Newbie - iMac model / Graphics Card Question.

[Piggie]

After owning my iPad for a few weeks, I've been thinking a little about perhaps seeing what an iMac would be like to use.

A couple of years ago I purchased a very old iMac that could just about run OSX but very poorly, and despite it running very slow (it was not designed for OSX) it looked pretty nice.

I know iMac's don't generally have the high end type of graphics cards, but I'd at the very least like to have one that was as fast (ideally faster) than the graphics card that is in my PC now.

(I don't want to "downgrade to a Mac" if you can understand what I mean by that)

I'd like a Mac that I feel is at least as good in the graphics dept.

Anyway, my current card is an Nvidea 8800 GTX 768MB which I think is about two generations of cards old now.

I did not bother upgrading to the GTX 250,260,275,280,295 type of cards, and i know Nvidea have just launched the 480 cards for silly money.

Anyway, I'm wondering, what kind of iMac (new or secondhand) I'd be looking at that would at least match my 8800 card.

I'm thinking of a 24" model. Perhaps 4GB memory or a bit more (not sure how macs handle memory compared to a PC and perhaps a hard drive of at least 500mb. 1TB I guess would be good, but I don't really need that.

I see loads of different iMacs for sale second hand, and I know they changed from the white plastic ones to the aluminium models a little while ago.

I thought it would be easier to ask the experts here than wade through umpteen models.

So, to reiterate:

24" (no smaller)
4GB memory (or more is a Mac needs it)
500MB + hard drive
Graphics card on a par with my 8800 GTX (nicer if a little better)

Welcome any advice

Thanks.

 

[Hellhammer]

ATI 4850 is the only GPU you should even think about, it's the fastest GPU available. NVidia 8800 GTX is still a good card and mobile cards are always behind. You can find used 24" with ATI 4850 too

 

[Piggie]

ATI 4850 is the only GPU you should even think about, it's the fastest GPU available. NVidia 8800 GTX is still a good card and mobile cards are always behind. You can find used 24" with ATI 4850 too

Thanks.

Yes, I know the "Good Old" Nvidea 8800 is a good solid card with well established drivers, and despite being a little behind the times (in the PC world) still gices good all round results in all but the very top games.

Thank you for the 4850 advice. I'll look out for that model number

Did it come in any different flavours (memory or pipelines?) or is a 4850 for the iMac always the same 4850?

 

[Hellhammer]

Thanks.

Yes, I know the "Good Old" Nvidea 8800 is a good solid card with well established drivers, and despite being a little behind the times (in the PC world) still gices good all round results in all but the very top games.

Thank you for the 4850 advice. I'll look out for that model number

Did it come in any different flavours (memory or pipelines?) or is a 4850 for the iMac always the same 4850?

It has always been the same 4850, no different versions of it. Here are specs if you're interested (as well as some benchmarks)