did in '06 and replace the x1600 in the lower end machines with the weaker HD2400 and have a hardly better HD2600 in the higher end as standard. They'd need at least a Radeon 5770, preferably a 5850 and knowing Apple they tend to stay towards previous gen GPU's. I wouldn't hold my breath for a substantial upgrade for a while, more likely a slight performance boost.
 
Obviously, it's not even just an issue of the specific type of card but, as we've seen in the past, it being designed to be recognized by the Imac. I'm not even sure if the same model with additional memory would be recognizable.

That said, I'm sure someone will play around with what might be possible, such as perhaps putting the Radeon 4850 in a 21.5.
 
I haven't been able to find anything on the Mobility 5xxx series, does anything use them yet? Would the Mobility 5870 be as good as the desktop 5850, kinda like how the iMac 4850 is like the desktop 4830?
 
These supposedly mobility 4850s in the high end iMacs get some very good results on the newest cinebench 11.5
 
Supposed mobility? I've always wondered if they are just mobility cards that normal laptops have, or if they are a hybrid between a mobility and desktop or something.
 
They are standard mobility 4850's, simply downclocked desktop 4850's. You can happily overclock back up to full speed in Boot Camp.
 
Oh really? So can I overclock my 2400 HD? How much of a performance boost would you get, and can it damage anything in the iMac?

EDIT: Wait, so your telling me that mobility cards are just underclocked desktop cards? So a desktop card could fit in there, it's just a heat issue or something stopping them?
 
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