Question about new imacs!

[eboroian]

Hello all,

I'm fairly new to apple and have a more general question. I like to game a little bit and am going to purchase a new imac this week. If i choose to go for the 2.8ghz model and upgrade to the better graphics card and 4g ram, instead of just getting the 3ghz model, will this reduce the speed of the computer?

Does a better graphics card require a better cpu?

Thanks for your help

E

 

[bluedoggiant]

No, having the 8800 will not require a 3.06 GHz CPU, it will not make your computer any slower to go for the 2.8GHz. The 2.8GHz in itself is very fast, I have the previous extreme version, and its very speedy for me, I can imagine the new one to only be faster. I just want to give you a heads up that I do not think you can get the 2.8GHz with 8800 in store, only online as a BTO, in store you can get the 3.06GHz with the 8800.

 

[applecore22]

The 2.8GHz model is a good choice! You wouldn't really notice much of a speed difference between the 2.8GHz model and the 3.06ghz model if they were operating side by side. There is not much gain when you are only adding .26GHz to the processor. The Nvidia GeForce 8800 GS should be good enough for a little gaming. And yes...you can order the 2.8GHz with the Nvidia GeForce 8800 GS graphics. That is one sweet machine! Hope this helps.

 

[eboroian]

No, having the 8800 will not require a 3.06 GHz CPU, it will not make your computer any slower to go for the 2.8GHz. The 2.8GHz in itself is very fast, I have the previous extreme version, and its very speedy for me, I can imagine the new one to only be faster. I just want to give you a heads up that I do not think you can get the 2.8GHz with 8800 in store, only online as a BTO, in store you can get the 3.06GHz with the 8800.

Thanks, i'm going to order it online from apple. So for someone who isn't going to be doing a lot of video encoding etc...but who will be playing games...do you think it would make more of a difference (speedwise) to get the 2.8ghz with 4g ram or to simply get the 3ghz standard?

Thanks

E

 

[bluedoggiant]

Thanks, i'm going to order it online from apple. So for someone who isn't going to be doing a lot of video encoding etc...but who will be playing games...do you think it would make more of a difference (speedwise) to get the 2.8ghz with 4g ram or to simply get the 3ghz standard?

Thanks

E

Get 4GB of ram either way. If you do anything like Apple® Motion™, or any core animation apps, the ATI will blow the nVidia. For gaming, the nVidia will blow the ATI. Processor speed doesn't take much into gaming at all, unless its audio options, if you wanna have max options, a faster CPU would be good, but the 2.8GHz on my iMac can handle max audio settings in Halo, I know Halo wouldn't be much of a match to what you (i am guessing) are going to play, but audio wise, the 2.8GHz is fast enough. Though I always go for a top spec model (excluding the MP) because you can never upgrade the processor, and you want it to last long with up to date specs. So its up to you.

Get the 8800GS
4GB of ram from crucial.com (no matter what)
2.8GHz works, and its very fast, I would go for the 3.06GHz, but thats me.

 

[CWallace]

The majority of games nowadays are "GPU-limited" rather then "CPU-limited". So the 2.8GHz CPU should be quite fine.

 

[Doctorsti]

Get 4GB of ram either way. If you do anything like Apple® Motion™, or any core animation apps, the ATI will blow the nVidia. For gaming, the nVidia will blow the ATI. Processor speed doesn't take much into gaming at all, unless its audio options, if you wanna have max options, a faster CPU would be good, but the 2.8GHz on my iMac can handle max audio settings in Halo, I know Halo wouldn't be much of a match to what you (i am guessing) are going to play, but audio wise, the 2.8GHz is fast enough. Though I always go for a top spec model (excluding the MP) because you can never upgrade the processor, and you want it to last long with up to date specs. So its up to you.

Get the 8800GS
4GB of ram from crucial.com (no matter what)
2.8GHz works, and its very fast, I would go for the 3.06GHz, but thats me.

You say the ATI card is better then the nVidia at some video tasks. How do they compare in regards to HD video editing use of Adobe Flash and such?

 

[bluedoggiant]

You say the ATI card is better then the nVidia at some video tasks. How do they compare in regards to HD video editing use of Adobe Flash and such?

The ATI blows the nVidia when it comes to core-image tasks, core animation, and stuff that are like Apple's Motion. It's a fact ATI cards are better at that stuff, just has to do with drivers, the 8800 is good for gamers.