Gfx card in next imac

[richprice79]

Hello all, with this talk of new imacs and mac mini's I thought it would be fun to speculate on what gfx card they may choose to include in the high end model. After a little searching around on what mobile cards are around my bet is on the Geforce GTS 160m. They seem to be going almost exclusively with Nvidia with the exception of the 4850.

The specs on the 150m and 160m look promising.

Manufacturer NVIDIA
Series GeForce GTS 100M
Codename N10E-GS1
Pipelines 64 - unified
Core Speed * 600 MHz
Shader Speed * 1500 MHz
Memory Speed * 800 MHz
Memory Bus Width 256 Bit
Memory Type GDDR3
Max. Amount of Memory 1024 MB
Shared Memory no
DirectX DirectX 10, Shader 4.0
Transistors 504 Million
technology 55 nm
Features PureVideo HD, HybridPower,
Notebook Size large
Date of Announcement 02.03.2009
Information MXM 3

 

[johnrs]

what desktop GFX card are they equivalent to? eg Nvidia GTS250 or GTX260

I am on hold waiting to see if a new iMac comes out soon and I am hoping for a gfx bump

 

[richprice79]

The 130m in current imacs is equal to the 9500gt were as the 160m is comparable to a 9800gt.

Now Nvidia does have a much higher end card the 260m but I doubt apple will use it but heres hoping.

anufacturer NVIDIA
Series GeForce GTS 200M
Codename N10E-GS
Pipelines 96 - unified
Core Speed * 550 MHz
Shader Speed * 1375 MHz
Memory Speed * 1800 MHz
Memory Bus Width 128 Bit
Memory Type GDDR3, GDDR5
Max. Amount of Memory 1024 MB
Shared Memory no
DirectX DirectX 10.1, Shader 4.1
Current Consumption 38 Watt
technology 40 nm
Features DirectX Compute Support (Windows 7), CUDA, OpenCL, HybridPower, PhysX, SLI, Powermizer 8.0, MXM 3.0 Type-B
Notebook Size large
Date of Announcement 15.06.2009
Information 396 Gigaflops

 

[Hellhammer]

What TDP does it have? That's very important because if it's too power hungry and hot, it can't be used. GT 250/260 are also possible in high-end IMO

 

[richprice79]

The power consumption of the 160m is up to 60 Watt TDP

The power consumption of 260m is 37 Watt TDP which is significantly higher than the GTS 250M. (27 Watt). Furthermore, according to Nvidia, the new improved core does only need half of the power in Idle mode (compared to the previous generation).

Interesting, I wonder if this will play a part in the decision.

 

[Hellhammer]

The power consumption of the 160m is up to 60 Watt TDP

The power consumption of 260m is 37 Watt TDP which is significantly higher than the GTS 250M. (27 Watt). Furthermore, according to Nvidia, the new improved core does only need half of the power in Idle mode (compared to the previous generation).

Interesting, I wonder if this will play a part in the decision.

It's quite hot... 4850 is about 45W-65W (that's what AMD said for 4850/4870). If Arrandale is included in new ones, then it's possible because Arrandale tops out at 35W

 

[The Final Cut]

Obviously you all are not up to date on mobile graphics card information. The 240M, 250M, 260M, 280m are the only relevant GPU'S that nvidia makes, which would do a machine like the iMac justice. Nvidia has rebranded these cards several times, so the 260M is actually a 9800 GT. The 280M is at best slightly higher up, almost at the 9800 GTX Level, almost. So really I am hoping for 280M at the least or the 4870 Mobility. However it just doe not seem viable for me to settle for a desktop sized computer that has laptop sized graphics power. That's why I probably will just keep 2 laptops instead one with 260M, and one macbook pro 13". It gets annoying but they both can fit in a briefcase together.

 

[cluthz]

The 130m is comparable to the 8800 in most tests i've seen, so it's far superior to 9500GT as some people claims!

http://barefeats.com/imac09.html

3.06 GHz iMac with GT130 beats iMac 3.06GHz with 8800GS in 4 of 5 benchmarks.

 

[bloodycape]

What about the Nvidia GT230M or GT240m?

 

[Hellhammer]

or the 4870 Mobility.

It wouldn't be so big bump, because iMac already has 4850

What about the Nvidia GT230M or GT240m?

Those, I think, we'll see in mid level model(s)

 

[bloodycape]

I just read the GT230/240 is an upper mid-range card, so maybe we will see something like a GTX230(or is it a GTS230) in the iMac?

 

[Hellhammer]

I just read the GT230/240 is an upper mid-range card, so maybe we will see something like a GTX230(or is it a GTS230) in the iMac?

I wouldn't say it's upper but yea it's middle class GPU. As I said, I think we will see one of them replacing the GT120 in current iMacs

 

[Dont Hurt Me]

The big question here is with the rumors saying a thinner imac does that mean a integrated graphic chip or the real deal. GPU/Blue ray are the two key things im looking at. 9400m is a no starter, no blue ray ill have to wrestle with. Im looking at the Gate way zx6810-01 for comparisons though I could care a less about a touch screen. Give me a good HDTV and GPU APPLE or should I say Steve,,

 

[richprice]

well we should find out tommorow