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Radeon HD 3870 for Mac coming end of May
- Thread starter barefeats
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If anyone posts the mac EFI bios for the 3800 series I will flash both cores on my 3870x2 and report backHopefully barefeats can post the firmware
Couple of days over it now..
Maybe WWDC is far better time for ATi to launch such a card.
Keeping fingers crossed....
Mind you, I have the 8800 GT card in my Mac Pro, which is doing fine.... but if Barefeats show dramatic speed improvements in both Mac OS X (Apple Pro-apps) and Windows DirectX 10 gaming..... well.... there goes my credit card again.
It doesn't improve your DirectX 10 gaming experience. I thought this were well-known by now
It doesn't improve your DirectX 10 gaming experience. I thought this were well-known by now
Really?? Haven't done any research, just assumed it might outperform it.
So, now I am sure I wil stick to my 8800 GT
It's June 2nd, two days past the zero hour, and no 3870.
Where's the wailing and gnashing of teeth?
Where's the wailing and gnashing of teeth?
I got an order from OWC today and in the box as always came a catalog it has an ad for video cards. it has the ATI Radeon Pro HD 3870 512 MB video card for all Mac Pro Models. says ETA is June 2008, do you think they know that..or guessing?
And in two weeks time we will know all about the Radeon HD 4800 series. Heck, we will even be able to buy it. I hope it comes with an EFI compatible rom
forget ATI the 8800 is the best card!
Forget the 3870. The Nvidia 8800 GT is the better more powerful card. Apple engineering knows about the 8800 in apple pro apps and in 10.5 in general. They have stated that the drivers are new and first they program for stability and then optimization. It's a software issue. Once this software issue is updated for optimization the 8800 will burn the 3870. The only possible potential behind the 3870 is if your gonna run Crossfire on the windows side.
Forget the 3870. The Nvidia 8800 GT is the better more powerful card. Apple engineering knows about the 8800 in apple pro apps and in 10.5 in general. They have stated that the drivers are new and first they program for stability and then optimization. It's a software issue. Once this software issue is updated for optimization the 8800 will burn the 3870. The only possible potential behind the 3870 is if your gonna run Crossfire on the windows side.
I was talking against the 3 series actually.
The 8800 was suposed to be better out of the box and it wasn't so I just wonder if the same thing will happen with the new ATI.
I don't get things for granted with Apple anymore
Obvious isn't obvious anymore so I simply wait to see the numbers before I make statements better/worse.
Very excited to see this.. probably means ATI is prepping them. Should be a good card for those of us that still have the 2600. Looks like the driver for the 8800 is making progress as well, given the barefeats tests that we've seen.
Where did you hear that? I'm curious since ATI's Linux drivers have an appalling reputation, so it would be very surprising if ATI could code decent drivers for a different flavor of *ix.
I don't get things for granted with Apple anymore
Obvious isn't obvious anymore so I simply wait to see the numbers before I make statements better/worse.
ATI and Apple both write the drivers. They have teams which share source code under a non-disclosure agreement. It's a collaborative effort.
(Somewhere, I have to find the link, there was an interview with one of ATI's higher ups (a vice president, I think) discussing their relationship with Apple, and about Apple's graphics architecture in the then new Leopard)
It's different for OS X though. You have to keep in track the time lines. ATI has been doing video cards for Mac and Sun based computers for years (yes, a lot of those old ultras and blades have ATI video cards in them). They are very capable of making drivers for those platforms.
Unfortunately, unlike nVidia who has had linux drivers for many years now, ATI only started making official drivers for them a few years ago. So it was a choice between crappy open source linux drivers or crappy new age ATI closed source drivers. A bout a year or 2 ago (i cant remember) ATI heard our cries and open sourced the drivers allowing for more rapid development.
Now, something to note, you can't compare OS X or Solaris or Linux as flavours of "*ix" as you put it because they dont have the same kernels. The kernels (and binary systems for that matter) are all completely different and do not support each other drivers. What allows for cross platform software (not drivers) are programming standards like POSIX and System V compliance. They are what allow for unix and linux programs to easily be moved across platforms (that support the same standards).
If you can find the link please post it as I am very interested in reading about it.
Architosh interview with ATI
Here's the quote:
It's not an arm's length relationship. We are close. We don't just
throw Apple a little package of binaries at the end of each day. Rather, we see 50% of their source code and they see 80% of ours. We sync up with each other's source depot every day or two. Sometimes it gets to several times a day. There are probably about 50 conversations a week with Apple engineers. Working with Apple is different than working with any other computer manufacturer. Basically we function as an extended part of their team. The only way to write drivers for the Mac is to work this way with Apple
